Isaiah Song Smith

So, I know this is a little over due to our faithful followers and distant family.  However, these past few weeks have been quite...well, raw.  Emotions have been high.  Chris was out of town when we first found out about Isaiah.  Chris left town the Friday before last, I got the call the following Monday, and he didn't return until that Friday.  In complete honesty, that.was.tough...for both of us.  We were, and still are, so very excited.  Unfortunately, not everyone is nice and some even seemed upset when we told them.  It was almost like some were okay with the idea and not with the reality of us giving an orphan child a home.  Finding out that I was a mom, having Chris out of town, and encountering one too many unfortunate comments made for a rough Thursday.  The good news is that we are parents of a beautiful baby boy and negativity has no part in our new life! 

Onto the details!  It was about 3:30pm and I was in one of my daily meetings that got started rather late.  We were on our second patient and my phone began to ring.  I assumed it was Chris giving me a "I have a quick second.  How is your day?" phone call, but when I saw it was Judy, one of the social workers from Holt, I jumped out of my seat and said, "Oh my Gosh!  It's our social worker!  Maybe we have a baby!!!"  Of course, the room of women yelled at me to take the call.  So as I stepped into the hallway, Judy said hello and told me they have some good news.  I immediately asked, "Is it a baby!"  I think she went on to tell me about his gender and name, at which point, this seldom a tear shedder lost it.  Fortunately, our Activities Director was in the hall and looked at me with concern and I mouthed to him, "We have a baby!"  I wish it were my husband I was standing next to, but it wasn't.  The amazing thing is that Lee and his wife just recently completed their own domestic adoption so he knew my very state of emotion and I can't put to words the look on his face.  He nodded his head with a wonderful smile and I turned away.  Judy went on to tell repeat his name and gender while I tried to stop sobbing.  Then she asked if I had any questions, and apparently to her surprise I said no.  I think this threw her off because she again repeated his name, gender, and date of birth and asked me again if I had any questions.  At that point, I asked if he was healthy and she said yes (this question was out of curiosity alone, Chris and I already knew that the baby Holt would refer us to would be the baby God had set forth for us).  She then asked to email me his clinical records to which I agreed and we hung up.

Then I sent Chris a text that read:
"Call me!  911"
And he did, I mean, within seconds he called me.  For anyone who has ever attempted to contact my husband at any time (myself included) knows that there is a 4 hour turn around time and after 12 you've been forgotten (as an accident, the guy is so busy!), so this was monumental.  How else was I suppose to get an immediate response?!?!

When he called I was in a small room echoing like a cave and began crying again saying, "We have a baby!".  I was responded to with a "Huh, what?"  then "What do you mean a baby?"  then "Who?"  then again, "What do you mean about a baby?"  That's when I said,

"A KOREAN BABY!  COME ON!!!"

Eventually in the phone call he told me that he at first thought I was calling to tell him I was pregnant (a big can't do while doing an adoption with Korea), but then he realized I was telling him I thought Pieper (my dog, who is 11 human years old!) had babies, which is how I refer to our dogs and their, well, babies.

Seriously, Chris?  A.  I'm not taking a pregnancy test at work in the middle of the day.  and B. WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF AN ADOPTION!

I think the whole thing is hilarious!  Totally fitting for us and our crazy communication style.  It's totally going in the memory bank!  LOL

It was in this phone call that Chris suggested a completely off list name for our baby, Isaiah.  Two phone calls to each other later and we agreed on Isaiah Song (his Korean name).

So, after that I was of course useless and had to leave work.  I immediately went to the hospital in which I used to work to have one of the pediatricians I used to work with review the clinical record with me.  Of course, the amazing Dr. Greg Cugini was there and he is not only my favorite pediatrician, but also moving into clinic.  SCORE!  So, I updated him on our adoption, and that I received a referral 20 minutes ago and need him to review the records with me.  He was ecstatic and when I told him that he is the only pediatrician I wanted for Isaiah he said he'd be honored to be his doctor.  We reviewed the chart, I called Chris and we accepted.

So today, our little Turkey baby is 8 months old!  We couldn't be any happier!  He's 100% ours and 100% real, so there's no need to ask about having "real kids" or "our own kids" because he is really ours.  Obviously he is adopted but we have chosen to never use biased words when describing biological differences.  Chris and I have never had the strong desire to conceive and we can't say that we ever will or won't.  But for now and until the Lord reveals his next plan for our family, we have adopted our own, real baby and we have never been so blessed in all of our life! 

Our acceptance paperwork was received yesterday, but that is the first of MANY stacks of paper.  We were told to expect a year wait and they won't send our acceptance pack to Korea until we've paid the final bill in full...which, when you are expecting 9 months to save and fund raise that's not biggie, but when you get your referral in 17 days it's a BIG biggie!  So we are making some immediate decisions and I am crafting my socks off because every penny counts!  We don't want any amount of money to extend the time between us and our baby!

Keep us and our Isaiah in your prayers, more than anything, this is what we all need.  Love and prayers.
If you are interested in support of any other fashion you are welcome to contact me or Chris, but again, we covet your prayers and love.

That is it for now, updates may be scarce due to paper work, crafting, fundraising, and "normal" life things, that definately does not include dishes or laundry!

Our little boy in his 7th month of life...

Our newborn baby, God ordained to be with us before we even knew we were going to adopt, 5 days old. <3

-Mom & Dad

Another piece to the puzzle!

Some of you may have seen on Facebook that Chris and I still needed to get out biometrics completed this past week.  Well, we went in on Tuesday and arrived, oh, a good hour early.  We were very excited when they took us right back and did our fingerprints.  They sweet lady doing the prints was genuinely interested in our adoption process and was asking all kinds of questions.  I thought this was delightfully unexpected.  I'm sure she sees TONS of parents in the adoption process every day, but yet she was greatly interested in they where and who of our story!  It was kind of icing to the cake on a great half day with Chris.  So, on this Tuesday the lady doing our prints said it would take at least a month for the approval to come in, but on FRIDAY I came home from work and there it was, the letter from the federal government approving us as "favorable parents of international adoption".  HOW EXCITING!!!  I'd like to think that the sweet lady doing our prints tells everyone a month on purpose.  Kind of as a passive way to add excitement to everyones adoptoin.  :)

So, now...I have this huge feeling that we are going to be getting a call AT ANY MOMENT!  Like I said before, our social worker (Joy) said that since we are open to more illnesses and disabilities (see previous post) we are likely to wait less for a referral.  I'm trying not to run away with this, but I have this gut feeling that it will be anytime, despite the now increased wait period of 8 months for an "average" adoption.  This is where you would insert my stress.  The baby's room in our current home still remains my closet and my nieces bed room.  So, if we get a referral and accept and pay the rest of the amount for the adoption, ($XX,XXX!!!) it could be a few weeks to a few months before we go get baby.  Those last two sentences should be able to identify to many of you what my stress level may be peaking to without even having to add how we make Kristina and Kylie's room into our baby's room.

Some more good news...I just learned yesterday from my favorite girl Cassi, that Dr. Greg Cugini will now be doing clinic and Southeast Pediatrics!  I used to work with Dr. Cugini when I was a social worker at Southeast on the Pediatric unit, and.I.love.him!  He and Dr. Martinique Johnson are my favorite pediatric physicians.  Dr. Cugini and his wife, Dr. Cugini (OB) are great, down to earth, open to various parenting styles, doctors.  Needless to say, I will be calling him on Monday to ensure we are his patient!  =)

That's all folks!

Connie and Chris

A much needed update!

First, the lack of updates for everyone to read is a result of the lack of updates I had to give.  But, after a crazy few weeks at work, and AMAZING week in Haiti (to which I plan to return to in September while Chris is in India), and absolutely crazy traveling roadblocks during that trip, I now have an update!

We are now on the official wait list!!!!

As of June 8 we were placed on the official wait list to be given a baby referral.   We are scheduled to have our biometrics completed on Tuesday June 26.  I would imagine this will take about 4 weeks to be officially completed, but we can possibly still receive a referral before then.  I'm secretly dreaming that once Holt is notified of our completed and processed biometrics they will say, "Great, we've been waiting for that so we can refer this baby to you."  Wouldn't it be nice?  But, on the other hand there are some pretty big changes we hope to endure in our lives in the next 6 months that would not mesh very well with a trip to Korea and integrating a new baby in our home.  Don't hear me wrong.  This is obviously something that is hard to understand if you are not in the adoption process yourself, but when you are told 18-24 months you begin to believe that at month 18-24 you might bring your baby home.  So, there is little difference in being pregnant and having your baby at 6 months and adopting and getting your baby at 12 months.  Both can reek havoc on your home and be a HUGE blessing at the same time.

After we settle back down into the routine of life, I will be diving into more paperwork and grant applications.  Also, Chris will be calling the potential buyers for our latest home this week.  Please be in prayer with us as we show them the home.  I call this home our "baby home" because the selling of the house plays a big role in our adoption.

I'll continue to keep you posted as we get updates!

Chris and Connie

Publicity

Just sending a shout out to the new readers thanks to the Republic Monitor! I'm excited that the article will help in raising awareness about adoption...adoption of any kind!! We support it all. We simply felt called to adopt internationally. Feel free to email me at connie07smith@gmail.com if you want more info on how to adopt locally or internationally. We'd love to send you in the right direction. Foster to adopt is a great avenue as well and there is a huge need for foster homes right now. If you're feeling called to help orphans in any way we support you!!! Thanks for your positive comments and support! -Side note...the new job is AMAZING!!! Chris & Connie

The Waiting Strip

At this time we are on the "waiting strip".  Not waiting for a baby, but waiting to wait on a baby.  Ya, you read that right.  There is an identified waiting to wait period.  I learned today that we need to complete the I600A form to petition the US government for approval to adopt internationally.  There is a new fee with that (which I don't recall knowing before) and the processing time of that application is 8 weeks.  Once we get the approval from the USCIS then we will be on the waiting for a baby list.  The official wait list!  Our USCIS application and payment will be express mailed tomorrow and our US processing fee was mailed out today.  I was really hoping to be on the waiting for a baby list by May 1, but it could be July 1 or so.  I suppose we will wait longer, there is a baby that needs a home so we are okay with that!  We still hope to have our baby home by Christmas, but more and more that seems unrealistic. 

I've been answering a lot of questions in person so I felt like I've shared this with everyone but I will post the following for those I don't talk to often or ever.

Korea requires their babies to be available for domestic adoption for 6 months, once they have been for 6 months then they are open for international adoption.  So for those people (us) who want to adopt a baby 2 years or younger have a bit of a longer wait because we have to wait for them to turn 6 months old.  We could adopt older and not wait as long, but we really believe that adopting age 2 and under is what we need to do right now.  Thus, the average wait is 6 months.

Once we have been given a referral we have a few days to pray about accepting the referral, take the records to a pediatrician (we don't yet have one, or even have one in mind!), and consider the implications of the health issues at hand.  During the application process prospective parents indicate what illnesses they are open to in a mild, moderate, or severe fashion.  By not answering you are indicating that you are not open to that particular illness.  Our social worker told us that perhaps our wait won't be as long as the usual (18 months total) because we are open to a lot of illnesses. 

Ummmm....we are?

We indicated that we were open to illnesses such as: cleft lip, minor heart defects (I think), food allergies, webbed hands/feet, abnormal sonograms/scans of certain kinds, etc, etc.  There is no guarantee that a naturally born baby will be free of medical issues.  I have a second cousin with significant food allergies, one of my dearest friends had a scare that the little girl she is carrying was going to have Down's Syndrome or another significant illness.  My sister was born with birthmarks that looked like strawberries and were about the same size, too!  I was born with a hole in my heart.  My husband brother was born ugly!  (Hahahahahaha!  Just kidding Luke!  :))  But seriously, we simply marked illnesses that natural born babies could be born with and could be corrected on its own or by minor surgery or medical intervention as well as concerns like food allergies.  Things that aren't life shattering, but may just require some life adjusting.  We decided not to accept babies with major illnesses like Down's, HIV, Hep C, etc because we simply aren't equipped to voluntarily take that one.  We wanted to be responsible in this opportunity and ensure that we could provide an appropriate environment for our baby-to-be.  My gynecologist told me of a person she knows who only adopts children that will die prematurely.  How tearfully amazing, she and her husband are burdened to provide happy and loving homes to deathly ill children!!! 

So, after waiting an average of 6 months for a referral, we then accept the referral and move forward into more paperwork, the EP process.   I'm not sure what that stands for, I have a lot more reading to do in the manual, but I'm getting there.  Nonetheless, once the referral is accepted and paperwork is completed we then wait for the Korean government to issue us our visas.  The average wait for this is 1 year.  Korea has been limiting and reducing the number of visas they give out to people for international adoption.  They have not revealed why or even how many they issue.  But if your paperwork isn't processed by their cut-off limit, then you wait for it to re-open.  It's not done by calendar year, either so there is really limited guessing.  I believe, however it was mid February 2012 when they reopened visa granting.  I'm hoping that is in our favor.  Once we are approved we then get a 2-4 week notice to travel and we get our baby!  We will stay in Seoul, Korea for about a week and make a 14 hour flight back home to begin our new life of bonding and learning...that's exciting and scary at the same time!

So, I believe for now that is it.  All-in-all, it will probably be 8 weeks before there is a major update to share, but I'll try to post updates on the baby's room, designs, and maybe baby names.  We talked again last night about baby names.  Chris is stuck on a boy name that I haven't fully fallen in love with and naturally he doesn't like my picks.  We have a significant list of girl names but he refuses to talk about girl names because 99% of the babies from Korea are boys, but maybe since we are open to more illnesses that makes more girls available to us.  We really want a girl, that was our original request but then found out Korea doesn't allow requests.  All of my siblings have girls and Chris' sister just had a GORGEOUS baby boy.  I think since the idea of having a girl is so far out of reach we are silently yearning for one more and more while eagerly awaiting a precious baby boy! 

Until then we will be waiting...on the strip of course. 

Thanks for the support and prayers!
Local readers, don't forget to look for me at the Mayfest on May 12.  I have a booth for the crafts I've been making and to take orders.  See you there!

Chris and Connie

T-Shirts, Thirty-One, and more!

As some of you saw on Facebook there are some products we will be selling in an effort to raise funds to bring our baby home!  I've had a lot of questions and requests for more info, so here it goes!

Through a company called Simply Love we are selling t-shirts and other items.  Here's a little sneak peak of the print (although the country will be Korea and not Africa!):
This is the front of the men's t-shirt:

 The back of the men's t-shirt:

 The back of the women's t-shirt:

 The front of the women's t-shirt:

We are selling the women's t-shirt in blue first.  If there is a high demand for the green then we will open up sales to that.  The green is really just to appease me, because it's my favorite color.  :)
Ladies shirts are what the company calls a "junior's cut" which is really just a "ladies' cut".  They suggest going a size bigger when you order.  The shirts are non-refundable, but we will be happy to help you switch a shirt with other customer's if it work's out.  Or if you ordered a Large and you need an X-Large, we will switch an order size in upcoming orders to accommodate, but, naturally, there are no refunds.
T-Shirts are only $18!


All of the items below will be available with the above t-shirt design or a Simply Love logo, we are still deciding which it will be, but don't worry, the cutest design will win!  :)


Here is my dilemma:  There are so many other items that can be ordered.  For example, there are 3 different kinds of water bottles...how do I chose?!?!  Well, I don't!  YOU DO!  I am asking you to leave a comment with the name of the water bottle you want to see available.  :)  Please leave the exact name of the item in the comment section.  The bottle with the most requests will be the bottle available.  If there is a close second then we will have both!  Don't pay attention to the colors, just the cup style.  :)

16 oz Spirit Tumbler $17 (below)

 140z Double Wall Laguna Chisel water cup $17 (below)

h2go SS Solus Water Cup $18 (below):

 Double Wall Porcelain Mug Silicone with lid (aka coffee mug!)  $20 (below):
**This item can also be ordered in plastic and is only $16-the highest demanded style will be the style ordered...WHICH ONE DO YOU WANT AVAILABLE TO YOU?  Porcelain or Plastic?***

Messenger Tote $25 (below):

Purse Tote $26 (below):

Distressed Baseball Hat $16:

Now, on to Thirty-One...
I have been a consultant for a little less than a year now.  I have decided to commit all of my profit from Thirty-One to help bring our baby home!  You can play a part by purchasing from me in person, via email connie07smith@gmail.com, or through my website www.mythirtyone.com/81712.  You can also host a home or catalog party to get free and half priced items while supporting the cause!  Let me know if you are interested!

Lastly...I am doing some light crafting in effort to raise money as well.  This is not only going to be relaxing for me but it is going to be great for you!  Most/all items will be for $20 or less!  :)  I don't know about you, but to me that's awesome...homemade products/gifts, bringing a baby a home, and all for under $20 an item!?  SWEET!

Items include:
Baby Closet Organizer (or any kind of closet organizer)

Coasters

Key Ring Holder (I LOVE mine!)

Tie Necklace (I can't wait to start making these!!!)

Yarn Letters (Still need to attempt these)

Also, my wonderful, amazing, selflessly generous Aunt Joan has been making and selling crafts of her own to raise money for our baby!  She has already raised over $50 in a few short days!  She has been a huge support to me and the best secret keeper I know...she was one of the first I told of the adoption too and she supported me behind the scenes all the way!  Find her on Facebook to order!  (Joan Flentge-Foust) https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1740560909

Don't worry...I'm sifting through papers and enduring paper cuts for grants as well.  As they say in adoption world,  "So far, no morning sickness...but the paper cuts are terrible!"

Thanks for all of the support, above anything we covet your prayers in this process!

Connie 

I had a dream...

Currently, I'm in Bloomington, IL for a business meeting and Chris is back home holding down the fort. It's good for him to be the one that stays home some times :). Anyways, as I slept in my huge king sized bed in my enormous hotel room (courtesy of my company!) I had a dream. This is the second dream about the adoption to date. In this dream I received a call from Joy, our social worker. She asked if we would be interested in adopting a sibling group. Originally, this is not what we were requesting. But, we decided maybe we could. A 12 year old boy and a 5 or 6 year old girl and both spoke enough English to start school immediately. We decided we would make due in our current home (Dad, stop laughing!) until we were ready to build. When we got to Korea we were welcomed by two pleasant kids that would call us mom and dad, and they were eager to do so! When we were leaving the orphanage for the last time they gave a long good-bye to a precious little baby, maybe 6 months old. When I asked about the baby and why they we're close the orphanage mom told me it was their little sibling (I don't know if it was a boy or girl). We had no idea they were a family of three. Apparently, the orphanage thought the baby could be adopted individually because of the age disparity. I looked at Chris and he nodded his head. A week later, we were in our little house with three kids, ages 12, 6, and 6 months!!! Then, we built a house. :) Now, this dream could be looked at any number of ways. Should we expand our baby group to include siblings? We will adopt more than one child in our life? Eh...I just say, when I get home, Chris is going to surprise me with the property he has picked out for us to build on before baby comes! Quick, someone text Chris and tell him you had a preminition and he is to build our house now! Hahahahahaha. Can't blame a girl for trying, can you? Truth is, we plan to stay in this house as baby makes his way into our world and then we will re-evaluate what will happen next. I also had a dream a few months ago. It was short, but not sweet. We were taking baby, who was an infant to the airport to go home and some one ripped him out of my hands! I woke up reaching for my baby trying to get him back...and then I realized it was just a dream. A terrible, rotten, no good, very bad dream. We continue to appreciate your prayers and support. Don't forget to leave comments for an upcoming question and answer blog! If you're comfortable asking, chances are we are comfortable answering! Chris & Connie