Wimbledon at WCCC...

Last week Libby's tennis was cancelled everyday due to the dismal weather, today the weather cooperated and she got to play, She's a Junior Star this year!  She had so much fun.



Watch our Williams sisters here I come...






Action shot...great backhand!



Ready, set, hit! 

 

Greta, Paige and Lib lookin' mighty cute on the court!



After all the FUN you have to clean up the balls...

 

Coach Lindsey with Lib and Greta

Friday was the court date for applying for Ty's name change and birth certificate.  We got news that this went well.  Our agency also sent in our I-600 application to immigration so it appears that all is done on the US side and we are just waiting for the Korean goverment to make a move.  I'm doing a good job of not letting it consume me.  I really am enjoying the summer, as you can see above, and just hoping all happens sooner than later.

The Beginning...

I wish I could post that we are now beginning our lives with sweet Ty Ty, but instead I have to post that this is going to be the beginning of the long, long process of getting him home.  On Tuesday we got an email from the adoption agency in Korea, Holt Christian Services, explaining that the Korean goverement is starting the process of limiting the number of children they let out of the country each year.  Essentially, they don't want to be one of the top exporters of children, not a good record to hold.  Anyway, what we are waiting for is Ministry Approval from the Korean government and they have said that they are pretty close to stopping any more approvals this year...UGH!  I immediatly called our caseworker who counseled me a little and then got in contact with the international coordinator at Bethany.  She called her contact to find out how close we were to getting approval.  Here is what she found out:  1.  We have not yet been submitted to the Ministry for approval but at so very close.  The group that was last submitted was from March and we are in the group from the first week of April...oh so close!  2.  She will know in the next few weeks if we will be submitted this year, which means Ty comes home this year.  3.  If the verdict is that we will not be submitted for this year due to the cut-off then Ty won't come home until after January...:(

The reality is we have no control over this process so we are trying to stay sane and postive.  The hard part is not that we have to wait an additional 4 months or so, it is that Ty will be coming to us at 1 1/2 years of age instead of closer to 1 and that his adjustment will be a much harder process.  I find myself not thinking about what I want but instead what is best for him...oh I really am his mother!!!   The last few days I have been watching kids who are around his age, or the age he will be when he comes to us, and I have realized how attached kids this age are to their parents, especially their mother.  It breaks my heart to think that we will be taking him away from the only mother he knows, his foster mother.  All the documentation we get tells us how attached to her he is, which is good but only makes it harder to think about taking him away from her.  Why is this process so painstakingly hard?!?  I can't wait for a few years from now when all this is a distant memory.  I know it will be because it happened with Libby.  I remember asking one of the parents in the hospital who had a preemie as critical as Libby if you ever forget all this, she said , "Yup, in time it all becomes a distant memory."  What I have come to realize is that if hard expereinces didn't fade, we wouldn't rebound to do things again. 

I'll keep you posted as I hear from Bethany about where we stand.  Prayers might help right now, so if you have any good ones send them our way. 

Here are a few pictures of Libby and my dad on Father's Day... next year Ty will be with them!

The End...

I'm not sure where to begin...these past few weeks have brought many endings...  Libby graduated preschool, she finished up her first soccer season, my Kindergarten year came to an end, and Chris left his job at Oracle to start a job with a new company.  With ending there are always feelings of sadness but also feelings of happiness.  Picking up Libby for the last time from the preschool she has attended for the past 3 years was bitter sweet.  We love Northville First Care and appreciate all they did to help Libby develop into the great kid she is.  But, we are very exctied for Libby to start Kindergarten in the FALL, she is so ready!



Libby sitting on the letter "L" on her classroom rug



Standing outside her classroom for the last time

 

Lib's preschool teacher Ms. Krystn



Lib's cubby...where she kept her much needed and loved blanket!



"Bye Bye Nugget, I will miss you!"

  This was Libby's first year playing soccer...she played U5 and was on Team Argentina.  It was quite a season, pretty dismal but FUN!  They had a great coach, thanks coach Cheryl for making it fun for the kids!  Watch out, next year we will be a team to be reckoned with!



Libby & Hadley in action



Great 1st season Lib!

Team Argentina

Patience, a life lesson...

Today is my first day of summer vacation and you would think I would be estatic...!  For some reason I have this extreme feeling of anxiety, why, I have nothing pressing to do and all the time in the world?  I think I am focusing too much on having a whole summer without Tyler, such wasted time!  It just kills me that he can't be here to spend the entire summer with us!  My friend who just went through an adoption said she was feeling the same way last summer and her agency gave her some advise that she passed onto me;  "enjoy your last summer with Libby and do all the things the freedom of having a 5 year old allow you to do, it will be awhile before it's like that again."  Wise words and ones I will live by this summer! 

Today we resent our paperwork to get Tyler's name changed and his birth certificate.  Not sure how long it will take for this to be processed.  We haven't heard anything from the government, US or Korean.  It is mid June and it seems like nothing is getting done.  I know it is behind the scenes I just wish we knew where the whole process stood and when we might get to go get him.  When we first got the referral I was hopeful that we might travel in July or August, now I'm thinking more like Septbember or October:(   I think the whole lesson one learns from adoption is patience. 

Showered with LOVE

Our friends from our local club threw a baby shower for Tyler today!  It was lots of fun.  It was a tea party for the moms and their daughters...Libby had a blast!  It was so  nice to celebrate Tyler and get some nice things to welcome him.  They went all out to make Libby and me feel very special.  Thx Cheryl, Marie, Erika, Jan, Anne, Roberta, and all the little girls!  Here are a few pics from the ocassion... 



Ready to be a BIG sister!





Cake made by Erika McKee



Roberta, Cheryl, Erika, Marie,
Jan, Me, and Anne



Thx Ms. Jan for the Spartan gear, we know it took a lot for you to buy it!
GO GREEN!



Ty got his very own Little Giraffe blanket...we know he will love it as much as Libby has loved hers!
Thx Ms. Marie


 

Love you Libby Lu!

 

Holy HOT Birthday!

Who would have thougth on June 4th it would be 95+ degrees?!?  Just my luck that I would plan a birthday party outside with 20 five year olds and everyone would end up inside, not due to rain but HEAT!  Thank goodness our basement was finish in time for the party...it turned out to be the first big party of many we would host in our beautiful new basement.  Anyway, the party was a huge success.  It started out outside with the parents standing in the shaded garage drinking ?!?  and the kids in the steaming hot bouncer.  Libby's neighborhood babysitters did all the face painting, which was melting off their faces, and tattooing.  Who am I kidding, they pretty much ran the whole party...best $40.00 I've spent in a long time. At one point all the parents realized we were outside and there were no kids to be found...they outsmarted us and were in the basement playing...we all quickly followed and enjoyed the air-conditioning. 



Happy Birthday Libby Lu

 

Cousin Ethan, Libby and Hadley



Annie face painting the girlies



Lib and her boyfriends Mikey and Connor



Make a wish...it better be for Tyler to get here soon!



How's that cake taste Lib?

  

Bounce girls bounce!


 

The birthday crew



Slippin' and Slidin'...trying to keep cool!



Catching some rays with Greta, Ethan, and Audrey

Like my new Spiderman towel?

Libby had a wonderful day.  All her friends brought her wonderful gifts and she had fun playing and being the center of attention.  Libby was a trooper, after her friend's left our family came over to celebrate with her.  She did not pass out as I predictied, she stayed poised and ended up staying awake and alert until 11:00pm then she was....

OUT COLD!



From Libby Lu to Ty Ty... Friday brought us some new paperwork, go figure.  It was the petition to adopt in Oakland County, only problem is we live in Wayne County.  I immediatly got on the phone with our social worker and she called and got the paperwork changed and re-mailed to us.  What was cool about the paperwork was that it was the peition to change his name from his Koren name to Tyler Jeon Lane, the name we are giving him.   While we know this is all happening it really makes it real when you see his full name with our last name. Come on precess speed up and get Ty here!

9 Months and counting...

I so want to post a picture of little Ty...he is so stinking cute!  Yesterday we got an update on him with 3 new photos.  He now weighs 19. 3 lbs., is rolling over, creeping and starting to sit up unassisted.  He is growing up without us and it is really starting to break our hearts.  The pictures they sent have him both smiling and laughing.  I printed them out and Libby immediately took them.  Libby is going to be such a great big sister.  She told me today that she wished daddy and I could go get Tyler tomorrow so he could spend the summer with us...how cute is that?  Speaking of Libby, our baby girl turns 5 tomorrow, where does the time go?  She is having a big birthday party on Saturday with all her little preschool friends.  We are having a bouncer, bubble blower, tattoo and face painting station... Should be tons of fun!  I'll post pics after the big event.  

As for any new news on when we get to go to Korea to get Ty, none!  I check the mailbox daily for any paperwork from the government but everyday I am disappointed.  It's like watching paint dry... only this takes ten times longer!  

Next Sunday my girlfriends from tennis are throwing Lib and I a little shower in honor of Ty.  It will be nice to get together with my friends to celebrate Ty. 

Happy 5th Birthday Libby!