Her Name

I can hardly believe that a whole two weeks has passed since I last posted. Where in the world did the time go? Since I last posted we have recieved THE acceptance packet (11/3) and signed and notarized 21 (that's right 2-1) pieces of paper (11/4) and overnighted it all back to our agency. Now we wait for "legals." That's our next step, getting the legal documentation from our agency in Korea for baby Joye. Once we signed over the acceptance packet, our information with that packet was sent to Korea to officially "match" us with our baby girl. The timeframe to get legals could take anywhere from 1-4 weeks or maybe longer. Some have recieved them with their referral and some have waited 6+ weeks.

Once we recieve our legals, then we can apply for our I600. Our agency does this for us. Which is the immigration paperwork to classify an orphan as an immediate member of our family (immigartion jargon, not mine). I'm going to stop there, because I could go on for another four+ paragraphs explaining the process of why it takes 6+ months to bring her home. I will post with each step, as they happen. Maybe that will get me to posting more often ;) (But I wouldn't hold my breath, if I were you.) Plus, it could be months between each step - so I'm just sayin' - don't count on it!

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OK - the reason for my post, Baby Joye's name. When I was pregnant for the third time, I was convinced it was a girl, (but looking back on it, I think it was more wishful thinking than anything else.) So I was NOT going to pick out a boys name, because I was convinced it was a girl. When we lost the baby, we chose not to see if it was a boy or a girl. Factors beyond our control made it harder to find out anyway - total God thing. When we were officially on the list for a little girl from Korea, I just couldn't bring myself to use the name we had originally picked out. I prayed for God to give me the perfect name four our daughter waiting for us in Korea. It was around this time last year the we got a mailer for Thanksgiving from the 700 club. Inside were cards reminding us of the meaning of Thankgiving. One card had "Joy" and the Scripture that now adorns this lovely blog. :) "You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence; and the pleasures of living with you forever." Psalm 16:11. It hit me. This explains our road to adoption, perfectly. Chad I both agreed (which we rarely do on names) that Joy would be a PERFECT name for our new little one! Then I made a blog (!) with this Scripture as it's name.

Then I found this Scripture "You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy." Psalm 30:11 And this one, "So I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn into joy."John 16:20 One more, "Weeping may go on all night, but JOY comes in the morning." Psalm 30:5b [emphasis added]

It was perfect. Simple. Beautiful. I know a couple people named Joy(e) and they are such wonderful people. One bloggy friend I met, while on this journey, went through the same thing we went through and I loved how she spelled her name. So I asked her permission if I could use her spelling. Being the sweetheart that she is, she granted me permission. She is a wonderful, faithful woman of God and has such a talent for writing.

When I was in High School I worked at our local Grocery Store and met another awesome woman of God named Joy. (HI JOY!) We worked together for a couple of years, but is still one of my greatest friends. A great supporter and I absolutely LOVE her! I have always loved the name and it's perfect for our little baby girl. I may be biast, but I think our darling daughter looks just like a Joy (with an e, of course!)

One more thing - in order to have TRUE joy in our life we need to follow the J.O.Y. acronym.

J-Jesus first
O-Others Second
Y-Yourself last

(I just LOVE it, don't you?)

Referral Day - THE Call!

First of all I would like to introduce you to my daughter, Joye SeoYeon! Her name means "wise" and "beautiful," which I whole-heartily agree! There is much background as to why we chose the name Joye, but for now I just want to share the details of the day we got the call. (Can you believe the hair?! I am going to HAVE to invest in some of BriarClaire's clippies!)

Warning: I am a VERY detail-oriented person, and I have ran the way this day would play out through my mind for MANY months. So, hang on, it might be a LONG one! ;)

We were mid-way through the school day on Thursday (10/29) and I had to run an errand that had to be done in the morning. So the boys and I packed up and headed out for an extra-long break. Once we returned it was about 10:30 am and the phone rang. It was one of those pesky "unknown callers." I let the machine pick-up, because I rarely answer the phone while homeschooling anyway. It was AAC, and they wanted me to call them back. I thought, "well they probably need some information or something. I'll call them back in a minute." Then my cell phone rang. Hmmmm, that's odd. "Hello?" It was AAC, again. We proceeded to have small talk about the snow. Then there was this small pause and she said, "well, we have a baby girl that we would like you to look at." My mind was reeling is disbelief while she proceeded to tell me a little about her. "This little peanut was five pounds when she was born . . . . healthy delivery . . . ." I grabbed a pencil and paper an wrote down what I could remember. Then she said " would you like to review her file?" I said "absolutely!" So she verified my email and said to give her a call when we knew our answer.

I then called Chad (who was at work, 40 minutes away) and after about five minutes of convincing him that we had actually got THE CALL, he called his mom and I called mine. Then, I waited for FORTY-FIVE minutes for the file to come through. Yeah, 45 minutes! I then called AAC back and said, "I didn't get the file. I KNOW you sent it, because you told me you were going to, and I bet it's our tricky email address." Sure enough, there were a couple characters missing in the address. So she re-sent it, apologized and thanked me for calling. I then called Chad and sent it to his phone -without looking at it. It never got to his phone. So I sent it again. Nothing. Meanwhile, I opened her medical report but didn't look at her picture. We wanted to see her together. I knew she was mine once I saw her name. Chad was STILL not getting her picture. So I said "here, let me look, take a picture on my phone and send it that way." He said "go ahead." And then I saw this;

Isn't she the cutest little girl EVER? I gasped, and told him how cute she was. We talked for a little while and then he finally got the picture. Love at first sight for him too! We went over a few things and then emailed our family and friends. I emailed our doctor earlier on, and so we waited to hear back from him.

One proud Papa!

One happy Mama!

Kaleb cried, and asked if he was dreaming! How cute is that?! He loves her so much - even before he saw her picture!

Abram is SO happy to be a big brother! He talks about "baby sister" all the time. He kept asking about "that Adoption Show" and if we could turn it on. (?) I could only guess that he thought that we should be on "Adoption Stories." I don't know - but it's CUTE!

She's 13 pounds and 24.5 inches long. She was born May 2, 2009, and today she turns 6 months old. Happy Six Months sweet girl! (SO happy to have a spring baby!) She's precious and I knew she was mine when I saw her name. Her picture made it all seem more real.

We celebrated at a local Chinese Restaurant then headed off to Kaleb's Pack/Halloween Party. I wanted to get up in the front and show everyone our daughter's picture. We ended up telling a few Cub Scout parents that knew we were in process.

It's still surreal. I still can't believe that I have a little girl in Korea and that we are parents again.

We can't stop staring at her picture. It is SO good to know who my little girl is! God is SO good and I am so thankful to be picked to be her mother! Thank you JESUS!!!!

(We officially accepted this morning, that's why I waited so long to post) :)