Korea Day 3- We met KatieJoy!

We haven't done much yet today except meet our new daughter! :-) We had to be at Holt by 10:30 this morning and decided against the subway because we had all of our gifts with us; also, Calen really doesn't like the subway if it's crowded- I think he feels smashed or something ;-) So we had the hotel get us a cab... thankfully Calen's oldest Korean sister wrote out where to take us in Korean- otherwise we would never have gotten to where we needed to go! (by the way- a 20 minute cab ride here costs less than $9- so for us it is totally worth the money to skip the subway with a 2.5 year old!) While we were riding in the cab I kept thinking about how we would never know if we were being taken to the wrong area of Seoul... I kept pushing the thought from my mind until the cabbie stopped and started pointing somewhere that didn't look like anywhere we needed to be. I had a bit of a panic attack and then thought to myself that Christ would get us to where we needed to go- no questions asked- I kept repeating that to myself! The cabbie got on his phone and made a call to find out where he needed to go and about 2 minutes later we were at Holt- see?! God does take care of us and that is something that I keep finding that I trust more and more while I am in this country- I just have to remind myself every once in a while of HIS greatness!


We were early to Holt so we decided to walk to a bakery that many families talk about... well the cabbie saw us and thought we didn't know where we were going so he stopped and yelled at us to go back and kept pointing to the Holt building! We decided to turn around and just be early because the cab driver was looking at us so sincerely- he had gotten us where we needed to be and wanted us to go in... What cab driver in America would do that?!? So we walked into Holt and right as we walked through the door there was KatieJoy! Bestill my heart... Calen looked at her and asked "who is that?!" We said "That's your baby sister!!!" She was being held by her foster father and he kept pointing at us and telling her "omma" and "appa"- she just slightly smiled at us. We walked up the stairs to find our social worker, DJ, while the foster family stayed downstairs.


We found DJ very easily and after apologizing for being early she said the Foster Family is here! and she ushered us into the hallway where we turned around and there they were! KatieJoy was down on the ground waiting for Calen to come say hi. Calen ran up to her and she just laughed at him and smiled! He was so excited to meet her and she acted like she knew who he was already. I wish I had the video camera out for that, but I didn't. We were taken into a small meeting room with 2 small couches and some chairs. Calen immediately took some snacks over to KatieJoy to eat and the foster parents had him put the snacks in her mouth. She was pretty content with eating them :-) And I was just in so much shock staring at her that I had to take a few minutes to get composed enough to start asking the foster mom questions about our sweet girl. So here's the big thing...she has immense stranger anxiety- with anyone. The foster parents were very proud of her because she didn't cry when she met us like she generally does for others. They said that they showed our pictures to her every day and told her that we were her "omma" and "appa" and that she loved to look at the album. So, I'm so glad that I sent those pictures!!! However... that was about how much she liked us- or rather liked me. She could tolerate Allen holding her- she looked around a lot, but didn't mind him so much. She did NOT like me much- didn't want to look at me at all and cried when she did. This is opposite of what happened with Calen so it's hurting my heart a bit right now. Not to mention, she's stuck with me at home for the next month and a half- Allen goes back to work the day after we get back...

KatieJoy with her Appa

KatieJoy with her Omma

Our family all together for the first time!
Daddy's little girl already!


Yep- this is the look I got every time I went near her... :(
Looking for her Omma

My two kids in one picture! :)

We got to hang out a little bit more and learned that she is very healthy now even though she was a preemie. Yeah, healthy is an understatement- this girl is HUGE. I mean totally solid- huge! I am praying that the clothing I brought for her will fit... If not, well, I guess I better hope at least something fits for that plane ride home....

We learned a little bit about her precious Korean Family... they have been doing this a LONG time! Over 20 years and KatieJoy is baby #40! Can you even imagine? I am so grateful to these wonderful people for taking our girl in and loving her since LAST July!!! You see what we're up against? That's a long time to be loved by someone and then have to switch to someone else. The family gave us some gifts- her one year Hanbok, some of her favorite books and her favorite toy. They also gave us a photo album full of pictures of them with her. Looking through this album I really realized just how attached she is to her Appa and Omma. Oh boy is Wednesday going to be difficult. Our social worker, DJ even said she'd be praying for our family.

We layed pretty low the rest of the day. Allen isn't feeling well. Like as in fever and chills not feeling well for the past 2 nights. We did go to Insadong and got some shopping done for others and for our kids. I got a cute Barbie Hanbok and Doll Hanbok for KatieJoy to play with when she's a bit older and then I got both of our children Jade carved Wedding Ducks to give to them when they get older. (This is a Korean tradition that I think is very cute!) I have a little bit more shopping to do tomorrow on our City Tour that Holt provides for us. (Courtney- I will be on the lookout for that post card you requested! I looked tonight but couldn't find one!) If you could keep Allen's illness in your prayers that would be very appreciated...if KatieJoy is only going to want him then he needs to be feeling well! Also, I think it's good to mention here that we think her transition is going to be pretty hard and because of that we are going to keep her pretty close to us. Please don't take offense if we hibernate in our home for a while or if we don't allow her to be held by you. Attachment experts say that the best thing to do is keep her world small for a while to make sure she realizes that we are her parents and that we will be taking care of all her needs. We love you all and want you to all have a relationship with her- just give her a bit of time to get used to her new family and friends...

I should have some good pictures of Korea tomorrow- we get to see a few palaces and some shopping areas on our tour. :-) After that if the rain breaks we hope to hit the Korean War Memorial Mueseum... If we can't do that tomorrow we are hoping to hit it before we pick up KatieJoy for good on Wednesday afternoon.

Love to you all and once again thank you for all your well wishes and prayers- we can definitely feel them!

~Mandy~