Our Korean Family!

I have the best news ever!!! Back in September (9/30/08 to be exact) I got an email with the Title Line "Additional Photos of your Son"... the email came from our amazing adoption agency, Holt International. I thought to myself- "what in the world? C's been home for almost 2 months! Did they run across photos they never sent to us while we were waiting?" I opened the email and read about a wonderful family (let's call them Family X) in Oregon who had traveled to Korea back in May to visit their daughter's foster family... their daughter's foster family was the family that C was living with and being raised by while we were waiting (NOT so patiently I might add) for C to come home to us!!! Julie X, the mom, had contacted Holt to find out how to get me pictures of our son that she had taken while she was there! Holt gave me Family X's email address and told me the rest was up to me to make contact with them... I was in amazement and couldn't get done typing my email fast enough! Julie emailed me back and told me that her daughter, Jaime (6 years old) was our son's Foster Family's very first Foster Baby six years ago! That her and her husband Jim had traveled to Korea 6 years ago to bring their daugther home and to meet her Foster Family... they had stayed in contact with the Foster Family and had just traveled back to Korea as a Family of 4, had gotten to spend the day with Jaime's Foster Family and C! She had pictures of C with her family and with all his Foster sisters, mother and father! She also wanted to let me know that she had contact with the middle sister, Seol-hwa, through email- That was the most JOYOUS news I had heard! See A and I were kinda regretting not traveling to Korea to get C (we really couldn't have due to school starting) because we wished we could have met C's Foster Family to say THANK YOU in person!!! Now, because of Julie's persistence in finding us to give us pictures, we were able to get in contact with the Foster Family! YEAH!

This is Jim and Jaime X with C in Korea!

Well, to make a longer story shorter :-) we weren't able to get in contact with Seol-hwa until last week... Finally, thanks to Julie (again!), Seol-hwa got my email and emailed me back!!! She is studying English and is really very good at writing to communicate- we have written back and forth several times and yesterday I emailed her to ask permission to post the picture of her family below- as now she and her family checks our blog to see pictures of C! :-)

My heart is overjoyed as I am getting to know more about the beautiful, loving family who cared for C! They are our Korean "family" and our hearts will never forget what they did for us and countless others... See, C was Mrs. Song's 15th (!!!) foster child in 6 years and I am almost positive that their family is still taking care of Foster Children for Holt! What an AMAZING family that I pray the Lord blesses every day!


Love,
M

Here is Our Extended Korean Family:

From C Counterclockwise: Jack X, Seol-hee, Mrs. Song, Seol-young and boyfriend,
Friend of the family in blue sweater, Seol-hwa, and Jaime X!

Seol-hwa, Mrs. Song and Family- We can't wait to meet you someday and take OUR picture with you!