Tag: #internationaladoption

Adoption

EP Approved!

Stoyk

We got some very exciting news yesterday… we are EP approved! What does that mean? EP stands for Emigration Permission, and it basically means we have permission to take our girl to the U.S. from Korea. This is a huge step in the process, and honestly, the wait for this approval has been really hard for me. There has been so much waiting in this process, unfortunately there is still more waiting ahead of us, but seeing our sweet girl’s face everyday and knowing we are so close to bringing her home is so hard! Seriously, just wait until you see her kissable cheeks! You will completely understand.

So what comes next? Now our case will be handed over to the Korean court. This should happen within about a week. Once the Korean court has our file they will review all the paper work, they may ask us for additional pictures or information, and then they will issue us a court date. We will be notified of the court date about 1 month before we need to travel. This next step could take 2-4 months, but do you know what that means? We will get to meet our baby girl in 2-4 months! Of course we always hope our wait is shorter than they estimate, but as we have learned in this process, there are no guarantees.

I may have been crying in the baby girl aisle at Hobby Lobby today as the magnitude of what is about to happen hit me. I am not a crier, as my friends and family would tell you, but knowing we are so close to getting to see our baby girl in person and kiss her sweet cheeks is just too much. Our friends threw us an amazing baby shower last weekend, and we have all the things we need for her once she gets home. This approval just brought us so much closer to bringing home Baby Stoyk!

Adoption

What We Know Now

Stoyk

Through this process we have been confronted with a lot of questions. We know most people mean well, but their comments and questions can sting. A few of the most memorable things people have said to us include:

-Why would you ever want to adopt?

-How much do they cost?

-Why did their parents “give them up” for adoption?

-Aren’t you happy with the 3 you already have?

-You know they won’t be able to understand you right?

-It’s too expensive! You won’t be able to do anything fun for years!

If you know me well, you know how hard it is for me to respond to these questions with patience and grace. Sometimes I want to tell people how rude and ignorant they are being, and tell them to mind their own business, but I don’t. Why? Because this is my opportunity to educate people on how to be more sensitive about the things they say regarding adoption. We have learned so much during this process, and we want to take this opportunity to educate our friends and family so they might be able to better support others going through this process in the future.

I recently read a book called In on it: What adoptive parents would like you to know about adoption by Elisabeth O’Toole. I think this book is a fantastic read for anyone that is adopting or has family or friends that are adopting. It is a very quick read and has such great tips. I have highlighted some of my favorite points from the book below.

  • As a family member or friend, your support and reassurance during the process helps!
  • Trust our judgment and know that we did our research and KNOW we are doing what is right for our family.
  • Adoption starts with loss. Through this process we have lost our privacy as we let our agency into all parts of our lives, and we have lost all control over the process and timeline. Our child has lost their birth mother, and will be loosing their birth country and culture. And we have to acknowledge the loss the birth parents will experience their whole lives.
  • Showing your interest by asking questions and trying to understand the process means so much.
  • It is important to treat adoptive parents like the expectant parents they are.
  • Understand that once the child comes home it is very important for the immediate family to form their bond with the child. This might mean no visits or going out for a while.
  • Treat new adoptive parents just as you would any new parent.
  • DO NOT ask adoption questions in front of the child.
  • Respect the child’s privacy and don’t take the parents creating boundaries personally.
  • Don’t refer to children who are adopted as “their adopted daughter” or “she’s adopted”, simply say “their daughter/son” because that is what they are.
  • Knowing a child has come from a different country does not mean you know what they will be like as a child or an adult. “Stereotypes limit our ability to know each other. You don’t want to know a stereotype; you want to know a person.”

As a friend or family member you might be presented with questions about adoption also. Try to take a positive stance and maintain the families privacy. You can also help your children to understand adoption and know how to respond appropriately. If you are reading this, then you are probably “in on it” too. You are probably a part of someone’s adoption circle, and that is so important!

I love the final quote in her book that is from a grandfather, “Every child gladdens your heart. What happens after a child comes into the family is as important as how they arrived into it.”

Thank you for taking time to read this! If you are interested in borrowing In on it by Elisabeth O’Toole, I would be happy to let you borrow it. We have learned so much during this process (there is still so much more to learn) and we hope you are all taking something away from these posts too. Thank you for your support during this process to Bring Home Baby Stoyk!

Korean Adoption

Matched!!

Stoyk

As many of your have heard, we have been matched with the sweetest baby!! This happened WAY faster than we thought it would. We have been told all along that it would be 6-12 months to receive a match, and we only waited 3 weeks! I can’t even explain how excited our family is and how blessed we feel that it happened so quickly. We truly believe all the hiccups we have encountered along the way were so we would be ready for this specific child!

A lot of people have been asking why we didn’t post on Facebook or Instagram what the child’s gender, age and name is. We were asked by our agency to keep all identifying information off of social media, and we want to respect our child’s privacy. Please know that we can’t wait to share more once we have our baby in our arms.

Now for the question we get everyday… how long is it going to take to get the baby in our arms? Well, our agency has told us it could take 6-12 months to finalize our adoption and bring our child home. Right now we are waiting for the following:

1st – I-600a approval- this gives us permission to bring a child in to the country. We are hoping this will come any day now. We need this permission to move forward with the next steps. I am a little obsessed with checking the mail! – Approved one day after I wrote this post!

2nd – I-600 approval- this gives our specific child immigration approval

3rd – Emigration Permission Submission- this could take 2-4 months. This is the 1st step in the child’s exit process.

4th – Emigration Approval- this take 2-4 months during this time the Korean court will be reviewing our file for final adoption approval. This is the step right before submitting our file!

5th – Travel to Korea for 1st Court Appearance- we will receive notice about 3-6 weeks before we need to travel to Korea. When we are there we get to visit with our baby, complete court paperwork and appear in court. We will be there about 1 week.

6th – Pick up our Baby!- about 4 weeks after we get home from our first trip, we will travel back to Korea for our visa interview and to bring our sweet baby home!!!

When I look at this list of things left to do, it looks so short! We have been in this process for the past year, and we are so thankful for where it has taken us. We are praying really hard that the rest of this process goes by quickly, and we get our sweet baby here soon!

Thank you all for your love, support and prayers! Keep praying this process moves along quickly, and we get to Bring Home Baby Stoyk soon!

Korean Adoption

Big News!

Stoyk

We have some pretty exciting news to share… We are officially a waiting family!!! All of our paperwork (dossier) was sent to Korea today, and we are now waiting to be matched with our sweet baby! We are over the moon excited to finally have our file in Korea. This is a really huge step in the adoption process, and although we know there will be some waiting ahead of us, we know the wait for our baby is going to be so worth it.

Now what? Now we wait. There is no way to predict how long it will take to be matched with our child. Obviously, we hope that it will be a quick wait, but realistically, we are hoping to be matched by the end of summer. That would mean that by the time all of our other paperwork is finished in Korea, we would be brining our child home this time next year. Again, we know there are no guarantees, but that is what we are holding on to right now.

We appreciate all of you prayers so much, and at this point in the process, we ask that you continue to pray for our sweet baby and their birth parents. This is an exciting time for us, but across the world, a family is making a very difficult decision. We pray God lifts them up as they go through the grieving process, and that they find some peace knowing we will love their child with all of our hearts.

We are one HUGE step closer to Bringing Home Baby Stoyk!

International Adoption

Control

Stoyk

I was listening to a podcast by Rachel Hollis when I was on the treadmill the other day. She said something that really helps describe where we are right now in our journey. She said, “Nobody will ever care about your dream as much as you do.”

This might sound negative, but please do not take it that way. We are currently in a stage of waiting. Waiting for home study approval, waiting for people to write reference letters, waiting for financial clearance, and waiting to take the next step to bring our baby home. In our hearts and minds all of this is to bring OUR BABY home. To everyone else, this is part of their jobs, something they do every day, and they do not have the personal connection that we do. We totally understand this, but boy it is hard to give control over when the stakes are so high.

When I was pregnant with my boys, I was sick, I could feel their tiny movements inside of me, I went to doctors appointments and was told what I could do to keep myself and my babies healthy, and I could talk to my friends who have had babies and get advice. Right now, I am not experiencing morning sickness, like I did with my pregnancies, but I am experiencing plenty of worry over this sweet baby that is waiting for us. Currently, everything is out of our control. We hurry up and get all of the paperwork done on our end, and then wait and pray that other people are getting things done on their end. We understand that this is our dream, our baby, but it sure is hard to help others understand the importance/urgency of deadlines in the adoption process.

It has currently been over two weeks since we have heard anything related to our adoption. We have multiple emails and phone calls out about different things, and we haven’t been getting replies. It has been a really tough couple of weeks, and we are trying to turn over our worry to God and remember that He has a plan for us and our baby. We appreciate all of your prayers. We are praying we hear some good news soon, so we can finally take our next step to bring home Baby Stoyk.