Close...but no Cigar...YET! (EP Approved!)

We were approved for Max's Emmigration Permit (EP) this was the last major thing we needed.  This is the Korean Governments go ahead that Max may leave Korea and become a permanent resident of the US.  There are a few "housekeeping" items that need to be finished up on the Korea side.

* Visa physical (VP) this is to say Max is healthy enough to fly.
* Visa Interview: Apparently this is where they interview the immigrant as to why they want to leave the country...I wonder what he will say?  In all reality, they need to check to make sure there is a live human attached to all of the paperwork.
*Embassy Appearance:  Fancy way of saying passport photo and issuance of one way passport.
* TRAVEL CALL: This is when they call and say all of the above ducks are finally in a row...and we hop a plane to Korea.

Our best guess and what our agency is predicting is travel call in about 3 weeks!  Whatever information we get we will certainly share.


We are nearing the end of this marathon...we reached mile 25...this is the point that you will make it on adrenaline alone, you can crawl the rest if you must, limping and gimping...we can nearly see the finish line. And we are so ready to go and get our little boy and be a family of 3...that is when the real race starts....especially since Max is walking 100% independently!

Nothing. Nada. No News.

We have fielded many, many questions about Max and his pending arrival:  I will answer them here and summarize at the end.  WARNING: The theme here is...we know nothing. 

When do you go? Don't know yet
What is going on? No news
Have you heard anything yet? Nope
When will he be home? This is the Million Dollar Question
Will he be home by his Birthday? Hope so...no gaurantees
Did you book your tickets yet? Cant until we get "the call"
How much notice do you get? None...we have 10 days to get there one we get "the call"
What is taking so long? I have no idea
How long will you be there? 5-7 days total...we will get him on day 3 or 4 and stay a bit, then come home
Are they speaking English to him? Probably not...though we sent him a book with a recording of us reading the story.

Those are all the questions I can think of right now.  If you have questions, leave a comment or email us.

WHERE ARE WE AT?

Basically, there are 3 big pieces remaining.

Emmigration Permit (EP): We were submitted for the EP on 1-31.  It takes several weeks to be approved...so far we have waited 3 weeks and 3 days. 
Visa Physical (VP): This can be scheduled once we have our EP.  They typically have been taking place about 2-3 weeks after EP approval. 
Travel Call (TC): This is "The Call" that says Max is ready...get on a plane! This takes place about a week after the VP. 

As of right now, once our EP is approved it will take about another month.  Max will turn 1 in 5 weeks.  Please pray, think good thoughts, send good vibes, for us.  Trying to be optimistic but realistic at the same time.

What we have been waiting for...EP was submitted on 1-31

The item that has been holding us up was submitted for Max on 1-31.  His Emigration Permit application was sent to the Korean Ministry yesterday.  So...what does this mean?

* Once it is approved the final steps can take place for us to get Max. 
* It has been taking approximately 2 weeks to be approved.
* Our best guess at this point is being able to go to Korea some time in the first 3 weeks of March...BEFORE his first birthday!

Once we are approved we will likely get our travel call 2-4 weeks later.  Once we get the travel call we will immediately book tickets and get there within a week. 

If our approval comes in 2 weeks and we get our travel call 2 weeks later we could be on our way by the first week in March!

We are so super excited about this...we have to do our final projects so we are ready!

Every day is a day closer...

I have been a crazy analytical lady for the last few weeks...stalking others' timelines and crossing off who has been submitted for their Emmigration Permit.  Last week, on the 19th the 3rd batch of EP's were submitted for Holt, we may or may not have been in that batch...sometimes our agency is a few days behind in notifying familes they were submitted.  We were right at the cut off.  The end of the families that were notified were referrals at the end of September, we got our referral on 10-4-10.  The other people at the top of the list are also with our agency...there is a margin of error here.  So I think I will give it a 50/50 chance we got in the last batch...if not, I am calling it...we are in the next batch!

The next would be submitted after the Lunar New Year which is most of next week.  So, I think the next batch will be the first full week in February.  And I really think we will be in it! Travel timelines once approved have not yet been established...However, people have been quoted 4-6 weeks.  We will likely travel within the next 8 to 10 weeks.  Which is much better than we initially thought.  Please keep us in your prayers...Max needs to be united with his forever family...and we all need to get on with our life as a family. 

Hobbies...some went great! Some not so much!

After I took my blogging break, prior to seeing Max's photo for the first time, I decided I needed a hobby or three.  I signed up for a knitting class, I drafted a fantasy football team and bought a sewing machine. 

KNITTING:

My knitting class took place in October, we got our referral for Max on October 4th, I was so scatterbrained I missed the first class.  I got behind, never really caught up and hated it.  The class was fun, wine was involved but knitting stressed me out! Our project was to make a dishcloth...here is the finished product. 

I know it is terrible...but we do use it.  Mark actually told me I should make more! Well if it gets him to do the dishes,  I may have to think about it?!?

FANTASY FOOTBALL:

I did have some help from Mark but I made all of the final decisions regarding my team.  I did pretty good for a Rookie.  I made it to the playoffs, but lost in the first round.  It at least kept me distracted every Sunday for the last few months!  That was the goal.

SEWING:

This was by far my greatest success!  I actually enjoyed it and made a few things I am really proud of.  I had made some Mittens for Max, that I sent in his care package.  I made myself some flannel PJ pants. And I liked it so much I decided to make all of the Nieces and Nephews pillows for Christmas with their first initial on it.  I got many compliments and was pretty pleased with myself! I plan to make a pillow for Max too with his name on it.

My nephew Connor, who is 5 years old, opened his pillow he excitedly asked me "How did you know my name starts with a C!"...I told him I was really smart ;) 

It was nice to have a few distractions while we wait for Max to come home.  We still have lots of things to do, but progress is being made. 

Busy day on the Adoption front...

Today we received a new well baby check up report, more information on Max's current foster family and word that the National Visa Center sent our approval to the US Embassy in Seoul, South Korea.  I will break it all down for you.

Well Baby Check: 12-27-2010

Max is walking one step independently, he has 8 teeth (3 new ones since last month!) and grew just a little... He is now 27.5 inches tall and weighs 17 pounds 10 oz.

Foster Family Info:

I won't share too much, but we do know that his current foster family in Seoul he has a Foster mom and dad, as well as 2 foster sisters and a foster brother in their teens and early 20's.  Max is their first foster child that they have had.  I am sure they all love him very much.

National Visa Center:

The United States side of the paperwork is completely done, the US Embassy in Korea has a few things to do, but for the most part the US is done.  The US gave us their stamp of approval so to speak and the last major thing is the Emigration Permit(EP)...that is where this whole journey gets really interesting...

Where does that leave us? You may want to skip to "the bottom line"

Well...this is where the possible delay comes in.  I will try to explain it the best I can.  The EP is what we need for Max to get his passport and the Korean governments approval for him to leave the country permanently and get his one way Visa/Passport to come to the US.  This is the last big piece of the puzzle...and the trickiest.

Each calendar year the Korean Government gives each of the agencies a certain number of EP's for the year.  This is their way of trying to limit the number of children that are adopted internationally.  However this has no bearing on how many children are relinquished to each agency in any given year...so basically there are more babies that EP's available.   Because of this, our agency ran out of EP's for 2010 for families matched with a baby in July 2010...We were matched with Max on 10-4-10...so there are many families ahead of us that have been waiting longer.  However, it now 2011! They got a new stock of EP's for the year and they are again starting to process them.  We know we are not in the first group to be submitted...the first group should be submitted this week, it is unclear at this time how many groups will be submitted in the next few weeks, we could be in the second group...or the twelfth group...we won't know until we are notified.  However, I may be able to figure out when we are getting close. 

The Bottom Line:

Once we are in fact submitted for EP, we should be notified, processing takes 2-6 weeks, and typically your travel call would be within the next 3-5 weeks after that.  So once we know we are submitted for EP we will travel 5 to 11 weeks later.  We remain optimistic that we will travel some time in April, maybe a little sooner...maybe a little later.  But once we know we have our EP...I will be letting everyone know.  So if you see a post about EP...it means we are getting much much closer! 



Welcome 2011...glad you are here

We are very glad that 2011 looks to be our best year yet.  Looking back at the last few, there have been some highs and lows.  Some celebration and disappointments.  But 2011 will bring life changing events.  We will become parents for the first time, Max will be coming home.  The timeframe for this is still unclear...but it is really happening.  Now that there is a new year there is a whole new bunch of Emmigration Permits available for the babies that have been matched with families.  This is the step we are not so patiently waiting for, now that it is 2011, we are closer than ever to bringing home our little guy.  We have been getting ready and getting excited.  We cannot wait to be able to post pictures of our entire family together at last in the same place. 

We are so glad it is 2011...big things will be happening...we will be happy to report about all of it.