We spent this morning volunteering in the Eastern baby nursery. We fed and rocked babies and even changed poopy diapers. All of the babies adopted through Eastern have their start in this nursery. Ellie lived there from the time she left the hospital where she was born until she joined her foster family on September 18, 2008. We know that other adoptive families and volunteers held and rocked our little girl when we couldn't be there for her and we were happy to return the favor.
Here is the window into the nursery. We counted 28 babies all waiting for foster families and forever homes.
There are so many they have them double bunked. This little fellow that Phil cared for has a trundle bed underneath three other babies.
Phil took care of this smiley boy first. They said he was 3 months old.
I had this little peanut. They did not tell me his age but I guessed him to be no more than a couple of days old. His skin looked like a newborn and he was still learning how to suck. It took nearly an hour to get a few ounces of milk in him.
And two more babies for us. I have a little boy and Phil has a little girl. There was no shortage of babies needing some love and attention.After our nursery time we finsihed our souvenir shopping. We have also been busy packing to come home. We have to meet the foster family at 8:30 and then we will be shuttled to the airport. Our flight leaves Korea at 12:00 p.m. (10 p.m. Tuesday night at home). We are anxious to come home and start our life with Ellie as a part of our family. We also miss Abby and Gabe terribly and are anxious to see them.
Though we are anxious to return home we leave the land of Ellie's birth with heavy hearts. We have really enjoyed our time in Korea and we know how much Ellie is losing by leaving her culture. We know tomorrow will be sad as we say goodbye to Ellie's foster parents. We can't imagine how hard it is for them to let her go. We will be forever grateful to them for the love they gave her. We will be forever grateful to Korea for our beautiful daughter.
This is Julie signing off until we are home.
Dear Phil and Julie,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your lovely daughter Ellie. My name is Cori Mohr, and my son lived with Mrs. Lee and her wonderful family until the day that your Ellie joined their home (we took custody of our son on Sept. 18, 2008). I found your blog through the comment "Uncle Paul" made on the foster family's blog. We've also stayed in contact with Mrs. Lee and her family and it has been a true blessing in our lives.
I wanted to share that we took a video of the ESWS baby nursery on Sept. 16, 2008, when your daughter was most likely still there. If you would like a copy of it, please e-mail me at cori.mohr@gmail.com, and I would be happy to share it with you. Who knows, perhaps you will be able to pick her out!
All the best,
Cori Mohr
www.midwestmohrs.blogspot.com