Happy Birthday Big Brother!

Today was yet another FABULOUS day! Today is Grayson's birthday. He is 2 years old today! Hard to believe, but true. We were going to go out and do something that Grayson would really enjoy today, like the zoo, but since we now have an extra visit with Neylan, we won't be able to do anything that takes a long time this morning. So, we ventured out to a nearby market and bought hanboks for the boys. These are the traditional outfits worn by the children on special occasions, like birthdays and weddings. Since both boys have a birthday this month, we bought them both one in hopes of getting some good pictures in them. After the market we ran back to the bookstore we visited the other day while on our city tour. I couldn't find any great children's books that I can't get at home, but did buy the boys some music. I found a 2 disc set of CDs: one in Korean and one in English. Each has about 40 children's songs on it. Our next stop was supposed to be McDonalds for a birthday lunch, but we never could find it, so back to the hotel we went for noodles! They were cheap, easy, and Grayson caught on quickly and liked them too.





After lunch it was time to get ready to go meet Neylan for the first time. We got dressed up a little, in hopes of making a good first impression on his foster mother, and headed out in plenty of time to get there, and not repeat yesterday's mishaps! We even had time to stop for a picture. Almost there!





We had great timing today. We went into the meeting room and a couple of minutes later in came our boy! As cute as could be, of course (and wearing purple this time). I fought back the tears and then he was handed off to Adam and we were down on the floor playing within minutes.


Neylan had no stranger anxiety and just went with the flow. Praise the Lord! He was very quiet and easy going. He is teething right now and drooling everywhere. So, I quickly realized that I had forgotten any burp clothes or rags of any kind for the drool. I didn't even bring any cloth bibs, just the plasticky ones G wears. That may need to go on my shopping list the next time we go to the store here. His foster mom had him rigged up to combat the extra moisture. He had a bandana on and multiple rags stuffed in his shirt to absorb the drool. She also had several rags in her hand that she constantly wiped his face off with.








Grayson did a great job playing with him and shared a few toys without being prompted. Neylan was very interested in grayson and spent a good amount of time watching him run around the room pulling all the toys out.

So, how do you think this went over? Grayson got hungry and asked for a snack. Then all of a sudden, Neylan comes over and takes it away! Grayson was fine with it, but i bet this feeling won't last for long.


Bonding over raspberries


We played for about 30 minutes and then left the office to go to dinner. The social worker took us to a wonderful restaurant for bulgogi. If we had known we were going to dinner, we wouldn't have eaten as big a lunch, so we just stuffed ourselves. It was delicious and very expensive. But how often will we get to treat Neylan's foster mother to dinner! We had a great time just visiting and staring at our boy. We didn't ask any questions of his foster mom yet, we just enjoyed our time. We will have plenty of time on Monday for questions. When we sat down, we asked for high chairs. The waiter said they only had one. So the foster mom let Grayson have it. I asked her if she wanted it for Neylan and she said no, he doesn't sit still. Oh boy!! Well, neither does Grayson! Neylan was so well behaved and fell asleep while we were eating. And he sleeps hard! Yay!! He was even snoring.


We were so excited after this visit. His foster mom is so sweet and has been working for Holt for 10 years. She has had children in her home than she knows. I think this meeting helped put her mind at ease too about us taking Neylan away. I am so glad I asked for this time. I think in the long run it will help both boys out.

After dinner we just came back to the hotel to let Grayson play on the playground and have ice cream for his birthday.



We had such a great day today. I can't wait for Monday when he officially becomes ours. Please be praying for him and his foster family as he goes through this very difficult transition. And for Grayson as this will be a big change for him too. Getting a new brother and hitting the terrible twos all at once! Watch out! Maybe you should pray for me too!!

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