Friday, March 13, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Jason and Juhee
This post is a tribute post to Jason and Juhee our friends that we got to visit while in Korea. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with them - what great friends! They were so nice to pick us up from the airport, get us an international cell phone, check us into our hotel, show us around a bit, take us out to dinner and then out for coffee (all in the first night!). We had a great visit and it was so nice to have them there to help ease us into all that is Korea! We had a really great dinner and Juhee taught us how to say it (Jim-Dak, right?) and they helped us with a few manners like traditional greetings and how to properly serve a drink. Seriously, could they be any cuter??
We talked on the phone several times throughout our trip and got back together for dinner again on Wednesday night. We took a train out to their place. This was a hilarious journey in and of itself complete with Dusty's incredible pronunciations of the stops (cinnamon) and having my personal space invaded in a major way - ha ha! Juhee's mother came and they took us to an incredible place in an old train car and it was SO so good. We had duck that was cooked inside pumpkins and the ritual of how to eat it was half the fun! The soup was spicy and the dumplings were heaven, it was by far our favorite Korean food experience. Thank you to Juhee's mom for treating us! We had hoped to meet up again for more food and fun, but the week went so fast and our baby boy was finally ready to come home with us!
Jason and Juhee, we cannot thank you enough for your hospitality while we were in Korea. You helped make our trip so fun and we really feel like we were able to experience some of the amazing Korean culture so that we will be able to pass that on to Jae. Can't wait until you are here so we can try to repay you!
Dusty and Kathryn
P.S. Estelle and Joe Ted - thank you for all that you did to help us prepare, make calls, etc. You were a great help to us and we cannot wait for you to meet baby Jae!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Brothers!
This morning was just the best, our favorite time as a family so far. We were all in our pjs in bed playing. Jae was just laughing at Cole and it was so fun to watch them together. What fun times we have ahead of us!
Home Sweet Home
I cannot believe we have been home for two days! (Well, I guess yesterday was the first full day - Friday was a total blur! Jae is doing so great and I feel like we have SO much to update on already. I am very serious when I tell you that your prayers for us were very real, very felt, and God has performed miracles for us. This little guy was in for a rough transition to his new family and had a difficult first couple of hours; however we prayed for a miracle (and know you were praying for him too) and He delivered in a BIG way. Jae is all smiles and growls since and we are so in love! :D We know he has a lot of healing left - how great that we know the great healer? This is the kind of stuff only He can do. I lay in bed at night and am just overwhelmed. I literally cry every time I think about why God chose us to be Cole and Jae's parents - could he really love us that much? Are we that special to him to want to bless us in this way? Thank you, thank you, thank you God for our beautiful baby boys.
Seoul was an unbelievable city. Any pictures I post will not do it justice. This place is HUGE! I think the statistics are like 48 million people in a place the size in Indiana. We had so much fun. The plane ride home? Well, it went about as great as you could expect for a 24 hour trip home. Jae slept over half of the time and just played the rest - no tears - awesome. Needless to say he did better than mommy. It is great to be home and was even better to see Cole (and all of our sweet family and friends there to greet us)! He is going to be a great big brother. He is sitting here in my arms right now having some mommy snuggle time before Jae wakes up (he is still in bed with daddy). Cole and I were talking and he said "we gotta be quite so we don't wake up baby Jae!". Dusty and I are still calling him "Hajoon-a" like they did in Korea and it is so funny to hear Cole say it to him. Jae's first night home he slept 12 hours only waking up twice!! It was insane, it was awesome, it was what we all needed in a bad way! LOL. He fights going to sleep like nothing you have ever seen and he is the world's WILDEST sleeper. Last night he woke up around 1 am for a bottle and had a hard time going back to sleep so we played for about an hour and after about 30 minutes of restlessness he relented and fell back asleep. Looks like he is on track for another 12 hours of sleep!
Here are some pictures. Enjoy!
Seoul was an unbelievable city. Any pictures I post will not do it justice. This place is HUGE! I think the statistics are like 48 million people in a place the size in Indiana. We had so much fun. The plane ride home? Well, it went about as great as you could expect for a 24 hour trip home. Jae slept over half of the time and just played the rest - no tears - awesome. Needless to say he did better than mommy. It is great to be home and was even better to see Cole (and all of our sweet family and friends there to greet us)! He is going to be a great big brother. He is sitting here in my arms right now having some mommy snuggle time before Jae wakes up (he is still in bed with daddy). Cole and I were talking and he said "we gotta be quite so we don't wake up baby Jae!". Dusty and I are still calling him "Hajoon-a" like they did in Korea and it is so funny to hear Cole say it to him. Jae's first night home he slept 12 hours only waking up twice!! It was insane, it was awesome, it was what we all needed in a bad way! LOL. He fights going to sleep like nothing you have ever seen and he is the world's WILDEST sleeper. Last night he woke up around 1 am for a bottle and had a hard time going back to sleep so we played for about an hour and after about 30 minutes of restlessness he relented and fell back asleep. Looks like he is on track for another 12 hours of sleep!
Here are some pictures. Enjoy!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Finally a Post!
So sorry it has taken so long for us to post again. You cannot imagine all that we have tried to fit in each day in addition to meeting with our baby boy and being head over heels. Each day we have left early (I'm talking like 6 am - I can't sleep in) and gone to eat breakfast and then hit the sights until dark. We literally walk in, change into pjs, and crash into bed for about a good 7 hours. It is an amazing an unbelievable city.
We got to see Jae again yesterday morning. He cried when his foster mother was out of sight. He loves her so much, which is great confirmation to us that he has been SO well cared for and loved over these first 10 months of his life. We love her dearly for that. We got to learn a LOT about him and the ways he communicates what he needs/wants. He says quite a few things in Korean - little smarty pants! She told us that he pretty much runs the house, ha ha. He LOVES food. He got a little upset and we got to feed him - a brownie! LOL When he got upset Our favorite though is that he likes to growl like a lion. It was the cutest thing to hear him "Roooaarr" in his baby voice. We can't wait for him to meet Cole. We will be seeing him again at 2 today and we leave for the airport at 8:30 tomorrow morning! We are excited to get home to see all of you, but as it was with Cole it is also hard to leave the country that has given you a son.
Cole Thai, we miss you so much! We are thinking of you all the time and are so excited for you to meet your little brother. Save up lots of hugs and kisses for mommy and daddy when you pick us up from the airport (yes, daddy will drive). ;)
I will try to post pictures in a bit- it not letting me right now SORRY!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Meeting Jae Hajoon
What an incredible day! We arrived in Seoul on Sunday at 3pm. Jason and Juhee (our OK buddy and his fiance) picked us up from the airport, helped us get a phone, checked us into our place, and took us out to a really great Korean dinner. Talk about an amazing welcome from great friends! We were pretty exhausted from the LONG journey and went to bed around 9. We slept soundly, but woke up filled with nervousness and excitement. We were meeting our son in 2 hours!
OK - now to the good part. We arrived at ESWS and were checking in the office to wait for our apointment when Dusty started loudly whispering to me from the door "I JUST SAW HIM, I JUST SAW HIM"! Sure enough, as he was standing in the hall putting our bags down Jae and his foster mother came in the front. I just got a tiny glimpse of him as they were going up the stairs. Dusty's face was so cute - he had the biggest smile I have seen in a long time. We visited with the social worker for a bit and then waited in another room for him to come in. We were kind of bugged because there were other people in the room on the computer; however, when Jae and his foster mother came through the door Dusty just had to put the camera down to really get to be in the moment of meeting him and the man in the room (another adoptive daddy) grabbed it and started taking picutres for us. It was so great!
What can we say about sweet Jae Hajoon - he is just so beautiful, so sweet, smelled so good, let me kiss on him, LOVES his foster mother intensley, and on and on. He was very shy of us and really didn't start to warm up until his foster mother left the room for a bit. It felt so good to hold him (get ready to share your clothes Cole!) and it was so sweet to have him fall asleep in my arms. VN buddies, I know you are dying as you read that! Yep, we may have another sleeper! It will be understandably quite an adjustment for him, but we know God has aleady made us a family. We are his "omma" and "appa" and we just love him so much! We got to visit with him for about an hour. It was very sad to see him go. We will get to see him again on Wednesday morning and are already SO anxious.
This afternoon we had a traditional Korean lunch with the president of the agency, it was a great honor. After that Dusty and I took the subway to the World Cup soccer stadium and have been sightseeing all day. We ate dinner at one of the street vendors and are now back at our place about to get some sleep.
We love you!
Dusty and Kathryn
OK - now to the good part. We arrived at ESWS and were checking in the office to wait for our apointment when Dusty started loudly whispering to me from the door "I JUST SAW HIM, I JUST SAW HIM"! Sure enough, as he was standing in the hall putting our bags down Jae and his foster mother came in the front. I just got a tiny glimpse of him as they were going up the stairs. Dusty's face was so cute - he had the biggest smile I have seen in a long time. We visited with the social worker for a bit and then waited in another room for him to come in. We were kind of bugged because there were other people in the room on the computer; however, when Jae and his foster mother came through the door Dusty just had to put the camera down to really get to be in the moment of meeting him and the man in the room (another adoptive daddy) grabbed it and started taking picutres for us. It was so great!
What can we say about sweet Jae Hajoon - he is just so beautiful, so sweet, smelled so good, let me kiss on him, LOVES his foster mother intensley, and on and on. He was very shy of us and really didn't start to warm up until his foster mother left the room for a bit. It felt so good to hold him (get ready to share your clothes Cole!) and it was so sweet to have him fall asleep in my arms. VN buddies, I know you are dying as you read that! Yep, we may have another sleeper! It will be understandably quite an adjustment for him, but we know God has aleady made us a family. We are his "omma" and "appa" and we just love him so much! We got to visit with him for about an hour. It was very sad to see him go. We will get to see him again on Wednesday morning and are already SO anxious.
This afternoon we had a traditional Korean lunch with the president of the agency, it was a great honor. After that Dusty and I took the subway to the World Cup soccer stadium and have been sightseeing all day. We ate dinner at one of the street vendors and are now back at our place about to get some sleep.
We love you!
Dusty and Kathryn
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