The First Big Day...many more to come

Today was our first full day in Korea and it has been full indeed.
After a night of broken sleep we got up early to visit Naomi for the first time. We waited nervously for our social worker to make the last minute arrangements, then we took a long cab ride to Naomi's foster mother's apartment. Then on the 15th floor of a high rise in South Central Seoul we met our daughter for the first time. She is beautiful and tiny (only 15 lbs). When we got Josiah he was a month younger, but he was about 35% heavier.

We got to visit and ask lots of questions for about an hour before Naomi had to go to sleep. We learned that she is a mild mannered baby when she is up, but she does have some problem sleeping. She is usually awake from midnight to 6am. After this trip around the world and some of Josiah's recent wake-up times, I think that we have decided that sleep is over-rated.

When Naomi started to get fussy, her foster mother would step in to try and calm her. This feels strange to have someone reach out to take your baby because she is fussing. It makes your natural parental instincts say, "Hey, I am her Dad, I can handle this." But we experienced the exact same feelings when we got to hold Josiah for the first time and he cried a lot more. Today we learned that we will get Naomi for good on Monday at 11am.

On our long cab ride back to the guest house we alternated between feelings of happiness and Oh My Goodness ... This is really happening. No matter how deliberate a decision to become a parent may be, I don't think you ever feel that you are fully ready.

After returning to the guest house, we made a trip out to Walmart to pick up a few things, like the cable that we needed to download pictures to the computer. Well, we never found Walmart, but we did enjoy shopping at E-mart. It was right next to the ubiquitous Starbucks.

We then ventured into Itaewon, the heart of Seoul's tourist district. We spent time browsing the unique shops. We bought some Masks from a 90 year old shop owner who didn't mind mugging for the camera. After an long afternoon of browsing and turning down offers to have a custom tailored suit made for us, we ate traditional Korean barbecue at Don Valley restaurant. During our train ride back, we got to experience the Asian version of personal space, as we jammed into packed subways.

Enjoy the pictures and leave a comment for us.
Tomorrow promises to be another Big Day.

We are Here!

Our journey started earlier than expected Tuesday morning when Josiah awoke with a wet bed at 2:30 am. Greg got him changed and layed a dry towel down on his bed and I lay in bed with him to try to get him to go back to sleep. 30 minutes later he was finally asleep and I went back to bed only to get up 45 minutes later to shower and get ready for the airport. We got to the airport in the recommended 2 hours before takeoff. Just as well because Atlanta airport was experiencing weather as they put it. We were scheduled to fly at 7:15am, but because we arrived with enough time we got on the 6am flight to Atlanta.
Flight out of Atlanta to Seoul was on time and not full. Greg and I had 3 seats for the 2 of us so we each got a little sleep. The flight was uneventful. We had personal little screens with free access to movies on demand and video games. I am now proficient in some games I will probably never play again.
We arived in Seoul at 4:30 pm local time and took the airport limosine bus to the Renassaince Hotel. From there we decided to walk to the guest house. I was supposed to be just a couple of blocks, but we got lost and had to ask for directions. We happened to find someone that spoke very fluent english who walked us to the guest house. Praise the Lord for Korean hospitality.
Tomorrow morning we are meeting our social worker, Mrs. Bang, at 9:30am to visit Naomi at her foster mother's house.
So we are here and I discovered that I left the cable that connects my camera to the computer at home, so no pictures until we buy a new one - sorry!
Josiah - Mommy and Daddy love and miss you. See you soon.

Follow us in the Air

Here is our itinerary for anyone that wants to follow our flights online: http://flightaware.com/

Tuesday, March 4
Flight: Delta 621
Departs: 7:15 am from Louisville, Kentucky
Arrives: 8:34 am at Atlanta, Georgia
Flight: Delta 91
Departs: 10:50 am from Atlanta, Georgia
Arrives: 4:25 pm at Seoul, South Korea

Tuesday, March 11
Flight: Delta 92
Departs: 5:25 pm from Seoul, South Korea
Arrives: 6:05 pm at Atlanta, Georgia
Flight: Delta 1030
Departs: 7:32 pm from Atlanta, Georgia
Arrives: 8:52 pm at Louisville, Kentucky

Last Big Hoorah as 3

Before we got our travel call we had planned a long weekend away with Josiah. The last big thing before Naomi comes home. Little did we know at the time that we would have to cut the weekend short. Instead of cancelling the whole weekend we left Saturday morning for Newport. We got there at lunch time and found a place to eat near the aquarium. Mr Chris, Miss Laura, Max and Madison were with us. After lunch we went to see the sharks at the Newport Aquarium. That was a ton of fun until the 3 kids got really tired. After leaving the aquarium we went to our hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the hotel pool. When we ask Josiah what his favorite part of the weekend was he says, "Being rowdy with Mr Chris and swimming. Oh, and the sharks were cool too!"
I didn't take too many pictures because our batteries died. This will not happen in Korea!

Josiah touching a shark

Mr Chris and Max touching a shark

Sneak Peek

So, if you are interested in seeing what it might look like when we get Naomi, here is a video of another family getting their little girl from the same agency we are using. WARNING: tissues required for viewing.
http://www.lifeasalewis.blogspot.com/
Find the post titled "Getting SaRang Video"

The Artists Inside

So, on Tuesday after we got our travel call, I realised how many things I still need to do before next week when we leave for Korea. You know all the little things that you tell yourself you have plenty of time to do? They have suddenly become very last minute.

One of the things I have been working on is making a picture to hang in Naomi's room. I wanted to make butterflies using Josiah's hand prints, but the more I tried to make them look like butterflies, the more they looked like spiders. I ditched that idea and on Tuesday morning made a trip to Michael's and got 3 small canvas boards.

Tuesday evening after dinner we had family project night. Now keep in mind I had a vision. I knew exactly how I wanted these 3 canvas boards to look when we were done. Apparently my instructions were taken as suggestions and we landed up with 3 very unique paintings. I think the result is good. I had a difficult time convincing Josiah that he should finger paint in a way that the 3 colors we used would shoe up. He likes to mix them all so that he has a new very ugly color. We managed to get something that is good and usable. What do you think

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Greg wins the prize for predicting when we would get our travel call. He said Feb 28th and it was today. Only off by 2 days - pretty good!
We got the call at 9:45 am. I called Greg at work and he came straight home. We are flying to Korea next week Tuesday (March 4th) and returning with our little girl on March 11th. We will make it home just in time to celebrate Josiah's homecoming 3 years ago (March 21st)
I will try to keep the blog updated while we are in Korea, so check back often and be sure to leave a comment so that we have a record for Naomi.