And Baby Makes Three - Colin's Adoption Story

On April 22, 1994, at approximately 4:00 p.m. E.S.T, our absolutely gorgeous 3 1/2 month old adopted Korean baby boy arrived at National Airport. The End. Actually, as were to soon find out, it was ONLY just the beginning.....

My husband and I moved to Reston, VA back in 1976, when Reston was a mere 12 years old. We had been transferred here from Rhode Island and moved to Reston because it was the only place we could find in Northern Virginia that even remotely resembled New England.

So here we are happily living in Reston. It's now l993. We've been married almost 20 years, have no children, travel when we want, eat what we want, SLEEP WHEN WE WANT, but do we leave well enough alone??? NOT US! We decided that what was missing from our well traveled, fed, and rested lives was a little person to keep us home, hungry, and tired! We liked the idea of adoption and chose Korea because it's a relatively easy country from which to adopt a baby (we used Adoption Services Information Agency, know as ASIA, in DC). The adoptive parents aren't required to travel there, thereby cutting down on the costs somewhat. Coincidentally, our neighbors down the street have two adopted Korean children, also through ASIA, and they proved to be a veritable fount of information.

We took a required course on adoption through FACE (formerly Families Adopting Children Everywhere) in May 1993. By October 1993, we were formally accepted into the adoption program with ASIA. We then proceeded to go through what can only be described as "happy torture." Happy, because we knew what would be the end result...a little person! Torture, because we had what can only be described as the social worker from hell. Plus, anyone who's ever been involved in an adoption knows there are home studies and medical forms to file and more home studies and different forms to file and MORE home studies and MORE forms to file (each with its own fee, of course).

Fast forward to February 1994. There we (still) were, filing forms and spilling our guts to someone we'd rather not even associate with, thinking this fun time would last another 6 months or so. I had just started a new job on February 23, and that night I was at Happy Hour after work when my husband suddenly appeared (he doesn't do Happy Hour). He didn't say anything...he just kept smiling and shaking his head up and down. I had no clue what he was trying to tell me, when it hit me...we were about to be offered our baby! We honestly didn't think this part of the process would happen for another few months, but at this point I thought...Oh Lord...I'm pregnant!!! We went to ASIA on the 25th and were presented with a case history of a Korean baby boy named Hye Chang Jung. I don't know exactly what we were expecting, or how we thought we would feel, but all I really felt was sheer panic now that the theoretical baby had a name and face. In fact, we took the weekend to decide what to do. I'm sure we had no intention of turning him down, but the whole idea of actually BEING parents was totally freaking us out. Of course, by Monday we went back to ASIA and said "Yes! He's our BABY!!! Then, we went home and filled out more forms (each with its own fee, of course).

April 1994. We now know we're getting a baby boy, we're really starting to get excited, and we now need to decorate the room but we don't exactly DO it because it's a Jewish superstition that you shouldn't be TOO ready before the baby comes. I do let my friends give me a shower the beginning of April, but we leave the heavy work until close to when the baby will arrive, probably around August or September. How many times can you be wrong in one life? April 18th I happen to call ASIA with a question and INADVERTENTLY find out that the baby's arriving on April 22nd! And this is normal procedure!!! No warning...no nothing! The social worker finally called us on the 20th to tell us the baby was arriving...thank you vedy much. You have never seen cribs, wallpaper, and diapers borrowed and bought so fast in your life. My mother was quickly transported down here from home, somehow we got everything together, and on April 22, 1994, at approximately 4:00 p.m. E.S.T, our absolutely gorgeous 3 1/2 month old adopted Korean baby boy arrived at National Airport.