Sickness

Some sickness has struck the Germann household. We brought it on ourselves because we commented on not having any doctors visits or sick days. Abby was home on Wednesday not very sick. She threw up in the night and once in the morning and spent the rest of the day asking for candy and bouncing off the walls. If there hadn't been actual throwing up I would have thought she was faking....now that I mention it no one actual saw her throw up it was all on her own report.....hmmm.

Gabe is home sick today and he is actually sick. He has a high fever and strep throat and is feeling pretty punky. I told him he had to lay quietly on the sofa for 15 minutes and he didn't move for an hour and a half. When he woke his fever was quite high and he just wanted to lay around. I was sitting next to him and he was looking at his stuffed horned lizard, Spanky, and said, "It's creepy the way stuffed animals stare at humans." This is why we love Gabe. He is just too funny.

No News and Abby's Story

There is nothing new on the adoption. Our agency reports today that the Ministry has stated they will begin process emigration permits "shortly." I don't know what "shortly" means but a month ago they said they would process them "soon."

Third grade has a lot of emphasis on creative writing. Phil and I were touched by a creative writing story Abby did recently and thought we would share it. I am not changing any of the grammer or spelling but just retyping it they way she wrote it.

I Have A Dream by Abby Germann

In the future I hope that all people all over the world, black and white, will be treated fairly. My sister is black and white. I hope that when this black and white thing is over that white and black people will become great friends. Korea and it's capital Seol will let us go get my other sister very soon. I hope everyone will live in peace and harmony for the rest of life on earth.

We hope that too Abby....

Christina Perri - A Thousand Years (Lyrics)

This song was originally supposed to be a love song....actually a love song for vampires (and yes it is my dirty little secret that I secretly love Twilight). However the lyrics are exactly how I feel during this wait for Yeong Eun. I listen to this song nearly every day while I wait.

STILL Waiting............

Tom Petty definitely got it right, the waiting is the hardest part. We were so hopeful that by now we would be filling the pages of this blog with news that were reading travel books and shopping for plane tickets. But alas we are not. January has come and gone and we are no closer to our new daughter than we were in December. We continue to wait for her to be granted an emigration permit by the Korean government. We had expected to have our file submitted to the Korean government for a permit on January 2, 2012. As of today February 3, 2012, the Korean government has not accepted any submissions from adoption agencies for permits and is not commenting on when they will accepted submissions. This is such a vast difference from the program that existed when we adopted Ellie just three years ago that is hard to wrap our heads around.

It is hard to explain to anyone who hasn't been through this how hard the wait is. I described it to one person recently as being 27 months pregnant. There is so much anticipation and pent up anxiety that I find it hard to focus on anything else. We know this HUGE life changing event is coming but we don't know when. Yeong Eun will be 20 months old in a few days. We have been waiting for her since she was 5 months old. We only get limited information and a picture or two every other month.

The kids ask about her nearly everyday and I have no answer for them. Ellie often asks if Charlie is coming soon and I don't know what to say. In the deep of the night when things that scare me the most keep me from sleeping I worry that Charlie will never come home. Legally she is not ours yet and if the Korean government ends international adoption I don't think we have much if any recourse.

The other thing that makes the wait so crazy difficult is that we know the delay will only make the transition harder for Yeong Eun. Although we are waiting anxiously for her, she is not waiting for us. She does not know about adoption. She is happy and content with her foster family. She doesn't know the word foster.....they are her family. Having done this once before we know that taking her from that family will be incredibly painful for all involved. The older Yeong Eun gets the more painful it will be for her. I think of each of our kids at almost two and how they would have responded if a stranger took them from us....

The intellectual part of me knows that if Yeong Eun doesn't come home with us she will never have a forever family. The foster family that has her now will not adopt her. If she stays in Korea she will end up in an institution. I know that having a forever family is what is best for her. I know that she is part of our family already and has been for 15 months. I know that that little Korean was meant to be a Germann. I know that we will survive this wait and she will survive her grief over losing her family. I know we can do this.

So for now.....we keep waiting.....

Gabeisms

Gabe's middle name is Isaac. Isaac means "he laughs." Though we couldn't have known when we chose that name, it is an absolutely perfect name for him. Every single day he makes us laugh. I wanted to share and record a few of the most recent most hilarious Gabe moments...

Pregnant?!?!?
About a week ago at dinner Gabe says he is going to marry Abby. He then goes on to say that she is going to be pregnant. After the word pregnant comes out of his mouth Phil and I share one of those deer in headlights looks as our minds race to figure out how exactly to address this. I am thinking that we had just before dinner been watching Ice Age 3 Dawn of the Dinosaur. This is relevant because Ellie the mammoth is pregnant in that movie. I am thinking that the movie is certainly where he got the word and the idea. I also assume that he doesn't fully understand what being pregnant means. Before either Phil or I can say anything Abby responds that she doesn't have to be (pregnant). Gabe then says, "Oh you will be pregnant." Phil then jumps in with the old stand-by of "Let's talk about something else." I also add that you can't marry your sister. Abby then says, "what is there like a law or something." "Yes actually there is," is my response. That ended the marriage pregnant conversation for the evening for which we were glad.

Luke Skywalker
Grandma Patt was with Gabe at school Mass this week for V.I.P. day. When it came to the gospel reading and Fr. Don said, "The gospel according to Luke," Gabe said to Grandma..."That's not Luke Skywalker, I already know that." Grandma Patt says she will never hear the gospel of Luke the same way again.

Hyenas or Scar
Tonight at dinner out of the blue Gabe was raising his hand to be called on. Once Phil called on Gabe he asked this question, "Dad, would you rather road trip with the hyenas or scar?" Tough choice....funny boy.

Family Day 2011

April 29th is Ellie's family day. Some people also call this airplane day or gotcha day. It is the day we officially landed in Rochester with Ellie and became a family of 5! Our lives have been forever changed for the better by the addition of Eliana Yeong Ah to our family. And if not for this fateful day in 2009 we would not be anxiously awaiting our next addition, Ellie's little sister!

We celebrated the day by making bulgogi, a korean beef dish and rice.

We ate with chopsticks!

We got silly in our handboks!

Ellie is so smart and funny. She is incredibly passionate or at least some day she will be. At the age of two passion looks a lot more like feistiness. But even in someone so young it is a trait to be admired. There is NOTHING luke warm about this child, she is either hot or cold. She is very interested in learning and knows how to spell and write her name. She is very musical and often plays the piano while singing. She also belts out the hymns at church and gets a lot of attention for knowing all the words.

This picture was taken on Ellie's first day home two years ago.

What a difference two years makes. My, how they all have grown.

A little bit of catching up....

I need to do a little catching up on the blog. While a piece of me says I should just get current and stay current there are some big spring events for us that are not to be missed including family day for Ellie and First Communion for Abby. So I plan to catch up even if the blog gets a little out of order.

One other note...I reported that we received a blank CD from Charlie's foster family but that wasn't true. The CD actually had pictures and VIDEO! We got see Charlie cruising around furniture and saying some words. Technology is so wonderful.