An Average of 3.5

No, that's not a grade point average. It's the amount of sleep we are getting on a daily basis. Those who know me well, will know that I am non- functional on anything less than 8 hours a night.

The transition for Naomi has been a difficult one. The day after we got her she broke out in hives and has had them ever since. She is uncomfortable all the time and has scratched her legs until they bleed. She also is inclined not to sleep very well at night. She wakes up every 2-3 hours for a bottle and doesn't always go right back to sleep. We are hoping that when we get the hives taken care of things will settle down a little. On Wednesday we will be going to the allergist for testing to see if they can figure out what is going on. The last few days have been worse than the first couple weeks because we have had to take her off of benedryl which means she itches more.

Attachment also seems to be an issue for her and it has taken what seems to be a long time for her to be comfortable with us taking care of her. Just this week she started making eye contact with feeding and she is now allowing us to touch her head and stroke her hair. Before she would scream and arch anytime we would try to get too close to her or cuddle with her. Things are slowly getting better.

Josiah tries so hard to comfort her when she is crying. He really is a good big brother. He still doesn't understand why he can't lay on top of her though.

This weekend we have tried to get out side a little in the hopes that sunshine and fresh air will make everyone sleep better. It's working for Josiah, but not the rest of us. Yesterday we went to the zoo for a couple of hours. Josiah had the opportunity to run free and be as loud as he liked. I think it was a good choice of activity for us as a family even though it was a little cold.

March 21st - 3 Years Ago

Josiah on the Day he came Home
Three years ago we had the privilege of travelling to Korea for the first time. We spent a week there spending time with our little boy and travelling the country. We had the unique opportunity to travel with an interpreter to Josiah's birth city. We toured the hospital in which he was born and spent time with the social worker that counselled his birth Mother. It was an amazing experience.
On Friday we spent the day honoring Josiah and his place in our family. We talked about, as we often do, his Birth Mother, Foster Mother and Korea. He is now beginning to understand that he is adopted and that we love him more than anything. Having Naomi's home coming so close to his adoption day has been a blessing in that it has helped him understand his home coming a little better.
To celebrate we invited our family and Josiah's friends Max and Madison to Chuck E Cheeses for a fun afternoon of pizza and games. The kids had a blast.
If you would like to see the journal we wrote while we were in Korea three years ago getting Josiah click here and view journal history.

One Week Later

Wow! It's hard to believe we have been home with Naomi for a whole week now. How time flies when there's no sleep to be gotten! All in all the week has gone fairly well. We sleep about every other night, which quite frankly is just not enough. She has been adjusting to us slowly. It is amazing to see first hand how God designs each one of our children so uniquely. I keep thinking to myself - wow, that is so different than when we brought Josiah home. Then I have to tell myself that life will be like this for the rest of the years. They (our children) are different, always will be and oh so precious in their own ways.

Josiah has some very real issues this week that have been challenging. Besides being very upset with me that I was co-sleeping with Naomi, he also has very little tolerance for me holding her at any time. This is going to make my days difficult when Greg goes back to work. He has been getting up at 2 or 3am every other night and throwing major tantrums and refusing to sleep. Sunday night he slept 2 hours between 2am and 8am and then couldn't understand why he was tired. I sent him to school that day and he told his teacher that he was very tired and was going to sleep Monday night. He did, but Tuesday night we had the battle again. I think we (Greg and I) are winning, but only time will tell.

Yesterday during Naomi's afternoon nap we let Josiah off the hook from quiet rest and the 3 of us did a special project. Thank you Miss Tracy for sending the egg decorating kit for Josiah. It was a huge hit.

WOW! What a Warm Welcome Home

I sit here not even sure what to type. Greg has been doing all the blogging while we were in Korea and now I sit in front of the computer overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of our family and friends.

We arrived in Atlanta last night with 1 1/2 hours to clear customs and transfer to our flight to Louisville. It took forever for us to get through immigration and then Greg ran to our gate for our next flight. He got there as they were closing the door. The Delta agent working the gate held the plane for us and the 3 of us were able to make it home by 9pm.

The flight was short and fairly uneventful, but after so many hours in the air we were more than ready to be on solid ground. We were the last on the plane and the last off. When we walked through the gates and saw everyone that had come to meet us at the airport both Greg and I were overcome with emotion. When we were close enough to the security check point Josiah came running and Greg and I just lost it. We knelt down as he crashed into us with hugs and kisses all around. Josiah was a little confused at both Mommy and Daddy crying. He still asks me today what was wrong. I don't think he has grasped the concept that sometimes people cry when they are happy.
Again, I have to just say Wow! Thank you everyone that came out and made our homecoming extra special. Mom and Dad H, thanks for watching our rowdy, wonderful little Josiah for us all week and for bringing him to the airport. I can't even put into words how it felt to have him run so fast to meet us and love on us.

Mark and Janna, thank you so very much for the support you have given Greg at work and now at home. The banner and the gifts for my children were a huge blessing. We so appreciate it. Thank you to all the other Humana folks that were there. I would mention you by name, but in my stupor I have to apologise I just can't remember everyone that was there.

The "Zoeler clan" - Chris and Laura how can we ever thank you for your friendship and encouragement during this process. To see you at the airport was an extra special surprise. The poster and balloons are great and Mr Chris, Josiah thinks you are the coolest.

Vonda and John - we just didn't expect that you would be there and were so excited to see you. I am praying that we will be doing this exact same thing for you in just a week or two. We cannot wait to meet Paul and see you holding him in your arms.

Things have been really good so far. Except for Greg and I walking around in a sleep deprived stupor for most of the day and Josiah showing some perfectly normal jealousy, we are all doing well. Naomi slept better than we ever expected last night. We can only hope tonight is as good or better. I know that this can only be the result of so many prayers being lifted up for us. God is truly good.

Coming Home

This is our final post from Korea. We will be leaving for the airport in 30 minutes.
We have had a wonderful trip but we are ready to be coming home.

If anyone would like to meet us at the airport you are welcome to do so. We will be sleep deprived, stinky, stained and smiling.

Here is our itinerary for anyone that wants to follow our flights online. The flightaware sight shows a little dot on the map that moves as we fly (pretty cool stuff): http://flightaware.com/

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

Josiah - Mommy & Daddy love you and we are coming home today with Naomi

The Wait is Over

At this point in our journey I am sure some of you are thinking, the pictures of palaces and masks are nice. The stories about wedding ducks and strange food are interesting, but "We want to See Some Pictures of Naomi !!!" Well ... the wait is over. Today, March 10th 2008, at 11am Korea time Naomi Yoojin Hayworth joined our little family - completing our journey of 3 Becoming 4.

Everything at the adoption agency went very quickly, I don't think we were there for more than 30 minutes. While we were there they gave us all sorts of neat little gifts. We got a Korean Flag necklace that has Naomi's Korean name and birthday engraved on the back and a jewelry box to keep it in. We also got some tapes of Korean children's music and a small Korean flag. Naomi's foster mother gave us a Hanbok and lots of pictures on a CD. They also loaded us down with clothes, formula, diapers and bottles. When it was time to go, Teresa Naomi and I got into the elevator with our social worker and we said goodbye to Naomi's foster mother, much like the preview video we posted, with a little less crying.

This afternoon we have done all sorts of regular baby stuff. Naomi took a nap, we walked around the neighborhood, we rolled around on the floor making silly faces and sounds. We were told that Naomi is not yet eating any solid foods, but we tried to give her some smashed up banana anyway ... and she loved it. Teresa thinks that the reason she hasn't eaten any rice cereal yet is that they have been holding out on the good stuff - bananas.

Sleeping Beauty

A Million Dollar Smile
What a quick learner - I think she may be another genius

We Want More Bananas

Sucessful Shopping Spree

Today we had a pretty lazy day. We slept in a little and made yesterday's pictures into a blog post. We finally left the room at about noon to take a shopping trip. Our first stop was the COEX Mall, because it is very close to our guest house. We didn't spend a lot of time there, because this mall is so glossy and modern that it could be found in any city around the world and we were in search of some very traditional Korean articles.

Our next stop today was Insadong, an artsy district filled with galleries, tea shops and lots of traditional Korean crafts. Strolling through Insadong is apparently a very popular Sunday afternoon activity in Seoul, as you can see by the crowd. We could see people making crafts and snacks by hand in the street and lots of people strolling around enjoying the warm spring weather.

The lady that sold us a Hanbok for Naomi was so excited that we had adopted two Korean children that she took extra care wrapping our package in the shape of a flower. Then she gave us a discount and a special gift.
We were able to find:

• A Hanbok - a traditional Korean dress
• A chop - a name stamp
• A Celadon Tea Set - Celadon is a green glazed pottery developed in Korea hundreds of years ago
• Wedding ducks
• We bought the masks from my 90 year old friend in Itaewon, but they helped fill in the picture.

Wedding Ducks are a traditional gift given by the family of bride at her wedding. A couple should display them prominently in their home. When the married couple is happy the ducks will be facing each other nose to nose. If the couple is fighting, the ducks will be facing away from each other. This will help the couple remember their happy wedding day and make up.