Memory Lane: Korea 2 years ago Day 1

We landed at Incheon Airport, Seoul Korea about 4:00am 5/18/2011 Korea time ( 5/17/11 2:00pm US). Customs and checking out were a breeze! 

Our welcome party, the van driver; arranged by our agency, Holt.

 Seoul! Seoul at last! Now breathing the same air our son is breathing!

It was quite a sight! Sunrise over the mountains in UD's and our son's birth place.

Our drive found our agency's guesthouse with only a tiny bit of difficulty. We were greeted by a nice gentleman who spoke barely any English. No problem. He knew we were coming. However we couldn't check in until 12noon. We got there around 7am. What are we to do in the meantime? He did let us leave our baggage in the hallway. We were on our own after that! So we hit the streets – starving and sleep deprived, jet lagged and probably stinky! UD and GM put their navigation skills to work – quite successfully.

 We (I should say, they) found our agency's office just under 5min of walking.

 This part of town was pretty quiet this early in the morning. 

After literally just wandering around for an hour or so, we walked back to the guesthouse. Still no shops open or restaurants open. We went in to a couple of 7 elevens - they were open. But really we were just so tired, we couldn't even think much what we wanted. Besides everything was in Korean... too much effort

for our exhausted brains. So we finally just sat outside a 7 eleven store (just around the corner from the guesthouse) and people watched. Or should I say, children watched. By that time, school kids were walking to their schools. Kind of reminded me of us growing up … walking to school, church, in fact, pretty much everywhere.

 I will be looking up this yummy mango drinkable yogurt next time we go. 

 Our first date in Korea... HA!

 Went for a little walk just by myself after a couple of drinkable yogurt; came upon this beautiful hosta plant. I then decided to be brave and walked in to a small grocery store and just looked around. I was by the frozen seafood freezer when the owner (I assumed the owner), came up to me with a frown on her face and pointing to camera, talking in Korean. I could only assume she was mad I had my camera out thinking I was taking pictures. So I shook my head, said no, and quietly walked out of the store. There ended my adventuresome spirit in Seoul. I didn't go anywhere by myself after that!
 

We went back to the guesthouse about 10am to just sit at the receiving area. The two ladies who we found out were staying at our room came out and started talking to us and invited us to have breakfast with them. What a God send they were. They had already been there for two weeks and getting ready to leave. They showed us the ropes during breakfast; they even gave us their subway cards/passes for us to use. C is a Korean adoptee, back to Korea for the first time and was there with her Aunt S. C had their trip planned to the “T!” I have never seen such an organized itinerary! She had maps, guidebooks of the places they were going to, even times to when and how long they were going to be at such and such place. I mean, it was out of this world! C gave us some very valuable info and basic Korean phrases, and her well-used map to the subway.

We had great breakfast and visit with them. They then walked back with us to the guesthouse and said our goodbyes after taking a couple of pictures. We got in to our room about 12:00pm.

 

 

After quick rest, we headed down to the 3^rd floor to get a baby fix and drop off our donations. 3^rd floor housed the babies who were still waiting for foster parents to be available.

 This little guy got to liking UD.

Quite an experience!

After the baby fix, we decided to brave the subways and maybe find “Namdaemun” Market and “Lotte World” (mall/department store).

We obviously found the market... too much of everything... food, clothing, accessories, you name it... it was there. I remember smelling all the different aromas of food – cooking, cooked, and uncooked. I didn't say so, but I wanted to try the vendor food – maybe one but UD just kept walking, and walking and walking. GM and I just trailed behind... tired puppies. We really needed sleep but we didn't want to hit the bed until night time to get used to the time difference.

We took a wrong turn (a left instead of right) to find the mall so we ended up walking along a bunch of prosthetic stores. It was surreal... everywhere we looked there was a prosthetic store of some kind. Eerie almost. We finally turned around and went back to the guesthouse to unpack and rest up for the next day - tour day and Wiggly preview day.

2 years ago, they were working on this building... Holt's new office. It is now finished and God willing we will be meeting our next son, Bebe Boder inside this building. It is only a couple blocks from the guesthouse so it should be even more convenient for us to go to the office next time.

AC

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Memory Lane: Travel Day

5/17/2011 12:30am After 7months of anticipation and waiting, we boarded the plane that took us on our 14hour long flight to Korea to finally meet and take custody of our son, Wiggly. Here are some pictures that never made it to the the real time blogging. 

 5/16/2011 9:22am Packed and ready at last! I cannot pack light at all. One of the suitcases had donation items only – I just can't remember if it was the medium or small sized suitcase. One of the guys that checked us in duly noted the pink duct tape and said, “you won't lose those bags with that bright color tape on!”

 5/16/2011 10:32am Everything is in the truck; I stepped out to get a picture taken with one of my peonies – first year it bloomed that year. I love flowers!

 5/16/2011 5:31pm Got my boarding ticket – from Chicago to Seoul!

 All to bring that little guy home to us! So worth the wait!

 5/16/2011 8:16pm Almost to Chicago. The sunset was beautiful that night. 

 5/16/2011 8:54pm O'Hare International Airport. 

 5/17/2011 12:18am We finally made it to our boarding area. There's our plane – Asiana Airlines. We literally only had about 15min from the time we got to the boarding area to boarding time. Had a problem with getting UD's boarding pass; we were told to step aside and wait and I think the lady forgot all about us. Thank God GM was there to prod her at a critical time. I was a goner by then.

Quick pictures before boarding.  

 5/17/11 11:36am (US time) Only 2 ½ hours to go!

 GM kept busy with her quilting. I brought some crochet stuff but hardly got anything done.

As soon as we landed at Incheon Airport, GM looked at both of us and said, “thank you, for inviting me to come to Korea with you guys!” We wouldn't/couldn't have done it any other way. It was a blessing for me to be able to witness GM and UD discovering together UD's birth country – even if we only stayed in Seoul.

AC

2 years ago

2 years ago today, we got our long awaited (what seemed at that time long awaited) travel call.

What a day that was and the following days after were a blur until our first sight of this little guy:

 

Our little guy has just been such a dream come true in so many ways. I cannot imagine life without him.

We have been and are indeed blessed beyond measure.

This Mother's Day, I am so thankful for the blessing to be this little guy's Mommy. I am thankful for this

little guy's birth mother for choosing to give our little guy a chance at life. I am thankful for our little guy's foster mother for opening her home and her heart so that our little guy could have much needed nurturing during his first year of life.

This Mother's Day, I am grateful for another birth mother, another foster mother, as we wait to bring another little guy home to us.

 The wait will be much longer this time. There doesn't seem to be an end in sight at the moment. We may falter and break down along the way, but we choose to stick to it, hang on tight to the Lord as we grow our family.

I am grateful and blessed to have this little guy to love on. I am blessed to be his Mommy.

Until we bring Bebe Boder home, I am blessed to be able to love him from afar. 

Happy Mother's Day!

AC