Travel!

We got some great news today from our Social Worker that the little guy is ready to travel. His passport and visa to the U.S. have been approved. We are planning on leaving on Thursday, June 14th and then returning on Saturday, June 23rd. We are taking the direct Milwaukee-Minneapolis-Tokyo-Seoul route via Northwest. One nice thing is that Northwest gives 65% off for families traveling to adopt. I hope to be able to add some pictures or at least posts here while we are there, so stay tuned.

Summer

Well... school ended for me on May 25th. I had meetings last week so today starts the first day of what non-teachers think is three months off.

We did spend a day at Burlington's own ChocolateFest! For those of you who don't know, Burlington is the home of Nestle Chocolate Co. We enjoyed a day of VIP treatement thanks to a member of our church.



We went to Jeff & Carrie's yesterday for Daniel's birthday. Below are a couple of pictures from the day. We got a little wet, but nothing substantial.

Adoption #2 Update

I really hope we decide on a name soon... I need to be able to put one on the top of the page and in the title of these posts. It looks like we have narrowed it down to either Ian or Owen, but we will see. We really should talk about it.

We did get some news today from our social worker that all of our documents were approved by the Korean Ministry and now have moved on to the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. This is good news and means that in anywhere from 1 to 4 weeks we will be traveling. The little guy needs to have a passport issued to him and then get a visa. After that is completed we will be notified and be ready to travel. It isn't the best time of the year with school ending, but I'm sure it will work out. My faculty is hoping it falls the week of our post-school year meetings. That is all for now!

Texas

Cathy, Liam, and I took a trip to Casa de Schmeling to visit Cathy's parents in Scroggins, Texas. Cathy and Liam were there for about a week and I came down over the weekend. As you can see from the pictures, the high point of the trip (besides seeing Cathy's parents) was the fishing. Liam loved to fish and became an accomplished caster. He always insisted on having a huge lure on which pretty much assured him of not catching any fish. I did catch three bass and one little bluegill, but that was it. May be I should have bought some worms. Liam also was appointed official captain of Grandpa's boat and drove us around the lake (in zig-zag formation). We also were privileged enough to have a catfish meal at the Scroggins General Store/gas station.

Liam also got a Texas Longhorns basketball jersey as his Texas memorabilia. He should be taking it off in about 3 weeks if he holds to his new norm. Although it will have to compete with the Brasil soccer jersey Grandma D. got him in Brazil.

Adoption #2 Update

We have gotten several medical updates about adoption #2 (still no final name yet, but we are closer). The little guy seems to be doing well, still in the lower percentile ranks for weight and height but when they rate him per his intended age he is in the 50's. We got news today that our documents have entered the Korean Adoption Ministry. That is good and means that our documents are progressing. It basically means that we will be traveling in about 3-4 weeks! We are looking at or around the dates of June 8th!

Liam

It has been a while since I posted last. Here is a picture of Liam with his Wisconsin jersey that he got for Easter. It was getting to the point where we couldn't go to Kohls because he would bug us so much and cry when we left without it.

Happy Easter

I just wanted to give everyone an update on things. First off, Happy Easter! from balmy Wisconsin. It is going to be a whoppin' 40 degrees out today and we could possibly have a snow storm on Tuesday. What a wonderful place to live. We aren't doing anything special today, just cooking a ham and I will be watching the Masters today (by far my favorite thing to do). Below are a couple pictures of Liam today in his dad/son matching shirt and tie.

As for an adoption update... we received approval from the U.S. government for adoption #2 (still unnamed). Everything is being sent to The Hague (international court) and then on to the Korean Embassy in Seoul. Hopefully this won't take more than 2 - 3 months and then we will be ready to travel. We have had some trouble with The Hague but hopefully we can work those things out.