New photo!!!

We were so excited tonight to open new photos of our little cutie! We're confident that he's being well fed! :-) It reminds us of how in love we are with our son, how grateful we are to be on this journey, and how thankful we are for those who are now caring for him.

And it's certainly timely, since just yesterday we received his "legals" from Korea (basically legal proof of his birth and current guardianship by our agency) which today we used to file a visa petition with the USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services). Hopefully we'll hear in the next month or so that he's been approved for a visa and emigration permit, then we'll have a couple other hoops to jump through before the visa is issued. We'll receive the "travel call" anytime between late May and August. Whew! It's really happening!

We're blessed and happy -- thanks for your support and prayers!

Jana and Michael

P.S. Yep...he's still "Baby Tae" at this point! :-)

Three weeks into parenting...

We both remarked today how fast these 3 weeks have gone since we learned about Tae-gyu, our Beautiful Star. We've been busy...here's an update on how "parenting" has been!

• Number one question: have you decided on his name? Right now he is "Baby Tae" to us - and who knows, perhaps it will stick! We are letting the name "emerge," and we assume we'll know more if/when we receive a more recent photo, or perhaps even when we meet him!
• We spent many, many hours filling out his acceptance paperwork, and got an early baby present when the Notary Public who notarized 15 documents refused our $150 payment as her gift!
• After we Fed-Exed our acceptance paperwork to Holt, they replied right away saying the next steps of the process will now occur. First our paperwork is translated and sent to the Korean government to approve an emigration permit, and when we receive Tae-gyu's legal documents we'll file a visa petition in the U.S. (through the USCIS...in the Department of Homeland Security!). The visa will likely be approved sometime between late May-August and we'll then receive the highly anticipated "Travel Call!"
• As a request from our church for the shower they're planning, we spent time the last couple days "registering" at a local baby store and Target. It gave me (Jana) both a lot of smiles as well as a massive headache to walk down aisle upon aisle of "baby paraphernalia."
• We've spent time preparing for life at home with Baby Tae. We have both requested maternity/paternity leave from our jobs, as well as 1 day less work per week with reduced compensation. If that all falls into place, we'll only need 2 days of child care/week for Baby Tae.
• While we wait, he is happily (we imagine!) enjoying his foster family -- with 3 women in the household we imagine him getting lots of cuddles and sling time (babies are mostly worn on women's backs in Korea). And we assume he'll be well fed -- our social worker told us to expect a "cute, pudgy baby!"
• Every day we look at his photos and pray with thanksgiving and joy. At this point, we are not anxious about the time line -- we have much left to do before we travel to Seoul, and I'll be busy with a Spring Break LCM service trip to Texas and Holy Week approaching, and Mike will be busy building our backyard deck (right, honey??). But for now, we remain smitten and in love with our baby boy, giving thanks for God's gracious gift.

Thanks for following along on our journey. Peace to you.

Love, Jana and Michael