Newest WBC news

Hi everyone...

We got a new WBC on KatieJoy yesterday that was dated Feb 18- just last week! :) Our baby girl is doing so well- it's so bittersweet to read that she is:
*Crawling
*Walking by cruising the furniture
*Standing on her own!!!
*saying Omma (mom in Korean) and babbling
*and be still my heart, she has her 2 bottom front teeth!


I'm going to be incredibly transparent here as I feel that I should be- I don't want everyone to think I'm a whinner but I also don't want to make everyone think that waiting for our daughter to come home is "easy"...I'm struggling right now. Period. I haven't been sleeping well (just flat out not sleeping or waking up from VERY realistic dreams) and thought it was due to being sick (which I have been sick a LOT the past month). I finally started remembering back to when I was waiting for Calen (as I have totally blocked those months from my memory these are hard memories to drudge back up) early this week and remembered that OH YEAH, I was sick the whole 2 months before Calen came home and I didn't sleep AT all during those 2 months. It's so difficult to "watch" my email for katiejoy updates or pray for a new picture. I'm tired, emotional and just barely functioning to take care of work business and Calen. My house is a wreck- please PLEASE don't come over unannouced as I would probably cry from embarrassment. I KNOW God is TOTALLY in control of when we get to meet our daughter and bring her home- my HEAD & HEART get that. But as a mommy- it is so hard to dream endless dreams about holding a "fuzzy faced" child for the first time(fuzzy because even my dreams realize that we don't really know what she currently looks like) and then waking up realizing that we are NOT in Korea and will NOT be there any time soon. Right now my timeline is litterally in the hands of the Korean Government officials who get to "approve" our EP. Obviously there is nothing I can do to fast forward our process other than pray and ask others to pray too... Even Allen told me last night that this report was "bittersweet"- he said "It's so good to know she is doing so well and hitting all these important milestones. But it sucks that we aren't getting to watch it and be the ones cheering her on." This is about as verbal as I have EVER heard Allen be about our waiting process. Even he is feeling this wait!

So from a mommy with a heart that hurts I am asking you to PRAY our KatieJoy into our arms! Pray for a miracle as there are still 2 other groups of families waiting for EP approval ahead of ours- it would be amazing if all the EP's from January got approved at once...

Love you all and thanks for always thinking of us and praying for us...
Amanda

January WBC

WBC= well baby check :)

I've been waiting for this little report on KatieJoy for 2 full weeks and thought I wasn't going to get it and was a little bummed (okay a lot bummed) when it didn't show up yesterday. Thankfully, our social worker called to check in this morning and said that she had gotten it on Feb. 1!!! Apparently Holt had put in 1 too many zero's in my email address. Oh well, I have it now, so no harm no foul! However, I will be emailing Holt on monday to make sure they now have the correct address...

So... some quick details on KatieJoy as of her checkup on 1/26/10 (she turned 9 months on 2/5/10)

Weight= 20.2 pounds! This girl is bigger than Calen was when he came home at 9.5 months old- YIKES!
Height= 28 inches
Her head grew almost a cm- very good news!
She is creeping/crawling- probably only creeping, but they are listed together
She can transfer toys from hand to hand
She prefers her Foster Mom
She is saying mama/dada- which means she's babbling! :)

She is growing and changing and oh how I can't wait to hold her! Come on Korea- get those EP's approved!

Please keep praying for KatieJoy as she slipped a little in her development (every child develops at different rates)... just keep her in your prayers as I know you're all doing.

Thanks guys; we love you,
~Mandy~