Putting Love in a Box

There is something heart-warming and heart-aching about the thought that a box I am holding one day in Birmingham, AL, will be 12,450 miles, literally the other side of the world, in less than one week and given to our sweet little boy and his foster mom. It's not the quick transport of the U.S. Postal Service (in fact, I crossing my fingers and praying they successfully bring the box from point A to point B) but the idea that a boy in a picture who has captured our hearts will be holding a soft monkey blanket, a small fire truck, a snuggly stuffed monkey, a teddybear comfort blanket from his Nana and Poppy, and a photo album introducing his mom and dad (gasp! that's us) for the first time. I have to admit I had a moment in line at the post office. I just kept praying, "God, may our love for our sweet boy on the other side of the world be communicated in a small box of cuddly things and toddler toys. God, may his foster mom be blessed by the clothes and other items sent. May she feel an inner peace knowing this little guy she has been loving and caring for is and will be loved deeply by the couple she sees in the cheesy photographs." It seems so easy to send a cardboard box halfway around the world (well relatively easy...that darn form was way too long and required a list of every little thing in the box, it's weight, and approximate value...hmmm, playdoh? $0.25...but I digress), but why can't I just go with the box, bring it to him, and take him back home with me?
Please join us in prayer for our precious little boy as he grows and develops his own unique little personality in a healthy foster home environment.

As a side note, we also sent Taylor a couple of pictures of our dogs (two labs named Marley and Jake) to show him our pets. I almost sent a picture of us with the dogs but then just stuck one in there of the two of them sitting together. What I did not realize until listening to Rick & Bubba the next morning was that people in Korea do not typically view dogs as pets but as something entirely different! Not sure about the validity of this but will definitely be researching it in the future.

Amanda

Amazima Ministries: Katie is coming to the US!

Amazima Ministries: Katie is coming to the US!: Katie is coming to the United States!! Her book, Kisses from Katie , releases on October 4, and she'll be visiting several cities and churc...

Coming to our church (Church at Brookhills) October 16th!!!! How awesome! She will be at each of our services that Sunday. So exciting...an opportunity to meet an amazing girl who has shown us all what living radically for Christ looks like! Check out her blog (http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/) and come listen to her incredible story of how God has used her to touch the lives of so many impoverished Ugandans for His glory.

Adoption Process Update

Now for the less interesting stuff...the process. Since my last blog, we have completed the homestudy (process where a local social worker evaluates the parents and home environment to be sure we are capable for being adoptive parents). The homestudy was notorized and sent to S Korea in June 2011, along with our acceptance paperwork that makes our match with Taylor official! This leads to another round of paperwork including submission of two documents known as the I-600 and I-600A. These were sent to the USCIS: Dept of Homeland Security so that Taylor can be issued an Emmigration Permit (EP...basically what we would consider a passport) when the time comes. These documents change Taylor's status from being classified as an 'orphan' to being an "immediate relative of the Murry family." Wow. What a picture of the gospel. I am so humbled to know that when I was an orphan, not seeking God, he pursued me, not only for justification to be made right before God, but for adoption into his household!

"12 Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ....19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household," (Ephesians 2:12-13, 19).

"How great is this love the Father has lavished upon us, that we should be called children of God!" 1 John 3:1

As amazing as this concept is that Taylor's status will change from 'orphan' to 'son' and become part of our sinful, imperfect family, how we pray even more that he will be brought in as a member of His household by the blood of Christ.

All of that to say, homestudy complete, I-600 and I-600A submitted, waiting for second fingerprinting appt (not sure why the state and national government cannot share?). According to the typical timeline given by the Holt adoption program, which is made based on what has happened in the recent past, we should be looking for a travel call approximately 4-6 months from the time our acceptance paperwork is sent to Korea, June 18th in our case. This would place Taylor in our arms before Christmas. That was the timeframe we were looking at until we received an email from Holt on June 21 explaining basically the following (written concisely by Liz Barnett, who recently brought home her little girl from S Korea this past March http://lizbarnette.blogspot.com/; thanks Liz for the beautiful explanation; hope you don't mind me using it):

 "the adoption situation in S Korea has slowed to almost no approvals of children's visas in the last 3 months. So these are babies who have been matched with families but not approved to travel. The Ministry only allows so many visas per year which only increases the wait times for families and babies to be united. Thus creating a backlog each year that is growing larger and larger. It used to be a 4-6 month wait to travel. We waited 8 months and families are now waiting even longer. So instead of babies coming home these kids are now toddlers and the foster families are raising the children for much longer, which makes the separation even harder on the foster parents and the children. Plus if children used to stay in a foster family for 9 months and are now staying until 16-18 months it is preventing another baby from being in a foster home and therefore being placed in a group home setting."

Sooo, we are now adjusting and looking to travel some time early next year when the visa amount resets. We are devoting our time to saving money for the trip, soaking up the time with just the two of us, preparing his room, learning some words in Korean (slow with this one), reading about attachment and raising a 2 yr old adoptee, and spending time in the Word and prayer as only God is able to bring about His purposes. I was reading in Psalm last night and came across the following scripture that really hit home for me and where we are now. In verse 2, when "toiling" is mentioned, it refers to lengthening the day with anxious worry and stress when God provides "sleep" (literally and rest/peace of mind) to those he loves. In addition, it is the LORD's involvement that makes the effort worthwhile and successful. Please join us in prayer that we trust full on God's timing and sovereignty over even the Korea government. Thanks for reading!

¹Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. ²It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. ³Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. ⁴Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children^[a] of one’s youth.

⁵Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. Psalm 127

Taylor Update

So I have not updated this thing in a while. I refuse to be a blogster dropout, and a lot has happened since my last blog. First things first...Taylor. We are updated each month via what is called a Wellbaby Checkup (WBC in adoption lingo) where we learn how he is doing medically and developmentally. He is 18 months old now and has been walking since at least 12 months. We received some video from his 1st year birthday ceremony at the Holt clinic in Korea where he was tottering around, albeit in a somewhat uncoordinated manner). We can tell he is a happy baby with such a sweet personality and seems to have good attachment with his foster mother. Some pictures for your viewing pleasure...

Taylor in is hanbok to celebrate his 1st birthday

(Korea tradition; more info here if interested)

He doesn't know he is supposed to be sitting like a

gentleman in his Korean ensemble ;)

At his 17 month checkup, we know he is now 'running' around, healthy, saying some words, and getting into everything...right on track for an 18 month old. Receiving pictures of him at 17 months was bittersweet. Always sweet because we get to have small glimpses of him throughout the process, not just as the baby he was at referral but how he is now as we wait. No longer a baby, this set of pictures really showed what a little boy he is growing into. While exciting and heart-warming, it elicits a small ache in my heart as I realize all of those 1st moments we are missing out on, but it is so comforting to know he is in a stable home environment where he is able to experience all of these 'firsts' in a relatively normal, healthy environment. In the last video at 12 months, his foster mom was having him say "omma, appa" (mom and dad in Korean). My heart melts. Praying for a smooth transition for this sweet little boy as he leaves the family he knows to join his forever family. Here is Taylor at 17 months...


 Cute little fella

Michael is soo glad he likes noisy toys ;)

Pictures to send to Taylor (okay some won't make the trip). Just having a little fun!

Your mommy and daddy...or omma and appa in Korean. We are not crazy, I promise!

And some of his toys...

Welcome

Welcome to our blog! Thanks for joining and/or following along with us as we go through
this wonderful and scary journey of adoption to Taylor "Tay" Bryant
Murry. I guess the best place to start is from the beginning...
I am 25
years old (well, almost....June 4th), and my husband, Michael, is 27. We are
originally from south LA near Baton Rouge and moved to Birmingham, AL so I
could attend graduate school at UAB to become an occupational therapist. Long
story short, we fell in love with the area and stayed. Truth be told...we fell
in love with the Church at Brookhills and desired to become a part of this
faith family that treasures God's Word above all else and believes what it says
enough to forsake all else for the sake of Christ and the spread of His great
gospel to the ends of the earth. My husband and I are learning more and more
each week about the holy and wonderous character of Yahweh and long for our
hearts to reflect His in all aspects of our lives.
So, why
adoption? Oh, the many hurtful and frustrating questions/comments made by
well-meaning (and sometimes just downright nosey) people. Here are just a one
example:
"Why
didn't you just have children of your own?"
Answer:
Newsflash! God, by His great mercy and design, has chosen to place this
precious little boy in our family, and praise God he is ours! Fully Murry!
Small
tangent ;) I better just stick with the topic at hand and save that blog for
another date ;)
So,
anyway, here we are...midway through the adoption process of a little boy from
South Korea who is now nearing 16 months. He was born on the afternoon of
February 6, 2010 in a town in South Korea. We thank God he has had a healthy,
stable foster family throughout his short life since birth and are ready to
bring him to join his forever family.
Oh
yeah, a little about us. I am an occupational therapist who works with older
adults to regain independence after injury or debilitating illness. My husband
is sort of a renaissance man. He has been a fireman, a construction man, an
EMT, etc. etc. For now he is working some odds and ends jobs as we are
transitioning to prepare for what our lives will look like in a few months.
I guess
that is all the writing I need to do for one post. Feel free to ask questions.
Did not mean to scare anyone from asking adoption-related questions ;) Ask
away...
If
anyone is still reading at this point, thanks for hanging with me. You might be
the only follower I have so far! Till next time...
Amanda
"See
how great is the love the Father has lavished upon us that we should be called
children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us
is that it did not know Him." (1 John 3:1)

Umm...addendum?

Trouble figuring out this blogging stuff (seen by the horrible formatting, yikes). Wanted to add where we are in the adoption process:

We are near the end of homestudy (a long, tedious process of paperwork and interviews) and will be sending off all of the paperwork to South Korea in mid-late June with the hopes of having Taylor home before the end of the year. Prayers much appreciated and coveted. Prayers for patience, prayers for Taylor's physical/emotional health, and for overwhelming peace and joy that only comes from trusting completely in the one true God.

** I posted another picture of Taylor to make it worth all the reading ;) the one with him holding the noisy cylinder toy. He is 10 months old in these pictures by the way. This is his "concentration face" we see him making with those pucker lips in some of the pictures and videos when he is really focusing on something. Too cute!