Because you asked….

Jadon Min-su is 11 months old.  He’ll turn 1 on May 18th.  He’s a big boy, isn’t he?  He’s wearing 18-24 month old clothes.

He didn’tstay with us last night.  In Korean adoptions, transitions occur slowly.  Parents meet with children each day, and on the night before the flight, the children stay with the parents.  Jadon Min-su will be given to us on Wednesday.

Our flight is on Thursday.  This should be interesting since Jadon Min-su is a busy little guy.

And, check the site often.  If you’re thinking we won’t post based on time, that’s not necessarily true.  We haven’t completely adjusted to Korean time and have been up and down at weird hours.

Side note, off subject:  For lunch, we ate at an Italian restaurant.  It was the BEST food we’ve had thus far.  In Korea, they give pickles, garlic bread, and some type of broccoli soup with the pizza.  Quite interesting.  Anyway, our hotel is supposedly in the trendiest section of Seoul and this restaurant is frequented by young couples and tourists.  It’s located in a building’s second floor, across from Louis Vuitton.  If only I could afford Louis Vuitton, huh?  LOL.  Well, we had lunch and pretended.

And they became three….

Where do we begin? 

We arrived at the agency 45 minutes early.  Too eager?  Yes.  Honestly, we thought we’d be late, according to the traffic when we drove through Seoul on Friday.  Oh, well.  Holt’s staff didn’t seem to mind (although we were embarrassed).

Once our social worker, D.J., arrived (yes, we got there before she did), she took us to the meeting room, where we waited for Jadon Min-su and his foster mother, Yidongyeon.  The rectangular room had several chairs, toys, Korean and American books, and a coffee table.  It felt more like a small waiting room than a meeting room, but it was comfortable.  This may sound cliche, but those minutes before they arrived seemed like an eternity. And then they were there.  We could tell Jadon’s foster mother felt as if she were rushed.  Jadon didn’t want to wake.  It was too early for him, she said.  I think, at first, we were too shocked to show any emotion.  They both were real and sitting in front of us, but we both began crying when Yidongyeon pulled out our picture, pointed, and called us mom and dad in Korean.  The social worker said she showed Jadon our picture everyday.  When she said, Mom and Dad, Jadon pointed to the picture.  We had prayed she’d show him our picture…an answered prayer.   

We then had an informal question and answer session.  Jadon loves steamed rice with seaweed, which we were given, he sleeps with his foster mother, he loves to play piggy back with his foster father, he likes to play the piano, listen to Mozart, but he doesn’t like ghosts on television or strawberries or anything sour.  His foster mother (she is his second foster mother, the first foster mother had him for 4 1/2 months) presented gifts, including a paper box made by his first foster mother, a hanbok (traditional Korean outfit), his favorite book, Mozart CD, and red beetle bug car, and other items.

His is simply amazing.

Introducing our son, Jadon Min-su….

 

 

Prayer requests:

Please pray for Jadon Min-su’s transition.  He definitely has stranger anxiety.  He wouldn’t come to us until the end of our meeting, and even then, immediately wanted his foster mother if she left the room.

Pray for his foster family.  They love and adore Jadon Min-su.  We are so thankful for their wonderful care, and we know this must be difficult.  We cannot imagine, nor do we want to.  Please pray for peace and comfort and that their family will be blessed.

Pics, finally!

Left:  One of S. Korea’s largest street markets.  Right:  B.J. tries to show me that understands this sign.  Riight.  Interesting note:  Once you enter this “tunnel,” there is an underground shopping mall.  Gotta love that!

 

Look, Mom…a post office (though, it beats Siler’s…this PO is several stories tall)!

 

BJ’s Korean breakfast

 

Filling in the blanks and random observations

So, we made it, and most of you are wondering, “Well, did Jamey have that panic attack?”  I did have a mini-meltdown the night before, but on travel day, I was fine.  Nervous, but fine.  Honestly, I was too concerned with everyone else.  For instance, in Atlanta’s airport, a woman (with her leg half on, half on the airport car) cruised down the aisles, announcing “Electronic vehicle in center lane.  Move to your left or to your right.”  She must have passed twenty times (I’m not exaggerating), and since she didn’t like to slow down, I’m sure people would move without her declaration.  Maybe it’s a requirement.  Don’t know, but a bit annoying.

In the same said airport, we watched an Asian family eat homemade sushi.  They had brought coolers.  Such an interesting mix of cultures.  We’d brought oreos and wheat crackers for our snack.

Once we finally made it on our plane, we were seated in the back, center aisle.  BJ had the aisle seat, while a girl, on her way to see her boyfriend, sat by me.  BJ made conversation with a man across his aisle (lovely man, btw…he gave BJ a Christian book for the trip), and my seatmate slept the entire trip.  And no, I didn’t really sleep.  The meds definitely helped my anxiety, but I only slept for a total of 2 hours (not consecutively) of the 14 hour plane trip.

Did I mention 14 hours on a plane is a LONG time?

We watched movies, played games, ate, ate some more.  We flew over Canada, the Northern Territories, Russia, and China.  We made an odd circle around North Korea.

When we got here, it didn’t feel “real”.  The culture shock that’s supposed to happen hasn’t yet.  We assume it’ll happen today when we walk around, but we feel extremely comfortable.  BTW–it’s 6 a.m., Sunday, here, and 5 p.m., Saturday, at home.  We also feel like dumb Americans (more on that in a bit), but we’re fine.

Other random observations:

South Koreans drive like New Yorkers, minus the finger language.  It’s a mad dash to get anywhere.  Drivers won’t allow anyone else in front of them.  There is honking, words (what is said, couldn’t tell ya), and lots of stopping.  We’re definitely in the world’s fifth largest city.

Our toilet is R2D2.  He lights up, begs to wash, massages, and conserves water.  We’ve only flushed.

The hotel’s reception desk is on the 19th floor instead of the first floor.  Does anyone else find this odd?

Your hotel key is life.  You use it to navigate the elevator (it took us three trips on the elevator before a nice Korean lady snatched it from B.J.’s hand and correctly used the key….), and turn on your AC and lights.  But beware, if you take your key out of its dock position in your room, your room thinks your absent.  Your lights won’t turn on and your AC turns off.  Yes, we learned this the HARD way, and trying to find R2D2 at 3 a.m. with no lights is an adventure.

And, if you’re wondering why we have no pictures, well, we haven’t taken any yet.  We’ll work on that one today.  Tomorrow is our first meeting with Jadon Min-su (9:00, Monday Korean time, 8:00 p.m., Sunday American time).  Please pray all goes well.

We’re off to try out this fancy shower and try some Korean food.  We’ll write more later….

All we can say….

We’re here.  We’re tired.

Praise God we’re here.

 

Scripture to chew on….

God knows what we need when we need it.

Today, I received a newsletter from an adoption agency with these scripture passages:

“I still dare to hope when I remember this: The unfailing love of the Lord never ends! By His mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is thy faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each day.” Lamentations 3:21-23

“God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks. It’s a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God. It’s a good thing when you’re young to stick it out through the hard times. When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions: Wait for hope to appear.” Lamentations 3:25-33

This passage sums up our journey.  We have dared to hope, and we have diligently sought His will.  He has held our hands through this process, and He is fulfulling His promises. 

Soon, Jadon Min-su.  Soon.

And because God is awesome and knows I/we need comfort for this journey, we received a letter from our pastor, which included the following scripture:

“You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety.” Job 11:18

 

May you all dare to hope and find comfort in our Lord.

Anxiety

As most of you know, we received the travel call on Wednesday.  This is the call we have prayed and longed for, but then the reality sets in.  We are traveling.  On a plane.  Over an ocean.  A BIG, hungry ocean.  For 14 hours.  I’ve recited every scripture I know, prayed, tossed and turned (yes, I slept very little last night), and I have finally come to the conclusion that I’m not in control and need to accept this fact.  Medication may help me with this realization (ha!), but more prayers from friends and family will help also. Hint, hint.