Family Day!

On Tuesday we went to the agency around 11:00 a.m.  First we met with Dr. Kim, the director of the agency and then we had lunch with other adoptive families.  Then we had one last visit with Charli's foster mother and father before we took custody of her.  On our first visit I could tell that Charli called me something other than Omma (the Korean word for Mommy) so I asked the social worker what it was that she was calling me.  Everyone in the room who spoke Korean laughed and then they said she calls me "mi gook omma" which means American Mommy.  We got Charli around 2:00 p.m.  Taking her from her foster family was as painful as we thought it would be.  Watching them stand on the street crying while Charli wailed for them in the van as we pulled away is an image that will be forever burned in my brain.  Charli cried herself out and then slept for some of the drive to our hotel.

Once in the hotel Charli's grieving continued.  She wouldn't let me put her down but did eventually nap with the help of the baby carrier and a children's Korean music station on the T.V.  When she woke she was willing to eat a little and started to enjoy us.  She LOVED it when Daddy pulled out the bubbles.  She was very anxious and wouldn't let us take off her shoes or her jacket.  I think removing her shoes makes her think that she is staying and she was not ready to commit to that.  She also didn't want to leave the hotel room and would become very anxious whenever we tried.  After three attempts we managed to go to the food court in the mall and get something to eat.  We got a fried rice dish that she seemed to like.  We also hit the little grocery store for some fruit and drinks for her.  We went back to our room and she fell asleep easily and slept all night except for the time she fell out of bed (oops).  All in all I think this day went better than we expected.  We had to wake her at 7:00 a.m. to have some breakfast before heading to the airport.

 Charlotte Yeong Eun and her foster family.

 A sad little girl.

 Hmmmm.... These people brought bubbles.  They can't be all bad right?

 Toys and snacks too?  I guess they could be okay.

 I love the view from the hotel room.

 I also really like to have my picture taken!

Breakfast with Daddy before airplane day.

Almost home...

A picture of Phil and Yeong Eun playing peekaboo waiting for lunch in the Chicago airport. Should be in Rochester by 1:30.

Beginnings and Endings...

Tomorrow at 1:30 Charlotte Yeong Eun Germann will begin a new life with us.  She will become the 4th child in a busy, crazy, happy American family.  She will instantly have new parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends who love her.  We have waited so long and are so excited to begin this next chapter in our story.  But as much as tomorrow is a beginning for Charlotte it is also an ending for Yeong Eun.  Tomorrow she will say goodbye to the only family she has known.  She will say goodbye to the mother, father and sisters who love her so.  I imagine that Yeong Eun's foster family is terribly sad tonight thinking about tomorrow's parting.  We are sad for them and know that tomorrow and the days ahead will be difficult for them as silence fills the space where Yeong Eun's giggles used to be.  We are so grateful for the wonderful care Yeong Eun received from them.  We wish we could spare them the pain ahead but without their pain we can't have the joy of having Yeong Eun with us.

Tonight is an anxious night.  I worry so much about how Yeong Eun will handle this transition.  She is not quite two and certainly can't understand what is about to happen.  What will she think when we take her from the agency?  Will she think it is temporary and that we will take her back in a little while?  Will she wonder when her foster mother is going to come for her?  Will she feel kidnapped by us?  When we met her she was such a happy fun little girl.  I worry that this will break her.  That it will break her heart and her spirit and that what is left will not resemble the girl we met last week.  Will we be able to rebuild her heart and her spirit?  Will we be able to help her understand that we love her and will never leave her?

We meet at the agency at 11:30 tomorrow to meet with the director Dr. Kim, have lunch and then say our final goodbyes to the foster family and take custody of Yeong Eun.  Tonight we will pray that she will be comforted by us and that her transition into our family goes smoothly.

Cheongdeokgung Palace and the Secret Garden

After visiting the temple we did some shopping in one of our favorite areas in Seoul, Insadong.  We spent most of our afternoon today at Cheongdeokgung Palace and Secret Garden.  It was a huge place and we did lots of hiking.  We are enjoying our last day in Seoul being tourists.　Tomorrow we go back to being parents.

This is a store in Insadong.  We thought Gabe would get a kick out of the name of it.

Buddha's Birthday

Today in Korea is a holiday in honor of Buddha's birthday.  We went to Jogyesa Temple to take in some of the festivities.  It was crazy crowded and we couldn't get close enough to see much of the action.  We believe the President of South Korea was there in the mix and saw LOTS of secret service type agents and lots of media coverage.  The crowd was intense.  I got shoved around a lot, mostly by little old Korean women who were 6 inches shorter than me.  Do NOT stand between devout Buddist women and their temple.

Happy 9th Birthday Abby!!

It is May 27th in Korea, the day our oldest daughter was born.  We are sad to be away from her on this special day.  Abby we hope you know how much we love you and that we are celebrating with you from afar.  So here are the top 10 things we LOVE about Abby:

1)  Her artistic abilities.
2)  Her sense of style (Abby always looks cool).
3)  Her ability to make Gabe or Ellie laugh through tears when they are sad.
4)  The way she can almost out eat her Mom and Dad (where does she put all that food?).
5)  The way that she is a friend to everyone.
6)  Her budding softball career (GO HORNETS!).
7)  Her love of books (even if she does stay up too late reading).
8)  Her enormous and constantly growing collection of stuffed friends.
9)  The shows (singing and dancing) that she directs and puts on with Ellie and Gabe in the basement.
10)  The massive collection of danglies on her backpack (they really tell us a lot about who Abby is).

Happy Birthday sweet girl.  We can't wait to celebrate with you when we get back!

Love ya lots,

Mom and Dad

Alleluia in any language...

Today we played tourists.  We first went to the Myeongdong Cathedral for 10:00 Mass but we didn't get there on time.  We haven't mentioned yet that not many streets in Korea aren't marked with street signs.  It makes it difficult to locate places even if you have a map.  The directions to our food tour were, "exit the subway station and walk straight for 5 minutes."  In this case we could see the Cathedral but couldn't figure out how to reach it.  We eventually spiraled to the center and found it.  By then it was 10:40.  They have Mass on the hour almost all day long on Sunday.  The only English Mass was at 9:00 and clearly we didn't make that so we sat through Korean Mass.  Amen and Alleluia are the same in either language so we participated some.  Fortunately Mass is the same everywhere so we at least knew what was going on even if we didn't understand the words.

After Mass we made our way through the Myeongdong fashion district to N Seoul tower.  N Seoul tower is the highest point in Seoul though much smaller than the Willis tower in Chicago.  It is still a good vantage point to see the city.  We took a cable car to the top.  We went to the observatory and took pictures.  We also ate lunch up there.  There is a tradition at the tower that people leave padlocks on the tower.  It supposed to be a demonstration of your love that will last forever just as the padlock will remain on the tower forever since you throw the key away.  We placed a lock in honor of our family and our adoption of Yeong Eun.  We also saw some cultural demonstrations.  They used big swords and cut stuff violently (Gabe you would have loved it).  We then walked down the GIANT hill rather than riding the cable car.  Boy are we out of shape.  After a few hundred stairs my legs were shaking.  We got back to the hotel by 5:00.  This is the earliest we have gotten back to the hotel since getting here.  I think we may try to have a quiet night.

The world is small and food is good.

As we walked up to the adoption agency Friday morning I saw a couple who I was sure I had seen at the Incheon airport the night before.  I walked up and asked them where they were from and they said, "Rochester, Minnesota."  They had been on our flight from Chicago.  What are the odds of running into someone from your home town on the other side of the world in a city of 11 million people?

It turns out that they are here to adopt their first son.  They are on our exact schedule and will be flying home with us on Wednesday.  We happened to be standing there as our new friends' (Dan and Laurie) son and foster mother walked up.  I quickly grabbed my camera and captured their first meeting with their son.   I know both Phil and I had tears in our eyes watching their family be born.  We had been wanting to do a food tour but we were hoping to find some other people to go with us.  I quickly mentioned the food tour to Dan and Laurie and not only did they know about but they were planning to go that very night.  We decided to join them and we are so glad that we did.

The food tour is run by a Korean adoptee who was raised in Delaware but returned to Korea 7 years ago.  He does an amazing job of explaining Korean food and tradition.  So we set off on our tour, 4 Minnesotans, 2 Australians on a (sing it with me) 4 hour tour... I am not making that up it is actually a 4 hour tour to 4 different locations.

We had SO much fun, learned a TON, played some drinking games, ate some weird stuff (chicken feet) and only got lost once.  I stopped to take a picture and the group moved on without us.  I don't know who was more relieved once we were found again us or our tour guide.  The tour ended about 10:00 and then we had to take the subway back to the hotel.  The jet lag and the two hours of sleep the night before I definitely caught up with me and the subway instantly rocked me to sleep.  Good thing Phil was awake enough to get me off the subway at our stop.  We both slept for 10 hours last night and we feel much better.

Enjoy some pictures from our food tour.

 

 This is our tour guide Daniel holding a chicken foot.  Yes, we ate them but he didn't tell us what they were until afterward.

Forever Bonded...

On Friday we met Charli in the morning and returned to the agency in the afternoon to meet with Ellie's foster parents.  We had an interpreter to allow us to communicate.  It was so nice to visit with them.  I know they wanted us to bring Ellie so they could see her.  We hope to travel to Korea with the family before long so that they can have the chance to see Ellie.  Our families will be forever bonded by our shared love for one special little girl.

First Meeting Success. She's Wonderful!

Our first meeting with Yeong Eun went wonderfully.  We wasn't the least bit upset and although hesitant she did allow each of us to hold her.  I had brought animal crackers and she wasn't interested but she LOVES M & Ms.  Her foster father called on the cell phone during our meeting to talk to her and she told him Omma (referring to me as Mommy) gave me chocolate.  She speaks a TON of Korean and it is hard that we can't understand her.  She had to go to the bathroom during our meeting and allowed me to take her.  She told her foster mother that Omma helped her.  She has the best laugh and really enjoyed playing ball with us.

We are going to have some competition for who rules the roost at our house as Charli is as strong willed as Ellie.  Her social worker told us, "she doesn't like to lose."  Hmmmm, does she sound like my kid or what?!

It is clear how much her foster family adores Yeong Eun.  Her foster mother and two of her foster sisters came to the meeting.  The social worker told us the foster mother arrived before us and was waiting for us crying.  The foster family brought an entire suitcase full of Yeong Eun's things for us to take and gave us a photo album, a CD of pictures and a GIANT teddy bear that they say is her favorite toy.  We are unsure of how we are getting all of this home but know we will be paying baggage fees on the way back.

We had a BIG BIG day as we also met with Ellie's foster parents and went on the most amazing food tour.  We were so tired we finally slept 10 hours last night and seem to have overcome the jet lag.  We will we post more about yesterday's adventures later.  Here are some pictures of our first meeting.

Jet lag and First dates...

Jet lag stinks.  I am posting this at 4:30 a.m. from the business center of our hotel.  There are workmen down here doing some construction, otherwise everyone else is sleeping.  I slept soundly from 10:00 until 12:00 last night then restlessly from 12:00 until 2:00.  Since 2:00 a.m. I have been wide awake listening to Phil snore.  He is clearly not bothered by jet lag.  Since it feels like 2:00 p.m. to my body I decided I would get up and do something instead of hating Phil for his sleeping abilities.  Hopefully he doesn't wake up and become alarmed by my absence.

Another reason for my inability to sleep is probably excitement.  In 5 1/2 hours we get to meet the tiny human who is to be our daughter for the FIRST TIME!  As I have been pondering this meeting for the last several hours I came to the conclusion that this is like a very strange first date and an arranged marriage rolled into one.  We both know a little about each other (sort of like Internet dating).  We have received updates, well child reports and photos for the last 18 months.  Charli has seen pictures of us and heard our voices on the recorded story books we sent.  Tomorrow is like our first date, however, when a first date goes badly you walk away and don't have a second date.  We, however, are bonded forever (arranged marriage) regardless of the outcome of tomorrow's date.  I worry that she won't want to have anything to do with us.  She is nearly two, perhaps she will have stranger anxiety.  Can you imagine anyone 'stranger' than Phil and I?  We are not naive, we don't expect a perfect union of a child anxiously waiting to join our family but it would be nice if she willingly interacted with us.

I figure there are three ways in which tomorrow could go pretty well:
1)  Charli recognizes us from our photos and her foster family has prepared her enough that she actually wants to interact and play with us; OR
2)  Charli is curious enough about our strange pale skin and hair and funny language that curiosity gets the best of her and she can't help but interact with us to try to figure us out; OR
3)  Charli can be bribed.  In my arsenal of tricks I have a huge bag of M & Ms, some other snacks and toys.  I am not above buying the love and affection of children.  It's worked pretty well with the 3 we already have.

In life there are small days and there are BIG days.  Most days are small days.  We go through our normal routines of work, school, caring for the kids and at the end of those small days our lives looked pretty much as they did at the start.  But every now and then you get a BIG day.  A day where everything changes and life looks differently from then on.  Tomorrow is a BIG day for the Germann family.  Perhaps jet lag is actually a blessing as I have had time to reflect on the BIG day ahead.

Tune in tomorrow to see pictures of our beautiful girl and the first meeting.

Julie

The plane that will carry us there...

Waiting in Chicago to board. Tired of waiting and ready to get this party started.

On our way!

After our false start due to the flu we are on our way to get our girl. We are waiting in the Rochester airport. Everyone else here seems grumpy. They must not be traveling for a happy reason like we are. Korea here we come!

THE CALL!

Finally the long awaited phone call arrived.  My phone rang on Tuesday morning as I was walking into work.  Since we knew Charli had her visa interview Tuesday afternoon (Korea time) this was not totally unexpected.  It was still a great feeling after 18 months of waiting to know that we could finally go meet our daughter.

We gambled a little bit last Friday and booked our flights and hotel counting on our call coming sometime during this week.  We leave next Tuesday the 22nd and come home on Tuesday the 29th.  We already have our first appointment to meet Yeong Eun scheduled for Thursday the 24th at 10:00 a.m.  WOW - this is really happening.  We are going to be parents to 4 kids.  That is SCARY STUFF.

When we went to get Ellie we left 48 hours after receiving her travel call.  We must have been on speed at that stage of our lives or the third child and aging three years has slowed us down significantly as there is NO WAY we could have left on a plane this morning.  We have TONS of shopping and packing and general getting ready to do.  In some ways getting the three kids ready to be left behind is more difficult than packing for ourselves.

The one thing I regret about our travel arrangements is that we will be away on Abby's 9th birthday.  I've never been away from her on her birthday and it feels strange.  She was so grown up about the whole thing and said "she didn't mind because we were bringing her the best present, a new sister."  What a special girl....we must be doing something right.