Seoul Tower

Last night we went to the Seoul Tower by cable car. It overlooks the whole city. I knew it was big but when you see it like that it is gigantic! The tradition is to place you lock for forever love. That is what you see in the background is all the locks. We placed two. One for our 10 years and one for Ella. It was so cold and so very windy up there.

No matter which way you turn the city is all around you like this. We got to watch the sun set.

We went back to the hotel for dinner. Ella sat in a highchair and ate very well. 

Then we took a bath and got into our pj's. She loved the bath!!! She slept from 10 to 7:30 without a peep. WOW!

Gotcha Day!

This was our first sight of Ella. She is checking her daddy out.

She is a thumb sucker like her biggest brother was.

She is sooooo sweet!

This was their first foster child and it is so obvious that they loved her so much. She said it hurts her heart to let her go. They will be getting a new baby very soon. She said that she wants another one because she will miss Ella so much. He just retired and they had empty nest and love babies so they decided to start the foster program with Holt. They sent us home with over 200 pictures and videos on disc. We just finished watching them and they truly loved her and had so much fun! We are thankful to have these memories captured.

Here she called me omma (mama) I know the foster family has worked with her showing her our pictures. 

Oh! does she have daddy wrapped already!

I brought a lot of toys and it is a good thing because she loves them. Her foster family described her as easy going and loving. They said she is very smart. 

We are blessed beyond measure! God is so good and we give him the glory!

She has been napping now for 1 1/2 hours. She has ate well and let me hold her to take her bottle.

She is also making good eye contact and crawls to me and pulls up on my leg.

My favorite thing she has done so far is that she plays peekaboo while taking her bottle. How sweet!

She has melted our hearts today!

All of God's Grace In This Precious Face

More to follow! We are busy having fun!

It's time!

This is the day we have been waiting for! We have some small gifts to thank her foster family. There are no words that can thank them enough for all they have done. 

We are finishing up getting ready and then we will head downstairs to grab some breakfast. 

We are so excited but strangely enough we still can't believe it. 

We cannot wait to share her with you and we will as soon as possible. 

In the mean time......please lift us up in prayer for a smooth transition.

My heart is already racing!

Korea House

Tonight we went to Korea house for dinner and a show with traditional Korean dancing and music. This is the most unique dinner experience we have ever had. We had to take our shoes off outside and we sat on cushions on a heated floor. 

We started out with snacks and appetizers which included nuts, water chestnuts, octopus, vegetable wraps, and other things that we are not sure what they were but we tried it all. 

We had several coarses of soups, salad, beef, shrimp, and korean cakes.

We could not take pictures during the show but these are some to the dancers. Aren't they so pretty!?

When we went in it was still daylight. When we came out it was so beautiful. If you look close you can see the moon.

We have had such a good day! Tomorrow morning is the day we have been waiting for! Just about 11 hours left. We will share pictures as soon as we can.

Amazing Day!

We have had such a wonderful day here in Seoul. We would have made a huge mistake if we had not come. We had a wonderful breakfast at our hotel which is provided every morning and we are thankful.

We went on our city tour with our very sweet guide Jueun (June) The McNiel's from Iowa went with us           too.  They get their baby girl on Thursday.

You may think this is the peace sign but in Korea instead of saying "cheese" when you take a picture you say, "Kimchi" 

We went to the Deoksu Palace this morning.

This King created Hangul. Before, they used Chinese characters.

Jueun took us to the Nandaemun Market that we went to yesterday. It is huge, so today we saw some different streets. We were glad she was with us so she could tell us what all the foods were that they were selling on the streets. This is how they deliver food to others that order.

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The picture above is in Insadong where she took us for lunch with authentic Korean food.

Check out that fish! The oldest son of the other couple said, "That fish still has eyeballs. That's pretty disturbing." We had several sides and soups as you can see. The main dishes were Bulgogi, Kimchi, pancakes, and the fish. It was all really good. My favorite was the Bulgogi ( Korean beef barbacue wrapped in lettuce.) YUM!  Jueun ordered and we all shared so we could try new foods. 

(Sorry if someone reads these Korean words and the spelling is wrong.) 

Koreans drink water out of bowls instead of glasses. 

Thanks for all the sweet comments! 17 hours until we meet Ella!

Do I look like a tourist? We really stand out here people. We scream tourist! I really wanted to take a picture inside the subway but Nat wouldn't let me. We were the only caucasians on the subways and bus. It is gorgeous weather and in the 40's. The rest of the week should be the same. We also met another couple with Holt from Arizona here to get there baby right after we do.

We have had so much fun exploring today. Nat is a great subway Navigator. The people her are so nice and helpful. A lot of them even speak English enough to help us out. The city has a certain smell to it. I really do not know how to describe. It is very busy place. It really is a lot like a big city in the US except for the language and food. There are many American restaurants everywhere. When all else failed for breakfast we found McDonald's. We also found Starbucks for some much needed caffeine. We are doing pretty good staying awake.

                             We went to Insadong which is just walking distance from our hotel.

There are a lot of motorcycles and scooters everywhere. If you don't watch out they will run over you.

               We accidentally ran upon the war memorial....so we jumped off the bus to check it out.

                             We ended our adventure at the Namdaeum Market. It was crazy busy!

Tomorrow morning we have our city tour.  We are  about 40 hours away to meeting our baby girl! It is hard to believe we are just minutes from her in this city. I cannot wait!!!

We Are Here

Unbelievable! After over 24 hours of travel we are at our hotel in Seoul, Korea!

The flight was sooooo long. It really hit us about 7 hours in. There was not much sleep going on but we are going to try and stay awake until later tonight.

We tried some Korean dinner called bi bim bop. We were not huge fans and decided we should choose the American breakfast.

We met another Holt family on the plane. Like us they also have two boys that are two years older than ours. It will be nice to have some other families here with us this week.

We cannot check into our room until later so we are off to explore!

Korea bound!

Well we are sitting here in the international terminal five. I suppose there are a couple of hundred people ready to board this plane. We might be 2 of the 5 caucasians  on the plane. There is some very interesting people watching going on. Did I mention all the asian babies are so stinkin cute!

We got in line to check in and handed our passports to Mr. Kim. He started to chuckle. He said, "Great last name!" It is a fun name. He really gave Nat a hard time. How funny!

Nat is looking pretty tired. I hope we can get some sleep. I am feeling pretty good!

Chicago flight

The flight to Chicago was delayed an hour. Nat and I were not able to sit together on the plane. There was not a word spoken to the gentleman I sat beside until the plane landed.  He asked if I was from Chicago. He was going to Chicago on business and I told him we were going to Korea to bring home our baby girl. He was so excited. He said that he had 3 biological children and three adopted through the foster care system in Nashville. What are the chances of sitting by someone like him?

I have had some uneasiness today. I am sure that is to be expected. But this nice gentleman totally calmed the waters. What a special family. If he could parent 20 foster children and adopt 3 of them, then this should be a breeze. The last words spoken from him was, "God bless your family."

And We Are Off!

We have waited so long that it is hard to believe this day is finally here.

Dad just dropped us off at the Nashville airport. Both boys melted. That rips a mama's heart out. We have never left them like this. We will miss them so much. 

We have had so many ask if there is anything they can do for us while we are gone. All we can ask for are prayers for everyone. Especially my boys while we are gone.

There is light snow in Chicago.

 Yay! Here we go!

Getting Fired Up!

I finished my last day at work today for three months! Did I tell you how wonderful my boss is!? I was thinking how busy this leave will be compared to the boys who were just infants when I was off work with them. It is such a great time of year to be off though. Ella and I will be able to be outside a lot. I am looking so forward to it!

We got the rest of our travel plans confirmed today. Holt will be taking us to and from the airport. We will arrive in Korea at 6:00am on Monday morning. We are scheduled for our city tour on Tuesday morning at 9:30. On Wednesday, the day we have been waiting for, we will meet Ella at 9:00 am. It will be 6:00pm on Tuesday at home.

It is busy around here. I am washing, cleaning, packing, and making a list for all the last minute things I need to do. We are ready!

Finally! Travel Call!!!!

We are on top of the moon tonight thinking our baby girl will be in our arms this time next week. I want to keep pinching myself to make sure this is not a dream. After 6 long months from seeing her picture for the first time, we will finally be seeing that sweet face in person.

I called DC this morning and found out her visa was being processed. I had a feeling it would be today or tomorrow when we would get the call. I put my phone on vibrate and kept it in my pocket at work. I took my 11:00 patient back and at 11:15 it started ringing. I took it out and I saw the area code I had been waiting for. The sweet gentleman in my chair that I have been seeing in the office the last 10 years was so understanding.

I had been coaching myself all morning to keep my cool if I got the call. I knew I had to finish the day at work. Lisa at Holt said, " Your daughter is ready to come home." I have not stopped grinning all day. Everyone keeps asking if I am nervous. Right now I am so relieved just to know we can finally go get her. I am sure the nervousness will set in later.

I booked our flight during my lunch break. We leave Saturday and return the following Saturday. I would leave tomorrow if I could. I have so much to do before we leave. Tomorrow will be my last day at work for a while. It will be so busy being a mom of three.

We feel so blessed to be going on this journey. We cannot wait! Thank you for all the phone calls, texts, and emails today. We really appreciate all the support and encouraging words.

It's VI time!

It is 11:15 March the 2nd in Seoul, Korea. Ella will have her visa interview today and we might just actually get the call tomorrow. PLEASE CALL! We could really use some happy news! I will call DC in the morning to see if her visa has been officially issued.

Visa Interview is Scheduled

I called DC this morning on my way to drop Nathaniel off at school. I am sure everyone in DC gets annoyed by us anxious mamas. However, today I got a sweet lady on the other end and she said your baby is adorable! She told me our packet had been returned and that she was scheduled for March 2nd. We really do expect the BIG CALL either Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. Nathaniel was pretty happy too!

At lunch today we also received a new physical exam. It says she plays pat a cake, waves bye bye, plays ball with examiner, and imitates behaviors. She weighs 19.1 lbs and is 28.2 inches tall. Sorry, we did not get a picture though. I did email to see if we could get one since it has been three months. I am really longing to see that precious face. I know she has changed so much.

Now it is time for a TC!