Special mention

While we were in Korea, we actually got to see and read UD's records. As most of you know, UD was adopted through the same agency we are using. This worked out really well for us. Our SW in Korea asked if UD wanted to see his records. He said yes; she told us to just walk in to their Post Adoption Services office which happened to be on the 4th floor of the guest house we were staying. How convenient huh? We were worried since we didn't bring any of his pre UD ID's or anything like that. But Mon, 5/23/11 we walked in to 
the said office. One of the ladies promptly stood up and asked how she could help us... we told her what we wanted and after looking up his Korean name, she asked us to come back the next day at 2pm so she could have time to gather all his records. Just like that! Less than 15min! I was very impressed. Our SW told us all of the ladies at the 4th floor spoke fluent English and so we asked for another favor. To see where we could buy a 3 pronged adapter for our stinking laptop that was deader than a doornail by then. And one of the other ladies, hurried around looking for a "3 pronged converter" and she goes, "here... you can borrow this; just make sure to please return it ok?"  We were just floored.. pleasantly floored at how nice everybody was at the guest house.

So we went back the next day after taking pics of our friend's BEAUTIFUL girl, and a quick Insadong Market visit. GM and UD went over the records pretty thoroughly with Ms. L.'s help. Everything was translated in to English. We asked if we could take pics of the documents, and Ms. L goes, "I'll make copies of all the records for you to take home." How sweet is that huh? She even gave us an extra copy of one of his referral pics. I had to bow out after a while with Mr Wiggly in tow since Mr Wiggly wasn't going to take all this reading and just sitting around for nothing. So we waited outside... him making friends with the rest of the ladies on the 4th floor. We also did a round of climbing up and down the stairs to the 5th floor - where we were staying. This kid can crawl up the stairs man! He can't quite go down them yet. BUT he did find our room without prompting.
Anyways, back to UD's records, we didn't find out anything new as far as birth family. We did find out which orphanage he was in. It is now a school these days. From what we could see, it didn't take very long for him to be assigned to his forever family once he was "admitted" to our agency. Less than a year actually. So now we have copies of a couple of UD's well baby checks and assessments, along with our Mr Wiggly's. I think that's pretty cool! We actually have Mr Wiggly's original records now, which is awesome d awesome! It was pretty special to hold in our hands UDs original records. UD has asked me not to mention too much about what's all in the records so I will honor that. But here is one of his referral pics!

                                                  He looked so sad, but isn't he stinking cute!

 This is his naturalization pic courtesy of Topeka Journal. GM said if not for a girl adoptee who also got naturalized that day, this pic would have been on the paper. But the paper gave them the pic anyway. Cool huh? And a few months back, I got permission from Topeka Journal to get the pic scanned at Wolfe's for a bigger size pic. Even cooler huh?

                                                  Baptism in to Christ. This was at the Chase County Lake I think.

 Here he is now... getting introduced in to fatherhood. I say he's handling it pretty well. Well, actually he is doing wonderfully. This daddy gets up in the middle of the night, THE SECOND he hears Mr Wiggly scream bloody murder. This daddy is washing and fixing our Mr's Wiggly's bottles, making meals (as always), not to mention doing his BIG share of poopy diapers. This daddy has jumped in to fatherhood just like a pro. Might I add, this daddy did his fair share of paperwork and stalking the forum and emails while we were waiting for THE CALL. Did his fair share of calling Washington DC too when our son's visa was being processed. This daddy shed his fair share of joyful and painful tears while waiting to have a child.

Mommy AC might be the entertainer all around, but Daddy UD makes our Mr Wiggly laugh the most and smile the most.

I should have saved this for Father's day, but ... happy advanced Father's day Daddy UD! Mr Wiggly and I love you. Mr Wiggly's mommy is so proud of you.

AC

PS: I would also mention, special thanks to L and S for allowing us to share in your kids' lives, and learning from you and allowing us to "practice" with your kids. Now we finally get to apply what we've learned. Not as easy as you guys made it look!