It's a Girl!

소녀 야.

On July 14, we received the call that we have been waiting for. I looked at my phone at lunch time and saw a couple of missed calls from our social worker. I knew that this was it. As soon as I got a chance, John Mark and I called her back and immediately discovered that… It’s a girl!

 

Stephanie, our social worker, told us about her, her birth family, and many, many more details. She said she would send us a picture. We could not wait to see her. Finally, the text came across and we got to see her beautiful face.* She had beautiful black hair, sweet deep eyes, lots of baby rolls, and topped with a pink bow. Instantly, we were filled with joyful tears and excitement. This is our baby girl that we have been waiting for all these years.

That day we sent all of our referral paperwork via email to our International Adoption Specialist in Lexington who reviewed everything and called us Saturday morning at 8am. We were excited to hear about the news of her health and growth that she has experienced since her birth.

Immediately, we accepted the referral and awaited our paperwork in the mail.

On Tuesday, we received the paperwork and reviewed everything late into the night. There were three videos and a stack of pictures that were taken the same day at the referral pictures. Tucked away in that stack was one photo of her swaddled in a blanket. I’m not sure how old she is in the picture, but I believe that this is her only baby picture that we will have. We were able to read about her, her birthmother, and even some information about her birthfather. Here birthmother gave her the name “Harang,” which means: in hopes of living as a wonderful person in a harmonious world.  The descriptions of her birth parents and birth story are ones that we want to save and share for her. Many people ask, but we do not feel it is appropriate to share her story for her. We are just so happy to have the information to share with her when the time and age is appropriate.

 

The next day, we ran around and got all of our finances in order (from Lifesong/PVCC, Both Hands, and our personal savings), notarized what seemed like 20-30 documents, and finalize her new name! John Mark and I finally decided on Abigail Grace Harang Tyler, and we got everything back in the mail by 4pm to overnight it to our adoption agency in Michigan. It was such a relief to drop this in the mail.

 

Now, everything has been sent to Korea. We are officially awaiting confirmation of our ATK (Acceptance to Korea) date. This sets everything in motion for us to get going on her EP (Emigration Permit). This will take the bulk of the time as we await bringing her home. When that is complete, we will get a court date to go over to Korea. We will get to meet her and visit with her, but we then have to leave without her. In a month or so following, we get to go back to Korea for custody. All in all, this process will probably take another 7-9 months.

This week we have been getting photos together, working on composing a DVD intro video for her to watch, and trying to decide the most impactful we can have on her through our little care package, which can include: one blank USB drive (for the foster parents to put pictures on), one recordable book, one DVD, a letter to the foster family, and some laminated photos of our family. Our DVD consists of about 25 minutes of our family running around our house and singing & dancing. The boys had a great time creating it for her.

Daily we are realizing that this is real. The boys are already struggling with the fact that she is there and not here, and it does not help that they have no concept of time. As we have said, there is purpose behind every delay. She was knit together in her birthmother’s womb and chosen to be in our forever family here in Kentucky. We are all (especially her brothers) beyond excited about the future. So… the waiting continues for our sweet Abbi Grace, and life prayerfully continues in the Tyler household.

 

*We cannot share any photos of our sweet little girl on this blog at this time, but if you see me around I’d be happy to show you!