Sunday Macaroni

James has not turned down any food we put in front of him and he loves grandma's macaroni. He's not to fond of baths or being put in his crib. (He never slept in a crib) He has started letting us change his diaper without freaking out and has been in the pool once and loves it.

Here is a few more photos from his first days home.

Two days home

Hi everyone,

He is so awesome. I woke up today with a gentle slap to the face and a great big smile. He is adjusting real quick and doing well. I finally downloaded some photes from my camera so here thay are.... I get to home photos next time. :)

He's ours!

Wow.

It was amazing. It was the most scary moment of our lives as well as the happiest. I'm lost for words right now and don't know what to say.

We were all emotional when it was time to say goodbye and James was great until he realized he couldn't see his foster family anymore. It was a 45 minute taxi ride that we never want to repeat. It took about ten minutes when we got him back to the room to calm him. He was so scared. He's sleeping now.

So peaceful.

It's gonna be a long ride home. We are very nervous about the flight but we will manage. Say an extra prayer for us Mom. I think we're gonna need it. :)

We hope you enjoy the video. I will put the link here when the video has been uploaded.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nU6pqQ9tcCQ

5 more hours

While you guys are all sleeping at home (except for you mom), one of our dreams will be coming true. We've tossed and turned all night but the day has arrived and we are ready. I will do my best to get a video downloaded on You Tube to share with everyone.

We thank God most of all for this moment in our life and this special gift we are about to receive. Things don't always happen as quickly as we hope or the way we think they're supposed to. You try to do the best you can and play the cards your dealt. I believe we have done this and we will continue to do this. We have faith, family, and friends. What more can you ask for?

Now go get your tissues! :)

20 hours to go

It has been a long day. It's 6:00 pm here and 5:00 am at home. We went to Holt at 9:00 am to meet our tour guides. Their names were Bryan and Sarah. They were young and very nice. We had a good time. We went on a tour of the Changdeokgung Palace. This is where kings and queens resided along with their servants. I can't tell you much else because we took the Korean tour because we were an hour early for the English tour. Sarah and Bryan who is fluent in both English and Korean were our personal translators for any questions we had.

Then we went to another part of the city (not sure of the name) and did more shopping and had some Korean food. The only way I can explain it is it looked like Ziti, but wasn't hollow, it was doughy like Gnocci's, and spicy.
It was pretty good.

We parted ways with our tour guides and went on a squeaky shoes mission.(don't ask)

It almost feels like Little Italy during the San Genaro festival (very narrow streets), but a lot bigger, more food, and more shops, a lot more. You also have to keep an eye out for motorcycles on the sidewalks.

Well, its time to get some rest now. In about 20 hours we will be getting full custody of our son. We get him at 2:00 pm at Holt. (1:00 am for you guys) Then we'll be locking ourselves in the hotel and get to know each other a little better.

Please keep us and James foster family in your prayers. I'm sure this is going to be the most emotional time of the trip.

I'm looking forward to posting another video of us with James before we head home and I'm sure you guys can't wait too. :)

A little more about the meeting

James
likes Italian bread
no pacifier
doesn't suck his thumb
loves picture videos with music
he has sensitive skin
he takes 2 short naps a day about 20 - 30 minutes
he's a light sleeper during the day but sleeps through the night
doesn't stop crying when he is sleepy
drinks 8 oz of warm milk every 3 - 4 hours
likes steamed rice
is a very active baby
picks things up with two fingers
walks holding on to things
he sleeps on the floor or in between his foster parents

What a moment

It happened. All of our fears have been wiped away.

We were an hour early so we decided to walk around and we basically stayed right in front of the place. A few minutes later all of the foster mothers were showing up with their children. Now we were wondering if we were going to see them walk right by us. That didn't happen but a local came up to us and decided to have a conversation that neither one of us understood. He was very nice and it was funny. The Korean people have been pleasent. I busted out my Korean language book and pointed to the words that said "goodbye", shook his hand and walked toward Holt. We walked through the front door and right into James and his foster mother, foster father, foster brother, and the fathers sister. We all recognized each other instantly and there were tears immediately.

WOW.

His little foster brother (4th grade) handed me a half a heart necklace with his name engraved and showed me the other half around his neck with James name engraved. Another WOW moment.

We proceeded upstairs for our meeting and sat in a room with everyone together, they asked Rachael if she would like to hold him, and WOW another moment that will be stuck in my heart forever.

We each gave each other gifts. The foster family gave us framed photos of James ( he is very photogenic). You'll see them soon.

After the meeting, which was about an hour, we saw the Dr. for his final exam. James is just getting over a cold and congestion, so the trip home may be tough.

We took some photos together and video (I'll be posting soon).

The foster family is Catholic and was very happy to know that we will be christening James.

I'll write some more later. I'm going to work on the video now.

Link to the video :)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KeODquBx8hs

Subway System & The Korean War Memorial

Good morning everyone. It's 9:30pm here and 8:30 am at home.

We traveled by the Seoul subway system today. It was very easy once we got our bearings straight. All of the little kids were smiling at Rachael as well as quite a few adults (The men that is). The entire city reminds us of Manhattan, without the skyscrapers.

We started the morning by finding Holt International Adoption Services. This is where we'll be meeting James in about 13 hours. It's a good 25 minutes on the subway. We're both very happy we found it. It's gonna make tomorrow morning a lot easier.

After that we went to the Korean War memorial. It was huge. It had every kind of plane, helicopter, boat, tank, and artillery used in the war. It was nice to visit knowing that dad served during that time. 21 different countries helped South Korea defend themselves against the North.

The Itaewon shopping area was full of street vendors, shops, and restaurants. We ate at the Hard Rock and got back to the hotel around 4:00pm. There is another shopping area around the hotel with narrow street and it seemed about a million bars and restaurants.

Well that's it for now. I haven't been able to download my pictures from my camera or email the video but I'll keep trying.

Good Morning

Rachael has been pacing back and forth, she can't sit still. We just came back from breakfast and around 11:00am we'll be catching a shuttle bus from the hotel to Itaewon shopping which is next to the Korean War memorial.

It's raining so I'm not sure how much walking we'll do. I think we're going to attempt the subway system.

I'm also having trouble with posting the video on the blog. I think the file is to big. I tried to email it to some of you. Were you able to open it?

Seoul

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_vcTX7zclbI
We have arrived in Seoul. We are 13 hours ahead of you guys back home. The flight was long but not bad at all. We each watched about 3 movies each and the food was good (along with my PB & J sandwiches). It's 8:00 pm Saturday night, June 21st and it's 7:00 am back home.



A big HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to you Mom & Dad. 56 glorious years.




Good Night!!!!

2008 North End Champs

Andrew and his teammates won their second straight North End Little League championship. Andrew went 2 for 3 with 1 RBI and two runs scored in the final game. Andrew also made the all star team and will be practicing for the upcoming tournament. Congratulations Andrew. We are so proud of you.

Travel approved

We will be leaving to meet our son James on Friday. We land in South Korea on Saturday night and have Sunday to explore Seoul. Our first meeting with James and his foster mother will be on Monday morning (Korea time), which will be Sunday night here, at Holt International (adoption agency in Korea). The meeting will be about 2 hours. After the meeting James will be going home with his foster family.

Depending on how James reacts to us we may have an additional meeting on Tuesday. We will also be touring Seoul on Tuesday.

We will be back at Holt on Wednesday. This is "THE DAY". We have a Thursday am flight so he will be coming back to spend the night and forever with us. This is going to be the one part of the trip that we have both been scared of. Taking James from his foster family who have raised him since October. They have gone back and forth to the doctors, changed many diapers, fed him, put him to sleep, seen him wake up, played with him, and loved him. We are eternally grateful to them for their commitment to be a foster family.

We plan to lock ourselves in our hotel room after that, get acquainted with our son, and get ready for our flight home.

We got the call!

Wow. We can't begin to explain the excitement, butterflies, and nervousness that we feel right now. I'm sure many of you who are reading this and have children are smiling and know exactly what we feel. It has been exactly 2 years, 7 months, and 28 days since we decided to adopt and today we got the call. Our son James is ready to come home to the good old USA.

James Ji-Hun will be one on July 26.

Thank you to all our friends and family for your prayers and support over this long journey and remember to keep checking this blog for updates as we go through this exciting time. You are all going to be able to share this time with us as it happens.

Above is the latest picture of James.