WE ARE APPROVED!!!

Thank you all for your prayers! Today went great! We each had our interviews, mostly covering our childhoods, families, parents, our marriage, and health and then we gave her a tour of our house. We were both so nervous.

I thought we would have to wait to hear whether we were approved, but at the end she was able to tell us that pending successful contact with our references to verify that they wrote our reference letters and continue to support our adoption, we are approved. We should go on the wait list by April 1st and from there total time until travel to Korea should be between 9 and 15 months. We do have one issue. As of April 1st, we only have 14 months until we get stationed somewhere else. Our social worker is checking with the Korea program coordinator in Minnesota to see what our options are. Korea only allows their children to be adopted in certain states in the U.S. We are hoping that we can get prior approval to be allowed to adopt regardless of where we go, or possibly get permission to adopt as long as we go to a state they approve of, and then John can request to be stationed in one of those states (which the Air Force may or may not choose to honor). The other possible option is for me to stay behind for a few months until we can finalize our adoption, assuming we have already traveled to Korea and just need to do our 3 post-placement visits over the first 6 months. Back in October, we were told that as long as we were stationed stateside it would be okay. But Korea has recently become more restrictive about families moving during the adoption process. I am putting it all in the Lord's hands, trusting Him to work out all the details and timing. It is really not in my control.

I got to call my mom at work tonight and tell her we are approved, which was really exciting. She is really excited about having a new grandbaby. Hard to believe, I am going to be a mom in 9-15 months. It is hard for me to even write "I am" rather than "I may." It doesn't feel real yet.