Up, Up and Away...
So...for the past 15 months we have been anticipating the arrival of Scout.  We have a room completed that I'll share on another post, we have done education requirements (boring) and have talked about how our lives will change.  Now that EP has been approved there has been a lot of last minutes stuff to do including having a shower.  With just 2 short weeks notice, Sunday evening the ladies of Somer's Avenue church of Christ hosted a "toddler" shower in honor of Scout.  Caroline Prestridge, Tressa Ashberry, Shelly Halter and Jamie Reedy went above and beyond and everything was darling.  I loved it!!

On the back wall Caroline Prestridge made little 3-D blue airplanes and clouds and hung them from the ceiling.  She also made the banner "Up Up & Away To The USA".  Jamie Reedy brought the airplane that is "pulling" the banner - such a cute idea...

Jamie also painted the airplane with Scout banner on the Arkansas state map.  So cute and I especially thought it was fitting for us since Carson works at the Highway Dept. and is always getting maps...

sorry I can't get it to rotate, just turn your head till I figure it out LOL!

We had "In-Flight Snacks", mini sandwiches, cheese trays, hummus, fruit, veggies, nuts, and the list goes on and on...



The "In-Flight Beverages" was a very tasty blue Hawaiian punch with ginger ale and vanilla ice cream dolloped on top to look like clouds.  There was also a little airplane floating in the clouds...

Cake

Gift Table

Shelly, Caroline, Me, Jamie and Tressa

Thanks Shelly for listing all my gifts. Bless her heart she is 35 wks with twins!
So excited Scout will likely be here the same time her boys make their debut. 

Who is glowing more the real pregnant mama or the pregnant on paper mama? 

We are getting closer!

We were notified today that Scout has EP approval!! Now the only thing we are waiting on us a Visa. We hope to have travel clearance in 2-4 weeks. There is much celebrating and thanksgiving today! Now bring on the weekend and the list of things we need to do to get ready to go to KOREA...

FINALLY!!

Got my backpack on and ready to go!

After 4 and a half months with no "movement" in Korea, we finally have wonderful news, there is movement!  The quota for EP (emigration permission) for 2011 was met in October.  We were all hopeful that soon after the Lunar New Year on January 23rd the Korean Ministry would begin issuing EP's, however due to some changing of adoption laws (that does not affect us) held up the issuance of EP.  On Wednesday February 29, 2012 we received word from our agency that the Ministry would issue the first "batch" of EP submissions on Monday March 5th.  Now I have to say, I made it through Thursday and Friday without too much anticipation, but Saturday and Sunday I was pretty anxious. I think I spent the days in continuous prayer... Sunday night going to bed, I felt like a kid on Christmas eve.  I couldn't hardly sleep. I just kept thinking about Scout and how anxious was to find out if our paperwork had been submitted. 
Now imagine having to go to work and wait for the infamous phone call that our EP would be submitted!  My heart pounded like it has never pounded before, I was a nervous wreck.  Korea is 15 hours ahead of us, so I knew that our agency would have the info when they got to their office.  9:00 comes around and no call,  10:00, no call, 10:30 I talked to Carson and we had both decided and come to terms with the fact that we had not heard anything from our agency.  We knew that must mean we would get the email that said, EP has been submitted and all families have been notified... At 11:07 I received an email from our case worker with subject "EP Update".  it read as follows...

Hi Carson and Jill~

 You guys have been so incredibly patient and handled your wait with such grace and understanding - and I’m so excited to share with you that your wait is finally nearing the end. We learned this morning that Eastern has submitted your EP in this first batch! While things still remain a bit uncertain with time frames, we are hopeful that it will be processed in the next 4-6 weeks. After issuance, we expect approximately 2-4 weeks until travel clearance is granted.

Word cannot express the joy I felt at that moment.  I called Carson, he had received it too and I was crying and couldn't speak!  We are so excited and cannot wait to get EP approval and travel clearance to go to Korea and bring our little boy home.