Meeting Henry!!

I landed in Seoul at 1:00 today and met Henry at 4:00 today! The foster parents are wonderful. The father made a special effort to be there and he gave me 3 disks filled with pictures and video of Henry's life so far. Mrs. Shin, the social worker, said that Henry is a daddy's boy. Henry must be teething because everything he touched went straight to his mouth -- even the big rattle you see above. Henry has 4 teeth and whenever he is teething he bites on his father's shoulder -- which he was doing some today. I got to be alone with Henry some. I expected that he would cry the whole time, but he didn't!! He played quietly beside me for a long time and then I even got him to smile!! He kept sticking his tongue out (evidently that's his new habit that he does all the time right now) and I stuck my tongue back out at him. After several times of me sticking my tongue out Henry smiled!! Of course, when he started looking at me too much he cried. I did, however, get a kiss from him when I held him one last time. Don't be too excited -- the foster mother and I forced him to do it. :)

Tokyo

These are pictures from my night in Tokyo. I arrived at my hotel around 5:30 p.m. Although I was tired I had to do a little exploring and eat a Japanese meal. Since I didn't get any Japanese money I found a restaurant that took my credit card. It seemed to be the Japanese equivalent of our American diners. No one spoke any English, but I was able to point to a picture of chicken on a stick (I don't know how to use chopsticks) and said the word coca
cola and I was set. After a short walk back to my hotel I was in

bed by 7 p.m.

Henry's Quilt

For Christmas my mother in law, Pat, wrapped a package and addressed the tag to Henry. When I opened the package I found a gorgeous quilt inside!! In all honesty , I had wanted to ask Pat to make a blanket for Henry because she had made some beautiful blankets when Lydia and Trixie were born

and I didn't want Henry to be left out. I couldn't ask, though, because Pat has had such health problems lately that I couldn't burden her with that pressure.

Pat included a card with the quilt and wrote the sweetest message to Henry -- it is going to be the first thing I put in his memory box. She said in the card that she had looked through a quilting book and saw this quilt and didn't think much of it. Then right after Brent & I got on the adoption list she happened across the quilt again and immediately thought of it as Henry's quilt and knew she had to make it for him. The name of the quilt is "Welcome to the Family" -- how perfect! In each heart of the quilt is the name of every single member of the family on Brent's and my side of the family. She included the 2 men that my 2 nieces married this summer all the way down to my newest little cousin -- 5 mos. old Emily. This is a special, beautiful quilt and I love it (and the love behind it) beyond words. Thank you, Pat!

Happy Henry Christmas

We got a huge, happy suprise in the mail today -- 9 mos. pictures of Henry!! I don't know why we got them (maybe because I'm visiting?) but we're so thrilled to have them. There was no written information included, but Henry's happy face says a lot! Just like in his 7 mos. pictures that sweet Foster Mom dressed Henry in an outfit that I sent over in a care package. This is the first time we've seen his smile. I just can't wait to get my hands on that boy. :)

Christmas Package

I found out that an online friend, Sandy, was travelling to pick up her son (finally!!) over Christmas. She had an extra long wait and I'm so glad she finally got her travel call. Anyway, I of course wanted to send a package to Henry and his foster family. It's hard to pick gifts for people you don't know. I settled on a ladies watch and ladies pair of leather dress gloves. I thought the foster mom and daughter could choose what they wanted. For the foster dad and son I chose black leather gloves and a black scarf. Since Seoul is so cold in the winter I hope that the warm things will get used. For Henry I send a teddy bear with a rattle inside that used to be Lydia and Trixie's. I also sent a Christmas card that makes me laugh every time I look at it. I took a picture of Lydia and Trixie kissing a doll and then their picture was photoshopped onto Henry's picture so that it looks like they're kissing him. I hope Henry's foster family has a sense of humor because I think that picture is the cutest thing! Thanks fo my friend Caroline's dad I was also able to send a couple letters translated to Korean. He was so nice to do this in a hurry for me. This is my third care package that I have sent over. I love making the connection with the foster family. The next time I'll be taking things in person and it'll be my turn to take care packages for others. I can't wait!! Hurry up and get here, Jan. 17!

Trip to visit Henry!!

Many of you already know this, but I'm going to visit Henry this January!! I can't believe the idea never occurred to me before, but once the idea of a visit to Seoul was planted I couldn't let it go until I made it happen. Turns out that Brent and I had just enough miles for me to go round trip to Seoul for free. The very first availability is on Jan. 17 so I'm taking it! I leave on Jan. 17 and arrive in Seoul on Jan. 19. I leave on Jan 23 and return back on Jan 24. I even get to have a one night layover in Tokyo on the 18th. Brent laughs that I'll be in the largest city in the world all by myself, but I think it's a bit exciting. I know I'll get to visit with Henry once maybe even twice. I'll also have time to explore Seoul, do some shopping, take lots of pictures, figure out the money system and figure out the subway system. My friend Beth Ring will be there with me since she's adopting a boy who is 10 days younger than Henry. We get to stay at the Eastern guest house and I'm excited to see some of the workings of the agency that we're adopting Henry through. I have to admit that even though it probably won't happen, I'm secretly hoping that Henry would get his Visa issued while I was over there. Any extra prayers in that direction would be greatly appreciated.

Another care package!

I'm extremely late in posting this (if I had 2 extra hours each day I might have gotten to this earlier!) but way back in early November a sweet family finally got their travel call to pick up their son in S. Korea. Sweet Stephanie graciously took a care package over for me. I knew this would be my last chance to send a care package before Christmas, so of course I had to send a Christmas outfit. I had always hoped to get Henry before Christmas, but since I can't I figure I can at least dress him for Christmas. :) I also sent some mixed nuts for the foster family (evidently nuts are a real treat for them), another disposable camera, a family picture of us at the pumpkin patch, a teddy bear that we recorded a message for Henry , a letter translated to Korean, and Lydia made Henry a Christmas picture. I took a picture of where she signed the picture because it was so funny! Lydia is starting to get interested in nicknames, so she put nicknames on the picure. I love it!! She wrote From:Lydia (the Lyd) To: Henry(the Hen)