Thursday

I found a you tube of the Nanta show.  (Libby if Abby hasn't seen it, you may want to take her!)

Allie just laughed and laughed.  Of course besides meeting CC, this was her favorite attraction.

We started off today at one of the bigger palaces that we missed yesterday. 

Underneath was a museum, and then after touring the palace, we went to another museum.  By 12:30, Hubs and I were both pooped.  Not Allie, she apparently is a MUSEUM GEEK.  She loved everything.  She wanted to look at every artifact, and she constantly said, "Mom, you gotta see this...you gotta see this."  We filled up our video camera of today and yesterday.  Finally at 2:00 we went to a traditional restaurant.  

The people of Seoul are so friendly and helpful.  Most of the young people speak English, and it's really been easy for us to get around on the subway and to all the hotspots our agency recommended.

We weren't expecting quite so much food, and honestly I didn't know more than half of the dishes we were eating.  

Thankfully Allie will TRY ANYTHING!

Yep...I just couldn't do that.  I don't do fish well.

Yep.  She said she liked it.  There were too many bones for her though.

We are trying to teach her Korean phrases (I'm pretty terrible at remembering them.)  It makes the people here so happy when you at least attempt to communicate.  Here was our attempt at teaching her to say, " The food was delicious.  Thank you."  

Lastly for today, we went to one of the markets to pick up some things.  We had name scrolls made for all the kids.  If you can read that, you can figure out his name.  (No, it's not chubby cheeks).

Tomorrow we will quit calling him CC.  The name is very special to us, and we've protected it all these months because of the uncertainty adoption brings.  

Here is another slide show of more pics from today....if you are still awake.

Make a picture slideshow

Some specific prayer requests for tomorrow:

CC's foster family...They will say good bye and it makes my stomach knot up thinking about it.  

CC:  Pray for him daily as the grieving / attachment process begins.

US:  Pray for endurance and patience.  It's a long way home, and the weeks and months ahead will be filled with adjustments from each member of our family.

Allie:  She's got a bad cough and it keeps getting worse.  She rarely gets colds anymore but when she does they are really BARKY.  Please pray it breaks up quick.  She'd be miserable flying if we had to fly today.

Thanks for your prayers!!

Wednesday

We headed out this morning to tour Seoul, and I took a ton of pics.  Unfortunately, Blogger is giving me fits.  Apparently I'm out of storage and the only way to verify my account is to scan several legal documents.  It's crazy and I'm a little frustrated.  I had to delete old posts to get this post to fit, so forgive me if it seems lame.  I wanted to post so many pics!

We visited a palace to start.  There was a changing of the guard, and Allie thought the ceremony was "amazing."

This was the king's throne room.

This was the ceiling of the throne room.  Again, I had to keep the photos I had already uploaded, so I couldn't pic anymore that I liked better.

We also visited the Korean War memorial.  It was a huge place.  Allie liked all the planes and ships.  

There were press people running around, and we saw a sign that the King of Sweden would be there today.  We didn't see him though!

We are pretty pooped.  Hubs is sleeping well because changing from nights to days is no big deal for him.  I'm still waking up at 3a.m.  Seems silly to change it at this point, but he's running us ragged!  We really do need to see as much as we can though.  Seoul is beautiful, and we took so much video. One day CC will want to see it all. 

Night night!

After a good night's sleep, I decided I could stream a slide show.  My handy dandy sisnlaw suggested I try using photo bucket to link my pics.  With her and hubs help, I got that to work, so I'll be able to post.  I'm so mad at google.  Who needs legal documents scanned to buy $2 worth of storage!! ARRG.

This slideshow created with Smilebox

....And I forgot to do captions, but I'm out of time.  Oh well.  

Last night we went to see "Nanta."  Allie LOVED it.  In fact she's still asleep from a very long day.  It was a show kind of like the American "Stomp," but it was quite a bit more comical.  The cast consisted of 5 chefs.  I wish I could describe it better, but I may let Allie tell you about it.

We are going to take it a little slower today.  Tomorrow will be a BIG BIG day.  

Tuesday

I don't even know where to start...

I didn't sleep well because Allie was wide awake from 1-3.  I was wide awake too!  We finally fell asleep again, and then I woke right back up, going through my mind about this morning.  For months, I've imagined today.  I've wondered if he'd look at us and start crying.  I've wondered if he would be terrified.  Not knowing his personality except through snippets of updates, I and many many many friends and family have prayed that he would not be an anxious child by nature.  He will be anxious in the weeks to come because of his circumstances, and for that we STILL need lots and lots of prayer.  

However, what I learned today was that, by nature, he is not at all an anxious child.  He's quite the opposite of anxious.  In fact, he reminds me a lot of Garrett and Allie...oh goodness...poor poor Mary.

This incredible organization facilitates adoptions from all the agencies in the U.S.  The director shared the history of ESWS, and I'm so impressed and thankful for this mission.  They have homes all over Korea to support special needs children and adults.  They over see the care of  countless babies who are waiting for their forever families.  That care is outstanding.  These babies are so loved and taken care of during their "wait" and I'll never have the words to express my gratitude for that.

The taxi dropped us off here, and we decided to go to Dunkin' Donuts....the best cure for an anxious stomach. 

Upon arrival, we were taken to a small room, to finish the FINAL paperwork...well for now.  The reason the chair is empty is that our case worker jumped up because she heard CC walk in the room behind us.  She ran out and very informally invited him to come see us as we waited to finish our documents.

I didn't even have my camera ready because I wasn't expecting it!  He had on those squeaky shoes, so he bounced right over to us.  He looked at us very curiously, and then just stared at the ground.  He wasn't afraid. He just didn't like the attention.  I was just stunned that I was sitting there looking at him because it happened so fast.  I wanted to tackle him, and I knew that would not be good, so I just sat there with tears in my eyes...Tears of disbelief that God had given us this boy.  

As soon as he appeared in the door way, he was whisked away for us to finish, and hubs and I just grinned at each other!  What a relief..he didn't run away!  

We walked upstairs to the room where we had seen him in his videos.  It was so surreal to have watched him play in this room on video, and now to be walking in there to see him.

He LOVES that room.  He immediately sat in the little tykes car and began honking the car like we'd seen him do 6 months ago...on video.  He laughed and grinned.  There was no reservation in his face.  He obviously doesn't mind meeting new people.

THERE HE IS!!!

His foster parents were INCREDIBLE!  I so wanted to take their pics, but it's not ok to post their pics.  She had brought videos of him when he was little, 2 photo albums, a zip drive full of pics, his hanbok, presents for our kids, and a handwritten letter to him to read some day.  I forgot to have the translator read it, and I've got to have that done before we leave!

They've done such an excellent job with him.  He obeyed their requests readily.  He bowed when we walked in; when he was asked to put his shoes back on at the end, he ran right over and sat down for them to dress his feet.  I was able to ask several questions about his routine, and the foster mom repeated several times..."He's a good boy."

About the hat!  Apparently, he's been wearing it for months. They took it off of him to show us his beautiful hair, and he grabbed it and put it back on!

He was reaching for balls and toys and throwing them at Allie.  He really took to Allie.  He would go down the slide, counting the steps as he went, and then ask her to come slide too with his gesturing.  She can't wait to see him again.

Finally...a couple of videos!

I caught this as he was leaving.  It's blurry because it was quick.  He didn't really want to leave, and he had a fall on the ground fit when he walked out.  He wanted to play some more!

We won't see him again until Friday, and on that day, we will leave Eastern with him in our family forever.  

I almost forgot!  It's Pappy's birthday!!! 

Happy birthday Pappy.  WE LOVE YOU:)

Sunday/Monday

We drove to Mandy's Saturday night to shorten the day a little.  Love seeing the cousins!

Abby and Allie only had a little time, but a good time they had!

Abby and Allie took some pics of us.  This one was the least blurry!

We made it!

It's 5:36 central standard time/ 7:36 Korea time.  I guess we missed Sunday night.  I'm still figuring out this time change thing because I've never really traveled internationally.

Mandy dropped us off at the airport this morning, and the emotions hit.  I didn't want her to leave me!  I started crying, and I don't even know why.  I just became overwhelmed. I'm sure that won't be the last time this week.

Allie is one of the only kids I know who will try ANY new food. The salad had raw fish on it...she ate it.

The flight was uneventful.  It was smooth, but just long.  Allie had a little air sickness near the end.  She was good to go after her little episode...poor kid.

We arrived to the hotel without any problem.  Seoul is a beautiful city!

We circled several restaurants and then got the courage to go in.  The people here are so helpful and friendly.  We were about to order too much, and the waitress basically just gestured that she would get us what we needed.  

We had a great first day.  Off to bed.

We will meet CC at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning (Tuesday).  

Wow...we are going to finally see our boy face to face in 13 hours!

Saturday

This week has been filled with preparations, lots of conversations with the kids and PLENTY of pool time!  So excited it's summer!

We squeezed in swim lessons with Abbott.  They both did so great!

Allie had her end of year character award service on Wednesday.  She had SUCH a great year, and we both loved her teacher:)

Last pic with only 3!  

We will meet little man Tuesday am at 9:00 am.  Please be praying for him, his foster family, and us as we make this huge transition.

For some reason my videos are showing up on draft, but not making the published version.  I'll keep trying..

Leaving on a jet plane

Today was the day.  The day that we have waited for for 20 months.  We finally received the call to GO!  

This is the picture we received in our referral email.  He was 6 months old.  He's now 22 months old.  

I CAN NOT WAIT.

But wait I will...but only for a few more days:)

My new found friend, Libby who has answered all my questions and been cheering me on for months texted me a scripture today to encourage me.  (Three out of four of her babies are from Korea)

"Do not be afraid, for I am with you:  I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west."

Isaiah 43:5

I cannot believe God has us on this journey.  I'm so blessed.  I am so thankful.  I am so EXCITED!!!

Winding down

The school year is winding down.  Allie had a big project due this week.  She's been working on a presentation for about a month.  It was their first big assignment with rough drafts, final draft, and an oral presentation of her information.  The parents were the audience, and the kids really did great!  They were so relaxed and did not read.  They used key words from an outline!  I was so impressed!

Here's a short clip.  (The speech was about 2-3 minutes in length) 

Allie was "Molly Pitcher" (Mary Ludwig Hayes)

Her class mates posing for a "silly pic." 

Today was Mary's kindergarten graduation.  She is so SAD that school is out.  She LOVES LOVES LOVES her two teachers.  I love them too!

The kids were to choose a favorite verse from all the verses they memorized this year.  I looked back at my blog from when Allie was in kindergarten to see which verse she chose, and Mary and Allie chose the exact same verse!!!  (I didn't help either of them choose because they chose at school).  I think the verse is FOR ME to pray over the next few weeks.

Precious Ms. P!

Mary made the sweetest friends this year:)

The other Precious Ms. P!  These ladies are truly amazing.  Mary was so afraid to go to school, and she had the best year.

I can't believe summer is almost here!  

We have not received travel clearance yet.  Unofficially nine out of twelve families have received clearance, so SURELY we will know something soon.  I really thought we would have been on a plane tomorrow!  

Mother's Day 2012

God has blessed my life beyond my wildest dreams with these kids.  I'm so thankful!!

You didn't think I'd leave CC out did you???  By golly that is the LAST mother's day picture without him, you hear me? (I said that last year).  We haven't received the Travel Call yet..BOO!  Hopefully very very soon!  

One of the top four reasons I'm a mom..

GMAN!!!

Happy fourth birthday to you SON!!! WE LOVE YOU SOOOOO!!!

Where

does

the 

time

go?

This boy makes my heart smile everyday!  


Happy Mother's day too my two INCREDIBLE moms!  I love you both so very much.