Wednesday, March 31, 2010

I got video uploaded!!!







Wow...I'm a wreck

So, we go get Addison in about 6 hours, and I'm a wreck. I can't imagine how I'll take that little girl from her foster mom. who adores her. It will be heart wrenching. I wrote her foster mom a letter today and I've been crying since I started. Hopefully I'll get the crying out now, so I can hold it together while I'm there. This is terribly difficult. I can hardly eat and I can't stop crying. Poor Mark. Please pray for me. Pray for us. This is very hard and incredibly bittersweet.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Long ago, these statues were placed out side of towns & villages to scare away evil spirits.

Korean school children. (Probably high school students)




Me as an ancient Korean soldier!




Touring Seoul

Today we went our guided tour of Seoul. We had our own tour guide who went by the name of "Helen."
Eating more Korean food for lunch.

Insadong Street was a great street full of shops and restaurants.

Burger King in Seoul.
On the City bus in Seoul

The YMCA in downtown Seoul


The citu bus ride.

A book store similar to Barnes & Noble (it even had a Starbucks)


A shopping Center in Seoul. It had 8 floors! It was great!


Tuesday, March 30, 2010

A note about video

Ok...I've taken a ton of video, but I can't seem to upload because we only have a dial-up internet connection in the room. I'm searching for a highspeed location, so when and if I find one, I'll get it uploaded so you can see it.

We met Addison!!!

This is the book of family photos we sent Addison. There were bite marks on the pages! (They were kisses!!) Evendentally she likes to bite things, especailly bottle nipples. Her foster mom keeps plenty of extra on hand because she is alwasy biting the ends off of them.
Addison and her foster mom

Addison liked my husband! (He usually make small children cry, so this was really good!) She went to both of us rather easily, but then eventually wanted her foster mom.

When she got fussy, her foster mom strapped her to her back and she calmed right down. The social worker said we need to get one of those carriers so we can carry her on our backs as well. She loved being on her foster mom's back! It was cute to watch her cuddle her head into her back.
Waving bye-bye.


She loves music and will clap her hands to it! Her Foster mom said she always takes her to church she will always clap during the music time. Her foster mom said said she was quite a celebrity at church!


Addison has a big personality! She is a complete ham. When we played peek-a-boo with her she would squeal and grin! She was also constantly moving. She never stopped wiggling the entire hour we were there! Her foster mom said she thinks Addison will be an opera singer because she is alwasy squealing and being very loud! She will fit right in with her three, loud older brothers!


Her foster mom is wonderful person. Mark and I gave her gifts but truly, I can't ever begin to repay her for all the love and prayers she has given our baby girl. How do thank a perosn who ahs loved you child so well, fo so long? I can't wait to get our baby on Thursday, but part of me is terribly sad to take her from her Korean family. It will definitely be bitter sweet.

Seeing Seoul!

Eating traditional Korean food with chop sticks!

Here was out whole meal. We had no idea what we were eating. (we knew there was seafood involved) We had no idea how to eat it, and there were no forks!!! The lady at the restaurant showed us how to combine all of it to make a meal, and what to use as dip. It was good lunch!

As you can see, we sat on the floor on a square, blue pillow and left our shoes at the door. My husband was a little big for that small table!!

A backstreet in Seoul. Yes, this was street, despite the fact that it looks like a bike path!

A plaza overlooking the city

We spent a good protion of the morning navigating our way through Seoul using the Subway system. We weren't very fast, but we never got lost! It was really fun exploring the city. We did find a great store called e-mart (like a small wal-mart) where I spent nearly $8 on deoderant. (YIKES!)

Here we are buying our Subway Tickets. This machine had an "English" option. When we bought our return tickets, the machines were strictly in Korean, and we were completely lost, but we were saved by a very nice Korean woman who spoke English and she helped us buy the right tickets so we could get back to the Hotel.

Monday, March 29, 2010

A LONG trip to Seoul!

Here were are in Seoul (27 hours after we began our trip!!!)

We stayed at a great Hotel. They upgraded us to a two-bedroom suit. Here is our little kitchen which also includes a small washer! It really nice!

One of our 2 bedrooms. (we also have two bathrooms!)

Our ride didn't show up to the airport and we didn't feel like paying $80 plus tip for a cab ride so we took the bus into Seoul. Here is our bus. It took us downtown and then we walked about 2-3 blocks to our Hotel. It only cost $16. We thought it was a bargain!
Our 2nd layover was in Tokyo Japan.

Out first layover was in Chicago.
This was us, befiore we traveled for 27 hours!!!
We meet Addison tomorrow at 1:00pm (11pm Central time)
...but for now...I'm going to bed.