We Have a Name!

"Emerson Dabin"

although we will call her "Emma"

We heard from our agency on Monday that our paperwork from Korea arrived transferring custody of Emma to our agency The Barker Foundation. They will have temporary custody of her until we have completed our 6 month post placement meeting with a social worker at which time we will gain custody. This is something different for us because with Leah we got custody in Kazakhstan. What is nice about Korea's process is there are only 3 post placement visits- 1, 3, and 6 months after getting home. For Leah we have had a million social worker visits and we have to continue to give Kazakhstan update reports until she is 18!

I am not very familiar with what happens next. I know our agency sent our paperwork for 1600 approval and that will take 4-5 weeks. Not sure what happens after that! Maybe that's a good thing. I am having a travel call next week so maybe that will clear things up!

I mailed a care package to the foster family yesterday. I included a blanket, PJs, undershirts, pacifiers, shampoo, 2 disposable cameras, a family photo album, some chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels, and clover spun honey (apparently they don't sell it in Korea). The box I mailed cost $50 to ship! Wow, I didn't realize it costs so much!

I have also been working on gathering gifts for the foster family. I got the foster mom a sterling silver bracelet, the dad I got a northface type fanny pack, and their children (ages 16 and 18) I got Yankee hats and shirts. I still have to buy a little something for the social worker in Korea and a token gift for the driver.

I dug up our old Kazakhstan packing list to help me start planning for the trip. It was quite funny how long it was and how much I deleted off! It is SO nice to only have to pack for 1 week!

I am also starting to gather clothes for her. I don't have any 6-12 months clothes and am not sure she will even be in them. Unfortunately, most of Leah's 12-18 month clothes are winter. I imagine she will be in 12-18 summer clothes. It's so hard to guess!

Oh well, I am going to try to do a better job at blogging so she actually has something to read! Leah's blog turned into a long novel! I am hoping she will at least have a magazine worth!