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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Day 3! Making progress!

Since we kept Grayson up and out and about all day yesterday with no nap, he slept in this morning until 7:45! Which meant, we slept in almost as late (since we are all in the same room) and then quickly became late for our meeting this morning. We were to meet our social worker at the office and she was going to take us to see the babies who live at the Reception Center (when they are not placed in foster homes for whatever reason). Well after we forgot the kie, kie (Grayson's blanket) in the room, walked 5 minutes down the road to remember we only had one subway pass, had to wait on a train, had to get off the train when it stopped working only to get right back on a different one, and get lost once we got to the right stop, we were a few minutes late! By the time we finally got to the office, the social worker was in a meeting with a family and busy for the rest of the day. She was not too happy with us, but was nice enough to give us a map and point us in the direction of where we needed to be. We found it and were able to spend some time with the babies and workers who do a great job of caring for these kiddos.



We showed up right at snack time and Grayson just jumped right in with the other boys! Now, does that surprise anyone?!






We took the babies some donations of clothes and diaper cream and took the workers a gift as well. They were very nice to let us come in and play for a bit.

We also wanted to visit Holt Ilsan while we are here, so the ladies at the office told us to call the lady who runs it and make an appointment to visit. We ran back to the hotel after visiting the babies and called. She said to come on this afternoon, so we quickly ate lunch and headed that way, about an hour away. Because we were on the subway so long, we took along some entertainment.



We spent the afternoon at Holt Ilsan. This is a large campus for orphans who are deemed unadoptable for a variety of reasons. Most have significant special needs and require a great amount of medical care. Currently there are 270 residents on campus. The lady in charge is Molly Holt. She is the daughter of Harry and Bertha Holt, the first couple to adopt babies from Korea. In the early 1950s they had a heart for the orphan and decided to adopt 8 children left orphaned by the war. Their legacy continues today as they have paved the way for Korean adoptions and the amazing care of those who are outcasts of society in Korea. Our adoption agency, Holt, International, is a nationally recognized agency, thanks to this amazing couple.






When we arrived we went to Molly's house to meet her and chat a bit. She is an amazing woman who has completely devoted her life to caring for the orphans of Korea. She has such a passion and a great deal of knowledge. She also wanted to pick my brain on working with kids who have special needs. She and the doctor had one little girl who they wanted some ideas for feeding on and nearly woke her up so that i could look at her.












This little girl has been on the waiting child photo listing for a long time and desperately needs a family. She is such a cutie and quickly made friends with Grayson.





After we met with Molly, we were given a tour. The campus is amazing. Molly said they have truly been blessed by God in the way of provisions for the things they need on campus. It is by no means, state of the art, but they make do with what they have and fill in the rest with lots of love and special attention for the residents. Everyone was so friendly and loved that Grayson came to visit them.





We also got to see Harry and Bertha Holt's graves as they are buried on campus. Wow! What a road they Have paved and a legacy they leave behind. Who knows if we would even be where we are today, just hours from meeting our son for the first time, if it were not for this amazing couple who had a burden for the Korean orphans.





We had a wonderful day today. Tomorrow will be great too! We have the opportunity to meet Neylan for the first time. I asked (begged) to squeeze in an extra visit with him to celebrate his birthday with his foster family since we will be leaving korea just a week before his big day. The social worker was able to arrange that for us tomorrow! Tomorrow is also Grayson's second birthday. It will be a very special day for all of us.

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Day two

Today was a very big, long day. We had another early start as Grayson woke up at 5:30 ready to go. We stayed in the room for a while and then let him go to the playground across the street. I took advantage of a quiet, empty room to get all of our gifts wrapped and organized. This took a bit of time, but they are done and will leave us quite a bit of room to take back extra things.



We had our city tour today. This is something that is offered to all traveling families through the agency and we wanted to take advantage of it. The tour guides are volunteers and are often college students. Our guide met us at our hotel this morning and we took off. She had part of a plan and we had some places we wanted her to show us. Our first stop was Gyeongbokgong Palace. It was originally Built in 1394 and housed the kings from the Joseon Dynasty.






The architecture and design are very much influenced by the palaces in China; very detailed and beautiful.


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Our tour guide, Rachel. She told us first thing this morning that we were her first tour with foreigners and she was nervous. Her English was very good and easy to understand and she did a great job.


On the grounds of the palace is the national Korean folk museum and it was free to go through. As we walked up to it, there was a band playing. They were very good and it was fun to hear the traditional Korean instruments.


Inside the folk museum is the Children's Museum. I had heard good reviews about this place, but didn't have it on my list. Glad we made the extra stop though. Grayson enjoyed it.



The next king?


We spent all morning at the palace and museums and were ready for lunch when we were done. We made one quick stop into a bookstore I had heard was good and then decided it was so good we would have to come back when we were fed and had more time. Rachel chose a great traditional Korean restaurant for us. The food was delicious. During lunch, Rachel gave us a gift for being her first foreign tour group. It was a very nice cd of a popular Korean violist who now plays in NY. We had her a gift as well.



After lunch we headed to Insadong, the most famous shopping market in seoul (for tourists of course). I was on the hunt for several specific items. We had name chops made for both boys as this is very popular here. They both turned out fabulously. We also bought traditional Korean wedding ducks. Will have to show and talk about those later.



After a little bit of shopping, we decided it would be best if we came back to the hotel and let grayson out of the carrier. Being in it all day is tough. Rachel was a fabulous tour guide.



It was such a long day without a nap for anyone that we just decided to stay in and play around the hotel tonight. Early to bed for us tonight. Tomorrow is another big day!

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Our first day

We all woke up bright and early this morning, but since breakfast isn't served until 7:30 at the hotel, we had to wait quite a while. This gave us time to finish unpacking and get the room in order. We wanted to venture out a little this morning and see some stuff. We made a list before we left home of all we wanted to do and see. We knew we wouldn't have time to waste. So off we went this morning with Grayson in tow since we would be taking the subway. We headed for Namdaemun market, a market full of fashion and very Western items. We only had to walk about 10 minutes to the subway station and by the time we got there, Grayson was asleep. Guess that 11 hours was just not quite enough.



We had fun exploring the market, but left empty handed.


When we were done shopping we headed to another subway station and decided to go to Children's Grand Park. This park had been recommended by a family on our agency's forum and we now know why. This place is fabulous. We will definitely be going back. It is huge and has so much to do and see. And it's free!!!


The wizard of oz playground. Who says we're not in Kansas anymore?


The highlight of the park today was the zoo. We only went through one animal exhibit and will go back another day to see more. Grayson roared at each of these big animals. We also saw an elephant, tiger, and monkeys.










The most popular cartoon character in Korea- pororo! Grayson has been watching pororo videos on you tube for months and quickly recognizes this character all over the place.


The roses are in full bloom right now and are just beautiful


This is the Seoul tower from our window at night. It's beautiful. Can't wait to go during the day and put our lock of love on.


After a good nap this afternoon, we went back out for dinner at pizza hut and some grocery shopping. We are all set for breakfast in our room in the morning and have bread to make sandwiches.


We had a great day today. Grayson is very popular here. He is getting so much attention he's not quite sure what to think of it all. The older adults and kids just love trying to talk to him, wave to him, tell him how cute he is, and try to shake his hand. He's a good sport about it all, but acting pretty shy. I'm finding myself looking at every baby to just see if it might be Neylan. We are trying to keep busy and distracted. In less than a week he will be part of our family.


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We're Here!!!

We have arrived in beautiful Seoul after a very long day of traveling. We started the day very early at 4:30 on Sunday morning and arrived in Seoul at 3:00 Monday afternoon. Grayson did a FABULOUS job during the trip. God has truly blessed us with a kid that is a good traveler. And as we landed today, less than a week before Grayson's second birthday, he is in his third continent!

When we landed in San Fransisco, we were all a bit hungry. Grayson said he wanted a burger, so we had lunch at burger king at 9 am. Since it was so early, they were only serving breakfast and whoppers, so we all had a whopper, and surprisingly, Grayson ate nearly all of it!



Grayson was a big helper today.



After a dose of benadryl and a few activities, Grayson finally fell asleep for about 3 hrs. We were so glad at that point that we had bought him a full seat and we all had a little bit more room to spread out. But, with all the room we took up, I am already dreading the flight home with four of us in 3 seats.



We landed a few minutes early and ALL of our luggage arrived! Our driver was waiting on us and took us straight to the hotel. Our hotel is fabulous and perfect for all that we need And when we checked in, we found out we don't have to move rooms anymore. We are in one room the entire stay. With this change in plans, our rate decreased!

We knew that this was a great place when we saw this playground right across the street. We let grayson play for a little while tonight and then explored the market just down the street. There were lots of fish. Dried fish, big fish, little fish, and fresh fish. None of them appeared to have much meat on them, so we are not sure what they should be used for. Our hotel also has a 7/11 in the lobby. So, we are set and getting settled in. Adam was only able to stay up until 6:30 and Grayson and I went to bed at 7. We all slept through the night and woke up around 5:30. Hopefully we are nearly on schedule and adjusted now.












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1 Day and Counting!!!!!

Well the day is almost here and we are frantically getting the last minute packing done. I would have thought that as organized as we have been over the last month and as much work as we have done that today would have gone much smoother. But in true Grayson fashion, when we are really needing to get stuff done, he refused to take a nap this afternoon! Not helpful! So, today. . . .

Grayson and I went out this morning to run last minute errands and to get one last workout in (yes, I was stressed again!)

Adam used this time to clean the house really well

I started packing and since Grayson didn't take a nap, he began "helping" by pulling/dumping everything out that Adam had just put away! This added some stress to say the least.

But, alas, we are ready to go!




We spent the night with friends who live closer to the airport and had somewhat of a relaxing night. Grayson didn't go to bed until midnight, so we will see how that plays out during our trip. Hopefully well, with lots of sleeping!


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2 Days and Counting!!

Well, if I am going to be truly honest, I have to say today was ROUGH!!!! I have not been this stressed out in a VERY long time. For those of you who know me well, you know that it really takes a lot to really stress me out. Well, today I was sent over the edge. It was a Dr. Pepper, crying, disappointed, frustrated, stressful kind of day. But, it's nearly over now and tomorrow is a new day. So here's a run-down of the day.

• Adam is done with school for the year, so he stayed home today while G was at daycare and I was at work, with all intentions of cleaning the house! Woo Hoo!!!
• Got the email we had been waiting for at 10:30 from our agency. No hotels available that we requested. Now we're on our own with our travel agent to find a place to stay
• Called travel agent to see what he could find. He wasn't very helpful, but booked us a room (without a kitchen, washer/dryer, or kid friendly ammenities) (hotel #1)
• We keep working on our end to find something better
• EV.ERY.THING is booked. It's a holiday weekend we find out!
• By 3:00 we finally found a hotel that was a decent price and had a kitchen, but was a little too luxurious for us and had too many breakables in the room for a 2 yr old. (hotel #2)
• I called G's daycare provider, L, to find out what she thought about the area. She said it was a great area, but far from where we wanted to be.
• She gave us the name of a hotel she had stayed at and began helping us research it. (hotel #3)
• We called them and found out they had the first 3 days available, were booked solid the next 3 days, but then could have us back for the end of our trip. Bummer!
• We asked L if she would call to see what she could find out since she speaks Korean. And, she was able to put rooms on hold for us for every night, except one.
• We called back to book it and give our cc# and miraculously they had all nights finally available. So, we finally have a room at the same hotel for all 8 nights we are there. We will have to move rooms within the hotel at least once, but at this point, we don't care.
• Called to cancel hotel #1 that travel agent booked. Were told we would have to pay for one night becuase we were not cancelling within 72 hrs of arrival. Disputed this, and will continue to if charged for it since we were told something different by travel agent.
• 10 hrs after we started this morning, we finally were booked with a consistent hotel and a confirmation number! Whew!!!!
• Had to send G off with friends tonight so we could continue working on this until 8:00
• No house cleaning was done
• But, G's clothes did get pulled out and organized.
• Tomorrow will be busy!!!!

Thank you all for your prayers. We are happy with the place we will be staying. We are close to several of the places that were on our list to see and we have a park across the street! There is also a grocery store across the street and we have a kitchen in our room. We got a good deal for booking so this late in the game, thanks to L. She even got us 2 days of free breakfast and free dishes/plate rental (I suppose for use in the kitchen).

3 Days and Counting!!!

I told you those question marks would be gone. But, I didn't think we would be able to put the number 3 down already!! Whew. Time is flying and this is really happening, isn't it?!

• Finally, finally got our plane tickets booked this afternoon. We had put them on hold yesterday, but were hoping to hear some other information this morning. When we didn't, we went ahead and booked. We took 3 of 4 seats on the only flight left from Sunday through Wednesday! So, we leave Sunday morning.
• I made 2 batches of muffins to put in the freezer for when we come home
• My carrier arrived today!!! Unfortunately, I couldn't convince a certain little one to help me get it fitted just right. He did not want to be in it. I think he's definitely caught on to this carrier thing. I'm very excited about this carrier and hope Grayson warms up to it quickly once we are in a place with lots of new stuff to look at.

• Adam packed his suitcase tonight
• I got in a good workout this morning to de-stress. I really needed it. Now that plane tickets are booked I am feeling a little better. But, we still don't have a hotel to stay in. We should by tomorrow. I hope!