Soaking up Korea

We had to say our goodbye to our precious little guy a few days ago, and have 2 more nights still to wait to see him again. After waiting a year to bring him home, you'd think a few extra days would be easy - not so much. After meeting him and having him in our arms, it's been very hard to not want to wish away these few days in between and head straight home. Not to mention, we are missing Gabbie and Rhett like crazy by now.

So, we've been keeping BUSY and I mean BUSY the last couple days. We have an opportunity to learn as much about our son's culture and homeland as possible and I don't want to miss a thing! Yesterday, we were invited to have lunch at the adoption agency and meet with the director. We were joined by 8 other couples who are meeting their babies this week and traveling home in the next couple days. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip so far - it was so nice to see share stories of their adoptions and meetings with their children. One of the parents came to the meeting right after meeting their son for the first time. They looked ecstatic and completely emotionally drained - I could completely relate. We were served a delicious Korean style lunch after the meeting and got to meet the staff at the agency.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Seoul. We decided we were done with taxi's, since the traffic is so bad here, and a taxi ride can be ridiculously long. Instead, we ventured underground and quickly learned the ropes of the Seoul Metro subway. Considering Seoul is considered the 2nd largest city in the world, we weren't sure how we'd do. By evening, we were doing fine right in the thick of commuter rush hour - just about needed a rope to keep us together though! I think we could explore this city for weeks on end and still never come to the same spot twice. The skyline goes as far as you can see, and packs in 21 million people. Yet, I'm amazed at how remarkably clean and safe this place feels.

We made the trek up to Namsan Mountain and got a great view of Seoul from the North Tower! We came down the hill by cable car, which had us packed in like sardines - and I'm pretty sure was over the weight limit! Not my favorite few minutes. We explored Namdong Market, and had a blast sifting through anything and everything you could think of by street vendors. Underneath the outdoor market, was an underground market just as big. All a great adventure!

Today, we had the opportunity of a lifetime and took a tour up to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), which lies between North and South Korea. This is the most heavily fortified border in the world. I have always heard of the DMZ, and have learned quite a bit of history of Korea in the last year - so we couldn't miss the opportunity. The DMZ is a beautiful stretch of land that lies 2 KM and extends as a neutral zone between the North and South borders. Civilians are allowed on the border of the South side and can get a glimpse of the separation that tears this nation apart. One of the parts of the tour was the 3rd Tunnel. About 30 years ago, the South Koreans discovered the N Koreans were digging tunnels underground in an attempt at a surprise attack on Seoul, along with an air attack. The army searched for 3 years, and found 4 tunnels that existed, and could have allowed the North Korean army to reach Seoul in 1 hours time. The tunnels have been discovered, blocked, and the North Koreans denied making them - stating they were made by South Korea to invade the North. We were able to go underground and walk a large section of the tunnel. All camera and bags had to be turned in - there was very strict rules everywhere about photo taking. The tunnel was very eery, and saddening that a country would seek to destroy it's own people.

Afterwards, we were taken to the Doran observatory, which is the only place that civilians can get a glimpse at the border of North Korea. The rules are strict and photos are not allowed after a certain point on the walkway. We were warned that North Korean troops keep a heavy eye on this observatory, and any photos taken at the edge can be misconstrued as a threat. We could see a statue of Kim Jong Il, and Propaganda Village - which looks like a skyline from a distance. It was discovered years ago that it was all fake - like a movie set, in order to give the impression that North Korea is a prosperous and rich land, which is the farthest thing from the truth. I have always been intrigued by North Korea. Seeing firsthand a brief glimpse into the oppression by the barbed wire and heavy military presence is heart breaking to me. This should be ONE country.

The highlight of the tour was the Damseng Station, which is a railway station that is the farthest north that one can travel in South Korea. No one goes any further North. The station is not frequently visited by train, unless it's for purposes of visiting the DMZ. However, the station was built as a symbol for unification in the future. The South Koreans are anxiously awaiting the day they will be one country. This station serves as a symbol of peace, and they plan on making it the FIRST station headed North. It is up, running and ready to provide freedom for Koreans to travel through these borders.

Our tour ended with Freedom Bridge, which carried 12,000 POW's after the Korean War and serves as a memorial and symbol of future peace. The trip was well worth it, and something I'll never forget. It was a bit nerve wracking at times with the heavy military presence, strict polices of photographs and behavior in certain areas, and being within such close proximity to a country that seeks for another's destruction. Nonetheless, I'd do it again - and feel like I've gained some amazingly valuable insight into this land, and people.

We'll have one more day of exploring before we get to see our little man again and finally take him with us! I can't wait to give you an update of our next meeting, and preparations to travel home!! Be blessed!!

Our Sweet Boy!!

Our dream finally came true -and we met our precious little boy!! We arrived a little early at the agency (and since the agency isn't normally open on weekends), we waited outside for our social worker to open the doors. While we waited a car pulled up, and we saw a little head bobbing up and down in the back seat. I can't even tell you how I felt - I've literally never experienced anything like it, or had so many mixed emotions at the exact same time. I knew the second we got a glance that it was HIM. His precious foster mom, Mrs. Gong spotted us and immediately carried him right over to me telling him "ohma" (mommy) and pointing to me. Of course, tears immediately flowed and I gave her a huge hug and got handed my little guy. I'll never forget how genuinely happy she seemed to be giving SeongChan to his mommy. I'm sure this meeting was emotional for her as well, who has had him for the last 17 monthes, and prepares to say goodbye to him in a few days.

I didn't get to hold him long, because this little guy likes to RUN. He is a VERY VERY busy and active little 18 month old, and he'd much rather be exploring than being held by someone he doesn't know yet. It was more a game of "chase me around!" I still loved every minute of our meeting, every flirt, giggle and attempt to play. He is a total ham and loves attention!! He seemed very comfortable with Steve and I and so happy! He's definitely very attached to his foster mom, which we expected. As long as she was in sight, he was happy as could be playing with us, letting us hold him (or chase him) and love on him. It broke my heart to see how sad he was when she walked out of the room at one point, and I'm praying for lots of GRACE and PEACE over him when we have our transition. I have to remember he's losing something in order to gain something, and I need to be prepared to help him and love him through this part. This is where I feel like my parenting skills go out the window and ask for God to give me wisdom!

One thing we learned is that SeongChan is very fond of his foster father, and I could tell he took an immediate liking to Steve. The boys played non-stop, while I had a crash course in learning as many details as I could about our son in a short period of time. I won't have another opportunity to visit with foster mom, so I wanted to try to learn as much from her as I could about his first 18 monthes. Not an easy task to accomplish in a short time - with a translator in between.

Our meeting lasted about an hour, and it felt like minutes. I did NOT want it to end, but knowing he's coming home with us made saying goodbye easier. SeongChan will stay with his foster mom for the next 4 nights, and then will be handed over to us the night before we fly home. We're very happy we'll get to have one night with him in the hotel, and are believing for lots of peace over him as we prepare for a 14 hour flight with him!

Steve and I will keep busy the next few days sightseeing and continue to learn as much as we can about Will's homeland. We were invited to a lunch at the agency tomorrow to meet other adoptive parents, which we're really looking foward to!

Please continue to lift up in prayer our transition and travel home! We'll keep you posted on more!!

T Minus 3 Hours

Well, we've made it here to Korea and one full day under our belt. We arrived on late Friday afternoon and were exhausted. Our body's clocks still haven't quite adjusted to the 14 hour time difference. We spent the first evening in Incheon, which is along the coast and near the airport. We thought it would be more tourists, and it ended up being a quiet town with mostly locals. We really enjoyed the first night being quiet and relaxing. We checked out the beach, which was very cool, since the tide is low - so you can literally walk out into the ocean and explore the bottom for about 1/2 mile. There were lots of people out digging and collecting shellfish. We collected a bunch of fun shells for our kids, and what we didn't realize was that one of the conch shells had a crab living in it. We discovered it while I was Skyping with the kids that evening and showing them the shell and I had the scare of a lifetime when the crab appeared as I was holding it!

We had still been waiting to find out when we'd have our meeting with William, and we learned that we were scheduled to meet on Sunday morning at 9am. The agency is never opened on weekends, and our social worker said this was very rare to meet on a Sunday. Since we were planning to be in Incheon (an hour away), we needed to get to Seoul early for the meeting. Long story short, we ended up scrambling to book a hotel in downtown Seoul for one night, and will have to switch hotels again on Sunday. We had a lovely 10 block walk downtown with our 4 large suitcases and carry-on's. It was hot, but we enjoyed every minute of the adventure. We spend the day sightseeing and checked a massive palace, and the Blue House (where the SKorean president stays).

We decided to walk around and check out what the night life is like, and had a blast people watching!! Seoul reminds me of NYC, but bigger, cleaner and safer. There were people everywhere shopping, lounging, in coffee shops (Dunkin Donuts is on every corner). It wasn't the typical night life crowd or activity that I would have expected with bars, clubs. We were shopping at 11:30 at night in the market - it felt like the middle of the day, just full of lights and huge digital billboards. I really, really like the Korean culture. I have found them to be very friendly, respectful, not to mention brilliant. This country is extremely advanced technologically. We're about the only one not walking around with a Smartphone in our hand while we're here. It's only been one day and I've already learned so much and look forward to soaking up as much as I can of Will's culture.

We are anxiously awaiting our appointment with him in a few hours. Once again, I had dreams all night about it!! Our camera's are charged, our gifts for his foster family are wrapped and our hearts are ready to be changed even more!!! I already am excited for my next post, since I'll be able to share about our meeting - and not just sightseeing!!!

Thanks again for the prayers and support!! More later...

The Adventure Begins!

I'm writing this update from somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, between Alaska and Japan. I need to pinch myself, so I know it's real because it all still feels like a dream! Let me back up a few weeks – as many of you know, we have had a LONG wait for our immigration paperwork to be processed at the Korean Embassy. The group that was processed before ours took 3 weeks, ours took 3 months. Let's just say we were feeling very over-due for our call, and it started to feel as though it was never going to happen. About 2 weeks ago, we received word that our paperwork was finally nearing the final stage, and that we should be ready for a travel call within 1-3 weeks.

As you can imagine, we were ECSTATIC and glued to our phones daily. After two weeks of not hearing anything, we started to wonder if this was really going to happen. We were so ready to travel, and wanted to leave soon. Steve had been in between projects and was home for the week, the kids still had 2 weeks before school started – so we wanted our call desperately. We were concerned about having to wait to travel into September, while Steve's work picks up and the kids having the first week of school. Well, God knows all the ins/outs of our life and needs and couldn't have planned things better. We decided this week on Tuesday that we were going to try to travel as quickly as we could after we received our call, and not wait a week or two as many parents need to before being able to leave. We stayed up until 2am on Wednesday morning, packed every suitcase, wrote out all the instructions for our kiddos, the house, etc.. and went to bed. All night, I had dreams about getting our call. Sure enough, Wednesday morning, at 7:00, we got the call of our lives that our William is ready and we are free to travel anytime! We decided right then that we would try to leave the next day.

Under normal circumstances, we would never be able to hop on a flight the next day and travel across the globe. What made it possible for us, was being blessed by a friend of our family with 2 Buddy Passes on Delta Airlines. The passes allowed us to fly standby to/from Korea and only pay a fraction of the airfare. What a huge blessing!!!! However, the idea of flying stand-by is totally new ground for me, and sounded somewhat scary. I'd prefer to know exactly how things are going to go, have a plan and know what to expect. Talk about a stretch! However, God provided the blessing and we knew He would provide the open seats. So, we got listed on flights for the next day, did last minute details, and prepared to leave. The kids were staying behind with their grandparents, and they had the opportunity to go with Steve's parents to Michigan to see their cousins for 5 days. The timing couldn't have been better – the kids were thrilled at the idea of a road trip and a vacation to Michigan. This made saying goodbye to us much easier for them, and they were so excited for their adventure! We had a hard time leaving them, and I already miss them dearly. We'll be gone 8 nights, and usually only ever leave the kids for 1-2 nights at a time. I know they'll have a blast, but things just don't seem the same without them.

This brings us to our morning – my sweet mom gave us a ride to the airport at 5am and our adventure began! We didn't make it on the first flight, and listed for the next flight. Our hope was to make it to Detroit, and then there was a flight with plenty of openings from Detroit to Seoul. Standby for the second flight was a nail biter. They offered us 1 seat, but couldn't get us both on. About 2 minutes before they closed the door, there was a passenger who hadn't yet come to the gate and they were able to offer us each a seat. We walked on, and they closed the door right behind us. Thank you GOD!!! We arrived in Detroit and had a good run to the next gate, and saw were were listed as “cleared” for the flight to Seoul! I wish I could have gotten a picture of the screen, but we were in too much of a rush!! What's even better is they seated us in Business Class, which is such a huge blessing. I expected to be in the middle of two seats, with a kinked neck for 14 hours, and here I am stretched out in my little “apartment in the sky” getting endless Diet Cokes, and getting the sleep I missed from last night in a comfortable lazy-boy seat. God is good!! Truly, only the Lord could have arranged all of these details.

We'll be arriving in Seoul on Friday afternoon. We lose almost a full day by crossing over so many time zones. Let's hope my homeopathic “No Jet Lag” pills actually help! We'll be staying in Seoul for one week. I haven't gotten confirmation yet, but I believe we'll get to meet William on Monday or Tuesday. I can't even think about it yet, or I get too emotional! Then, William will go back with his foster mom for a few nights, and we'll hopefully get him the night before we fly home. We're really praying for a night at the hotel with him, rather than just getting him the morning we fly home.

This coming weekend marks the 1 year anniversary that we were matched with Will. It's been a long wait and harder than I expected. Each report and picture would bring so much joy, but such heartache knowing he was growing and developing and we were missing it. Yet, I still believe God was using that year in a hugely important way for his life. He's been in good hands, and very spoiled and love by his foster family. I look forward to the day when he will be able to meet his foster mom again and I can send her letters and pictures of him getting bigger. I know the good-bye will be very emotional for her, and I'm praying for God's comfort and strength as she delivers precious Will to his parents. I am eternally grateful for Mrs. Gong and her love for William.

I'll do my very best to keep the blog updated while we're in Seoul and will be posting pictures on Facebook. We appreciate all the prayers!! More to come!!

Waiting for our travel call

Hi all!! I thought I should put out an update, since it's been a while since our fundraising garage sale! We have had lots of questions recently as to where we are at, and how close we are to being able to travel! To be completely honest, we don't know. We thought we'd have airfare booked and would be leaving in the next week or so, but things have taken longer than expected and we are still yet to receive our travel call. Right now, William's paperwork is at the Korean Embassy. They are issuing Emmigration Permissions (EP), which is his passport and visa clearance to leave Korea. We are part of a group of 17 families who are being processed together. Once all the families paperwork is processed, we begin receiving our calls. Once we receive our call - we can book our flight and leave for Korea. Typically it's 4-6 weeks to get paperwork processed through the Embassy. Ours has taken almost 10 weeks so far, and still no word yet. We know things are changing with the Korea program in the future, and we've been assured it's not a matter of "if" we will get our call, it's a matter of "when". All of this is in God's hands and we have total peace.

As a matter of fact, I know that our paperwork was supposed to be in this group. As many of you know, our 7 year old Gabrielle had a bone graft surgery on July 13th, which involved removing bone from her hip and reconstructing her gum line and filling a missing area in her cleft. We knew that we would not be able to travel within a month before her surgery, or a month after. We spoke with our social worker and the Korean adoption agency, who knew that if we were to receive our travel call in July - our little William would wait a few extra weeks until we were able to bring him home. As far as things looked at the beginning of summer, our travel call was expected right about the time of Gabbie's surgery, which was about the last thing I wanted to happen. Well, good thing I don't make the plans - and have a God who sees the big picture, and happens to be a better organizer with my calendar than I! Gabbie is doing fabulous and recovering amazingly. We are two weeks post surgery today, and she's as spunky as ever. We were asked by the surgeons to not travel out of the country for a minimum of 4 weeks after her surgery, to ensure she's completely clear of any infections, and the bone graft has taken.

So, at this point - I'd love to receive a travel call any minute, but know that it's completely in God's hands. We can hardly wait to keep you updated and hopefully will be bringing him home soon!! Thanks for all the amazing prayer, support and love!! Willy Bear (as my kids call him) is one blessed boy to have so many that love him already!!

Garage Sale Mania

We recently decided to do one last fundraising endeavor to help raise funds for travel costs on our upcoming trip to Korea. We hosted our second Adoption Fundraiser Garage Sale! Our first sale was 2 years ago, and was when we were in the inital stage of the process. Now, that we are in the home stretch, we decided to host another sale. Since early May, we have been collecting donations from our amazing friends and family! I was so amazed at what nice, quality items were coming in, that I knew this was going to the best sale of the summer! For 6 weeks, our lower level family room became "garage sale headquarters" and started filling quite fast with donations. Items were priced and sorted, and boxes of items began stacking and overtaking the room. I have to say, I really appreciate my kids graciously losing their toy room for 6 weeks while we prepared for the sale. (Needless to say, there was a huge pillow fight and wrestling match with all of us in the family room the day after the sale!! )

I purchased some used racks, and was graciously donated about 300 hangers from Cabelas - and got to work! I had a sweet friend even go out and hunt for clothing dividers, and have them made up for my racks, exactly as I needed the sizes divided up - what a huge blessing! One day during my prep, I had my monster 15' double sided rack go crashing over in the driveway by a wind gust. I was tempted to give up, shut the garage door and go crawl in bed, but instead, I dusted everything off and re-sorted and hung it all - and 6 hours later, it was back to normal. I learned the hard way that I needed sand bags to weight down my racks!

After a month of preparations, and lots of sweet friends coming and helping price & sort with me - we were ready! Our sale was last Thurs-Saturday, and was a huge success. The first day was very busy, and we sold $2,200 worth of donated items! The amazing thing is that we didn't have any really expensive items in the sale - the highest priced items were $40. It was amazing how quickly it added up! All said and done, we raised $3,003 for little Will's adoption!!! We actually had to count it all twice, because we thought for sure we had made a huge mistake in our counting. No mistake - God is GOOD!!

It was so fun to have so many of our sweet friends come strolling up our driveway, showing their support and doing a little shopping! I was also so blessed by how many people were friends-of-friends, meaning our friends were telling others about the sale - and sharing it through Facebook, which drew even more shoppers.

And, whenever you have an "Adoption Fundraiser" sale, you get lots and lots of questions/comments/stories from your shoppers about adoption. I was really honored by the number of people that shared with me that they had been adopted, or how adoption had touched their family.

All of the money raised will go towards our travel expenses. Tickets to Korea are currently between $2,000-$2,500. With the money raised, we now have enough for 2 adult tickets, a lap ticket for Will, and 5 night guest stay at the agency. Our goal for the sale was to raise $2,500 - which God pushed us way above and beyond! We were really hoping to be able to have our travel costs all up-front, and not be added to the remaining adoption costs yet to pay. We still have a ways to go financially, but God has proven Himself faithful every single step and will continue to!!

Lastly - we are anticipating our travel call should be very soon. It's looking that we'll very likely travel in early August. We can hardly wait!!! We'll keep everyone posted, as I hear more from our agency!!

Thank you again for ALL of the love and support with our fundraiser!! We are so blessed by our amazing family and friends!!

Home Stretch

A blog update is way overdue, and I'm so sorry I've not been good at updating this. I know I've seen many of you, or you've seen our updates on Facebook - so I assume most of you all know the latest. However, this blog is intended to track our adoption, and certainly there's been some updates in the last few months to report! I'm so happy to report that we are on the final stretch of our adoption process! It's been 9 months since we've been matched with William, and I've beginning to feel like an overdue pregnant mom!

We got a call today that our paperwork is at the Korean Embassy, and ready to be processed. There are two steps to the immigration process and we are beginning step 1. However, getting the call today - which didn't surprise us - became very surreal. Needless to say, I was a puddle after the call. We'll soon be bringing our son home, and this time it's true. Lord help me after I get the call that we're in step 2. Puddle times 100. We are anticipating that we'll have him in our arms by July or August at the latest. The immigration process is unpredictable, and just like in the United States - a passport can take 8 weeks, or it can show up on your door in 2. It's very hard to put a timeline on the immigration process. When we travel, we will be in Korea about a week. Our kids will stay here with grandparents, and we plan to all make a trip to Korea when they are older.

Our handsome little Will will turn 15 months next week!! He's had absolutely fabulous care in his foster home, and I'm eternally grateful for Mr. & Mrs. Gong, his foster parents. We're so anxious to meet them!!

Being that we're in our final phase of the adoption - we're getting our house ready for a toddler! I never imagined I'd be excited to go back to the toddler phase, but Will is OURS and because of that, I can hardly wait!!

We're also doing one last fundraising effort to help with final adoption costs, and travel expenses. We're hosting our second fundraising garage sale on June 15-17. We've already gotten some fabulous items donated from friends and family. I've been spending my days sorting/pricing/hanging, and loving it since I know it's all for our sweet little boy. I'll keep you posted on the details for the sale - if you'd like to come shop!!

Thanks again for all our support/encouragement/prayers!! We truly couldn't have gotten through this process without our family and friends. I'll keep you all posted on our travel notifications - and garage sale details!!