Garrett Is Going To Be A BIG BROTHER!!!

Yes, it’s TRUE!! After much prayer we have decided that the time is FINALLY RIGHT to begin the process to bring home another baby BOY from South Korea!! We sent in our formal application to our adoption agency, Holt International, last month and are starting the “Paper Chase” phase of our journey to our new son. There is a TON of paperwork to be done over the next several months. This will include many trips to the notary…a home study update…fingerprinting, background checks…goverment legal documents…soooooo much paperwork!! And I couldn’t be happier to do it all!!!

Adoption is a miracle. Truly. Born of tremendous sacrifice. As I type this, it is quite likely that our son, the son that the Lord has chosen for us, is in his birthmother’s womb. She is undoubtedly worried/fearful/hopeful for her son’s future…what it will bring…who he will become…who will raise him…will he be loved? She will endure the entire pregnancy…give birth to a precious baby boy for whom she cannot parent…and she will, in faith, hand him over to a social worker who will place him with his forever family…We will be his forever family.

We do not know what his sweet face will look like. We have yet to hear his laugh or smell his sweet baby skin. But we love him just as if he is growing inside of me…and he is…only not in my womb…he is in the deepest part of my heart. And in God’s perfect timing HE will make known to us who our son is to be…and we trust that HIS timing will be perfect.

Our agency has told us to expect a referral by June of 2010…less than a year from now. The babies in Korea are referred to their adoptive families at six month old…so he will likely be born in January of 2010…five short months from now. His birthmother has probably already felt him move inside her womb. Just the thought, moves me to tears.

So, as I share the joy of our news…the news that we will be blessed by God’s grace with another son, I am profoundly aware that our son will come to us through the most beautiful sacrifice imaginable.

Join us as we pray for her…the birthmother of our precious son who is yet to be. Join us as we pray for peace for her…for strength…for health…and for support as she continues through this pregnancy. And ultimately, that she knows our precious Jesus…

I will update as we move through the milestones of this NEW journey. God is SO FAITHFUL…and life can be so crazy…I am sure there will be many things to report as we head down this wonderful path again.

I urge anyone who is thinking of having a family, or continuing to grow their family, to consider growing your family through the miracle of adoption. If you are feeling a little nervous, just follow along with me…I’ll show you the ropes, and you’ll see first hand the beauty of this blessed journey.
Much love to you all, Pamela

Disney…DAY Three

***WOW!! I just found this draft from EXACTLY ONE YEAR AGO!! Crazy!! As you can see…I am not so fantastic about keeping this blog going…it’s so tough with all the business of daily life. Thought I’d just go ahead a post this entry from Disneyland anyway…the pictures are too cute not to share! We were at Disneyland for 5 days last year and had a really wonderful time. Hoping to return to this Blog eventually… It’s tough to have a blog about Garrett at home without sharing all the details of our three daughters as well…and trust me, four sweet kiddos add up to a lot of details!! So, I think I will just post the occasional pictures of our ever growing family. Praying that we will add another son from Korea to our family soon…pray with me people, my man is a bit hesitant given the fact that we have FOUR wonderful kiddos already!! My heart really wants a brother for my sweet boy…we’ll see what God has in store for us! If you are reading this, thanks for following our journey…Many Blessings, Pamela***

Okay, so, it looks as if I have lost my momentum…yet again…to post consistenly. I do have to share our DAY THREE and DAY FOUR photos at Disney, however. They are SO CUTE of Sophie and Claire, especially!! We started Day Three with facepainting…so fun…and it lasted ALL DAY which was great. Sophie and Claire had lunch at “Ariel’s Grotto” and met all the Princesses…the pictures say it all…we had a great day…took a “jungle cruise” and enjoyed the blessing of being together! Enjoy…

CLAIRE & SOPHIE IN THEIR “MATCHY MATCHY” TINKERBELL OUTFITS THAT I MADE…

FACE PAINTING…CHECK MY SISTER…CLASSIC CLOWNING AROUND!!! SHE IS SO FUNNY!!

FACE PAINTED BY “MISS VAL” THE ARTIST AT DISNEY…

JOSH, ANGELA & CLAIRE

PAMELA & GIRLS

SOPHIE & CLAIRE WITH BELLE, MULAN, CINDERELLA, SLEEPING BEAUTY & ARIEL!!

Disney…Day Two

Day two at Disney was a ton of fun as well. We ventured over to the California Adventure Park to start our day. My sister had her day long conference…we missed her for sure…but she joined us at 4:30 and we filled her in on the details of the day. Our first ride was “Soaring Over California”…THE BEST RIDE…EVER!!! The idea of the ride is that you are on a hanglider seeing the landscape of California from that perspective. The truth is…you feel as if you are REALLY hangliding over California!!! It is a FANTASTIC experience and if you ever go to the park…you MUST do that ride first!! Seriously…it is an experience! We also saw the Aladdin show…nearly a Broadway quality production..and just had a fantastic time. It was Nonie, Aunt Chi Chi and Mani & I…Joshy had the twins for most of the day, so we just had the girls and baby Garrett between the 4 adults…a cake walk for sure!! I thought I had more pictures of day two…they must be on my sister’s camera…but here are a few…
MIA AND SOPHIE RIDING THE JELLYFISH


SOPHIE & BABY GARRETT ON THE CAROUSEL

Garrett could not get enough of the carousel!! We were riding it while Mani and Joshy were riding the “California Screaming” roller coaster. I am NOT kidding when I tell you that we rode the carousel NINE TIMES IN A ROW!!! Garrett was sooooo funny…the ride would stop and he’d just look at me and I’d say, “Oh, it’s all done” and do the sign for “all done” and he’d start to protest and then I’d say, “Do you want to ride it again? More??” and do the “more” sign…and he’d sign his “more” and we’d get off and walk around and get in line again. Seriously, the cutest thing ever!!!

Sadly, that’s all the pictures I have for day two…Day Three was really the best day in pictures…I’ll post that one tomorrow, and in the mean time I’ll try to get those other pictures from my sister.

Disney…Day One

What was I thinking???  I ACTUALLY thought that I’d be able to post each day that we were at Disneyland!!  Not so!!  We were up early and out all day at the parks and then swimming until the pool closed at 10pm and then exhausted for sure!!  So, we arrived home last night around 10pm and I thought I’d post the details of our trip with some fun pictures!!

When we were leaving we woke up Chloe first, and told her that we wanted to go wake up Mia with a “birthday song”…so, Chloe was a sport and woke up…after whining a bit that it was WAY too early…and we went into Mia’s room and turned on her light.  We started singing “Happy Birthday to You” and she was stretching and smiling and waking up…then, on the last verse Mani and I sang…”Happy Birthday dear Mia…and we’re going to Disneyland too!!”  They both just stopped and looked at us, and Mia said, “Oh yeah, right Mommy…April Fools!!”  And we said, “FOR REAL…RIGHT NOW…WE’RE ALL PACKED IN THE CAR…YOU JUST NEED TO GET DRESSED AND WE’LL GO!!!”  Then came the squeals and jumping up and down…so fun to see…we then went in to wake up Sophie and tell her the surprise, and she was half asleep, smiling and moving VERY QUICKLY to find her clothes to go!!

I’ve got to say, if you have children, this is the way to surprise them with a Disney trip!  It is so much fun to see their little faces…and so much better than hearing them ask 50 thousand times how many more days until Disney!!!  So, it’s a bit self serving on both ends!!

So, the drive down was easy…Mani drove the whole way…I slept for most of it because I was up so late getting everything ready to go.  He went to bed early so that he’d be rested to drive…it worked out great.  We arrived at the hotel at around 10am…thanks to “Speed Racer, Mani”…hmmm, perhaps he picked up some driving tips while we were in Seoul…and we ate and got ready to go into the park.  My sister and Josh, Nonie and Bob, and Aunt Chi Chi arrived around noon and we met up after lunch and spent a FANTASTIC day in Disney.  Here are a few of the pictures of day one…

IN FRONT OF THE DISNEYLAND HOTEL

 

SOPHIE IN HER ARIEL OVERALLS I MADE HER…CUTE & CORNY, I KNOW!!

BIRTHDAY PRINCESS

FIRST RIDE…
SOPHIE BONKED HER HEAD ON THE FRONT OF THE RIDE BEFORE IT TOOK OFF…THUS THE TEARS…BUT ONCE IT STARTED MOVING, SHE LOVED IT!!!

MANI & PAMELA ENJOYING THE SUNSHINE WHILE THE KIDS ARE ON A RIDE…

AUNTIE EVE (PAMELA’S SISTER) AND CLAIRE WITH THE GIRLS…(MY SISTER’S NAME IS ANGELA, BUT HER FAMILY NICKNAME IS “EVE”, SO THE KIDS CALL HER “AUNTIE EVE”)

 CLAIRE & SOPHIE LOOKING AT THE LAKE…

BABY GARRETT, TOO!

I ADORE MY SISTER!!

TEACUP TIME WITH NONIE & AUNTIE EVE!!

AUTOPIA…OUR FAVORITE!! WHERE’S WALDO…UMMM, I MEAN UNCLE JOSHY??? HEE HEE

HAVING FUN MOVING THE GRANITE BALL…

IN FRONT OF THE CASTLE…

UNCLE JOSHY & ZACH AT DINNER…IS ZACHY NOT TOTALLY DELISH??? JUST LOOK AT THOSE CURLS!!

MANI WITH SOPHIE ZIPPED IN HIS JACKET…THAT LITTLE GIRLIE WAS COLD…THE SECOND PICTURE CRACKS ME UP…HE LOOKS LIKE HE HAS TWO HEADS!! SUCH A GOOD SPORT & A FUN DADDY!!!

NOT SO SURE ABOUT THE MICKEY EARS…

ICE CREAM TO END THE NIGHT!!

END OF A FANTASTIC DAY!!!

That was day one…I’ll post day two tomorrow with more pics!!
 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIA…SURPRISE, We’re Going To Disney!!!

Okay, I am SO EXCITED…too excited to sleep…so I thought I’d post really quick.  Tomorrow…well, I guess since it’s 12:30am…TODAY…is the day that our sweet “Mia in the middle” turns “double digits”…Oh, that’s right…she’s turning TEN YEARS OLD!!!  That’s pretty exciting…but that’s NOT why I can’t sleep.  I can’t sleep because we have SECRETLY planned a trip to Disneyland with my sister and Josh and their 3 children…Nonie and G (Josh’s Mom & Stepdad) and Aunt Chi Chi (aka, Tracy, Josh’s sister)!!!  YIPPEE!!! 

We are staying for 5 days at the Disneyland Hotel and it is going to be SO MUCH FUN!!!!  I seriously, can hardly wait to wake up the kids and tell them.  I’ve packed EVERYTHING, so, Mani and I are going to wake them up at 3:00am with the SURPRISE and drive to Anaheim!!!!  We are leaving SO EARLY so that the kids will sleep on the way.  Garrett, especially, since his maximum car seat time is about 3 hours…then, he’s done.

We did this same thing 5 years ago…I was pregnant with Sophie and Mia was 5 and Chloe was 8…it was so fun to see them FREAK OUT when we woke them up and told them to hop in the car…because we were going to DISNEYLAND!!! 

Okay, so, I’m bringing my laptop so that I can post while we are there…especially for Papa & Grandma to see the pictures…so, if you want to see the crew “yucking it up” at Disneyland…and trust me, we are going to be a bunch of goofballs all together…check back in a couple of days…it’s going to be a FANTASTIC  TRIP!!!

Garrett’s First Day At the Beach…

Our fantastic friends, The Andersons, recently hosted us for several days at a beach house near Santa Cruz.  Here are some sweet pictures of our time there…

Pamela & Mani on the deck…

Daddy with his boy…

Beautiful Baby…

So Sweet…

Finding Treasures…

Sandy Toes…

Sandy Fingers, too!

Strolling down the beach…

Here are a few photos of a beach at Seymor Lab…We went to Seymor Lab for a Co-op fieldtrip while we were there…fantastic place for all things Marine Biology…as you can see, it was a beautiful day…

Laughing with Mommy…

A new beach to explore…

Happy Baby…

End of a wonderful day…

Home for 16 weeks already!!

Well it’s been 16 weeks since we’ve been home with our sweet baby boy!! I can hardly believe it. In some ways it feels like it was just yesterday that we were in Seoul meeting Garrett for the first time…seeing his precious face in person and touching his chubby little hands…and in many other ways it feels like he has always been with us. It has all just been so natural…the entire transitional process. The girls adore him…and really, what’s NOT to love??? Is he not the CUTEST BABY EVER??? And honestly, he just gets more beautiful by the day. Okay, enough gushing…but seriously, he really does.

So…where was I on my last post…Christmas…okay, so, it looks like I’m not doing so well on the “weekly Blog update” thing….Hmmmm, to quote one of my favorite friends, Jen Hammond…….”YA THINK??!!!”   hee hee hee

So a brief run down from Christmas through Easter…Garrett has been walking like a champ since January!!  He turned ONE on January 23, and we had a traditional Korean first birthday party for him.  He and the girls were dressed in traditional Korean Hanboks (Garrett’s Foster Mother gave Garrett the Hanbok he is wearing in the photos) and we had a great time. We did the Dol Table, a tradition where several objects that represent future occupations are set on a table and the first two that the baby picks are suppose to represent what they may choose for the future…a fun tradition.  Our sweet baby chose the pen ( a scholar)  and the paintbrush ( an artist).  He had the choice of a bible, firetruck, pen, paintbrush, ricecake (wealth) and thread (long life).

In February, we went to the beach a couple of times with our friends who have access to their company’s corporate beach house every February. The house is on a beach near Santa Cruz, and is enormous and beautiful!! This is the third year they have hosted us, and we LOVED every minute of our stay.  Garrett had a great time at the beach…apparently sand is quite tasty…YIKES…and we all enjoyed the time away with our sweet friends.

Easter was fun…the egg hunting wasn’t Garrett’s favorite activity… picking grass…now that’s what my baby is in to!!  I bought him the CUTEST Easter outfit…a button down and khaki’s…YUMMY!!!!  He looked like such a little man!!

Garrett is still an eating machine!!  He LOVES frozen berries…blueberries are his favorite!!  He sings, and dances everyday…I have got to get a video of that and figure out how to post it!!  He sings in his baby voice and shakes his little booty…last night I was singing and snapping my fingers with him and he kept trying to snap his little fingers…seriously, it does not get ANY cuter than that!! 

Garrett is such a snuggler!!  He is still so mild tempered…just an easy going guy.  He loves his sisters and is learning how to tease Sophie a bit…she always gives him a big squeal, so, needless to say, it’s ridiculously reinforcing!!

The bad news…he can climb up on ANYTHING!!!  This is a first for us…the girls were not climbers!  He loves to climb up on the ottoman, on the children’s chairs, the toy table, on the step stools, on the fireplace…you name it!!!  So, we are on “high alert” constantly!!  He also rides his little tricycle!!  He scoots that little thing all over the play room…it is so cute!!  A “NOT SO CUTE” side note…I came around the corner about a week ago and he was STANDING UP on the seat of his tricycle…okay, so I FREAKED OUT at the sight of that one!!  Oh my…our playroom has tile, and I could just see him falling and bonking his head on the tile…YIKES!!!!  So, what did I do???  I took a picture with my cell phone and sent it to Mani’s cell (he was on shift at the firestation) and then called him and told him to check his phone to see what our little man is doing…OH MY!!

So that’s the last few months in a nutshell!  We are LOVING every minute with our baby…God has blessed us so very much with Garrett…I can hardly take it all in.  Here are some pictures of the last few months…enjoy!!

SOPHIE & GARRETT IN THEIR KOREAN SOCCER JERSEYS…A GIFT FROM GARRETT’S FOSTER MOTHER FOR THEIR BIRTHDAYS IN JANUARY…JUST THE SWEETEST!!!

SOPHIE, GARRETT & OUR FRIEND, LINDY, VISITING JUST BEFORE CHRISTMAS

GARRETT IN BIBLE CLASS AT CHURCH…OKAY, HOW HANDSOME IS HE??

GIVING SOME LOVE TO AUNTIE MEGAN AND COUSIN AMELIA

HANGING OUT WITH UNCLE ROBBIE TOO!!

GRANDMA & HER BABIES…GARRETT & AMELIA…OOOOOH, GRANDMA LOVES THOSE BABIES!!!

DADDY GIVING GARRETT HIS FIRST TASTE OF BIRTHDAY CAKE

LOOKS LIKE AN ARTIST!!

SOPHIE, MIA & CHLOE IN THEIR HANBOKS…WE BROUGHT THEM HOME AS A SURPRISE FOR THE GIRLS…JUST BEAUTIFUL!

SOPHIE IN HER HANBOK…SO YUMMY!!!

OH MY…It’s been nearly a month!!

Wowie!! So much to report!! Hmmm….let’s see…I’ll start with Christmas. Christmas was wonderful, Garrett as you can imagine was mostly interested in the wrapping paper and the boxes instead of the gifts… and what better gift for us to have our sweet boy HOME for the holidays!! I’m still a little shocked at just how fast our process went…what a BLESSING for us!! We had a quiet Christmas morning and then went to spend the afternoon with my sister and Josh at Josh’s Mother’s home…sweet Nonie…it was so relaxing, and all the food was really yummy! Nancy (aka Nonie) always hosts a Christmas luncheon with lots of family and friends. Well, this year there was a new couple there, Kern and Natalie. They are neighbors of Nonie and Bob, and have a sweet little girlie who is just a toddler…she’s just darling. Now, let me preface this story by telling you that I had met Kern and Natalie at my sister’s home on Halloween briefly (they had come by with Nonie and Bob…Bob is Josh’s step-dad) and I heard Kern mention something about a “practice” while he was talking with Bob, and so I assumed he was an attorney or maybe a physician. Well, fast forward to Christmas day, and I am chatting it up with Natalie about Garrett and international adoption and our agency, etc. I mention in passing that Garrett had TCS (tethered cord syndrome) at birth and had surgery to correct his condition and how I was so pleased with the medical treatment in Korea, etc. Well, then Natalie tells me that Kern is….oh get this….A NEUROSURGEON!!!! What are the chances?? So Kern comes over to the table and he and I start chatting it up about TCS, and about all the research I had done online on TCS, on Garrett’s current development, etc. Now, here is the kicker…GOD IS SO GOOD…Kern says that he knows “The top Pediatric Neurologist who specializes in TCS” and then goes on to say that the specialist is in Oakland…about 1.5 hours away…and that he’d give him a call and let him know that we’d like to see him for Garrett!!!! COME ON NOW!!!! What are the chances that we would have a “family friend” with that level of connection to our son’s condition? Oh, I am constantly humbled at how the Lord just walks before us. Really. Think about it. TCS is not especially common, and to have an expert in Pediatric TCS within driving distance…that’s really blessing enough…but then to have the “inside referral” from Kern…I’m just swimming in gratitude!!! Kern went on to tell us how this Neurologist has written several books on TCS and is the leader in research concerning TCS!! So there you have it…a Christmas miracle!! The Lord has shown us that HE is walking before us during this entire adoption process…in SO MANY ways. My goal is to write them all down so that I NEVER forget just how faithful HE has been to us, and to Garrett. My list probably consists of about 50 things like our meeting Kern…just random experiences that have absolutely confirmed that the Lord has prepared the way for this entire experience. I think the thing that I love the most, is that I have so much peace in just knowing that the Lord is ALWAYS walking before me…in my everyday, goofy, crazy, laundry filled life…not just in this adoption process, but in ALL THINGS. I am so humbled and comforted by this. This Christmas was a blessed one for sure!!

NEW POSTS COMING SOON!!!

Hi there Friends and Family!!

I know, I know….NO UPDATES LATELY…Yikes….I mean, with this length of time passing between updates, you’d think that I have four children, that I homeschool, and that Christmas was in 3 days or something…….OH WAIT……I DO have 4 children, homeschool and Christmas is in 3 days!!!  hee hee hee  So sorry for the lack of updates, I know everyone is curious how the last couple of weeks have been!!

Life has been so full and so busy and SO FANTASTIC the last three weeks…God is SO GOOD and we are so, so very grateful to Him for bringing Garrett to us.  I had written a short post last week and saved it thinking that I’d add some new pictures and did not get a chance to….so, I just went ahead and posted it plain…without any delicious pictures…those will be posted soon, though, I promise!!  So, you’ll find that short post at the end of this one.

Our son is just a JOY!!  He sleeps a full ELEVEN HOURS every night, and the transition has gone perfectly.  I can hardly believe that we have been home for three weeks already.

We have had some friends and family over, and have visited with some friends in their home as well.  Garrett just takes it all in stride.  We let him lead when we are visiting with friends…he generally likes to say hello, and will want to have the person he is meeting hold him for a few minutes, and then he comes back to Mommy or Daddy…it’s so nice that he is not a nervous baby…It’s also a GREAT sign for his attachment that he still prefers to come back to us. 

I have taken him shopping several times now and he does great!  I bought a Becco Carrier…it’s like a Baby Bjorn on STEROIDS!!  hee hee hee   Mani and I just love it and it can hold a child up to 45 pounds!!  You can wear it as a front pack, or a side pack or a back pack.  We both wear it as a front pack currently, and Garrett snuggles right in and is good to go.  He does not, however, like the carseat!!  He cries for a few minutes everytime I put him in it…I think that when it can face forward he will enjoy it more…okay, the truth is…….I PRAY when he can face forward he’ll enjoy it more!!! 

I did want everyone to know that I DO intend on updating this blog weekly…babies grow so fast that I want to make sure that everyone can “see” our sweet boy as he is growing.  I am working on being able to post video as well…that will be HYSTERICAL I know…especially with Sophie and Garrett together…Mani and I are constantly laughing at how they play.

We are so looking forward to Christmas!!  We have purchased several gifts that will be especially fun to watch the kids open…I’ll be sure to post on all the details!!  Christmas morning with FOUR beautiful and healthy children…really, can it get any better than that?? 

Well….maybe if there were FIVE…  “If you give a Pamela a son, she’ll want a brother to go with him…”  hee hee hee  (A take on the children’s book, “If You Give A Pig A Pancake”…a MUST READ for all parents and grandparents!!)  I’m just teasing…well, I’m kinda teasing…we’ll see what the Lord has for us in the future…for now, we are just taking in the blessings of four.  I’ll post those pictures soon!!

Just Dreamy…

Well, I am lying in bed with my laptop feeling sooooooo very relaxed…why, you ask?? Because our little LOVE BUG sleeps ALL NIGHT…where???…where???…Oh, that’s right…in HIS CRIB!!!! We are soooooo excited about this HUGE hurdle…shocked…and beyond grateful for this blessing!! Garrett is such a sweetie…even while cutting 3 top teeth this week and another on the bottom that should come through tomorrow. We are loading him up on the Orajel…that seems to take the edge off for him. He is, however, a drooling, chewing machine!! He bites the baby spoon so hard when I’m feeding him trying to get those teeth in.  Our sweet boy is such a snuggler!  I was holding him this afternoon walking around the house and he was all snuggled in…and he smells sooooo yummy…just like a baby…and I thought, “Oh, I just want this to last.” Since this is our fourth child, I know that it will not last, and he will grow way too fast…I’m just trying to take it all in while I can.  Such a dreamy season for us.   I’ll post more soon…

HE SLEEPS LIKE A ROCK….

We have a SLEEPER!!!!  Oh my goodness, our little man went to sleep last night at 10:30pm and woke up at 7:00am and had a few sips of bottle and went back to sleep until 9:00am!!!!  Can you hear me SQUEALING WITH DELIGHT???  I am ridiculously grateful to God for this blessing…and the best part…he DIDN’T CRY AT ALL last night before he went to sleep!!!  I couldn’t believe it!!  God is SO GOOD!!  Our sweet Mia did not sleep until she was 4 and a half…she woke up between 3 to 5 times EVERY NIGHT…so, trust me, I know what is to have a NON-SLEEPER!!!  I am just thrilled!!  Today, I think I’m going to venture out with him to do a little Christmas shopping…I’ll let you all know how it goes.  Oh, and to buy another rug for our family room…he’s bonked his head a few times already on the hardwood floor…YIKES…so, I’m off to get a rug as well!!

YUMMY BABY…

Okay, just a few more…

This picture cracks me up because Garrett woke up from his nap with some serious “crib head hair” and his little shirt says, “My name is Spike”…hee hee hee

Just look at this face…

This is a sweet outfit and “matchy-matchy” blanket that my sister bought for Garrett…it has fire engines all over it…it’s soooo cute!!

More Pictures…

I just posted my entry from Saturday…I wanted to be sure to include the pictures from our airplane ride, so, it is a little late…so, scroll down for that entry.

It’s Monday afternoon and last night Garrett slept ALL NIGHT!!!!  MIRACULOUS!!!  Okay, he was sleeping in OUR BED, but still…I almost feel like a real human being again!!  hee hee hee

So just a quick entry.  Our boy LOVES the bath…loves, loves, loves it!!  He is an eating machine…open to anything!!  He crawls…like the wind…hee hee…seriously, he’s sooooooo quick and he and Sophie play “chase” in the kitchen all the time.  This game has Sophie crawling as fast as she can “chasing” Garrett and then Garrett “chasing her…it is seriously the cutest thing you’ve ever seen.  They both just squeal and I could just cry thinking about it…God has blessed us beyond measure with our son. 

So, here are a few more pictures, as promised, with the girls too.  Also, my sister and Rena came by on Thursday with Claire and the boys, Zach and Cole, and they are all peas in a pod.  The photos say it all.

Sophie and Garrett having “a tubby”

Beautiful Boy

Garrett with Cousin Claire

Cousin Cole, Garrett, and Cousin Zach

Big Sister Chloe and Garrett

Happy Baby Garrett…does it get ANY cuter????
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Big Sister Mia and Garrett
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Sophie, Chloe, Mia and Garrett…YUMMY!!!

Pamela and Garrett

COMING OUT OF THE FOG…

Wow, wow, wowie!!!  It’s Saturday afternoon and our newest sweet pea is napping in his crib!!!  We are finally coming out of the fog of being in California on KOREA TIME!!  I barely remember Wednesday…Thursday and Friday are pretty foggy too…but today, I’m feeling pretty good!!  Garrett is getting closer to California time…He went to sleep at 2:30am and slept with me until 9:30…so, I am hoping that I can keep pushing back the bedtime each night so that in a week or so he’ll go to bed at the same time as the girls.  I am prepared for it to be longer…but shorter would be fantastic!! 

Okay, there are no words to explain just how sweet our baby is.  He is so gentle and smiley…he LOVES the bath…or in our family lingo…”taking a tubby”…and he’ll eat anything I give him!!  The current menu items are bananas, cheerios, bread, spaghetti, rice cereal, sweet potoatoes & applesauce.  He’s everything we prayed for, and more!!

Now, on to our “Gotcha Day” details.

Wednesday morning, Mani went to the hotel gym and worked out and I showered and got ready for the day…which, sadly, does not normally include starting with a workout!!!  Well, that’s not true, I was working my biceps pretty good with all the curls I was doing lifting my cookies from the bag to my mouth…cookies…the breakfast of champions!!!  hee hee hee  After my ummmm…..workout….yes, my workout, and shower… I walked down to the Insa-dong market for one last morning of shopping.  The weather was AGAIN beautiful with the sun shining, and the air cold and the sky blue.  It was fun to see the market early in the morning…all the shop owners opening up and putting out their items for sale.  Most people were walking quickly past me…I am sure on their way to work, and I was taking in every bit of the experience, doing my best to soak in the last few hours of my time in Seoul.  The fact that we traveled to Korea to bring Garrett home, as opposed to having him escorted, was such a blessing for Mani and I in so many ways.  We are the keepers of all of his stories, the circumstances of his birth, his early medical issues, the love his Foster Mother had for him and most importantly, the beauty of his birth country, it’s people and it’s culture.  Experiencing it first hand, and in a way that was slow and easy, is something that is beyond priceless to us.  The people of Korea were just so kind, and the best way to describe our thoughts on Seoul is that it felt as if it was the U.S. in the 1950’s…culturally speaking.  Everyone was well dressed and “groomed”…conservative in all respects, polite and quick to help us if we looked at all confused when walking around, and the women, seriously, ALL the women, walked arm in arm!!!  It was so, so sweet, and the vibe was so innocent and kind…I can’t really put words to the feelings…but there are not guns in Korea…so, there is no worry that someone is going to harm you…I mean, I suppose that there is crime…but it is so infrequent that there is not a collective consciousness of fear…..It’s just how I imagine America used to be…it’s just so beautiful.  And I think the interesting part is that we are talking about the LARGEST city in Korea…I can’t begin to imagine how the countryside would be…that experience will be for the next trip.

I had packed the night before…can you believe it??…so, after I finished my shopping and walking, all we had to do was wait for our driver to pick us up at the hotel.  Holt was so fantastic about arranging EVERYTHING for us while we were in Korea…fantastic, really.  The driver was scheduled to pick us up at 1:00 so, after packing my last minute treasures, we headed down to the lobby where the driver was waiting.  He was such a sweet guy, a college student with fairly good English and he drove like he was NOT INSANE….which I was so grateful for…Praise God for sending us the ONE Korean Driver who actually drove like a normal person!!  We headed out for Holt and I asked our driver if he’d stop at a local florist so that we could pick up a bouquet for Garrett’s Foster Mother…I really couldn’t bear the thought of her handing Garrett to us and having nothing to hold on the way home, as goofy as that sounds…as if some flowers could replace a baby…but, you understand what I’m saying.  We stopped at one shop but all they had were plants, and I wanted a HUGE bouquet so, the shop owner directed our driver to another florist around the corner.  He walked into the shop with me and translated that I wanted a BIG, BIG bouquet of flowers and the shop owners put it together immediately, and it was just beautiful…and they wrapped it with this beautiful mesh, type of fabric…it was perfect.  I thanked the florists and got back in the van, and we headed to Holt.  We walked into the lobby area and then into the area of the agency that is set up for when families are leaving with their babies.  There were a lot of Foster Mothers in this large room with the babies that they were caring for.  There was a couple there who had just received their baby girl and were crying…they were getting ready to go to the airport…it was so beautiful to see them hugging their new baby and each other.  We walked in and saw Mrs. Choi (pronounced Chey) Garrett’s Foster Mother, and hugged and said hello.  The entire time there felt like a dream in slow motion.  Mani held the flowers while I talked with our Social Worker, Mrs. Lee, about all of the immigration details and what to expect at the airport.  She told us EVERY DETAIL of how it would go…down to which line number we should be in…and we were so grateful to know what to do.  Then, the time came for us to take Garrett, and head to the airport.  Mrs. Choi handed Garrett to Mani and started crying and telling Garrett that she loved him.  I could not stop crying and just hugged her and told Mrs. Lee to tell her how grateful we are for all she has done for Garrett, how we can never thank her enough for loving him as she has…really, it was so, so, terribly sad in those moments…I could feel her grief, I could feel Garrett’s grief…it was so heavy.  The tears quickly turned to sobbing and Mrs. Lee hurried us out to the van.  Mani held Garrett and got in the van…I bowed deeply to Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Choi and got in the van and our driver closed the door.  At this point Mrs. Lee put her arm around Mrs. Choi and Mrs. Choi continued sobbing.  It was terrible to witness, so, so sad.  Garrett then started to cry and this made Mrs. Choi turn her head and cry harder…it was beyond terrible.  We waved and cried and the driver drove away.  It felt like a dream…he just drove away.  In that moment I was so sad and so relieved and so sad.  I just kept telling myself that this is what had to be.  Mrs. Choi did not choose to adopt Garrett…the foster families always have to option to adopt…and I know in my heart that God’s plan is for him to be OUR son…but in those last moments of goodbye…it just was really tough to walk through it.

The drive to the airport was only about 20 minutes and God was ever faithful to us and everything went smoothly.  We met a lovely, Korean woman in the airport who had a grown son, and she was talking to Garrett…which made him cry…but her motive was very sweet.  The Singapore Airline staff also talked with him in Korean and again, he cried…poor baby.  He settled easily when he’d become upset, and we were so grateful for that. 

The plane ride was rough at first…his ears were hurting him…but then he settled and we held him and played. Mani shared his ice cream cone with him…hysterical to watch…and Garrett fell asleep and slept in the plane bassinet for the last half of the flight…PRAISE GOD for sure!!  We arrived in San Francisco…breezed through immigration and customs and headed home.  Garrett and I slept in the backseat and Mani drank coffee and drove…he’s such a good guy!!

We picked up the girls from my sister’s house (she was seeing clients) so we showed off Garrett to Josh and Rena (my sister & Josh’s live-in Nanny who is from Poland…Whom, WE LOVE ) and my niece, Claire, and headed home.  The rest is really blurry…Garrett and I slept for a few hours and Mani put the girls to bed…and that was our Wednesday.  Here are a few pics from the plane…
VERY TIRED LOOKING Pamela & Mani

Mani & Garrett Sharing an Ice Cream…

Baby Garrett sleeping in the Singapore Airlines Bassinet

Waiting for the shuttle at San Francisco International…

WE’RE HOME!!!

So Sorry family and friends!!   It’s midnight on Thursday and it’s been a crazy 24 hours!!  We arrived at 3:00pm yesterday at my sister’s house to pick up the girls…about 2 hours earlier than we thought we’d be there.  Arriving in San Francisco was really easy…immigration, customs…NO PROBLEMS at all…Praise God for sure!!  We have yet to get any significant sleep…thus, no real update tonight…so sorry!!  We are both playing Nancy Drew…. trying to figure out our sweet baby’s sleeping and eating habits…but we’ve yet to figure out all the clues!!  The big news of the evening…he finally pooped!!  hee hee hee  Sadly, this is what the joy of our lives has become…you would have thought that our little man was given a Nobel Peace Prize for the level of excited that came from this, ummmmm…..milestone????  Oh my.  We have pictures…no, not of the poop…but of his time at home…and hopefully, I will have enough sleep tonight to think enough to post them tomorrow!!!  So check back tomorrow…and Papa & Grandma…we will call tomorrow too!!!  Thanks for the calls everyone…we received all of your messages tonight, and will be returning calls soon.  Garrett is just dreamy, his sisters cannot get enough of him… and we feel beyond blessed….and tired and blessed…and, ummm….did I mention tired???  hee hee hee 

YUM, YUM, YUMMY!!!

Okay, this is just the best. We went back to Lotte Mart on the way home from our visit with Garrett yesterday and picked up the toys for the flight. It was dinner time by the time we finished shopping and there is a Bennigan’s right next door, so, of course we go there to eat dinner. I order a salad and a baked sweet potato, which by the way, is my new FAVORITE thing!! A side note on the baked sweet potatoes…I eat them plain, with out butter and they are so sweet, and delicious…really, you must try to make them at home. Just baked like a regular baking potato…and INSTANT DELISH!!!! Gotta love that. Okay…back to the story. So, the salad comes and, well, the dressing looks a little creamy…and those of you who know me well…uh, no….I cannot stand anything that looks even mildly creamy…I know, I know…I think I’m the only person on the planet who doesn’t like Ranch or Honey Mustard, etc. Anyway…I pass on the salad and eat my bread and sweet potato…a carbohydrate dream!! Mani eats the salad with his dinner and all is well…until we get back home…Oh, that’s right…my ANXIETY IS HUNGRY!!!! Anyone else out there eat their feelings??? (My tears were very hungry for chocolate the day before, hee hee hee) So, I head down to the little convenience store that is inside our hotel. I am looking around for something…something that will feed my anxiousness…hmmm, ready made brown rice…okay, that’s a healthy choice….super spicy pringles, oh heck yes…not at all healthy but DELISH…and then…I look down…and OH MY GOODNESS……I almost started squealing out loud…….this is what I see…

IT’S TRUE!!! My VERY FAVORITE COOKIES…Pepperidge Farm SAUSALITO….Chocolate Chip with Macadamia Nuts!!!! Do you have ANY idea how excited I was??? Whoever said that money cannot buy happiness and food is not love has never purchased and eaten Sausalito cookies…..Oh, the HAPPINESS AND LOVE I was feeling!!! hee hee hee I was seriously giggling at the counter while I was purchasing them…the check out woman was just looking at me like I was nuts… See, I like to think of these type of experiences as small gifts from God…I mean, really. What are the chances that the little store at my hotel would have a bag of MY FAVORITE cookies…they actually only had 2 bags of Pepperidge Farm cookies…and that’s right…ONLY SAUSALITO…God is SO GOOD…and those of you who are laughing at the thought of God taking time to send me a “wink, wink” with my fav cookies…you can laugh if you like…but I am praising GOD for ALL the good things in my life…especially cookies!!!

Second Meeting with Garrett

This day was much better…NO TEARS!!! We actually slept in today…wouldn’t you know it…just as we are preparing to leave the country, our bodies adjust to the time change! We woke up and had our morning routine…Mani runs to the restaurant to bring me my drug of choice…black coffee…and then he goes and has breakfast while I Blog…so fun. We talked to the girls today on the webcam only to find out that my sweet sister is so, so sick!! She came downstairs to talk to us on the webcam and I felt SO BADLY for her…but, as is the custom in our family, Mani and I teased her anyway about how she looked and felt…and we all had a good laugh…poor girl…she really is sick. We teased her and told her that if our girls get sick, they have to stay with she and Josh for another week…hee hee hee!! We are really missing our family and friends!!! I am content with leaving tomorrow afternoon. This has been the perfect amount of time to be in Seoul. We’ve had time to rest and relax, we’ve had time to shop and sight see, and we have enough time to take our visits slow with Garrett. I cannot say enough good things about the Somerset Palace Hotel…the hotel is in THE BEST LOCATION in Seoul for tourists…really…it’s just been perfect…it such a beautiful hotel and we’ve walked down to Insa-dong so many times…I walked by myself yesterday…we will ABSOLUTELY choose this hotel when we come back to visit again.

Our visit today was so much better. After we talked with the girls and my sister and Josh and Rena we headed over to Lotte Mart to see if we could find some toys to bring on the airplane for Garrett. It was easy to get to the store…we took the subway and got off at the Seoul Station stop. Lotte Mart is like a mix between a Walmart and a Drug Store. It has two levels and you have to put a coin in the shopping cart to use it…when you return the cart you get your coin back. So funny. We picked out some toys for Garrett, but because we were short on time decided to come back after our visit at Holt. What is interesting is that there is not a large selection of the standard “toddler/baby toys” that you would find in a Target or a ToysRUs store…and, the toys are significantly more expensive. So…anyone who will be traveling soon, buy your baby toys BEFORE you come to Seoul!! We brought a couple from home, but, after meeting him we decided that he is going to need more to do on the plane than just shake some rattles!! Here are some sweet pictures from our meeting today…

Mani playing airplane with his boy!

WOW…as you can see Garrett is currently more of an…ummmmm….DADDY’S BOY!!!! Oh, my baby…it’s gonna take a little time.

Garrett’s visit with Dr. Cho for his pre-flight exam…everything looks good!!

Our tired baby…he’s ready for a nap.

Tired Baby Garrett on his Omma’s back…he’s in a Traditional Korean Carrier

Oh, he’s such a YUMMY, YUMMY baby!! We will be checking out of our hotel in the morning (Tuesday evening U.S. time) and will be going to Holt at 1:30 to pick Garrett up and head to the airport. Our flight leaves at 5:30pm on Wednesday (Korea time) and will arrive in San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon (U.S. time)!! It’s sooooo crazy the time change thing. We will make our way through customs and take a shuttle to pick up our car and head home to meet the family!!! Our “GOTCHA DAY” is almost here and we are so very grateful for this precious baby who is truly a gift from God.

We are prepared to see lots of tears tomorrow from the foster family and especially from our sweet baby. We pray that we will be able to comfort him as he grieves and that the plane ride and drive home will be uneventful. I will post from the airport if I am able…if not, then I will post when we are home…there will be so many beautiful “firsts” to share in pictures.

Some Random Pictures…

I thought I’d just post some pictures that we’ve taken so far…some of the Palaces, A distance view of Seoul Tower, our sweet Guides, the Folk Village, and of course the………SEOULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL TRAIN!!! hee hee hee

I’ll post more pictures of our visit with Garrett after we see him this afternoon…..ooooooooohhhhhh, I can hardly wait….oh, I pray he lets me hold him today!!! If he doesn’t, I’m still going in to steal a few kisses on those sweet chubby cheeks!!!!!!

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WOW…

Wow.
I really can hardly even think right now. I am so full of emotion and so, so, tired.

Let me tell you how the day has gone. We were awake at 5:30 am…and up and moving around 6:00. The girls “called” us on the Skype webcam and we chatted with them for a while. I put together the gifts that I had brought for the Foster Family and our Social Worker/Interpreter Mrs. Lee and then showered, and got ready. We had planned on taking the subway, but it was really rainy, and we had gifts, so we took a taxi instead. Needless to say, due to the SPEED of the taxi driver, we were 30 minutes early…not a bad thing…just more time to think, and be anxious. No matter. We meet Mrs. Lee, who is SO PRETTY, and she brings us some water and we sit at an office table and wait for about 25 minutes. She then takes us to a “meeting room” that has several small couches and a couple of chairs. The Holt Office and all the rooms are VERY modest. The building is brick, but the interior is very old…old school computers…nothing feels modern. It feels like a really old DMV Office. So, we hear that he is an easy baby, but that he is very shy and that we may need to come back tomorrow as well as Wednesday to visit with him so that he feels a bit more comfortable with us. We are more than willing to meet again, for sure!! Then, it happens…the moment is here…the Foster Mother comes in wearing Garrett on her back in a traditional Korean carrier…and I immediately start crying. She takes him off her back and sits down and puts him on her lap and I am sitting to the side of her…sort of knee to knee…and I seriously cannot stop crying…the tears are just pouring out of my eyes. The Foster Mother absolutely adores him and he is VERY attached to her. We sit for a few minutes and I am just staring at our baby and crying and Mrs. Lee is interpreting and the Foster Mother is talking…and I know I was asking questions, but I don’t remember them. It was so much more emotional than I ever expected…I don’t even have words for all my feelings. I just kept crying. I was crying for joy, I was crying for the Foster Mother who has been his Mother for 10 months and only has two more days with him, I was crying for the birth parents who will never be able to parent this precious baby, I was crying for all that Garrett has been through, I was crying for all that he will go through with the separation from his Foster Mother and his birth country. So, so many emotions. I kept trying to pull it together, because we have been counting down the hours to this moment, but I just couldn’t. Having carried and given birth to 3 children, I cannot begin to imagine the pain or the level of self sacrifice it would take to make an adoption plan for your child. I did not expect to have ALL these emotions around the Birth Parents and Foster Mother in our initial meeting…I thought that I would just be focused on Garrett…his sweet face and chubby cheeks, etc. I think that it just speaks to the intensity of the adoption experience. There are so many layers and so many lives involved. It’s so beautiful and so sacrificial. And I am so surprised by my feelings.

Having said ALL THAT…Garrett is BEAUTIFUL. He is everything that is YUMMY and DELICIOUS…and he is VERY attached to his Foster Mother, and we are grateful for that attachment. He would not let me hold him. He would let me hold his chubby little hands, and play peek-a-boo, and he would smile, but he did NOT want to sit on my lap… I will have to take it slow.

So, what am I saying???…that’s right…it looks like he’s going to be a DADDY’S BOY!!! He went to Mani and let him hold him…not for a long time, but for a few minutes…they played and laughed and it was such a JOY to see. God is so good!! Garrett is healthy and he can stand on his own and walk around a table and he had 3 teeth and lots of hair and he’s just the CUTEST little chunk chunk EVER!!!

I will put pictures with this post, but, I wanted to share with you all just a couple of more details about our meeting. Our Social Worker, Mrs. Lee gave us a gift from Garrett’s birth parents. They brought it to the agency on November 16th. It is a gold necklace with his birth name in Hangul (Korean) with his birthdate engraved. I can barely type this through the tears. I cannot express how much this will mean to our son…to know how much his birth parents loved him. I have MANY more details concerning his birth family that I cannot share on this blog out of respect to Garrett. I will say this, Garrett will ALWAYS know how much he was and is loved. I am so grateful to the Lord for all the information that we have received and will receive this week concerning his birth family.

I think that Garrett will grieve a lot. I pray that God gives us a miracle and that it does not last long. We are asking that you join us in prayer for this and that you pray for his Foster Family who loves him so much, and for his birth family as well. The Foster Mother gave us a beautiful Hanbok (traditional Korean Outfit) that Garrett will wear for his 1st Birthday. She gave us an entire photo album of pictures from the day after he was born until now…priceless. She also had a professional portrait done of him at 6 months old. She filled 2 disposable cameras that I had sent and we will have the photos developed as soon as we are home. I can’t wait to see them. She also gave us his 2 blankets and his pillow that he is attached to for the transition home. I will post more tomorrow morning about our trip. We see him again at the Holt Office at 1:30 in the afternoon. Please continue to pray for our sweet baby, and enjoy the photos.

TODAY is THE DAY!!!!

Okay, it’s 6:30 am on Monday morning here in Seoul. I’ve been up since 5:30 and just finished “talking” on the computer with our 3 girlies. We downloaded Skype for free and have done the “i-chat” thing a few times since we’ve been here. It’s really fun to be able to see the girls and to know that they are having a great time too!!

So, I am FREAKING OUT a bit!!! I have to say that this experience has a “dream like” quality to it. It’s so strange to get to this point in our adoption…it doesn’t feel quite real yet. I am feeling anxious, excited, anxious, anxious….Oh, and did I mention anxious???? I thought that I’d be feeling more excited than scared…yeah, well….I’m feeling a bit more SCARED than excited this morning. I’m just nervous. I hate anticipatory anxiety…projecting out 50 different scenarios on how the morning might go…I make myself NUTTY doing this…but I just have about a million thoughts in my head and about the same amount of feelings in my heart.

Yesterday we went to the Korean Folk Village. The day was the best weather day yet. The sky was so clear and blue, the sun was shining and the air was a perfect near winter cool. We walked for DAYS yesterday!! We went to the Kyobo bookstore…okay, NOT the thing to do on a week-end!!!! The Kyobo is this ENORMOUS bookstore…it just goes on and on. There was just a sea of people in that store today, really. We also checked out the Lotte Department Store…again, NOT a wise choice on a week-end during the Christmas shopping season!!! The department store is high end and there were SO MANY beautiful people shopping…dressed to perfection…it was fun to get a glimpse of the Christmas season here. Everything is decorated…just like in the states…beautiful decorations…lots of decorative lights on the Hotels…just beautiful.

We met our friends at their hotel at 5:30 for dinner. We were there early, so, Mani and I decided to have a coffee and share a piece of Chocolate Mouse Cake…okay…YUMMY!!!! And we all know that life is uncertain…especially given the cab rides here, so, we went ahead and had our dessert BEFORE dinner!! We sat outside and had our coffee and cake and talked about our trip so far. About how strange and wonderful everything is, how tomorrow (today) might go…it was good.

We LOVE our new friends Sofia and Eric…they met us in the lobby and we headed out for dinner. After last night’s dinner, Mani and Sofia and Eric all wanted Western Food…so, we headed to my NIGHTMARE…Oh, that’s right…..OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE!!!!!!!! hee hee hee I had a great salad and a baked sweet potato and we all shared a blooming onion…DELISH!!! The rest of the crew ate the FLESH OF OTHER CREATURES…me, not so much…and we had our standard 3 hour dinner…..so fantastic…I just can’t say enough good things about our new found friends. Eric is a Pharmacist and Sofia is a Nurse…they are so smart, and warm, and funny and game for anything!!!

They will be at the agency this morning meeting with the Pediatrician for their son, Aaron at 10:00, so, they said that they would take video and take pictures of our “first meeting” with Garrett. I’m sure we’ll be having dinner with them again tonight…we will plan it this morning when we see them. Okay, so, look for my next post…Oh my goodness I am SOOOOOO NERVOUS!!!!!! Breathe in, Breathe out, Breathe in, Breathe out…..

Seoul Tower and Insa-dong with Friends!!!

Another AMAZING day here in Seoul!! We started our day with a trip to Seoul Tower. The best way to describe Seoul Tower is that it is very similar to the Seattle Space Needle, except that it is on top of a mountain/high foothill. We went to the top on an elevator and had a view of the entire city. The city of Seoul is so vast…it just goes on and on as far as you can see. It reminds me a lot of San Francisco because there are buildings on every inch of land…high rise apartments like in New York…the views were just fantastic. It was especially fun because it was Saturday here and there were lots of families out with their children. It was so nice to be able to just sit on a bench in the beautiful weather…it was sunny and the air was cool…and take it all in. Children are so sweet here. We get a lot of sweet smiles and waves from children. A side note about the week-ends here…it’s very busy on the Seoul City Bus Tour on the week-ends…it takes longer to get to all of the sites and the buses are really crowded. I would take a taxi or the subway to sites on the week-ends…that is our plan for today.

After Seoul Tower we headed back toward the hotel, but stopped at a local bookstore first. I wanted to pick up some traditional Korean Lullaby music for Garrett and found some at this sweet little bookstore. The owner was there and was showing us the books that they publish themselves, explaining some cultural norms…again, even a trip to a bookstore feels like an experience here.

We planned on meeting our new friends Sofia and Eric at our hotel at 3:00pm to do some shopping in Insa-dong since the market is a couple of blocks from our hotel, and they had not been to Insa-dong yet. They met us and we all walked down to the market. Okay, we had SO MUCH FUN shopping together…Sofia and I are peas in a pod with our shopping!! They LOVED Insa-dong and it was a great time together. There are so many, ummm, INTERESTING street foods to be found in Korea. For you adventurous eaters…Dried Octopus Leg or hmmmm, Scarabs boiling in some sort of broth might be a tasty treat!!! For my sushi eating friends and family…you can also have your Octopus LIVE on your plate if you’d prefer…really, it’s not a problem. They don’t move very fast…you’ll be able to chew them up before they are able to make it off the table for sure!!!! YIKES!!!!!! And the infamous “mystery meats” on a stick are just about everywhere…hee hee hee…seriously, it’s a trip.

So, after another HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL shopping trip, we went to dinner at a WONDERFUL vegetarian restaurant…they do serve fish for you carnivores out there…and we ate and laughed and chatted it up for another 3 hours!!! The food was exceptional…and hmmm…a bit adventurous for the carnivores!! Not quite as “authentic” as the food I described earlier…thank God…but, Mani’s food kept sliding off his chopsticks…it was a bit slippery…YUCK…ummmm, I mean, how delicious for him…and because I am “chopstick challenged” I could not even begin to get the hang of the chopsticks…so embarrassing…so, I used my spoon instead. The restaurant is called, Sosim, and it is a great hole in the wall, authentic experience.

Today we are going to a “Traditional Korean Folk Village”, a bit of living history. Not sure what the day will hold for us after that…something fantastic I am sure. I am feeling quite emotional as I think of how our day will be tomorrow, meeting our son for the first time. I am overwhelmed with thankfulness and anticipation. I cannot believe that God has brought us to this place in such a short time…honestly, many many families wait for years to receive their children. Can you believe it??? I mean, really. Our baby, our son, our little “Chunk Chunk, Asian Style, Korean Flavor” baby!!!! YUMMY!!!! He’s the cutest, yummiest little thing…I can’t wait to see him face to face and tell him just how much he’s loved, just how full our hearts are because of him…. how he has 3 sweet and spicy sisters waiting for him at home… and birds…chirpy, chirpy, chirpy birds…oh, the birds….waiting for him!!! And let me not forget all the family and friends he’ll have…Aunties and Uncles, Papa & Grandma, cousins and friends all to love and spoil him!!! Dreamy…just dreamy. I’ll post more after our day today. Much love to you all!!!

Day Two…FANTASTIC DAY!!!

Wow…what an amazing day it was today. Our agency arranged for us to have a guide with us today as we traveled around Seoul. We met at the Holt Office at 9:00 am. We were thinking maybe we’d take a cab…but after witnessing the Seoul traffic we decided against that option. So instead we took the….sing it with me now….THE SEOULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL TRAIN!!!!! hee hee hee Come on now, you know you’ve seen at least one episode of Soul Train…you know the song….don’t be too cool to sing along, now!! Okay, so we took the Seoul Train aka the Subway to Holt. Right, so, the subway system here is beyond great. Easy, quick, cheap and most important…CLEAN!! It was our first day on the subway, so we gave ourselves about an hour to get to Holt just in case it turned out to be harder to navigate. We arrived at Holt on time, and much to our delight there were 2 other American couples on our tour with us and we had two Guides!! The best part is that one of the couples, Sofia and Eric are from my Adoption Board so, I had the pleasure of hanging out with one of my “cyber friends” for the day!!! I kept telling Mani that my cyber friends were real…but my man LOVES to tease me about them and mock me a bit…all in fun of course…but today, oh, that’s right…who’s making fun now???

Really, I can’t explain just how much fun we all had together. What I am finding is that there is a very real, and strange bond between adoptive parents. I can’t really put words to this connection…it’s as if you know each other very well, and in a way that feels very personal. It’s different than the friendships that come with other “Mommies”…It has a deeper level…almost an intensity to it. Those of you who are adoptive parents understand. It’s very unique, and I’m so grateful…beyond grateful…for all my friends in the adoption community.

We started our day with our Guides at the Palace next to our hotel. You cannot believe how large the grounds are, how beautiful the colors on the buildings are…pictures and video cannot capture it. Just beautiful. We spent a fair amount of time there and visited a Buddhist Temple. To be respectful of our guides I took my shoes off and went in for a moment, but did not stay. I was sad to see so many people on their knees bowing and praying to three enormous Buddhas…that were golden, no less. Idols of worship. Enough said about that.

We then headed out to the Namdaemun Market…the “locals market”…and what a FANTASTIC experience that was!! We had to say good-bye to Lin, she had to get to the University, but our other Guide, Rirun stayed with us the entire afternoon. He helped us to navigate through the markets which honestly, go on for forever. There are so many side streets and hidden shops that we would have NEVER found on our own, and it was just such a wonderful experience of just being immersed in the daily hustle bustle of the market. Priceless experience. I found MANY of the gifts I was looking for…but, I’m not saying what they are because they are for some of you…Chloe, Mia, Sophie…and they are a SURPRISE!!! I have much more on my list of things to pick up but will head down to Insa-dong to finish my shopping this week-end.

After shopping we headed for lunch…western food…and our Guide wanted to go to Bennigan’s….Yes, the American Restaurant…I know, I know…it was our Guide’s choice. So, we ate lunch, and hung out chatting for 3 hours…no joke…it was just the best.

The weather was really rainy and the air was cold, and it was wonderful. You know what, it’s all wonderful….everything….being here in Korea, experiencing the culture of our son’s birth country, taking in all the sights and sounds and smells…the weather…the people. And really, just spending time with Mani, just the two of us. It feels like when we were first married, but about a thousand times better because we love each other so much more now, then we did when we were young. We appreciate each other’s strengths more now, and give so much more grace to each other for our deficits. We’re friends, I mean REAL FRIENDS. We LIKE each other’s company. There is a comfort to our relationship that was lacking in those early years. We’re cozy in our skin. We keep it real…good, bad and ugly. Our relationship is unconditional…and for forever. And the best part, we are always laughing…poking fun at each other…acting like siblings at times…pretend Kung-fu fighting…you know, seriously taking out our aggression on each other…hee, hee, hee….REAL LIFE. I can hardly take in the blessings of this life…I will NEVER be able to thank our Lord enough for the moment to moment blessings, never. This is such a beautiful season for us….just dreamy…and the best part….it’s just the beginning!!!

Our First Day in Seoul

So, after I greatly offended the Soldier we were off to find the bus for the Seoul City Tour. No small task for two Americans who do not speak Korean. Right outside of the Palace there were about 15 buses parked…cool…we are thinking, it’s got to be one of these buses. So we check out every bus…nope, not this one…ummm, not this one….and on and on. We find a sweet older woman at the ticket counter in the entrance and she points OUTSIDE of the area that we are in and says…”5 meters”…and of course, we start laughing and thank her and walk back out to the street and walk a few steps and realize again…hmmm….everything is in Korean…hmmm….lets ask these other guys. So, we stop two young guys who look like they are maybe Police Cadets…uniform, official looking, dressed matchy-matchy in silver puffy jackets, no guns. They point to a pole that is blue with Korean written on it and say wait there. I’m looking and I’m thinking should I stand by the pole???, can I just sit on the bench???, clearly I look a little confused and greatly concerned. So, one of the Cadets says, “Come”, and I am still a bit confused and take a couple of steps with him and then he grabs my shoulders and guides me right to the pole and says, “Here” and starts laughing. Okay…so I look again at the pole and it says in HUGE LETTERS…SEOUL CITY BUS TOUR…..ummm….yeah…Okay funny guy…REAL FUNNY!!! Okay, it was pretty funny…we kept laughing actually as we were sitting there waiting for our bus. But, oh yes…it gets better…

So, our bus comes and we get on it with our 10,000 won in hand ($10 US dollars per person per day) and the young girl says to hold on to our money and to pay at the next stop which is about 5 minutes away. We stop, change buses and pay the driver. The tour is set up with headphones so that as the bus drives through Seoul you can listen to hear about all the sites. There are 27 places to get on and off the bus for site seeing…so, 27 different Seoul attractions. We decide that we want to go to Insa-dong a part of town that has lots of hand made items for sale…less touristy…more of a true Korean vibe. So, we are like, “Wow, that’s one of the last stops, PERFECT…we can see the city and then do some shopping.” So, we are going along, seeing wonderful sites, TRIPPING OUT on the traffic in Seoul…Oh My Goodness…it is 10 times crazier than San Francisco…seriously…it’s nuts. And we are loving the tour!! About 2/3 of the way through the woman on the bus asks us where we want to get off at and I say, “Insa-dong”…she looks at me and pauses, so I say “Insa-dong is one of the stops, right?” And she says, “Oh yes, yes, okay, Insa-dong” and walks off. Okay. Mani starts laughing and says, “I don’t think you said it right, did you see how long she paused?” And, of course we both start laughing at my seriously REDNECK KOREAN ACCENT…GEEZ…and figure that is why she paused. Well, we get close to our stop, and she tells us the next stop is Insa-dong….GREAT…I am soooooo getting ready to get MY SHOPPING ON!!! We get off the bus, walk across the street…..OH, wait….did I say, “Walk across the street??”….OH NO, I mean….WE PLAYED CHICKEN WITH THE CARS IN SEOUL!!!! Oh my goodness, so, we cross the street when the green person is blinking, thinking, no big……..UHHHH, NOOOOOO!!! It is BIG!!! Okay, I thought that we were going to get run over…so…we RAN to the sidewalk…laughing our heads off, per usual. Okay, so we make it across the street and walk down about a block. Mani looks up and starts laughing again and says, “Honey, there is our hotel!!”

Okay, so this is the deal. I am sure to this sweet guide that it looked as if we walked around the corner to get on the bus to take us to Insa-dong to avoid the 4 block walk from our hotel!!!! That was her confused look and pause…not my REDNECK KOREAN!!!! hee hee hee Seriously, we must have looked like the LAZIEST AMERICAN TOURISTS on the planet!!! The good news is that I can go to Insa-dong to shop EVERYDAY!!! YIPPEE!!! It is like a 10 minute walk to all the shops!!! Cha-Ching!!!

I’m hoping to post pics later…Oh, and we don’t meet Garrett until Monday…ummmm…your Sunday.

Traditional Korean Soldiers DON’T PLAY!!!

Oh My Goodness…Wow…What NOT to do when taking a picture with a Traditional Korean Soldier…

Right, so, Mani and I head out this morning to do the Seoul City Bus Tour which I heard was a FANTASTIC way to start your first day in Seoul…just to kind of get a city overview, and then to decide what to see. Sounds great. The weather is BEAUTIFUL…cold, crisp air and sunshine…dreamy. Well, the bus stops right around the corner from our hotel…wonderful…we walk on over, and hey, what’s going on at that beautiful Palace…let’s check it out…Oh, look, let’s take a picture next to the Traditional Korean Soldier!! I walk up to the Soldier for a photo…I mean, come on….EVERYBODY’S DOING IT…so I start to get a little cheeky and put my hand on his shoulder…Ummm, like maybe he’s my new best friend and OH NO…wait…THAT’S NOT OKAY!!! NO, NO, NO….there’s NO TOUCHY TOUCHY of the Traditional Korean Soldier allowed!!!! Oh My Goodness…He pulled his shoulder back so quick…and I just started giggling and said, “Oh, wow, sorry, wow…YIKES, I guess there is no touching allowed”……Okay, so the headlines will read, “Entitled American Woman Touches Traditional Korean Soldier And Greatly Offends!!!!” Lesson learned. No touchy touchy.

WE’RE HERE IN KOREA!!!!!

Oh My Goodness!!!!
Okay, so let me just say…this is NUTS!!! I am sitting here trying to wrap my brain around the fact that I sat on a plane for 12+ hours and am now in Korea!! Just insane. The plane ride was awesome…just a few bouts of turbulance, but nothing major. I did have a little bit of nausea at one point and went for the “bag”…but, thank goodness, no PUBLIC VOMITING!! Oh my, can you imagine??? Yikes. Mani, of course was giggling when I couldn’t get the “barf bag” opened up quick enough…hmmm…why is my nausea funny to my man??? I cannot say enough about Singapore Airlines. Okay, first, EVERY flight attendant looked like a Miss Universe contestant…seriously. These women were SO BEAUTIFUL, I could not stop watching them!! They were Korean, Indian, Japanese…just as kind as they were beautiful. Our gate attendant moved us to the Bulk Head Area of the plane because we are “so tall”…hee hee hee. The funny thing was, we kind of were, taller, on this flight. So fun. So, we had a ton of room to stretch out our legs and to stand up when we needed to and to stretch. They were constantly passing around drinks…juice, water, tea. They had wonderful food. Really, can’t say enough good things.

Okay, here on my computer it says that it is Wednesday, at 4:01pm…NOT SO!!! It is Thursday, at 9:00am, here in Seoul!! I am not feeling any sort of jetlag…hopefully that continues. We left at noon our time and then by the time we arrived to the hotel it was around 3:30am our time and it was, hmmm…I think 8:30pm Seoul time. So, we were tired and took our shower and unpacked our suitcases and then went to bed. So, it feels like a regular day…just one day ahead…so strange, and FANTASTIC, and strange!!

The hotel…oh my goodness, THANK YOU LORD!!!! So, this hotel was originally booked full for this week. I called a travel agent that specializes in hotels in Seoul on Friday and he said that it was booked, but that he’d see if he could do something for us and would call us Monday. WHAT??? Oh, heck no!!! We were LEAVING for San Francisco on Monday, and “me, of little faith” could not stand the anxiety of not knowing if this hotel would come through or not. So, I booked another hotel, the Sofitel instead. Well, the Travel Agent calls on Monday morning and said that there was indeed a cancellation for a room, and did I want it? YES!!!!! The Hotel is AWESOME!!! It’s like a studio apartment…but HIGH END!! Wood and marble floors, little kitchen with a frig and microwave and cooktop…washer and dryer…I could LIVE HERE!!! I will post pictures tonight so that you can see…seriously, it is FANTASTIC!! It has a full gym, a Starbucks attached to it…complementary breakfast for two every day…all for $149 a night!!! WHAT A BLESSING!!!! The Holt GuestHouse is full, so, we have to stay here for the entire trip…YIPPEE!!! I can’t wait to post pictures. Mani is having breakfast now…I’m not a fan of breakfast…so, I’m having my drug of choice…black coffee from Starbucks instead. The Hotel is called the Sommerset Palace Hotel. The online pictures do not do it justice…it’s just beautiful.

OH, I almost forgot. This is hysterical. Okay, so, we were going through the airport security line at San Francisco International and there was this sweet and very petite Asian woman behind me in line. They are doing the x-ray on the luggage and she says to me…”I have grapes in my luggage, I hope that’s not a problem” And, I start laughing and told her, “They just said liquid, they didn’t say anything about grapes, girl, so, I think you’ll be fine!!” hee hee hee So, we were walking out together, chatting it up about airport security, putting our shoes back on, etc. and she asks us if we are going to “the lounge?” And we were like, “What lounge?” And she said, “Oh, just follow me.” So, ummm….we did!!! So, she walks up to the United “lounge area” and says her name and says, “and these are my friends”…so they let us all in and we go up this huge escalator and OH MY GOODNESS…what a LOUNGE!!!! The view was awesome…tons of food, drinks, wi-fi, big tv’s, big chairs…INSANE and FANTASTIC!!! So, since we still had an hour and a half before our flight left, we hung out for about 25 minutes with our new found friend, and entrepreneur, Melissa. She left, we thanked her immensely and then hung out like ROCK STARS until it was time to board our flight. Come on, now!!! How many more BLESSINGS can one girl take??? God is SOOOO GOOD, and I am SO NOT, and I am just in awe and am constantly humbled by HIS faithfulness and mercy. And yes, do I think “the lounge” thing was a “God thing”…yup…you can laugh if you want, but I find He is with us even in the smallest of details…and I am so grateful!!! We are about to start our day full of adventure in Seoul…I’ll post more tonight and hopefully, some pictures as well!!!! Please continue to keep us in your prayers!!! Much love in Christ, Pamela and Mani

A Blog for Our Journey…

Hello Family and Friends!!  Join us on our journey to Seoul, South Korea to bring home our precious baby boy, Garrett!!  We are flying out of San Francisco on Tuesday, November 2oth, and will be arriving in Seoul a mere 13 hours later.  The good news is that it is a nonstop flight…a straight shot on Singapore Airlines…which, I’ve heard is FANTASTIC!!  We are ridiculously excited for this adventure and can hardly wait to snuggle our sweet boy!!  I (Pamela) will do my best to post daily while we are in Korea with all the details including pictures, and hopefully, some video too.  So hop on the adoption train with us…it’s going to be quite a ride!!!   Much love to you all, Pamela & Mani