New photos! Well...new to US at least!

The good news keeps on coming! We got more photos in the mail today - much to our surprise and delight. We were told that these were the Studio Photos of his 100 day birthday also known as the Baek-il. It once was considered to be a marked occasion that a baby made it to 100 days and is still traditionally celebrated in Korea.

So - this means that while they are not current photos of him - they are "new" to us, so we are delighted! Can't wait to hold this little cutie. (Ella thinks he looks like a "pirate" in the one with the blue and white hat!) :)

Moving forward...oops, I mean back!

I was SO excited yesterday morning to find in our mail a package from the USINS (United States Immigration and Naturalization Service)! I couldn't believe how fast they were...or so I thought. I opened the package only to find that it was the entire contents that had been mailed to them with a note saying that we owe them an additional fee. Argh! It was disheartening to say the least. I was burdened with the feelings that we may have just cost ourselves some time in bringing Levi home. So I called our social worker, Jean, who once again, reassured us that we are still on track. She encouraged us to get a cashier's check with the additional funds, and express mail the application back to Boston today. She noted that our documents really only took a little over a week to be reviewed (to see that this error was made) and that - she said was "very" good news. She was also excited to tell me that Levi's documents are IN the states, and are ready to be filed as soon as that paperwork processes. So - it appears that we are still on track...in the words of Jean, we are onto step #2. So, I went to bed feeling more relaxed and dreaming of holding our son. We should have more pictures to share next week. Stay tuned...

One day of well-wishers - thank you dear friends!

My precious son - you are but one day in our hearts and your "fan club" awaits. :) You ARE loved by many, my sweet boy and we can't wait to bring you home. Below are just a sampling of the many, many emails we recieved today, in addition to the comments posted - just ONE day after your unveiling! (I tried to include them all - but there were SOO many!) We can hardly wait to share these amazing friends with you. Come home soon...

Oh my goodness! That is such exciting news! We can't to meet him!

Lizzie and Bryan


Congratulations!!!! What a beautiful baby...we look forward to meeting him soon.
love,
Tony and Talia

Oh my, Angie, he is absolutely perfect! Just gorgeous! Congratulations! Can't wait to hear more about your process!
Jackie B.

Dear Angie

I was just talking about you – last night! Unbelievable to hear from you today- and to hear this news. This is such wonderful news- congratulations to all of you.

Susan Solomont

We're rejoicing with you. We are so excited for you and so glad to be a witness to your journey. Love you!
Nicole

Congratulations!!!

He looks like a Gerrard alright :) Melvyn

Congratulations Angie,

I hope all works out for you. You and Steve will be wonderful parents to your second son.

Love,

katie

Crying at his picture, ang. he's beautiful!! oh, i just want you to have him now. i can't imagine how this must be testing your patience and trust.

just beautiful. no other words.
much love, aim

Congratulations! I am so excited for you! I can't wait to follow along your story and hear how things progress. Keep us on the update.

May God continue to bless your family,

Kendra

Oh, my gosh! He is soooo adorable! Now we all have to wait! AAGGGHHH! But it’ll be such joy when he finally does arrive. We are so happy for all of you!

Love,

The Alberts

WOW we are so excited for all of you!! This is so cool! I cant wait to meet the new nephew!!

love,

Penny

Love the pictures and we are so excited for you! (hope you can get the throne)

Bill

angie and steve,
that is AWESOME!!
i'm excited for you!

Katrina M.

Angie, He is so beautiful! I am so happy for you and for your new son. What a blessing you all will be to one another. Love - Annelise

Congratulations! Wow, I'm not normally a crier, but I must admit, my eyes started welling up when I saw his picture. Brings back a lot of great memories. He's very blessed to have you as parents.

Rob

Our prayers will be with you. There is a little man just waiting for your hugs!! Praise God!

love,
Jayne

Dear Angie,

Congratulations! He is so very cute! Phil and I are really thrilled for you all and we can't wait to hear more as the story unfolds. Ben and Ella will be a great big brother and sister for the little guy!

Anne

Hi,

So Happy for your family...Will be praying.

Love,

Carol Ann and Jeff

Wonderful news! Congratulations to you and your family! If there's anything I can do to help, please feel free to ask.

- Barbara Wester

Oh, Ang...

Weeping with joy for you at this happy and expectant time!

God is so good!

Praying.

Hillary

He is SOOOOOOO cute! That throne picture cracks me up! It's precious.

Love it, love it, love it!
Sarah

I am soooo excited for you!

Laura

Right on! Congratulations Gerrards! Ed Fraher

So happy for y'all! Rebecca

CONGRATS ANGIE!!!! Tracy

Congrats, Angie!! so excited for you all! Heather

Congratulations on the news about your baby boy! He's beautiful!! Many prayers to you guys and your little one! Melissa F.

Pictures, pictures, pictures!

We can't stop looking at the pictures of our beautiful baby! We are rejoicing at this wonderful news and we can't wait to bring him home late Feb/early March. Initial acceptance paperwork was sent back to to LTC today and will be taken to Korea with Cecelia...it's official! Please pray that all our next steps go smoothly. Picture # 1 is at 2 months, and picture #2 is 4 months. We'll hopefully have more in a couple of weeks! Oh, and many have asked if we will change his name. We will, but we we'll keep part of his Korean name as well. We'll update the blog soon.

We're approved!! Now what?

So we are officially approved to adopt, as of 10/9. (We didn't even need the final visit!) Jean told us that we should expect that our home study would be sent to Korea this week or next and then we'll get a referral. The referral will be the information about our son or daughter which will tell us gender, medical information and background and everything else they can document.

So - we are officially "waiting". We know that our agency Love the Children, is known for their short wait times, which is thrilling for us. However, I have to admit that I didn't picture that the waiting would be this difficult. Every day feels a little like an eternity. Once you know there is a baby out there, somewhere, that is born and will be with you forever, you can't help but want to hold that baby in your arms. We know our child is loved by their foster mom, but we just can't wait to welcome him/her home. We hope to share very good news with you soon...

Meanwhile, the kids did a great mural on our playroom door. We love everything about it except the nauseating smell of tempera paint that it left behind! :) Take a look!

Where we've come from and where we are headed...

Well, if you had any doubt that Steve and I loved each other, we now EACH of 4 - 6 page autobiographies to prove that we do! :) Here is a timeline of our process...not because you care so much, but because I want our son or daughter to be able to read the intimate details from the time we first learned that God was blessing us with a third child. You may read them too - if you'd like. :)

Sometime in the last 9 years up until 9/8/2008: we decide we want to adopt. More specifically in August and September, we did some checking around and saw that Korea seems like the right place for us. Our hearts were drawn to the Asian cultures, more specifically to China, but for various reasons, we decided not to pursue China, and instead - discovered Korea. We are THRILLED about this.
9/8: Called Love the Children Adoption agency for an application
9/11: Application arrived. We got right to work on the "list" of items they need and spent the weekend writing our life stories...really.
9/18: LTC confirmed that they received the application. I talked to the Social worker (Jean) who is a godsend, and she answered all of my many, many questions
9/26: We scheduled our home study appointment (after a return phone call because I'm schedule impaired)...and finally...
10/7, 10/9 & 10/14: Our home study.
From here on out: We estimate that we will have a referral by mid-November and have a baby HOME in the spring of 2009.