The Adoption Hokey Pokey

A Song inspired by the ins and outs of the Adoption Journey. Bear with my "creative license" - I used it a lot!

You put your I-600 A in

You get your I-171H out

You accept your referral and

You do a little shout!

You fill out all the forms and

You mail them all around

That's what it's all about!

You put your I-600 in

You get your I-171 out

You learn that you're NVC in

And another little shout!

You fill out more forms and

They get mailed around

That's what it's all about!

After NVC in

You wait for NVC out

Now it's at the Embassy

And one more little shout!

The waiting's never easy,

But things are moving now.

That's what it's all about!

You call the State Department

Almost every single day

You find out you're P3

And TC's not so far away

The waiting's almost over

And the forms are almost done

That's what it's all about!

On the day you get TC

It's time to pack and fly

What a long, long journey

To meet our little guy.

We can't wait to bring him home

And start our family

That's what it's all about!

Some definitions that we just learned:

• NVC in - When your approved US Visa application arrives at the National Visa Center
• NVC out - When your approved US Visa applications is mailed from the National Visa Center to the US Embassy in Seoul
• P3 - The packet of forms sent from the Embassy in Seoul to the adoption agency in Korea (Social Welfare Society, in our case). We think that these forms are to schedule the "visa interview." As far as we understand, the visa interview is when the SWS staff brings all of the appropriate documents to the Embassy to get the final stamp of approval. Then the visa can be issued. We aren't sure how quickly the visa is issued (have heard it can happen on the same day), but once issued SWS picks it up and Nicholas is ready to come home!
• TC - Travel Call...we all know what that means!

So where are we in all this alphabet soup, you ask? Well, let me tell you! We found out that we were NVC out on 1/21/10. Yesterday our agency told us how to track it from here (i.e. gave us the State Department phone number to call). The State Department said the P3 was sent out on 1/26/10. We have been told that SWS is efficient with their paperwork, but I have no reference to how quickly visa interviews can get scheduled with the Embassy. However, we did go out and buy diapers, formula, and some toys for the plane yesterday because we are realizing that this could be imminent! The nursery furniture came in last week and is all set up in his room which is getting painted next Monday. The bedding fabrics have been selected and are getting made today and tomorrow. Also today the quilt tops are being dropped off at the lady's house who has a machine to quilt them. Kevin has started on a project to cover the sliding door rail on the bathtub ledge so that bath times can be more comfortable for everyone. We have a few outfits and have started our supply of pediatric medicines to take along with us. Compare to a week ago, we are MUCH more prepared to bring Nicholas home!

We'll let you know when the visa interview is scheduled!

I-600 Approval

We're one step closer to bringing our son home! On 1/11/2010 our I-600 was approved which means that Nicholas will be considered our relative as soon as he enters the country. The USCIS office now sends this approval to the National Visa Center who forwards it to the US Embassy in Seoul. There a visa will be issued once Nicholas's documents from the South Korean Ministry of Health have been processed (i.e. his passport and his permission to emigrate). So now we wait again...

Last Thursday we also received a revised version of one of the forms we had notarized in December and were asked to get that notarized ASAP. So, we once again called our friend Jean to get it notarized and put it into overnight mail on Friday. Unfortuately, I chose to use USPS because it was cheaper and would deliver on Saturday. What I failed to realize was that CHSFS doesn't have a Saturday delivery since no one is there to pick it up, and Monday was a mail holiday due to Martin Luther King Junior Day. So overnight mail turned into 3 day mail. Oh well, people tell me in the long run one or two days won't matter but right now I feel like every minute counts!

We talked to our country specialist at our agency to make sure she got the forms on Tuesday and to let her know that our I-600 was approved. She gave us the good news that everything should be done on our end since the I-600 was on its way to Korea. Then she told us the even better news that the Korean agency that we are working with, Social Welfare Society, is very efficient with their paperwork, so things should move quickly from here on out. In fact there's a family there right now that matched in October. So we could be receiving the travel call sooner rather than later! What wonderful, yet slightly overwhelming, news! I guess we'd better get to work on that nursery!

Care Package

While we wait we are allowed to send a one-gallon sized zip-loc bag of goodies to Nicholas one time. This is a wonderful opportunity to start feeling more connected to him, but it was a lot more challenging than we thought it would be. What would be meaningful to him? To his foster family? To us? What size clothes is he in? What kind of toys would he like? ... How can we fit all the love we have for him in a one-gallon baggie???

After more time and effort than we thought it would take, this is what we decided:


1) A homemade taggie blanket - small enough to take anywhere but packed full of love!

2) A lullaby CD - we compiled a few of our favorites and sent to him with a brief introduction from us so he could hear our voices; we hope that his foster mom can include this as part of their bedtime routine so that when we play it for him at home it will be familiar.

3) A photo book - pictures of us, our parents, and our siblings with labels in English and Korean (thanks to help from our friend John Lee!).

4) A sleeper that says "You make me giggle" because he has given us so many reasons to smile!

5) A set of onesies that says "Hug me" since we can't be there to hug him ourselves.

6) A toy rattle because it was small enough to fit in the bag!

7) A disposable camera - hopefully the foster family will take some pictures of him so we can see some of what he did and learned while we waited to meet him.

The package was delivered to the agency last week. Hopefully it is finding its way to Nicholas quickly!