best anniversary EVER!!

yesterday, 9-9-09, was our 9 year wedding anniversary!
and it was awesome! start to finish!

since wednesdays are a shorter day for me at work, i decided -what the heck- i'm staying home! and stuart did too.
woohoo!

so we got to sleep in, which i LOVE-LOVE-LOVE!
there is probably something seriously wrong with the amount of sleep i need/want/LOVE.
most mornings, i wake up and my first thought is "boo!" because i don't want to get up from my soft, comfy organic cotton sheets (they were on sale) and the super-duper cushyness of my plush, pillowtop mattress :)
ahhhh..
now that's happiness!

and although i have such a difficult time pulling my lazy butt out of bed in the mornings, at night, i always find myself trying to squeeze out every last second of awake-time, practically fighting sleep like a freaking 2 year old. i have to write just one more email, read one more page in my book, write one more blog...
it makes no sense at all but i do it every single day..

my friend, veronica, from texas, once told me that the definition of insanity is doing something over and over, expecting a different result each time...
hmmmm... that's not very comforting at all.
stupid, veronica. ;)
just kidding!!...
maybe.



anyway, back to the anniversary!
we started our day (post sleeping in) by FINALLY notarizing and sending in our big, fat, 10 pages of autobiography-stuffed application to our adoption agency!!!!
YAY!!
it was awesome.. an absolutely amazing feeling to finally be on our way!
our hearts are overjoyed and flooded with emotion and gratitude.... what a blessing!
what a perfect anniversary gift! something we've waited for, saved for, prayed for, believed for... finally after so many years... wow.
and on our anniversary, it somehow made it even more special.

speaking of...
we were thinking about the significance of the date and everything.
9-9-09 and our 9th anniversary... kinda cool and a little bizarre.
so i went online and tried to find the meaning of that particular number. (my dad is usually really good at that type of thing)

besides all of the completely uninteresting mathematical facts that popped up, there were a few very cool little tidbits about the number 9......

biblically speaking, apparently the number 9 is a very rarely used number, mainly used when describing or referring to something that is almost complete or almost perfect.
so how fitting and special is it that we sent off our application on that day....
awwwww.... precious :)

seriously, that's pretty cool.. you have to admit.



and what else...
oh! we went to our new FAVORITE restaurant in nashville and the only one with edible mexican food, cantina laredo.
so yummy! the frozen margaritas with sangria swirled in are super-delish! and the fire-roasted salsa is amazingly nostalgic for us and the food..... mmmmmmm.
we really really really miss texas!

after gorging ourselves in spicy, cheesy decadence, we went to see the musical, wicked, which i have been looking forward to for months.
and it was fabulous!
i loved it and stuart actually enjoyed it too. really! he did!
the music was incredible.
the only downside at all was the length.. it was 3 hours, which is pretty long. i didn't mind but stuart said his butt was hurting after the first 2 hours. his constant shifting in the last half of the performance was a little pitiful. poor guy... the things we do for love, huh? ;)

so all in all, it was a great day...
eventful, entertaining, and life-changing, all rolled into one big fat package.

now as far as the adoption stuff, we're just waiting to hear back from them.. i think the next step is either more paperwork or the homestudy...
but we'll keep you posted on whatever happens next!

as always, thanks for caring! :)

now i'm off to my cushy, comfy bed!
nighty-night!

sorry.. new to this..

to whomever was offended that i posted baby pics in one of my blogs several months ago, i sincerely apologize. 

i certainly never meant any harm in doing so.

my family and friends are in this process with us (they're my only readers) and it is a blessing and an encouragement to all of us to see the many families currently being united through adoption. it was never my intention to cause anyone distress.

so i have deleted the "offensive" posting. 

i'm new at this.... blogging, adopting, sharing... this is all completely new to us, we're still getting our bearings and that was really the only point in blogging about this whole experience to begin with... to somehow try to figure out our lives in the process .

anyway. who knew?

eh, you live and learn. 

Secret discount airfare for those adopting overseas!!

CHICAGO SUN TIMES

It's been drilled into our heads that the best way to get a cheap airline ticket is to buy it well in advance of your travel date.

But parents adopting children from overseas often have no idea when that date might be. And once their adoption agency gives them the go-ahead to bring home their child, they typically have only a matter of days to make all the arrangements.

Irina and Andy Prutch of Yorkville traveled to Russia last year to adopt their daughter, Anastasia. They were surprised that a one-way ticket for Anastasia would cost more than a round-trip.
(Keith Hale/Sun-Times)

TIPS:
• If you're adopting an infant, ask your travel agent or the airline reservation clerk to seat you in the bulkhead section with a bassinet (provided on a first-come, first-serve basis at no additional cost). Bassinets will hold infants up to 20 pounds and 26 inches. Also, ask if they offer baby meals on the flight. Some airlines will provide jars of baby food.
• Don't forget about buying your child's one-way ticket. Infants under the age of 2 years will need a lap ticket (generally about 10 percent of an adult fare) to sit on parents' laps. Older children will need their own seats and will be charged the same fare as adults.

Rather than get stuck paying a premium for last-minute tickets, parents can benefit from adoption airfare discounts. For example, Northwest Airlines "Special Delivery" program has benefits that include 65 percent off the price of full-fare coach tickets, open returns and no penalties for cancellations or changes. (Parents must show proof of U.S. residency and provide legal documentation of the adoption.) Details at Nwa.com/features/adopt.

Some 17,438 overseas adoptions by U.S. parents took place this fiscal year, according to U.S. State Department statistics.

Not all airlines are eager to publicize news about these special adoption fares. The media relations spokespeople for other major airlines either ignored our queries about discounted air fares for adoptive families or point blank said they didn't offer any. However, when we called the reservation lines for Delta, United and Cathay Pacific and questioned the customer service reps, they all said they offer discounted fares.

"Airlines are very secretive about specialty air fares," says Ed Perkins, contributing editor for Smartertravel.com. "They don't advertise them and they're just not going to tell you about them unless you specifically ask. So ask."

Perkins cautioned that consumers need to know the ramifications of their discounted tickets if they can't leave or return on the dates they booked. For instance, will the airline charge a premium to change a ticket if your child is too sick to fly on the date you've planned or if bureaucratic red tape is holding up your departure?

"Given how complex some of the airline policies can be, the best bet in some of these situations is to pay a travel agent to handle this for you," Perkins said. "He or she will have access to consolidator deals and will know which airline is offering the best fare. This is one case where it makes sense to pay someone to deal with the hassles for you."

Portland, Ore.,'s Azumano Travel American Express has been in business for 60 years working with corporate and leisure clients. For the past 15 years, they've also become one of the go-to travel agencies for adoptive parents booking flights overseas. Azumano has adoption fare contracts with a number of airlines, including Cathay Pacific, United, Delta and Northwest.

"A lot of our parents do their research and already have a general idea of what these flights should cost with a few weeks notice," says Erle D'Penha, an Azumano travel consultant. "They could probably do it themselves, but what they're paying us for is our knowledge, relationships and ability to get them seats when the online sites say they're all booked. Sometimes people will look online and won't see options to leave from the cities they want to, but we'll be able to find other hubs. The travel Web sites won't always look for all of those flights. We can help find more options."

Indeed, we gave Azumano dates for a hypothetical trip to Seoul, South Korea. We came up with a $3,000 economy fare with two days advance notice. Azumano came up with a nonstop flight on the same carrier for less than half that price.

Not all carriers offer discounted fares, but there are other ways to get around paying full price. Check to see if you have enough airline miles to use toward a ticket. When Yorkville's Andy and Irina Prutch traveled to Russia last year to bring home their adopted daughter, they were surprised to find that a one-way ticket for their child would cost more than a round-trip ticket. But they weren't allowed to purchase a round-trip ticket for her.

"It would've cost us almost $3,000 for a one-way ticket for our daughter," says Andy Prutch. "We ended up using my miles on American Airlines for her seat. My company's travel agent didn't charge us any fees, so we only paid $52.70 for her total airfare. It was definitely the way to go for us."

Also, it never hurts to be nice to the reservation clerks.

While Shannon Mogilinski of St. Charles didn't get any discounts, she did get an upgrade.

"When my husband and I traveled to Russia to adopt our daughter in 2003, we mentioned to the reservations clerk at British Airways that we were adopting a child and that we were carrying humanitarian aid to several orphanages," Mogilinski said. "She gave us a complimentary upgrade to business class. If we hadn't said anything, we would've been sitting in coach."

Jae-Ha Kim is a Chicago based free-lance writer.

Chicago Sun Times article......

special needs?? is anyone out there??

so, we're sending off our application this week...
Drumroll, please ;)

and now all of our research is coming to good use, hopefully.

but our main problem right now is finding other families (in TN or elsewhere) that have adopted or are adopting from Korea since they made policy changes in their adoption program in '06, basically allowing only a handful of US states to adopt "healthy" infants from Korea..

TN residents, by not being one of those few states, are only allowed to adopt infants with minor, moderate, or severe special needs.
most other states are in the same situation but we're having difficulty finding people who have adopted children from Korea with minor or moderate special needs...

we totally understand and respect the privacy of families and their children! but we're searching blogs and websites endlessly for information and help... the only people that we've found have been from those states that adopt "healthy" Korean children or those that have adopted severe special needs.

so with our own Korean adoption being minor/correctable special needs, we're just wondering if there is anyone else out there?????
this is a new frontier for us!
parenthood, adoption, and special needs, oh my! :)

so share with us if you can, pleeeeeease!!!!!

thanks!

Learning random Korean.. Lesson 8

Endless Summer in Korea??

Winterless Korea Becoming Reality

By Do Je-hae
Staff Reporter

The advancement of global warming may result in a "subtropical" Korean Peninsula, making the country winterless by the end of the century and more susceptible to super hurricanes.

A state weather agency projected Sunday that "most of South Korea may be categorized as a subtropical region, with partial exceptions in some of the inland mountainous areas between 2071 and 2100."

"This would mean that most of our major cities, including Seoul, Suwon, Daejeon, Gwangju, Daegu and Ulsan, will no longer be subject to sub-zero temperatures by the end of the 21st century," said Park Gwan-young, head of the Climate Change Information Center (CCIC).

Park is to present the findings at an environment forum in South Chungcheong Province on Sept. 8, organized by the Korea Meteorological Administration.

Park based his research on Korea's temperature changes from 1971 to 2000. It reveals that some parts of the southern Jeolla region from Mopo to the eastern metropolis of Busan are already showing subtropical tendencies.

The CCIC also projected that Korea will continue to see extended summers and shorter winters.

"Since the 1990s, our winters have become shorter by one month compared to the 1920s. But our summers are longer by 20 days and spring blossoms are occurring earlier," Park said.

By the end of the century, the Korean Peninsula will have experienced more scorching summers, but less severe winters. The northern part of the peninsula will have a greater increase in precipitation than the southern region, the CCIC official added.

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently estimated that the world's average temperature will increase by 6.4 degrees Celsius by 2090, lifting sea levels by 59 centimeters.

Also expected from an advancement of tropical weather are the frequent super hurricanes, equaling the devastating 2005 Katrina that claimed more than 1,600 lives in New Orleans.

Such possibilities are based on an increase of 2 to 4 degrees Celsius in ocean temperatures witnessed around Korean shores in the last few decades.

"The deciding factor in the magnitude of a hurricane is ocean temperature. As such, the frequency of super hurricanes on the peninsula is likely to increase," Park added.

Recently, a state-run research center said that the pace of climate change has been faster here than the rest of the world over the last decade.

"The density of carbon dioxide and other major greenhouse gases was higher here than elsewhere between 1999 and 2008" the Korea Global Atmosphere Watch Center (KGAWC) said.

"Rising greenhouse gases emitted at industrial complexes here and on the east coast of China are the main factors behind the increase," a KGAWC official said. "The situation is likely to worsen as more greenhouse gases could be generated not only internally but, from neighboring countries."

jhdo@koreatimes.co.kr

warm fuzzies :)

There was a man who was walking along a sandy beach where thousands of starfish had been washed up on the shore.

As he looked down the beach he noticed a boy picking up the starfish one by one and throwing them back into the ocean.

He got closer and called out "Good morning! What are you doing?"

The boy paused, looked up and replied, "Throwing starfish in the ocean. If I don't throw them back in they will die."

The man said, "Don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it? You can't possibly make a difference."

The boy listened politely. Then he bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves.

He looked at the man and said, "It made a difference for that one."

:)

And that is "why"...

Those warm fuzzies aren't so bad either.