April Adoption Update

Today marks 11 months since HSTK (home study to Korea). When our home study was sent to Korea, we expected about a 6-8 month wait for a referral. Since then, the time has been extended to 15 months.  There are a lot of changes happening with the Korean adoption program, and the process is very different than it was with Joel. Another change is that our child will likely be 12-18 months at referral and 15-24 months at homecoming. We've had to adjust our expectations quite a bit since starting this second adoption process, but we are okay with the changes and are trusting in God's perfect timing. We know that our next little one will come along when the time is right. Of course, it helps having Joel to distract us and fill our lives with joy. We know that he won't be our only child forever, so we are soaking it all up while we can.

When we first started the process, we talked about it quite a bit with Joel and told him that he would have a little brother (or sister) soon. Then, when the wait lengthened, we talked about it less with him. Lately, since I feel like we are getting somewhat closer, we've been adding that to our prayers at night and talking about it a little again. We also recently asked Joel what he thought we should name his baby brother. His two responses have been Bomber and Belly Button. Of course we'll be highly considering those names. ;)

A long time ago, when Joel was in his "ask a thousand questions about everything" phase, we told him that when it gets dark at night, it's because the sun is going to Korea. He still mentions that every once in awhile. Last week, I asked him why the sun went to Korea, and he said, "To say hi to my baby brother." It just about brought me to tears, and I can picture telling that story to both of our boys someday.