1st Post placement

TWO MONTHS have flown by!!!!!!! Can you even believe we had our first of 3 visits? We LOVE our social worker! We have literally known her for 9 years. She has done all 3 of our home studies and post placement visits. Papa and I were talking today afterward saying we can't imagine doing this with another SW'er! We decided we will have to ask her if she is up for another go around if we are!! She is amazing!

Now, if you don't know the story, this dear woman had to do our HS quite a few times to get it all Hague approved. And they went over it with a FINE tooth comb since we were WACAP's first Hague family for Thailand and second total!


Here is a pic of our SW'er with Peanut at her first post placement visit May 2001. Sorry about the quality, it is a scanned in picture! Peanut is not quite 5 months here!

Doesn't she look loke someone who LOVES her job!! May God bless you, BP, for all the children you have helped over the years!!

Police Station

Did I scare ya?!

We got fingerprinted AGAIN today! Our homestudy needs to be updated for all our clearances. I find it crazy that we have to pay for this to be done. It took us max 30 minutes total time with a slow elderly gentlemen doing the prints. And that even included collecting our fees, fingerprinting Bug, chatting about baby wipes..... We paid $25 and still have to send in another $40 for someone at the capital to find out if we are criminals.

Mind you the crime would have to have been committed in the last 18 months. ;))

Moving forward!

M

Birth Mothers

In the spirit of National Adoption Month, I am going to post about many aspects of adoption that are close to my heart. As an adoptive mother, I think it natural this be the first.


Peanut and Bug were both born in S. Korea. It was 8 years ago that we had just (in Oct.) become homestudy to Korea. In layman's terms that means our necessary paperwork had just been sent over to wait for the referral of our first child. This put us into one of the hurry up and wait moments that have become SO familiar to us. You hurry, hurry, hurry with your responsibilities so that you can sit and wait!

Now that left me with plenty of time to think, pray, learn and read. At the time we didn't even have a computer and adoption wasn't quite as "out there" as a topic of discussion as it is now. Though it still has a long way to go!

We knew at that time, our child was already conceived and growing in his/her birthmother's womb. I assumed (never really a good thing to do!) that abortions* were not readily available in S. Korea. My awe grew immensely for these precious women when I found out that it is rather "easy" to obtain an abortion there.


These women CHOSE life, so that I may be a mother.


In a society that frowns upon unwed women,

THEY CHOSE LIFE

in a society where open adoption doesn't exist so no chance to know or see their child,

THEY CHOSE LIFE

in a society where the child would not be accepted if he/she was adopted domestically,

THEY CHOSE LIFE

to carry that child for 9 months as an outward reminder to all of their "shame and disgrace",

THEY CHOSE LIFE

knowing if they chose to raise their child, poverty would be their future,

THEY CHOSE LIFE


Our family IS, because THEY CHOSE LIFE.

And I believe they loved their baby enough to make a plan, allowing them to have the best life possible. They had big dreams for their child. I believe it is my job to help my children reach for their dreams, for them, and for their birth mothers.

I strive everyday to do my best for Peanut and Bug to honor the choice their birth mothers made.

We talk to our children about Korea, their birth mothers and the different ways God creates a family.

I pray for my children's birth mothers every day. They are heavy on my heart on Peanut and Bug's birthdays. I wonder how they are doing, are they healthy, living, aware that God loves them, know that we love them, do they have other children/siblings to my children.....

I thank God for them always. I thank God they CHOSE life and I thank God He chose me.





I can't imagine one of them not being CHOSEN, can you?












Thank you to all Birth Mothers for making us infertile women MOTHERS. We are blessed beyond anything one can imagine. Please know your selfless act is so appreciated and honored by those of us blessed by your choices.

M


*FYI--We are a pro-life family.