Jadens Journey

In one hour we will be meeting Jaden and his foster mother at the social worker’s office to take Jaden home with us forever. October 1st will be Jaden’s “forever family” day. Each year we will celebrate his birthday as well as his forever family day. Well, actually we will celebrate every day of our lives with him, but especially those two days which hold special meaning for our family.

Our wait to Forever Family day

Yes, you are correct – we were not supposed to meet the foster mom at the social worker’s office until 1:30 p.m. today, but yesterday we received a call from the social worker around 4:00 p.m. asking if we would mind meeting them at 10:30 a.m. rather than 1:30 p.m.. When the phone rang in our room last night and I realized Rick was talking with the social worker, my heart sank thinking that the foster mom may have changed her mind and wanted to adopt Jaden herself. This has evidently happened in the past, according to some of the Korea adoption blogs, but in the only case I heard of firsthand, the foster family decided to keep the baby before the adoptive family made the trip to Korea. Even though I thought it couldn’t really happen at this point since we are here — you never know—so needless to say I was holding my breath until I heard that the call was only to ask us to arrive early. Whew-

So now we are all ready, waiting for 10:15 when we can walk down the road to the social worker’s office. I cannot wait until I am holding Jaden in my arms again. I am sure it is going to be very, very difficult, after seeing how upset the foster family was when we were there on Monday. I pray that Jaden adapts quickly and that it isn’t too hard a transition for him.

We are planning to come back to the Guesthouse right after we pick him up, to give him time to get used to us before we decide to do any further sightseeing. We’ll see how it goes, but I wanted to blog now before we pick him up since I’m not sure what my chances for blogging will be like later.

Yesterday we took our biggest risk yet while here in Seoul and got on the subway to go to the CO-EX mall. The subway is immaculate – it seriously looks brand new and is cleaner than any public transportation I have ever seen.  Mom said it reminded her of London. It turns out that once we figured out which direction we wanted to head in (not an easy task), and once we found the ticket booth that allowed us to speak to a real person, we were fine. When you get on the train, the station names are given in “English” (which is really the English translation of hangul – it is still Korean, but written with our alphabet rather than with hangul letters) so it is relatively easy, as long as you know where you are going, to find your way around. The underground tunnels are amazing; when you get off of the train at your station, there are 5 or 6 different exits to the ground level, depending on which way you want to go and where you want to end up. We walked around the mall for a few hours, picked up some souvenirs, and had lunch at – believe it or not – TGI Friday’s. I had the Seafood Kimchi Rice Pilaf. Mom, Dad, and Neville had more western fare. The kimchi rice was good – definitely not too spicy – so it is westernized nonetheless.

We walked back to the guesthouse from the mall since it was such a beautiful day and really less than 1.5 miles away. We had planned to go see the Buddhist temple (one of the many) this morning, but now we have better plans. We’ll see how we do with Jaden this afternoon, and if all goes well maybe we’ll do some more sightseeing on Thursday.

Until then, have a great Tuesday evening, and a terrific Wednesday!

About Jaden's Journey CO-EX, forever family, mall, Seoul

Click “View All Images” to view our pictures of our visit to Changdeukgung Palace I wrote about in yesterday’s blog.

About Jaden's Journey, Pictures Changdeukgung Palace, Pictures, Seoul, South Korea

About Jaden's Journey, Pictures baby reception area, first days, Pictures, Seoul, South Korea

It is 6:45 a.m. on Monday morning September 29th in Korea and I have been awake since 5:00 a.m., yet yesterday we were completely wiped out by 6:00 p.m.–I guess this is jet lag at its best.

Yesterday we were fortunate to have a tour of Seoul and experience a variety of traditional Korean foods. Neville’s colleague’s brother-in-law, Mr. Lee, picked us up around 1:00 and first took us to “Korean Restaurant Chil-Ryang.” There we met his two adorable daughters and his beautiful wife. His daughters are ages 9 and 10 in Korean years, which is ages 8 and 9 in U.S. years (in Korea you are considered a year old the day you are born). They were all so friendly and hospitable even though we had met him only on Saturday when he picked us up from the aiport. They made us feel like we were old friends reuniting after many years. They presented both Neville and I, and Mom and Dad with pottery; two exquisite, handmade cups. It is something we will cherish from our visit, and I am sure Jaden will too as it serves as a remembrance of our trip to Seoul to pick him up.

Mr. Lee’s daughters go to International School and spent 4 years in Canada, so their English is excellent. There were no communication problems whatsoever, and we managed to learn a lot about the Korean culture, foods, and lifestyle. Unfortunately I cannot tell you everything we ate since all the names were Korean, and for we American’s it is difficult to remember all of the syllables -(I’m still trying to get ‘please,’ Pu-di, and ‘thank you,’ kam-sa-ham-ni-da, down pat) – but I can tell you we had two types of kimchi. One was soup-style and the other was traditional kimchi. It was very, very delicious and very, very SPICY.

The restaurant’s brochure says “Traditional Korean Formal Cuisine with Celadon and Dishes.” The restaurant is also a ‘pottery restaurant’, selling master pottery pieces of Mr. Chung, Yoon-Seok and his son Young-Kyun. From the brochure: “The meisters are handy crafting potteries with natural enamel by Traditional way in Chilryang-Myun, Kangjin-Kun located in Southern peninsula.” They ferment all the different types of food in the pottery, which “develops a rich and deep taste.” There was some gorgeous pottery there, and we were able to take pictures of the pieces in our private dinner room.

Speaking of pictures… we took most of the pictures yesterday with Dad’s camera, and didn’t realize until we returned to the room last night that he does not have a cord to download the pictures to the computer. This afternoon our job is to find the subway, take it to the CO-EX mall, and try to find a cord. In the meantime the rest of the pictures we will take with my camera since I have the connector. We’ll post the pics from yesterday as soon as we can find the connector.

Our experience yesterday did not end with lunch (which consisted of so much food it really turned out to be like an early dinner). After we ate, our hosts took us to the north side of the River Han. We drove past the President’s house, which is known as the ‘blue house’ because of the blue roof. We weren’t able to stop there because there is no parking, and there was so much traffic in the area that we would have had to walk miles from where we finally found a parking spot. We did get to go to the Insadong shopping area, which consists of tons of shops, restaurants, tea houses and coffee houses. It is famous for its antiques, travel clothing, art galleries, and Koryeo Celandon pottery. We could not believe the sheer volume of people there, both in the local area and walking throughout the Insadong shops.

Mr. Lee also took us to a tea house to have some traditional Korean tea. It was outstanding. I want to go back for more. I may get the chance- we hope to get to the Insadong area again before we go home since there were so many great shops to buy souvenirs, and we’d really like to pick up some items to have for Jaden as he gets older, until we can plan another trip back to his home country.

It seems no one slept well last night. Either it was the jet-lag, or the excitement over going to visit Jaden’s foster home this morning. We have a 9:10 a.m. appointment with the social worker at SWS. I best get ready before they all leave without me. I hope to have time for another update later today (Monday morning in NY) with pictures of our visit to the foster home.

About Jaden's Journey Celadonl, Chil-Ryang, Insadong, kimchi, Korea, Korean restaurant, Korean tea house, pottery, Seoul, shopping

Every once in a while the excitement just bubbles up inside me and makes me want to jump up and down yelling “We’re going to Seoul!!!!! We’re finally picking up our son!!!!!”

Last night Neville and I realized it was our last weekend as a ‘dual income no kids yet’ couple.  It was during one of those “overwhelming excitement” moments.  We’re moving on to a new phase in our lives – one we have waited and waited for – one that we’re so happy to be entering. It is almost hard to believe. Yet, here we are!

We confirmed our flights and started making our packing list. Yesterday I spent a few hours with Mom’s and Dad’s help decorating the nursery. It looks so adorable – I’ll post pictures soon. There’s a lot to get done this week – we have to pick up the loaner crib (our furniture is not in yet) and set up a makeshift changing table for the time being. I need to figure out how to operate a car seat and a jogging stroller. We are completely in the dark about what they are feeding Jaden right now – we’ll find that out when we visit the foster family’s home next week, so there’s really no planning for that at the moment. We don’t even have an update on how big he is so we’re guessing based on the last medical exam we have information for, which was in May. Our SW tells us that they “feed babies a lot in Korea” so since he’s about 8.5 months now, we should be prepared to put him in 12 month clothes! 

The baby shower could not have happened at a better time. We made a list of everything we need to get this week at BRU to be completely set up for bringing Jaden home – it is a short list. We realized that after thinking for so long that we were adopting from Vietnam (where the babies tend to be about 2 months younger but much smaller) that Jaden’s closet is full of clothes for 3-6 and 6-9 months. We received many shower gifts that were sizes 12 months and up – so that’ll help a lot – but we have to do some clothes shopping this week too (poor me – how I hate to shop for baby clothes -jk -LOL).

Our plan is to arrive in Seoul on Saturday, tour the city Saturday and Sunday, visit the foster home on Monday to meet the foster family and Jaden, tour the city on Monday afternoon and Tuesday, then meet the foster family on Wednesday to take Jaden back to the hotel with us. 

It turns out that Neville’s new associate at work is from Korea, and his family has asked to meet us while we’re there. I just found out last week that I have a colleague that is teaching there for the semester – he is also from Korea – and he has offered to meet us at the airport and show us around Seoul. It is uncanny how these things come together.

We were lucky enough to get the two bedroom unit at the agency’s guesthouse. It is quite a lot less expensive than a hotel in the same area – so we’ll have plenty of Korean won left to spoil Jaden with. LOL 

We are jumping up and down inside, and nervous at the same time. It’s the first time we’re taking a 14 hour flight, no less to pick up our first child! We’ll be flying back 14 hours with an infant – which would probably be a challenge for any first time parent. (Heck, flying 14 hours is going to be a challenge for me!)

I don’t have the details worked out yet as to whether or not we’ll have regular access to the internet, but I’ll try to keep posting while we’re there, and adding pictures to the blog. I realized last week that there is a way to do as slideshow directly in the blog- if I can figure out how to post one I’ll do that rather than add in the snapfish links. It might be easier on your end to just flip through a slideshow.

Thank you everyone for all your support and the wonderful, heartwarming comments and emails. It is so great to hear from all of you and to know that you are following us through this unbelievably exciting, life-changing journey.

About Jaden's Journey Adoption, Korea, Seoul, travel

We got the travel call!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cannot believe it!! Although, I guess I should believe it – I’ve been moaning about it for weeks.

Actually, the call ended up being an email. The agency called our home number, but I wasn’t home. I was in class this morning. I’m glad she didn’t give up and she sent me an email saying “please call me.” I am still in a daze. It is amazing. Things always happen when you least expect it….

My mind momentarily thought “I wonder if we’d be able to make it on a flight tomorrow?” but then sanity returned as I remembered everything I have to accomplish before leaving. So we have a temporary hold on flights that we’ll head to the airport for next Thursday night. We are waiting to hear from our U.S. agency as to whether or not this schedule is acceptable for the agency in Korea. They will let us know in the morning. Once they let us know, we can finalize the flights.

And now the running around begins — I have to figure out how to get ahead in my lesson plans, rearrange the schedule for all my classes, and figure out what I’m packing. We don’t have the crib or changing table yet, so we have a call in to the store to pick up the ‘loaner’ crib they promised us a while back. Hopefully we can pick it up this weekend. Of course we’re still decorating the nursery, so we will try to finish that this weekend as well, and then head to BRU to pick up anything that we still need (which isn’t much, after the shower!) We still haven’t finished getting gifts for the foster family, social worker, and the agency personnel, so guess what else we’ll be doing this weekend…

We haven’t received an update yet on Jaden’s height and weight, so I have no idea what to pack for him yet. I’m hoping to get that information before we travel, or I’m just going to have to take a guess at what to bring.

Next week is going to be an interesting week trying to teach and keep up with the house and work when I am sure my focus will be solely only on boarding that plane!

As it turns out, I have a colleague at work who is currently teaching in Seoul. We were in touch this week and he has offered to show us around Seoul. So I’m sure we’ll have some wonderful pictures to post once we do get there. By the way; his description of Seoul was that it is “a crazy place with a lot of people in it.” Sounds familiar!

About Jaden's Journey Seoul, travel, travel call

I love rainy days. I don’t know why. I just do. As long as I don’t have to go outside, that is. If I have to go outside, then I prefer clouds but no rain. Odd, right? I am. Maybe that’s why I picked Luna for a blog name. I wonder if there’s some underlying reason for picking Neville….

No news yet. I keep wondering whether or not we’d actually get a call on the weekend. The offices in Korea are closed during the weekend, but then again, it is thirteen hours ahead of here, so technically it is Monday there while it is still Sunday here. Assuming they open at 9:00 a.m. Seoul time, it means that we could get a call any time after 8:00 p.m. today, if my Sunday-afternoon-I’m-feeling-kind-of-foggy math is right. 

I thought I had given up jumping every time the phone rang. I proved myself wrong on Friday when I pulled a hamstring trying to get to my cell phone, which was charging downstairs while I was upstairs getting ready to go out. It was Neville. Imagine my surprise.

Then yesterday I decided I was going to stop waiting for the phone to ring, and that I won’t risk any further injuries by running to pick it up before it goes to voice mail. Now it seems I have replaced the obsessive phone-ringing habit with a habit of keeping an eye on the clock and counting the hours until the office opens again in Seoul. *sigh*

The hamstring pull didn’t bode well for our planned 23 mile run yesterday afternoon, although it wasn’t the hamstring that did me in. We ran along the Cape Cod canal  - great place for a long run – but we only made it 19 miles before my plantar fascia gave out. I’m not convinced we’ll be able to run the entire marathon in October. I might have to cut it back to a half-marathon or risk another stress fracture to my hip.  After a year of physical therapy and another year of sitting on my butt waiting for my hip to fully heal, I really don’t want to chance it again. Add that to the fact that I’m 30 now so I have to be cognizant of how my age affects what I am capable of.

On another (final) tangent…. I’ve been wanting to post pictures of the beautiful favors that mom and sis made for the shower, but as busy as it has been I haven’t had time to take pictures, no less post them. I’ll get those going soon…

About Jaden's Journey, Everything else favors, hamstring, marathon, plantar fascia, rainy days, running, Seoul