11 month Surprise!

We got a wonderful surprise in the mail yesterday -- 11 month pictures of Henry!!! He looks so happy and I just can't wait to get my hands on him! :) Of course Mrs. Song, super foster mother, put the outfit I took to Henry on him for the pictures. It's going to be fun having such a joyful little guy in our family.

I stand corrected!

I do not want to be the giver of incorrect information, and luckily my friend Audrey told me how EP's really work. She is actually one of the families who finally got their EP applied for and approved. She got her referral 8 1/2 mos. ago and her son will be picked up in March -- hopefully early March! Anyway, she said that once EP's are approved a new batch can be applied for. I'm really happy about that because that means there isn't a 3-4 week window between each batch. Sooo, hopefully Eastern will be applying for another batch of EP's soon. Lifelink may not be one of the agencies included in that batch of EP's, but I'm praying that it will be and even that Henry's EP is in that batch. I know that God could make that happen. I also know that His timing is often a bit different than mine. Either way God is with me and I'm discovering that He truly is a great comforter and He is giving me strength and patience I never thought I'd have in order to make it through this neverending wait.

Finally some movement

Lifelink finally got some movement on the EP front!! 4 families received word that their EP has been applied for and that is great news!! This is the first round of Lifelink families having their EP applied for and I would have thought it would take place in early Jan. instead of mid February. These families received their referrals last May and June and have been waiting 8-9 months for this. The wait is usually 4-6 months from referral to EP application. Now that these families have their EP's the next step for them will be to have the US Visa center set up a Visa interview. Then the child can receive a Visa and the travel call comes. When the Visa interview occurs and the Visa is granted then the next round of EP's can be applied for. I really, really, really hope that my August referral can be in that batch. I totally believe in the power of prayer and that prayer makes a difference -- so I would ask for as many prayers as you are willing to pray that I'm in the next batch. May this movement be just the beginning of a landslide of Lifelink EP applications and referrals. Let's make up for lost time!!

Eastern & EP questions

These are pictures of Eastern Social Welfare Agency and the group of Social Workers who work there with all the children and foster mothers. You will also see a picture of Henry and I's social worker Mrs. Jin Hwa Shin. She is a social worker extraordinaire. She was very sweet and hospitable. I liked her an awful lot and by the end of my trip I counted her as a new friend.

The building you see in the picture houses much more than you might think. The first floor houses the social workers and post adoption services. The second floor has computers for guests to use, meeting rooms with toys for parents and children to meet in, and a hospital where newborn babies are taken until they are placed with foster parents. The third floor has the office of Dr. Kim and also some rooms that serve as a home for the pregnant mothers. The fourth, fifth and sixth floors have a cafeteria for everyone and guest rooms for visiting families. There are also laundry facilities and kitchens for the visiting guests.

Many of you have asked when I'll get to bring my Henry Joon Seong home and what the holdup is and I always say it's government red tape. Each year the Korean govt. issues a certain # of Exit Permits (EP). Eastern applies for the EP for each child as the paperwork gets completed and once the EP is granted by the govt. then America can apply for the child's visa and the child can usually travel home rather quickly. We received our referral in August and our paperwork has been waiting for an EP since November. When I got to Seoul I, of course, very quickly asked Mrs. Shin when she thought our EP would be applied for. Her answer was not my favorite, but I'll tell you what she said. Mrs. Shin said that each year the Korean govt. decreases the number of EP's granted by around 10%. She also said that the week before I got there they had just applied for the May (families that got their referral in May) EP's. So, she said, my EP will probably be applied for in late March/April. I asked if I would travel in April, and Mrs. Shin hesitated before telling me it may be May. Let me tell you that every time I remember that I still feel like I'm being punched in the stomach.

Now, I don't know if any of you have the same logic as me, but I thought that well, if you applied for the May EP's last week, lets apply for June next week, July the next and August the next. I had to probe quite a bit (respectfully of course!) to find out that a new batch of EP's could not be applied for until the previous batch was approved and sent back. From what I've gathered it's about 3-4 weeks between each batch of EP's that can be applied for. Here it is mid-Feb. and I still have heard no word on the May families travelling to pick up their children. I'm a little worried that it may be later than May when we travel. Here's hoping that I'm wrong!!

My Korean girls

Lydia and Trixie Lu both really like their hanboks. Lydia thinks hers is very pretty and scratchy too. Trixie likes that she can put lots of rocks in the matching purse. :) Regardless of why they like them, the girls look adorable and both of them think they may where their hanbok to the airport when Henry comes home.

Last Day in Seoul

Beth and I had fun on our last day in Seoul. We decided to try and find a Korean Antiques market and we did! It was very cool. There was an area that had two buildings filled with little rooms. Each room was stuffed with antiques from China, Tibet and Korea. Some things were very expensive, and others pretty reasonable. I found a couple boxes that I loved and Beth found a really cool little tabletop wall. I don't know how else to describe what it was. We asked how old our purchases were and casually told 100-150 years old. It's really old to us, but it must not be that old here in Korea because they were so cheaply priced. Other things we liked were much older and much more expensive. Then we headed to Insa Dong. At first we couldn't find the right street so we asked a young girl -- who turned out to be in her 20's. Everyone is so young looking here! That sweet girl said she would take us there and walked us 3-4 blocks to Insa Dong which was the opposite way that she was going in the first place. I was not totally surprised because I have found the Korean people extremely friendly and helpful and willing to go out of their way to help. Well, Insa Dong was great! I took a few pictures of the street we ate on, one of us in a restaurant where 2 young men asked us questions for an English report and recorded our answers and took a picture of us (I hope we don't wind up on Youtube one day!), and one picture I thought was cool because it was an old style Korean building with all the modern high rises behind it. We have seen many Starbucks over here, but the one in the picture is the first to have "Starbucks" written in Korean over the door -- the others had it in English over the door. We found some great souvenir/gifts in Insa Dong and this is someplace I will definitely come back with Brent when we pick Henry up. On the way back to Eastern we stopped in a Dunkin Donuts (tons of them here, too) for hot chocolate -- it was FREEZING today! Well at 6:00 p.m. it was hopping! We had to go upstairs and barely found a table. Who knew Dunkin Donuts was the place to be on a Friday night?

This has been an incredible trip and I will always treasure the memories and pictures from this adventure. I LOVED seeing Seoul and my Henry Joon Seong -- can't wait to go home and see the rest of my family. Brent, Lydia and Trixie Lu here I come! :)

Sweet, sweet Henry

I so looked forward to my meeting with Henry today. I just couldn't wait to see him again, yet I also dreaded my meeting with Henry because I knew I wouldn't see him again for at least a couple months. I was really hoping this meeting would go better than the first -- and it did!! I think he may have remembered me because he didn't cry when he looked at me. :) I brouhgt shakers for him to play with and he promptly tried to stuff them in his mouth. He played with me and whenever he would crawl over to his foster mom she would push him back to me. After a while the foster mom and Mrs. Shin left the room and it was just Henry and I (and my faithful videographer Beth) and things were sailing along great. I even got a little cocky and thought how quickly I was able to win him over - ha! In the next second he looked at me and started crying. No matter what I did I could not distract or console him and he was crying pretty hard. I stood up and swayed with Henry and just started talking in a low, calm voice about anything and everything. He wasn't crying and I couldn't believe that he was interested in what I had to say, seeing as how he doesn't understand English! Then I heard snoring -- Henry had fallen asleep on my shoulder!! I loved it! He was so snuggly and sweet and I couldn't believe he was comfortable enough to fall asleep on my shoulder. That was perfect. It also helped extend my visit. :) When the foster mom came back in she didn't want Henry to wake up so they let him sleep on my shoulder for 20-30 minutes!! It was fun talking with Mrs. Shin and the foster mom while Henry slept on me. I found out Henry is a good sleeper and a great eater. Then Henry woke up in a great mood and smiled several times at me and then when I played "mousy mousy" with him he giggled!! That is a sound I will never get tired of. I raced over and picked up my video camera and the foster mom kept making him giggle so I could get it on video. :) Things went so much better than I thought.

We did get to meet Dr. Kim today. She is articulate, kind, intelligent, compassionate, and altogether lovely. Then we went up to a meal of bee bim bop that had been prepared for us. It was one of the best meals I'd had so far. I got to sit by Dr. Kim and she is just delightful to visit with. She also gave honest, direct answers to my ep questions and I respect that.

After all that, Beth and I went to Kjongdong market where Brent and read that it would be a good place to get hanboks for the girls. He was right, the snacks were fantastic -- we tried some! It was an extrememly different and interesting place up on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors (once we found the stairs!) and I did get hanboks for good prices. Thanks Brenty! After the market we went to Brothers Bulgogi to try the famous Korean barbecue. Deeelicious!! It was also a really nice restaurant with great atmosphere tthat cooked the food for you at your table. Dr. Kim reccommended it to us and we loved it. I tried soju for the first time -- I didn't love it so much! I'm not sure why Koreans think so much of this drink. Great, great, fantastic day and off to Ins Dong tomorrow....