Transitions...

We have been home 2 and a half weeks and I can honestly say we have been wrapped in layers and layers of grace while transitioning to a family of five. Kate fits in to our family perfectly, of course, and she has transitioned to different time zones, a crib, a car seat, new foods and formula's, new languages and new faces better than I ever dreamed! She adores the girls, and just plays and explores contentedly all day! She has definitely bonded with me, but I can leave the room without causing her distress, and she just smiles sweetly when I return! Wow! Thank you so much, Lord! And, thank you for your prayers....

Each of us has been face to face with major life changes in these past weeks, and I think outwardly, Claire has struggled the most. My sweet, sensitive, mild-mannered Claire has moments where she just seems to "go wild". Here's a photo of her climbing up the frig. Honestly, I've caught her doing it a couple of times....

She definitely has a nurturing spirit and the gift of servanthood though, and responds so well if given a specific task to "help Mommy". I'm praying for creativity and wisdom on how to continue to reassure her during her continued adjustment phase!
On a funny note, our social worker called us yesterday. It was Saturday afternoon, and even though we have been waiting for her to contact us to set up some visits to complete our process, I totally was not thinking she would call "after hours". Well, Claire was having some Daddy tickle time (which includes LOTS of happy but very loud screaming). I heard the phone, looked at the caller ID and thought it must be a telemarketer. Even after our SW introduced herself, it still didn't register with me for a few moments who exactly it was! Then it hit me! And the screaming is CONTINUING in the background. I tried to "hide" in our pantry with the phone, but eventually had to come out to consult my calendar. I asked her to hang on a second while I got to it, and in the meantime, hit the "mute" button and rushed to the living room. It was one of those moments you REALLY hope the mute button actually works!!! It's a wonder when I got back to her she didn't say, "Ummmm, do you think I need to make a visit today??!!"

Homecoming slideshow

Isn't this the cutest doll??!

I know, I know, more pictures of our girls coming soon.... I'm working on a slide show of our homecoming ~ stay tuned!

My big girl is EIGHT today!!!

Callie really wanted us to be home from Korea before her birthday, and I'm so grateful the Lord accommodated her request! Hooray! Hard to believe eight years have already passed! Blessings upon you, my eldest daughter!

We made it!

Checking in at Incheon airport

The LONG ride home!
On the plane, playing in the bassinet
Three sisters, together at last!
Kate, exploring her new home!
Ahhhh, we are home safe! What a wonderful feeling! Our journey home was really all we could of asked for it to be! Our flight was on time, very little turbulence, no motion sickness (just a teeny bit queasy just before our wheels touched down in Atlanta ~ thanks for praying), all our bags arrived with us, and Kate did beautifully. She woke up happy on our departure day, and basically played the whole flight. The last 3 hours were hard, as she started crying for her foster mother again. Those were a LONG three hours, but it wasn't constant. The flight attendants would carry her around and speak to her in Korean ~ she really liked that. She was just exhausted, plus missing her foster family, and just couldn't settle herself (very understandable, I think). She was fine once we arrived in Atl and pretty much slept the whole rest of the way home in the car! Wow! We're blessed!

It has been so fun getting to know her little personality. She does extremely well when she sees strangers, she just plays contentedly and only seems to fuss if she's sleepy, or misses her foster mother. She seems to be getting more and more used to us and comfortable in her surroundings. She slept all night last night, fussing only for about 2 hours or so, off and on. I thought that was extremely good. We tried to keep her up a lot today, to get her used to the time change. She took three naps, and is now already in bed (in her crib, I might add!!!). Huge, huge milestones taking place already!!! (In Korea she slept on the floor next to her foster mother) We are so thankful to the Lord for bringing her into our family and blessing us with her! Our girls just love her and constantly want to do everything for her ~ even to the point of tears if they don't get to feed her as long as the other sister did! It's a wonderful time as we adjust to being a family of five. More picture to come (my camera battery finally died!)....

Thanks again to everyone for all your prayers in our journey! I felt them! And thanks again for all your notes on our blog. We did not call home while in Korea, and I couldn't get our email for some reason, so our blog was our only contact with friends and family. It was a special treat to wake up each morning and read what you had written that day! So encouraging! I will continue to post here on my blog, it just may not be every day like it was in Korea!

Forever ours....

Today is our "Gotcha Day"! Kate is now ours, forever! The foster mother and father came and met with us at 5:30. The foster mother was weeping before we even met. The senior Dr. Kim came and prayed a blessing over Kate, as he does for each child before they leave. It was extremely difficult for the foster mother to relinquish Kate, and it was terribly difficult for Tim and I to watch. The social worker pretty much took Kate from her arms and handed her to Tim. Ohhhh, it was tough! The foster mother had prepared food for Kate for the journey ~ sooo sweet! We took Kate up to our room and she played on the bed for about 5 minutes and then started to cry. Silly me, yesterday wondering what we were going to "do" with her until bedtime! Kate screamed for about 45 minutes (I was expecting a lot longer), and then mercifully fell asleep for a short nap, snubbing heavily and sucking her thumb. When she awoke, she cried for a short time, but is now playing with Tim. I think we're going to be OK! In retrospect, Tim and I agree, it's nicer getting this time with Kate tonight, rather than on the way to the airport!

Continue to keep us in your prayers as we travel home. That Kate will continue to adjust. That we will all get some rest. For traveling mercies. No motion sickness. Safety.

Girls, we just cannot wait to see you! It's been a LONG time! We love and miss you dearly and are REALLY looking forward to seeing you at the airport in the morning! LOVE YOU!!!!

This will be our last post from Seoul. Hopefully, our next post we will have pics of us all TOGETHER!!! Thank you ALL for all your kind words, comments, and encouragement on our blog while we were here! They have been a tremendous source of encouragement for us! USA, here we come!!!

The baby is coming!!!

We volunteered in the nursery again this morning (Tim's idea!!!), and then we had lunch with Dr. Kim, the founder of ESWS (our orphanage). He is pictured below. He is 93 years old and is the founder of this agency. I believe, without checking my notes, that he said they have placed over 43,000 children since the orphanage began in the 70's. He is an amazing man, a lover of God, and was born in North Korea. It was an absolute privilege and high honor to meet with him.


During our lunch, we also got to talk with 2 other families who are here picking up their children as well. It was so fun. We planned to all eat dinner together tomorrow evening (Tuesday), BUT..... we found out later we're having a baby instead!!!!

We met with Kate and her foster family after lunch. The foster mother, father, and oldest son (19 ~ I think), all came to meet with us. I have wonderful photos, but I don't think I'm supposed to post them, for privacy reasons. They brought a HUGE cardboard box with gifts for us and Kate. When the lid came off, and the foster mother started explaining what she "packed", I just completely lost it! I'm even fighting tears now as I type. Their generosity and obvious love for Kate was totally overwhelming. First of all, she had prepared a large photo album for us that has pictures of Kate since she came into their home. She very frequently took Kate to a professional photographer and got her pictures made..... ALL of them are outstanding. Then, she had a box with a brand new outfit for her, and a traditional Korean handbok (traditional dress). The handbok is absolutely the MOST beautiful one I have ever seen. 100 percent something I would have picked out myself. The foster mother also had packed a new bottle of probiotic vitamins that she has been giving Kate, her special "organic" baby lotion, baby wash, and powder, 2 boxes of her favorite baby cookies, a present for me and Tim, and a gift for Callie, one for Claire, and cards from each family member. I was totally and completely floored and just amazed at God. The foster mother also brought with her a container of homemade rice "cereal" to show us and told us how to prepare it for Kate. It smelled soooo good. I have my doubts that I can reproduce it!

It is customary with our agency not to receive custody of our child until right before we leave for the airport. Tim and I were fine with that. It makes sense for the baby and us to be able to get good rest before the long flight home. However, Wednesday morning we are going to have to depart for the airport at 7 am, and because the foster family lives some distance from the orphanage, they decided that it would be best for us to get Kate Tuesday evening about 5:30. Wowzers!!!! This is a wonderful surprise! Pray that we will be creative in what we can "do" with her until bedtime!!! We're not supposed to leave the building with her until we depart for the airport, and there really isn't anyplace for her to crawl around (except downstairs in an "observation room")!!! Hopefully we will all be able to get some sleep before our long day of travel!

Delivery happens sometimes unexpectedly (right Lynnda?!!!)! But, there's always grace in the circumstance! We are totally excited! In just hours, Kate HaMee will be placed in our arms forever!

From orphanages to palaces ~ Our day in pictures

Sunday memos

God brings us all a long way, doesn't He??? Adopting us into His royal family!!!

For some reason I'm stuggling with my post today! The computer wouldn't let me upload photos like I have the past several days so I tried again to get them in a slideshow.... Now it won't let me add my comments underneath! Oh boy! It's a challenge using this computer (the prompts are mostly in Korean!) I'm really trying!!!!

Tomorrow we have a lunch scheduled with the administration of the orphanage. We then have an appointment to meet Kate again at 1:30. We will ask final questions of the foster mother, and make arrangements to receive Kate before our flight home Wednesday morning!!!

We are doing well. My arthritis is well under control now. Thanks for praying! Tim and I are getting ready to go eat supper! Have a wonderful day today!

Hello girls! It won't be much longer and we will be home with your new sister! I know you will love her! Hope you have a wonderful time in church this morning! Daddy and I love and miss you so much! Thank you for being good for Yada!

Kristy, tell Yuna her "Where's the bathroom" 3X5 card has been a life saver!!!!

It's all about Seoul

I don't know what these are, but they are DELICIOUS!

Happy birthday to me!!!!


Street venders are everywhere

Apartments ~ I have not seen a house.
Squatty potty
Seoul Tower

• There are people everywhere!
• Everybody has black hair! (I'm not being smart ~ it's just weird seeing ALL black hair!)
• This is the 10th foreign country I've been in, and the first time I look like a minority!
• The Korean's seem content.
• There are seas of people. Everybody bumps into each other, and nobody minds.
• Most of the women wear high heels.
• Most people dress in black / dark colors.
• It's clean.
• The children are not whiny.
• I have not seen a Wal-Mart
• A lot of the women / girls walk arm in arm.
• Green means go, red means stop ~ sort of.
• People ignore Tim, but they look twice at me, especially children.
• You really have to search for a garbage can on the street.
• Kids giggle and love the yell, "HEY!" when they see me!
• If I yell, "HEY!" back, they are thrilled and brag to their friends!

SHE SMILES!!!!!

Oh my goodness!!! What can words say?! It has been an incredible morning! So, I had never seen a picture of Kate smiling and I often wondered if she did! Well, you can clearly see that she does ~ often!!!! We got to meet Kate and her foster mother this morning, and I just have to say, it was all so natural! I got a little teary when we met for the first time, but was soon so distracted by everything going on. Tim and I both really, really, really liked the foster mother. She is just a wonderful lady. She truly loves Kate. The case manager was there as well, so we were able to ask the foster mother all sorts of details about Kate. The foster mother said she loves to smile, alot, and does so for all the neighbors. Kate did not seem shy around us one bit. She came to us very easily and played and smiled constantly. The foster mother broke out some fresh strawberries and began feeding them to her. She LOVES to eat, the foster mother reported! Can you tell?! After a while, the case worker and the foster mother left the room so we could be alone with her. Again Kate did not cry, she just kept playing with us. After a while she began to get a teeny bit fussy, everybody returned and the foster mother reported it was close to her nap time. We will meet Kate again along with her foster mother and foster father on Monday. I presented the foster mother with some gifts that we had brought. After we explained about the presents she began to cry, and then really started to cry! Ohhhh, I felt so bad for her. The case worker ushered us out to let her be alone for a while, and that was the end of our meeting! Kate is the first baby for this foster mother and I'm sure parting is going to be very difficult for her. I'm already praying for her comfort.....

The journey over

As we are headed out the door ~ last photo as a family of four!

Our jet plane!
Waiting to board
Yummy lunch!
First views of Korea
Eastern Social Welfare Society (our Korean agency) Our room
View from our room