A Laugh Every Time

Go ahead make one....who doesn't love these?

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Home For Christmas

This is the precious face of Baby Anthony. Soon to be home with his parents, my cousins who have been waiting for years to fulfill their dream of becoming parents. After countless roadblocks, health issues and adoption nightmares, the dream is about to become reality. The travel call came today for them, that call that you wait for every single minute when you are nearing the end of the adoption process. It's the call or maybe email that you never forget..the day, the time, the way your heart just pounds out of your chest and you are overcome with relief, excitement and fear all at the same time.
It has been difficult since Laurie and Mike have already met their son on the first trip to Taiwan and have been waiting on final court procedures with fear that something would go wrong. Now they will travel in a few weeks and be reunited with this little bundle of joy for Thanksgiving. The fact that this little boy will be home for Christmas is just icing on the cake...how cool!!! We couldn't be happier!

That Not So Fall Feeling

Fall is my favorite. The reds and yellows, the crisp air, the pumpkin pancakes. The settling in to the back to school routine and let's not forget the apple picking. Last week I took all 3 kids to the apple orchard hoping to get just full of that fall feeling. It was great until the temperature rose to an annoying 89 degrees, Lily was constantly tripping over apples that had fallen already and Luca and Lance basically fighting over the apple picker which can seriously take someones head off. Oh yea and there were bees everywhere. We did manage to come away with a pretty large bag of apples, a big pumpkin and some fresh apple cider. Hope everyone is having a great fall so far!

More Hoops to Jump Through

This is just a big rant about the endless paper jungle you have to weave your way through with adoption. I have to say that for the most part, our paper dance went really smoothly. That is until now. I was under the impression that when you legally finalize your adoption with the courts, and you proceed with a name change, everything is taken care of. Not so.
I took all of Lily's documents, every single paper, down to the Social Security office to apply for a card. I presented everything to a not so pleasant woman and she informed me I would be hearing from them in a few weeks. Well, it turns out we were denied a number due to a problem with USCIS. When I contacted them, they said there was no problem and to go back to the SS office. Time went by and one day I received a letter stating that Lily's Permanent Residence Card was still in her Korean name and that was the reason for the hold up. At least someone was actually working on the case. Then I immediately download the papers for a name change, got the supporting documents and a check of course and sent them out. This took pretty much an entire day. We were sent a date to get Lily's new fingerprints which we did this morning. Now we wait. We wait for the new card, which then has to go to Social Security to then wait again for a number.
Why the push for the SS number? Well we travel in late January and we need a US passport for Lily. Just to exaust you further, I called the passport agency to see if they would accept things other than a SS number. Oh sure they would, however, if it's anything in Korean, it would have to be translated by an authority figure. They won't accept a Certificate of Foreign Birth (which we have) because it is issued after the child is 1 yr old. I was informed though that we could "try" to apply with what we have and it "might" work. I guess it depends on who opens the mail that day and if they have had their coffee. AGHHHH!

Happy Referral day!

It was 2 years ago today that we got the news. Our number had finally come up! It was around 8:00 pm when Rick came running upstairs asking me if I had checked my email. I knew it was important since it got my husband off his bike that he religiously trained on every night. The message from our social worker read something like "I have exciting news and call as soon as possible." Holy crap this was it! With my heart beating out of my chest, I called and sure enough it was news of our referral. Rick waited as the photos and medical history came through.




This was the first glimpse of our daughter. Cheers to all of you who are awaiting referrals of your own. Hope they come quickly!

Korea in New York

1. During fashion week in NYC, Carolina Herrara revealed beautiful pieces that were inspired by traditional clothes from Korea!




STUNNING!

View the whole collection

2. The NYC Korean Day Parade with outdoor market and activities for kids will be on Saturday Oct 2. For details, contact tgentzel@alsoknownas.org. You can follow "Also Known As" on Facebook.