Looks like we made it!

Me and my sweet girl!
We got to feed her and we both were in heaven.

Daddy and his girl.

Here we are listening to our Social Worker translating our questions. (Love her by the way)


So here are the details:
First of all, I am SO sorry that it has taken me this long to post. Let me tell you why it has been impossible. First we left our house at 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning, then we flew from a small town near us to Denver. Landed in Denver at 7ish and then took off to San Francisco THIRTY minutes later. Yeah, tight connection. Then we hung-out on the tarmak while experiencing a "technical malfunction." Meanwhile back at the ranch our connect window for our flight to Seoul was narrowing.

We then landed in San Francisco and were let off the plane first because there were 40 passengers that had to make the same plane we did. So then we booked it to the international terminal and followed an "angel" who appeared out of nowhere and helped us to the gate. She yelled "Incheon" and we followed her. I honestly don't think we would have made it if it wasn't for her. She had been to Korea before and taught English here. Anyway - we barely made it on the plane before it took off. Then it was 11 hours on the plane.

When we landed in Seoul, it took AN HOUR to get through immigration. Yeah, AN HOUR. The luggage people were paging us to pick up our luggage, it took so long. So we picked up our luggage and found our (fast) driver. He took us to our hotel and once we arrived we had been up for a full 24 hours. Little sleep. Then we proceeded to *try* to find the subway station. What a disaster. We were totally lost. Exhausted. Hungry and ready for bed. We decided just to get a Taxi reservation for our meeting at Eastern this morning. So we left our hotel at 8:30 and arrived at Eastern right as they opened. I pictured Eastern really huge and tons of people. It's actually not that big. So we met our Social Worker and then went through the paperwork of bringing her home.

Then we waited for a little while, and then . . . our SW came in and said our little SeoYeon was here. We left the room and walked out into the hallway . . . and there she was. I recognized her right away. We then all piled into the meeting room and started our meeting.

She is SO beautiful. She didn't really have much to do with us at first. She had a little bit of a boogery nose. Then we sarted engaging her with toys and talking to her. She was immediately interested in toys. Then we started asking questions and communicating with Foster Mom. Then our SW said to pick her up. You don't have to tell me twice!! She was fine in my arms. She looked at me intently and studied me. Then Chad interacted with her and we played with her for a while. Foster Mom got out a doll stroller and put her in it. She loved it. She's really little. She fit into the doll stroller fine! Then Chad pushed her around and she just loved it. She is such a delight! Happy, easy going, just an absolute doll! Foster Mom then left and she never cried or flipped out. She looked for her, but we tried to distract her. FM left the room quite a few times, I think to see what SeoYeon would do. She NEVER cried. FM even waved goodbye to her and said "goodbye" and she never flinched.

Let me just say something here. She is completely attached to FM, but she's not clingy toward her. She was a little clingy at the very beginning, but that was it. I have NO doubt that Joye will grieve and miss FM. Since THE DAY that we saw Joye's picture I have prayed for her transition. Prayed for her little heart and the loss that she will experience soon. Joye is pretty comfortable with us and is very easy-going. Even FM said that. But I think the glory goes to God when it comes to our meeting this morning. It was better than I ever expected. I wasn't as nervous as I thought that I would be. It was AWESOME! Are we still up for hard times? You bet, I am not trying to sugar-coat anything. ALOT of prayer has gone into this whole thing and I am feeling it's benefits.

About Seoul, we were a little overwhelmed last night. Running on literally NO sleep and trying to find the Subway. Not a good combo. Seoul is beautiful and HUGE. After taking the taxi, we got a little more comfortable with asking things and just being adventurous. We are now starting to enjoy ourselves. It takes just getting out there and exploring. Remembering landmarks and buildings help. The people are SO VERY nice. Really nice. I didn't expect them NOT to be, but they are so willing to help. We get stared at alot. That's probably how Joye will feel in our community. It's great to experience that.

We meet Joye on Monday and do our tour and meet the Director at Eastern. We will also move all of our junk (luggage) over to the guesthouse to stay. So far we are having alot of fun and are on an emotional high with meeting our girl for the first time. She is just so beautiful and we are so much in love.

Please continue to pray for her transition and for sweet Foster Mother. She is SUCH a sweet lady and my heart just breaks for her. Joye is her 14th Foster child, so she knows full well what to expect. It doesn't make it hurt less, though. We're not sure what the weekend holds, and I will try to post more often. :)

Lots of love from Seoul.