We started out the morning looking for a Western style breakfast. We ate at McDonalds, then went to Dunkin' Donuts for dessert. Good thing we are walking a lot or both of us would gain a lot of weight on this trip! After breakfast, we took a 30min. taxi ride to Eastern Social Welfare Society, which is the adoption agency that DW was with. We met with his foster mom, and his social worker translated. It was very special to see them both again. We took lots of pictures of DW for his foster mom, and she loved it. Both the social worker and foster mom were interested to know how his adjustment was after we got custody of him. They were both really concerned about him since he doesn't handle change well. We talked about his adjustment, and mentioned that he sometimes has a temper, and they both laughed, saying yes, they knew that! We recorded foster mom saying a message for DW. It is obvious she really loved him. We will be going back to Eastern to see DW's foster mom again on Wednesday morning because she has a gift for him that we need to pick up. She's so sweet!
After our meeting, we sat through a little meeting with Dr. Kim, the President of Eastern, and she talked about the history of adoption in Korea. Eastern provided a Korean lunch for us and the other families there meeting their children. We ate quickly, then took a taxi back to our guesthouse.
We packed up gifts for HJ's foster family, and headed up the street to the offices of Social Welfare Society (SWS) adoption agency. We went up to the 7th floor, and met with Ms. Lee, his social worker. We also met 3 other families who were getting ready to meet their children for the first time. Ms. Lee brought us 2 new pictures of HJ that were taken for his first birthday. They were framed and the second I saw them, I almost cried. It finally felt real that he is going to be our son. The pictures of him are beautiful. Ms. Lee got a taxi, and we all traveled about 30 minutes to HJ's foster family's home. None of the taxi drivers believe in air conditioning, and the traffic was very start/stop, and I get motion sick easily, so I was miserable during the ride. We finally arrived at the foster family's apartment, but Ms. Lee didn't know which was the specific apartment, so she called HJ's foster mom. Foster mom and HJ came outside, and that's where we saw him for the first time. We were amazed at how big he was, and how little the foster mom was! He was smiling and happy, and we walked up to her apartment. We sat down, and he knew that we were umma and appa (mom and dad). We had sent pictures of our family, and obviously the foster mom had taken time to teach him who we were prior to our arrival. Tim immediately made him laugh, and then he sat in Tim's lap. The foster mom had prepared lots of snacks for us, including orange juice, grapes, apples, pears, and varieties of Korean style rice cakes. HJ played with the forks and would hand them to us, waiting for us to say 'kamsahamnida" (thank you). He loves fruit and would eat the pears and apples, and would chew on the grapes and then spit them out. The foster mom says he likes fruit better than snacks like crackers or rice cakes. He is just adorable, so happy, and so big. I think he might weigh almost as much as DW! I'm not sure if the clothes we brought will fit him. He liked playing with the hot wheels car I brought (thank you Valarie for the idea!), and he loves his stuffed elephant. Tim would throw the elephant at him, and he would laugh and laugh. We asked the foster mom questions about his daily schedule, and he sometimes takes 2 naps a day. She pats his back to get him to sleep. We asked if he gets grumpy, and she said only when he is hungry. We exchanged gifts, and the foster mom gave us the most beautiful hanbok (traditional Korean outfit for special occasions), pictures of him, and all of the clothes and toys we had sent in care packages. After about an hour, it was time to go, so we took a taxi back to the guesthouse. We couldn't have asked for a better first meeting with HJ! We see him again on Wednesday at 1 PM, and then he will be ours forever!
We met a couple from Pittsburgh who are adopting a baby boy as well. They are staying a few doors down from us at the guesthouse. We went to dinner together to the Mexican restaurant that Tim and I found a few days ago. Afterward, we went to Starbucks for some coffee. It was so much fun talking to them. This is their first adoption and first child, so they had a lot of questions for us. We've already planned a Wednesday evening playdate for our boys at the guesthouse. :)
After our meeting, we sat through a little meeting with Dr. Kim, the President of Eastern, and she talked about the history of adoption in Korea. Eastern provided a Korean lunch for us and the other families there meeting their children. We ate quickly, then took a taxi back to our guesthouse.
We packed up gifts for HJ's foster family, and headed up the street to the offices of Social Welfare Society (SWS) adoption agency. We went up to the 7th floor, and met with Ms. Lee, his social worker. We also met 3 other families who were getting ready to meet their children for the first time. Ms. Lee brought us 2 new pictures of HJ that were taken for his first birthday. They were framed and the second I saw them, I almost cried. It finally felt real that he is going to be our son. The pictures of him are beautiful. Ms. Lee got a taxi, and we all traveled about 30 minutes to HJ's foster family's home. None of the taxi drivers believe in air conditioning, and the traffic was very start/stop, and I get motion sick easily, so I was miserable during the ride. We finally arrived at the foster family's apartment, but Ms. Lee didn't know which was the specific apartment, so she called HJ's foster mom. Foster mom and HJ came outside, and that's where we saw him for the first time. We were amazed at how big he was, and how little the foster mom was! He was smiling and happy, and we walked up to her apartment. We sat down, and he knew that we were umma and appa (mom and dad). We had sent pictures of our family, and obviously the foster mom had taken time to teach him who we were prior to our arrival. Tim immediately made him laugh, and then he sat in Tim's lap. The foster mom had prepared lots of snacks for us, including orange juice, grapes, apples, pears, and varieties of Korean style rice cakes. HJ played with the forks and would hand them to us, waiting for us to say 'kamsahamnida" (thank you). He loves fruit and would eat the pears and apples, and would chew on the grapes and then spit them out. The foster mom says he likes fruit better than snacks like crackers or rice cakes. He is just adorable, so happy, and so big. I think he might weigh almost as much as DW! I'm not sure if the clothes we brought will fit him. He liked playing with the hot wheels car I brought (thank you Valarie for the idea!), and he loves his stuffed elephant. Tim would throw the elephant at him, and he would laugh and laugh. We asked the foster mom questions about his daily schedule, and he sometimes takes 2 naps a day. She pats his back to get him to sleep. We asked if he gets grumpy, and she said only when he is hungry. We exchanged gifts, and the foster mom gave us the most beautiful hanbok (traditional Korean outfit for special occasions), pictures of him, and all of the clothes and toys we had sent in care packages. After about an hour, it was time to go, so we took a taxi back to the guesthouse. We couldn't have asked for a better first meeting with HJ! We see him again on Wednesday at 1 PM, and then he will be ours forever!
We met a couple from Pittsburgh who are adopting a baby boy as well. They are staying a few doors down from us at the guesthouse. We went to dinner together to the Mexican restaurant that Tim and I found a few days ago. Afterward, we went to Starbucks for some coffee. It was so much fun talking to them. This is their first adoption and first child, so they had a lot of questions for us. We've already planned a Wednesday evening playdate for our boys at the guesthouse. :)
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