Yes, the moment has finally arrived. Today on Friday, July 24th we received "the phone call" that we are able to travel to Seoul, S. Korea to get our baby girl!!
We will be leaving on Wed, July 29th at 9:00am. We will arrive in Seoul at 4:00pm (their time) on Thursday, July 30th. We will hopefully get to meet Gracie for the first time on Friday, July 31st. We will then get to see her again at least one more time the next week. We should have lots of time to sight see. We will be in Seoul on Aug 1st, our 11th wedding anniversary...not bad place to celebrate an anniversary. We will be leaving Seoul at 11:00am on Friday, August 7th and arriving back in Minnesota at 1:20pm on Friday, August 7th (only a two hour flight on the way home??......I wish ;-) We will be home right before my birthday on August 9th....best birthday ever!
I called DC on Tues, 21st to see if Gracie's paperwork was at the US Embassy in Seoul. I was expecting them to say, nope, nothing yet. I was just calling to satisfy my need to "do something" while we were waiting. Much to my shock, I was told that they did have her documents and the review of her visa paperwork was going to be on Wed. 22nd. I was told that I could call back on Wed. 22nd to check and see if her travel visa was issued. So when I called the next day, they said that yes all the paperwork was cleared and her visa was issued. I knew that once the visa was issued, we would be getting a call any day. Well today was that day.
I was expecting to have a few more weeks to get ready to go and now I am running around to get everything ready. My parents will be staying at our house with the boys while we are gone. We are so fortunate to be able to keep the boys at home while we are away. It's going to be a long time to be away from my boys, but it will be so wonderful to finally have our whole family together. Well, I could say a lot more right now, however, I need to get a move'in and a pack'in....
BTW...Thanks so much to everyone for all your kind thoughts and well wishes. It is such a joy to be able to share our excitement with so many friends and family.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
We recevied an update on Ms. Gracie Mae!!!!!
We are sooo excited to share the newest pictures we just received today of Gracie Mae Ye-Jin Lee Sagstetter!!!!
In these photos, she is about 9.5 months old.
We also received some info on how she is doing and she is doing great!!
She weighs about 17 pounds.
She is crawling and scooting herself on her tummy. She is also pulling herself to standing and cruises along low furniture. She is described as "fast and active". She has a blanket we sent her that she likes, she holds onto it and sucks on it. She mostly likes to play with people, more than toys, but she does like stuffed animals.
This will be the last set of info and pictures we will get about Gracie before we leave to travel. We still have no more detailed info on when we will be leaving, just a "guesstimated" date around August 17th- give or take a week or so. (Kinda like a "due date". :-)
Thursday, July 2, 2009
How do the babies handle the flight back to the US?
Short Answer: Usually lots of crying.
More detailed answer:
Well, I can also sum it up by saying.... "Although, we have been anxiously awaiting Gracie's arrival, she has not been anxiously awaiting us."
Gracie has been with a loving foster family. As far as she understands, her foster mother is her MOM/Omma. She has no idea her world is going to be turned upside down. Granted, she will adjust eventually, and she will be happy but it will take some time. Gracie will be deeply loved in her forever family, however she has had to pay a high price to join our family.
At 11 months old, Gracie will be very well attached to her foster mother and her family. When she comes home with us she will have lost all she has known and all that is familiar. She will have lost her "Omma"(Mama) and the biological children of her foster mother, "her siblings". She will have lost the familiar sounds, smells, and language. We will look very different, and maybe even scary to her because all she has seen in her life are probably only Korean faces (not blonde hair, light blue "big" eyes, "long" noses and a hairy face(that's John :-).
It is a very bittersweet time... it is joyful that she will be with us, her forever family that cherishes her already, however, it is also a time of deep loss for her. She will experience grief and we will be there to help her work through it.
So all that being said, you can imagine that a 20 hour flight with a grief stricken child is not going to be fun. Apparently, there is likely to be lots of crying on an airplane full of people (like 4-5 hours maybe). Yikes!! We've heard from some families the babies cry until they fall asleep of exhaustion and once they wake up they seem "fine" or at least a lot better. Other infants just "shut down" from the grief. Although this is heartbreaking, it is a healthy response, it shows they were well taken care of and were attached to their foster parent. Even with the grief, attachment to a foster parent is best because if you have attached to a caregiver in your infancy, it means there is the best chance that you will be able to attach again and trust again.
So John and I are trying to mentally and emotionally prepare for the "worst" on the flight home and anything better than that will be a blessing....
More detailed answer:
Well, I can also sum it up by saying.... "Although, we have been anxiously awaiting Gracie's arrival, she has not been anxiously awaiting us."
Gracie has been with a loving foster family. As far as she understands, her foster mother is her MOM/Omma. She has no idea her world is going to be turned upside down. Granted, she will adjust eventually, and she will be happy but it will take some time. Gracie will be deeply loved in her forever family, however she has had to pay a high price to join our family.
At 11 months old, Gracie will be very well attached to her foster mother and her family. When she comes home with us she will have lost all she has known and all that is familiar. She will have lost her "Omma"(Mama) and the biological children of her foster mother, "her siblings". She will have lost the familiar sounds, smells, and language. We will look very different, and maybe even scary to her because all she has seen in her life are probably only Korean faces (not blonde hair, light blue "big" eyes, "long" noses and a hairy face(that's John :-).
It is a very bittersweet time... it is joyful that she will be with us, her forever family that cherishes her already, however, it is also a time of deep loss for her. She will experience grief and we will be there to help her work through it.
So all that being said, you can imagine that a 20 hour flight with a grief stricken child is not going to be fun. Apparently, there is likely to be lots of crying on an airplane full of people (like 4-5 hours maybe). Yikes!! We've heard from some families the babies cry until they fall asleep of exhaustion and once they wake up they seem "fine" or at least a lot better. Other infants just "shut down" from the grief. Although this is heartbreaking, it is a healthy response, it shows they were well taken care of and were attached to their foster parent. Even with the grief, attachment to a foster parent is best because if you have attached to a caregiver in your infancy, it means there is the best chance that you will be able to attach again and trust again.
So John and I are trying to mentally and emotionally prepare for the "worst" on the flight home and anything better than that will be a blessing....
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Meet Ms. Gracie Mae
This is our beautiful, Ms. Gracie Mae. In this picture she is 6 months old. She is now 9 1/2 months old, so she definitely would look older now in a picture. We do not have any other more current pictures. The little chair she is sitting in is "the chair" that all the children have their pictures taken in.
Gracie Mae Ye-Jin Lee Sagstetter was born on Sept. 12th, 2008 at 2:59am and weighed 6.2lbs.
Her Korean name is Ye Jin Lee. (pronounced "yay jeen eee" - we say Lee but in Korean it is pronounced "eee", the L is silent)
Ye-means plant, Jin-means treasure, Lee is the family name of her birthmom.
She is currently living with her foster mother and her three children, 2 boys in 6th and 7th grade and 1 girl in 1st grade. She has lived with her foster family since birth.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
How do the boys feel about having a sister?
Both boys are very excited.
Will can't wait. He had a brilliant "revelation" a few months ago, he said, "Wow mom, with three kids that's going to be even more chaos!" I thought to myself... how true that is.
When we told him that we were going to have to wait longer before Gracie came, he was almost in tears.
Leo obviously has a limited understanding of what is about to happen and the impact it will have on his life. He mentions his sister often in conversations. He tells people that his sister's name is Gracie Mae and she lives "at Korea" (South Korea). He knows she has a room in our house. However, to some degree, I think his understanding is also that his sister is a very unobtrusive picture of a little girl on the kitchen cupboard. How quickly that understanding will change in the near future.
Overall, it will be a "stressful blessing" but as most families do we will all adjust to our new life as a family of five.
Will can't wait. He had a brilliant "revelation" a few months ago, he said, "Wow mom, with three kids that's going to be even more chaos!" I thought to myself... how true that is.
When we told him that we were going to have to wait longer before Gracie came, he was almost in tears.
Leo obviously has a limited understanding of what is about to happen and the impact it will have on his life. He mentions his sister often in conversations. He tells people that his sister's name is Gracie Mae and she lives "at Korea" (South Korea). He knows she has a room in our house. However, to some degree, I think his understanding is also that his sister is a very unobtrusive picture of a little girl on the kitchen cupboard. How quickly that understanding will change in the near future.
Overall, it will be a "stressful blessing" but as most families do we will all adjust to our new life as a family of five.
What will happen when you travel to South Korea to bring Gracie Mae home?
Once we arrive in Seoul, a driver will pick us up from the airport and bring us to the Guest House at Eastern/ESWS-the agency in Korea. We are hoping there will be space for us to stay there during our trip because it's inexpensive and then we are also right there. On the first two floors of the building is the agency, on the upper few floors is the guest house for families to stay. On the second floor, is the nursery where all the babies have stayed temporarily, until they are placed with their foster family. There are about 50-70 babies in the nursery at any one time. One of the exciting opportunities that comes with staying at the Guest House, is the chance to help take care of the babies in the nursery --to feed, change, and hold the babies that are still waiting for their foster family and their forever family. I can't wait to help with the babies and whisper in their ears that they are loved and their family is out there waiting for them, like I hope someone did for Gracie. If the guest house is full we will stay at a local hotel within walking distance.
The the day after we arrive we will probably get to meet Gracie for the first time. It will be our BIG day, THE moment. Her foster mother will bring her to the agency and we will get to spend some time with Gracie there. That day we will also meet her social worker and the other agency workers that have been instrumental in Gracie's care. We will also meet with the president of the agency (Eastern). The president of the agency is the daughter of the man who founded Eastern. After we meet with Gracie, her foster mom and the agency workers, we are free to tour, travel and explore. Gracie will go home with her foster mother. A day or so later we will be able to meet with Gracie and her foster mother again. After our second meeting, Gracie will again go home with her foster mother.
Other than the couple meetings with Gracie and the agency workers, John and I will be free to sight see. I hope to go to the Korean market, eat lots of delicious Korean food, go to the Koryo Bookstore which is apparently unlike any bookstore there is, go to the Korean folk village and visit some of the many beautiful palaces. We still need to work out all the details of our sightseeing plans. Apparently, there is an extensive subway system that is quite easy to use.
On the last day of our stay in Korea, we will wake up early and meet with the agency president, foster mother and social workers. We will all gather together and a prayer will be said for Gracie and all the children leaving-blessing them in their new life. At that point, we load up our things, get on a van and are transported to the airport. We then get on our plane and fly back to MN on what will be a VERY long flight home (20-23 hours including layover).
As you might have gathered from this description, we do not take physical custody of Gracie until we leave for the airport. From what I understand, the reason for this is because CHSFS (Children's Home/our agency) is actually the legal guardian of Gracie until we finalize the adoption back in MN, 6 months after we arrive home. We are Gracie's parents during that time and make all decisions regarding her care, but the adoption will not be finalized until 6 months after we are home. We will finalize through the Ramsey County courts. It is because we finalize the adoption back in the states that we cannot have custody in Korea until we leave. It is also the reason we will have so much time to sight see while we are in Korea. While we are in Korea there is no legal paperwork or procedures to take care of. This is one aspect of Korean adoptions that is different from most other international adoption programs.
So that is what I understand will happen when we travel to get Gracie. Of course, I will fill everyone in on the details of our trip as we are there because we will have Internet access at the Guest House. I can't wait!!
The the day after we arrive we will probably get to meet Gracie for the first time. It will be our BIG day, THE moment. Her foster mother will bring her to the agency and we will get to spend some time with Gracie there. That day we will also meet her social worker and the other agency workers that have been instrumental in Gracie's care. We will also meet with the president of the agency (Eastern). The president of the agency is the daughter of the man who founded Eastern. After we meet with Gracie, her foster mom and the agency workers, we are free to tour, travel and explore. Gracie will go home with her foster mother. A day or so later we will be able to meet with Gracie and her foster mother again. After our second meeting, Gracie will again go home with her foster mother.
Other than the couple meetings with Gracie and the agency workers, John and I will be free to sight see. I hope to go to the Korean market, eat lots of delicious Korean food, go to the Koryo Bookstore which is apparently unlike any bookstore there is, go to the Korean folk village and visit some of the many beautiful palaces. We still need to work out all the details of our sightseeing plans. Apparently, there is an extensive subway system that is quite easy to use.
On the last day of our stay in Korea, we will wake up early and meet with the agency president, foster mother and social workers. We will all gather together and a prayer will be said for Gracie and all the children leaving-blessing them in their new life. At that point, we load up our things, get on a van and are transported to the airport. We then get on our plane and fly back to MN on what will be a VERY long flight home (20-23 hours including layover).
As you might have gathered from this description, we do not take physical custody of Gracie until we leave for the airport. From what I understand, the reason for this is because CHSFS (Children's Home/our agency) is actually the legal guardian of Gracie until we finalize the adoption back in MN, 6 months after we arrive home. We are Gracie's parents during that time and make all decisions regarding her care, but the adoption will not be finalized until 6 months after we are home. We will finalize through the Ramsey County courts. It is because we finalize the adoption back in the states that we cannot have custody in Korea until we leave. It is also the reason we will have so much time to sight see while we are in Korea. While we are in Korea there is no legal paperwork or procedures to take care of. This is one aspect of Korean adoptions that is different from most other international adoption programs.
So that is what I understand will happen when we travel to get Gracie. Of course, I will fill everyone in on the details of our trip as we are there because we will have Internet access at the Guest House. I can't wait!!
How long do we need to stay in S. Korea?
Short answer: A minimum of 3 business days.
More detailed answer:
When parents decide to travel, the requirement is that we need to be there a minimum of three business days. However, we are going to be traveling half way around the world, literally Seoul is 12 hours ahead of us. Our day is their night....you get the idea. So John and I are hoping to be there around 7-8 days (which will also give us some time to adjust to the extreme time change). It is a fabulous opportunity to tour, travel and experience our daughter's birth country. We will also have the irreplaceable opportunity to meet her foster mother and the people at the agency (Eastern Social Welfare Services) in Korea that have given Gracie such a loving, stable first year of life. We will also have the honor of thanking them personally for all they have done for our daughter. It will be a great blessing for us to be able to share information with Gracie about the people who cared for her and S. Korea from our personal experience. We are looking forward to this once in a lifetime opportunity and a mini "vacation" before we take custody of Gracie and travel back to the US.
More detailed answer:
When parents decide to travel, the requirement is that we need to be there a minimum of three business days. However, we are going to be traveling half way around the world, literally Seoul is 12 hours ahead of us. Our day is their night....you get the idea. So John and I are hoping to be there around 7-8 days (which will also give us some time to adjust to the extreme time change). It is a fabulous opportunity to tour, travel and experience our daughter's birth country. We will also have the irreplaceable opportunity to meet her foster mother and the people at the agency (Eastern Social Welfare Services) in Korea that have given Gracie such a loving, stable first year of life. We will also have the honor of thanking them personally for all they have done for our daughter. It will be a great blessing for us to be able to share information with Gracie about the people who cared for her and S. Korea from our personal experience. We are looking forward to this once in a lifetime opportunity and a mini "vacation" before we take custody of Gracie and travel back to the US.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)