Dinner with MiRa and "Toby"

Yesterday we shopped, shopped and shopped. Then we went out to dinner with MiRa and her English Student "Toby." We gave him his English name. He was a very nice kid. We had fun and found an AMAZING Korean barbeque. I loved it and Micahel was the star at the resturant. :) They loved having the Korean speaking American at their resturant. Then we went out to eat at a dessert resturant. The Korean's are into the word story right now so everywhere you look their advertisments say story. The advertisement for the dessert place was "a fresh fruit story." The advertisment for the eyeglass store was "with lens story." And so many other stories.... Too funny.

Hospital Visit

We asked at the first visit with Mrs. Shin if she had Abeni's foot prints or possibly and earlier picture than four months she told us she didn't. That was sad I really wanted to be able to show Abeni what she looked like when she was newborn. We also asked if we could go to the hospital were she was born and meet the intake socail worker. She said that she would set up a meeting and she did for this afternoon. When we got there the intake worker was so unsure what we wanted from her. I told her we were just trying to give Abeni as much as her past as possible. We asked if the hospital had a record of her footprits or possible a first phot. She told us She again said no not really. Well all the sudden In Sook dissapeared we continued to talk to the social worker and we did find out that when they named her they choose her name because they wanted her to be strong and pretty. So sweet! Well In Sook came back and there was lots of really fast korean speaking going on. Michael only caught about half of it but he said that In Sook had found out that if the Agency faxed over an ok letter we could get Abeni's footprints. WOW! Go In Sook. About 20 minutes later we had our baby girls footprints. We are so grateful. Also on the footprints are her Birth Mothers Tumb prints what a blessing. I started to get ready to leave but In Sook did it again and this time she came back with the Woman in charge of the NICU. She said we could go up and see the NICU and the Maternity Ward after all. They even let us go in and take pics. And get this..... They are having a party on Saturday for NICU graduates and they wanted us to come with SooYeon and her Foster Family. We had to ask permission and if the Foster Family has time we are all going to go together. How wonderful to meet the nurses who cared for her when she was very young. It warms my heart. So In Sook's gentle (ish) prodding has given my baby more of her history then I ever could have gotten. I am sitting here crying just thinking about how grateful I am for her.

Also I just had to show everyone this adorable little Doll I found today for Abeni. I will go back and pick more up if anyone wants some. They have bigger dolls and smaller dolls and boy dolls and girl dolls  and they arejust too cute!

Seoul Tower

After lunch with Abeni and Mrs Cho. we went on the Seoul Bus Tour and to Seoul Tower. At first we saw the Changing of the Guard at a palace. It was so interesting and it reminded me of Michaels Military Ceremonies.

 Then we went to Seoul Tower and looked out over Seoul. It was wonderful to look out over the city and see how HUGE it really is. Seoul is a city of contrasts; old and new, ancient and modern, fast paced and slow, quiet and loud. I loved looking and thinking that somewhere out there in that city my baby was being loved on by her foster mother. I also thought of Abeni's birth mother and wondered if she was still out there in that City. I pray for peace and comfort for her. Of course Michael was charming the pants off the locals with his Korean. :) When they asked why we were visiting Korea and he told them they always said how sorry they were that I can't get pregnant. It was funny to see the look on thier faces when Michael told them that we would adopt even if having children wasn't a problem. We picked up a lock at the store and locked it to the tower. We wrote Abeni's Korean and American names her date of birth and the date we held her for the first time. I hope she can go back and find it someday.

After that we decided we needed some dinner. In Sook took us to a resturant that had a delicious sea food stew. Yummy! We also got big mandu. It was good.

We LOVE our Nuna!!

Lunch with Abeni.

We went out to lunch with Abeni and her Foster Mother. She was wearing her hat and fell asleep so sweet. Here are pics.

PICTURES!!!

                                            We met Abeni! She is perfect! She is also so tiny.

The day went like this . I woke up and got out of bed at 5 I just couldn't sleep anymore. I went downstairs and tried to stay quiet while I waited for Michael to wake up. He finally woke up about 7 we were completely ready to go by 8. All dressed up and no where to go. It was funny. So we waiting and talked and obsessed over gifts ect. Then we finally couldn't handle it anymore. We headed downstairs about 10:40and who should be waiting at the botom of the elevator but our friend In Sook. I was so happy to see her. We all three headed downstairs to see the Social Worker. Imagine her shock when we walked in with a Korean woman and introduced her as our Nuna. We filled out the paperwork we needed to bring abeni home and delivered the care packages we had with us. We talked for a bit about Abeni and then we went to the meeting room. Abeni's foster mother was a little late because she had to get her son off to school before she could come but about 10:15 there was a knock at the door in walked Abeni. She was breathtaking. I wanted to reach out and grab her but she wanted nothing to do with me! She loves her Foster Mother and doesn't like strangers. I did get a few smiles and got to touch her sweet skin and hair. She loves making noise with her toys and being held. She is also quite happy to play on her tummy. She is tiny. I can't beleive how little she is. I did decide I just had to hold her so right at the end of the meeting I picked her up she cried loudly in dissaproval. EEK it may be a rough transition. Having In Sook there was so nice she was able to convince the socail worker and the foster mother that it would be a good idea to go let us take the foster mother out to lunch so I got to spend a few extra minutes staring at my daughter. She fell asleep at lunch and it was so sweet to see her interacting with her foster mom. We don't get to see her agian untill Friday and then we get her for good Monday at 10:00. Abeni is her foster mothers first foster child and I am really nervous for pick up. She told us that she has been very worried about Abeni leaving and it makes her happy to meet us and know that we will love her. She came to be a foster mother after being a volunteer in the Nursery here at Eastern. Her family was not happy that she was brining home a baby but after they met Abeni they came around to the idea. I love that she was held and loved by her foster mother before she was taken home with her. Her foster mother said that she always had to be extra careful with her because she is so small. I am so happy that we are finally here. She is real and perfect. I can't wait to see her again!

Comment Issues

Some people have been having a hard time leaving comments on my blog with the new skin. So I changed to this one lets see if it works. :)

We are in Korea!

We made it safely to Korea! Our trip so far has gone something like this....

Wait for late plane
Airplane ride
Wait for plane
Airplane ride
Wait for plane
Airplane ride
Wait for bus
Bus ride
LONG walk.

I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be back in Korea. This place is amazing. I really can't describe it. Seeing the mountains, rice fields, big cities, and small towns out my wondow as we flew over Korea was strangely like coming home. Breathing in the smell of Seoul brought back waves of memories. When we arrived at Eastern we were thrilled to meet our social worker she confirmed that we will be meeting Abeni in about 15 more hours! EEEK I'm so excited and those butterflies are dancing up a storm in my belly. I had a little Kimchi Chigae for dinner, it was delish!