X Family vs. Hong Jin-yeong

So today all the parties met. Charlie, Sheref & I, Charlie's lawyer and our lawyer.

That doesn't sound so good, huh?

Actually, Charlie's lawyer is a Guardian ad litem. His job is to represent Charlie in our adoption proceedings. He has to certify before the judge that he feels it is in Charlie's best interest to be adopted by us, that we're not psycho crazy people, etc. The adoption agency and our social worker have already certified this, but apparently one more person has to do it as well to satisfy the South Carolina legal system.

[Did I mention this costs an extra $500?]

The Guardian ad litem was very nice, as is our lawyer. We met with them for an hour today, in a surprisingly child-proof room, to sign papers and discuss the finalization procedure, which is scheduled for mid-July. We fed Charlie approximately 5,000 Cheerios in an attempt to keep him quiet. I even let him poke my car keys in my ears because it was keeping him happy and quiet...

The bottom line of all this is that in 2 weeks,

Jin-yeong will officially be a U.S. citizen and will

legally be what he in fact already is, our baby boy.

Happy Matchiversary

Exactly one year ago today, we received a call from Holt, our adoption agency. They told us that we had officially been matched with this little guy.

This picture just makes me chuckle now, because the little guy in this picture really looks nothing like the Jin-yeong we met just over 4 months later. We thought he was so cute, though, and loved the impish little smile on his face. We also found his fruity outfit quite endearing!!

We first saw this picture on Tuesday evening, June 22nd. I was lying in our bed, working on my laptop. At that time, we were in the Waiting Child Program and were actively scouring the photolisting on nearly an hourly basis. Even though it was 5pm in Oregon, where the main Holt office is located, I just happened to check the photolisting. Given the hour, I didn't really expect any new photos, but checked anyways. And saw this face. I remember quickly reading the little summary of his social and medical situation. I called Sheref in to look, and we immediately decided to call and request his file. I emailed, then also called, Oregon. I've forgotten whether the following happened that night or early the next morning, but suffice it to say we got his file, reviewed it, and called to tell Holt we wanted to proceed nearly immediately.

As part of his file, we also received these two photos:

And these...

About a month earlier, we had "gone to committee" for another little baby, and (obviously) not been chosen. Generally, even if only one family is interested in a particular child, that family still has to "go to committee." Going to committee is a cumbersome process and somewhat stressful, so we were not looking forward to doing it again. We were also nervous because we had no idea how many other families would be interested in Jin-yeong.

On Wednesday night, I emailed one of the Holt staffers about setting up a committee phone interview. I was hesitant to ask, but did anyways, how many families were also going to committee with us. Within about 10 minutes, she wrote back something to the effect of "You'll be happy to hear you are the only family going to committee." I remember yelling to Sheref, who was in the kitchen cooking dinner, that we were the only family. Although we certainly didn't want to get our hopes up, we knew that this almost for sure meant we'd be matched with him, but we still thought we'd have to do an official committee interview and wait for a committee meeting. The committee meetings occur only on Thursdays, so we assumed we would have to wait another week to find out if we were officially Jin-yeong's family.

On Friday morning the 25th of June, one of the Holt staffers called Sheref's cell phone and asked a few simple questions. She then said, "Well, that's all I need to know for the interview. You are Jin-yeong's family!" I was at work, staffing Labor & Delivery. I was sitting at the nurses' station. I checked my email and found an email from Sheref with the title "We have a son."

And that is our matchiversary story. Happy Matchiversary!

Matching Man Outfits

Before anyone gets offended, let me just say that I have nothing against people who dress their children alike, nor do I have anything against people who dress themselves like their children. Wait. Actually, women who dress themselves and their daughters in identical outfits -- yeah, I might judge them just a tiny bit. But to each his (or her) own. And, yes, kids in matching outfits can be cute. But for some reason, I personally just don't like matching outfits. I even make an effort never to dress my identical twins identically.

So imagine my surprise when my fairly manly husband actually said (and I quote): "I've always wanted a son so we could wear matching polo shirts." Seriously! He said this. With a straight face. And he meant it.

So my manly husband went to the mall and came back with matching white polo shirts. And matching jeans.

Well, they do look pretty awesome.

But the girls and I -- don't expect to see us in matching outfits anytime soon...

Chucktown's First Beach Experience

When we were in Florida in May, Mr. Chucktown had his first experience with sand and beach.

Two things strike me in the sentence I just wrote.

First, although we (obviously) love the name Charlie/Charles, I personally have always strongly disliked the name Chuck (apologies in advance to anyone reading who happens to be named Chuck...however, since no one I don't know reads this blog and no one I know is named Chuck, I am likely safe...). Despite this, I now find myself unable to stop calling him Chuck, Chucktown or, worst of all, Chuckie. I made the mistake of telling the girls why all people my age immediately conjure up images of a red-headed, homicical doll when they hear the name Chuckie. Now every time I say "Chuckie," Lucy says, "Chuckie is an American Girl doll who kills people." (for the record, I told them that Chuckie was the size of an American Girl doll, not that he actually was an American Girl doll...but I digress into my inappropriate parenting style...)

Second, we do indeed live at the beach. And yet, after 7 months home, Charlie had still never been to the beach.

So back to the real point of this post. Here are some pictures of Charlie at the beach.

He loved the sand. He was intrigued by, but not completely sold on, the water. He definitely preferred pool to beach, just like his Mama.

The Pirate

There is a pirate in Florida. He rules the Panhandle, sailing the seas, stealing treasure and jewels. He, however, is a nice pirate. He likes to give gifts to children, and arrange extravagant scavenger hunts. Oh, wait. No, that would be my mother, pretending to be a pirate.

My mother has created the mythical figure of The Pirate. Each year, when we meet my family at my parents' vacation home along the Panhandle coast of Florida, The Pirate leaves a series of beautiful, creative, elaborately designed clues, ultimately leading to a treasure chest of loot for each of the children. Think small wooden treasure chests, with fake jewels glued on. Earrings, shiny rocks, animal-shaped squirt guns, goggles, little wind-up horses...The kids freakin' LOVE it, and honestly, I kinda love it too. Even though it, in the end, leads to lots of little plastic toys and random crap laying around my house.

This picture cracks. me. up. This is Rose, circa 2007, wielding her pirate sword after the pirate hunt. And, I notice just now, wearing Little Mermaid underwear. How apropos.

The first clue of the 2011 Pirate Scavenger Hunt.

Finding another clue

Searching...over the bridge

And finally, with the treasures...

I wish I'd taken more, and better, photographs of this year's Pirate Adventure.

It's a great idea, and a nice family tradition.

Happy Hour

Vacation is over. (Sigh)

We went to Florida, to a beautiful and quiet area in the Panhandle. My parents have a vacation home there, and we go every year to meet my family. Think beautiful houses, white sand, Caribbean-quality blue waters. Ahhh.

On the 9 hour drive home, we took turns describing our favorites memories from the vacation. Though I have many great memories from this vacation, one of my favorites was Thursday afternoon, when Sheref and I took Charlie and biked to a neighboring town 20 miles away. What great exercise!!

Ok, just kidding. We did bike to a neighboring town, but said town is (if that) 1/2 mile away. And we biked there in order to go to Happy Hour at the wine bar...

Wow, this being pulled behind a bike thing totally rocks...

Let's see what havoc I can wreak on this table...

Ok, chopsticks are cool. I'll play with these for a while...

Dude, you guys drank all that?!?

(Two of the glasses are for water, so not really that much wine. We had to bike home, after all.)

A Boy and his Doll

The hazards of 3 older sisters...

...though now that I look at the photo more carefully, he may

actually be trying to poke the baby in the eye.