Korea Day 2

Let me just start by saying that when I bought this bag of Cheetos for the boys, THIS was not what I was expecting to come out of the bag!!! Thankfully, they are still pretty tasty. I'm guessing they are supposed to be some kind of "meat" flavor based on the picture on the side.

Harry and Bertha started the adoption agency in Korea and in the US. They had 6 biological children and adopted 8 toddlers...at the SAME TIME! They are simply amazing people who followed God's will for them by helping children. Their daughter, Molly, has carried on the tradition for over 50 years. I really have no words to describe how wonderful Molly is or describe what an honor it was to spend a large portion of our day with her!  We were able to meet some of the sweet residents who live at Ilsan. Most are very mental or physically handicapped and they receive amazing care and love. Residents range in ages from babies to older adults.

We had the pleasure of taking Molly out for lunch and were VERY pleased to have Galbi again! We had pork yesterday so we decided to have beef today. It was LA Galbi which means the meat is sliced thinly with the bone still attached. And it is still cooked on the grill in the table. YUM!!!

 Harry and Bertha are both buried here.

After lunch we were able to tour the grounds. It is very easy to tell why Harry picked this place to build. It is on the side of a hill and is beautiful. We were able to tour the Memorial Hall which is very neat. They had a video that talked about all the services that they provide in Korea. It is certainly not limited to foster care and adoption! I did not realize all the social services that they provide!  Molly said that when they started building here it was really only rice paddies around the grounds. You can tell from the views at the top of the hill that there are high rise apartment buildings all around. It is like Seoul has come out to meet them.

Oh- I must mention that we took a subway from the hotel and then took a bus for the 45 minute ride. I told you that there were a LOT of steps at the City Hall station. I counted this morning. From street level to the platform is 132 stairs. That is a LOT of stairs for little legs!!!

It could be part of the reason he PASSED OUT on the bus ride!!

Omma

I'm going to attempt to make this a sensible post, but I make no promises. When you adopt a child who has lived with another family for months, and then you take that child away from them, it is really the most bittersweet thing you can imagine. I'm still kind of crying as I type this, so please forgive me. 

We had the supreme blessing of seeing BOTH boys' foster mothers today. We were ushered up to the 4th floor...but you had to push #5 in the elevator. I still don't understand, but whatever it takes, I suppose. We met in a small room with both women and to our surprise, they had a volunteer translator who came for our visit!! It was an amazing and wonderful surprise. Hannah (the translator) helped us to communicate with both women.

Jeong hui's foster mom asked us what religion we were. I found it kind of interesting, but when we told her that we were Christian and learned that she was too. Then she actually prayed over my son. The same son that she had fed, bathed and loved. To say that I was impressed with myself for not turning into a blubbering idiot would be an understatement!! Jeong hui's foster mom has been fostering babies for 25 or 26 years...she thought. She currently has a little girl living with her now. She is one of the most humble and amazing women I have ever met. He wanted to show her the pictures in the album we brought her.

Hyeon su - always the flirt was in great form today! (THANKFULLY) At 5am this morning, I was a little concerned!! He was telling his Omma who were in the pictures and she would talk to him in Korean and he would just smile and yes. He was the center of attention and played it up as much as possible!!


We met at 11am with the HOPES of being able to take both ladies out to lunch. They both were free!!!  AND Hannah was able to go with us!! When they asked if we liked Galbi, I think I heard Stacy giggle like a little girl. YES, we LOVE Galbi!!! It is a very thinly sliced cut of meat that is cooked over a bed of hot coals. The waitress cuts it up with kitchen shears, which REALLY worried Hyeon su!

Does life get any sweeter than this?

And then we had a FEAST!!!

Korean food is always served with several different side dishes that are called banchan. Kimchi is always one (or more) of the side dishes. We were given the choice of noodles or rice (bap). I thought it was amusing that every person at the table picked bap!

I'm not sure if you noticed, but both boys were only in shirts and sweaters when we walked to the restaurant. It is really rather nice here with temps in the upper 40s to low 50s. The breeze can get a little chilly, but if you do get chilled, all you have to do is step inside a building because I'm pretty sure they must keep their thermostats set about 80 degrees. I'm NOT joking. Well, in true Korean fashion, both ommas ended up giving our boys their scarves because they were convinced they were both too cold. I could feel the love!

And then as quickly as it began, our time was over. But nobody really wanted to leave. It brought back so many memories of taking my sweet boy home 4 years ago. And we all kind of stood there and cried.

But we couldn't linger because we had more "work" to do!! Hannah helped us find our way over to the agency offices. All the donations had arrived safely and we were able to retrieve the 2 suitcases we had used. To say that they were happy would be an understatement! Mrs Shin wanted to make sure that we THANKED everyone who helped make this possible. She said it would help a LOT of babies!!

Then we FINALLY get to ride the subway "train" which made Jeong hui VERY happy!!! The boys wanted to show you were to stand while you are waiting for the subway.

Once we were inside, a woman GOT up so my cuties could have her seat. I'm telling you, Koreans LOVE kids!  That would be her rubbing his head. :)

Elizabeth's first experience with the Seoul subway!!!  But of course, I had forgotten how many stinking stairs there were at the City Hall exit...and a quick reminder as to why Koreans are so skinny! Thanks for reading if you've actually made it this far! We're going to eat our food from Paris Baguette and then head to Namdaemun Market!!!

Donations for babies

When we knew that we were coming to Korea, I immediately knew that I wanted to take as many donations as possible for our adoption agency. I don't have the full number of donations in front of me, but you can see that God answered my prayers for getting as many donations as possible!!! And the fact that we got through security and customs AND made it here with EVERY bag has been a blessing from heaven!

I must admit that I was a little concerned when the phone rang this morning. But it was the person I had been working with at our adoption agency. He thought that the hotel had our donations. Nope...they are safely tucked into our room!!!

I came to the realization this morning that we are going to be able to have FAMILY pictures while we are on this trip!! I'm never IN any pictures because I'm the one taking them. Having Elizabeth with us is already paying off!!!

Arriving safely

The prayers definitely worked!! God granted us the best possible trip. The 14 hour plane ride was rough, but as good as it could be with two 5 year olds and a 15 year old.

Things we learned or were reminded of so far on this trip:

-Detroit is, in fact, in Michigan AND on Eastern Time Zone
-Hyeon su will fight sleep to NO end. (I already knew this though)
-You will be away at 4am local time no matter how much you try to sleep.
-Paris Baguette tastes as good as I remember!!
-Korean people will shower my children with gifts, even if you try to politely refuse. (as evidenced by the Korean flight attendant loading down Jeong hu with pretzels and peanuts until he couldn't hold anymore!! And the very nice man who was sitting next to Stacy who would give all his extra snacks to the kids...even before he ate anything.)
- Korean drivers are still amazingly crazy when compared to most of the Western world. This became especially evident when the BUS driver made a U TURN in the middle of the street to drop us off...I think Elizabeth thought we were going to die. I'll call that a good indoctrination into foreign travel!!!

This is how we all felt last night: 

He FINALLY slept!!! But then he was up at 2am. :/

Well, not ALL of us:

The view from our hotel room...notice the elevated highway.

 I *think* that the green dome roof is part of Seoul Station. If that isn't the exact building, it is right down there.

We getting ready to leave for the adoption agency soon. Going to see both boys' foster moms and HOPING to have lunch with them.

Complete Chaos

Yes, Chaos is spelled with a capital C. I don't think it is THAT bad, but it sure does feel like it tonight. The checked baggage is on the verge of being ready. We need a few more zip ties to tape inside the totes and to get the labels attached and they'll be good. 1 out of 4 carry on suitcases with everything that we will need is packed.

And because I don't have enough to do or think about, I decided it would be a good idea to *attempt* to take some pictures of the boys in their hanboks. A hanbok is the traditional outfit worn in Korea. I wanted just a few more pics to put into each foster mother's album. I needed to go to Walmart this afternoon anyway.

I'll share a couple pics with you from my attempts.

They are attempting to show you that they have TWO more sleeps until we leave on the airplane. I'm not entirely sure where the idea came from, but the number of  "sleeps" has been working a lot better than telling them they need to wait until Wednesday!!

Would you please pray for health for our family?  Hyeon su's nose started kind of running yesterday. Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal, but I know how miserable flying can be with sinus issues. I'm just praying that God will grant us all HEALTH for this entire trip!!

This particular picture makes me giggle a little. They were singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star because that is the best way to get them to stand HALF way still and capture smiles. And the fact that they are holding hands!!! 

And just one more of my handsome young men...because I think they are pretty darn cute. :)

A beautiful day in the neighborhood

To say the weather has been unseasonably warm this winter would be the understatement of the year. Today continued this wonderful trend! It was about 50 degrees, sunny and just about as perfect as possible. Today would have been my grandma's 92 birthday, so we decided to celebrate by going to the zoo!!! I feel sure she is dancing in heaven.

Look who we "found" at the zoo!!

Isn't Miss Leah just a DOLL??? It was such a pleasure to meet her and hang out with her mommy and big brother!!!

Cute, cute silly little boys!!! 

T minus FIVE days and counting until we leave on a JET PLANE!!!!!

Tales from the weekend past

So I'm definitely not an expert on posting updates on my blog. As evidenced by my current post which is now out of order. Oh well, I suppose if I end up getting all the information in one place, it will still count for something, right?

This past weekend, the boys and I made the trek to the farm. We got to see the high school boys basketball game, eat at the KAY dinner, play in the dirt AND eat some scrumptious birthday cake that Aunt M made for Hyeon su.

See what happens when E1 and Uncle E are left in charge? They were COVERED in dirt. 

I'm very VERY sad that I didn't have the forethought to take my camera with my on the Saturday morning adventures. But having 5 people smashed into Papa's mule was almost more than I could handle. Because E3 (age 11) was driving the mule, I had to hold onto tight to each of the little boys!!! We got to see cows, bulls, BABY cows and throw things into the pond. Everybody was able to get to the dock, despite the high water (only a little mud was involved). But when we got back to the house, the only thing the boys could tell Papa that they did was see cow poo. Really? All boy, I suppose.

E3 had to help light the candles!! My mouth is still watering. As always, Aunt M makes the BEST cakes!!!!