Update!

So we can't believe that we have been home a week with Mia already.  She is doing great and is so much fun.  Sam and I can't imagine our lives without her.

Mia loves to be laugh and play.  She has begun exploring the house and has all but forgotten her pacifier and blanket during the day.  She just doesn't have time to keep up with those with all the moving and talking she is doing.

The two things that Mia loves most in the world are music and eating.  Even better music while eating.  She eats everything and I mean everything.  And she has such a great time doing it.

She has the best crinkle face and laugh and we are trying to get a picture of it.  But here is a close shot.  Not a great pic but the subject makes up for it.

Mia loves to take a bath in her ducky tub.  She plays with the water and laughs and screams and only gets mad if you take her out too soon.

She has already had a play date with her friend Rylan, who came home from Korea the week before she did.  In fact, we are headed to another friend's house tonight and Rylan and her Mommy & Daddy will be there too for more fun.

Mia has also had two play dates with her friend Brandon.  He came over a week ago and brought Mia a Mickey Mouse, smart boy to bring a gift.  Brandon's Mommy & Grandma came too.  Brandon's family are family to us too.  We are so lucky to have the best neighbors.

Then Mia's Noona, Katie came to visit with her Mommy Kendra.  Kendra and Katie and all the Odoms are also family to us and Katie long ago agreed to be Mia's big sister.  She is already doing a great job.  They don't live next door anymore but they are still really close.  Katie's Mommy and Mimi have been so much help to us.

We are still working to get Mia's sleep straightened out.  She is doing better every day with the time change.  She loves her crib.  Asks to go in it.

I have so much to say and no time to type as we are off to see Rylan at Alex's Mommy & Daddy's house.  Alex isn't home just yet but we know they will be good friends as soon as he is.  I will blog more with extra pictures soon but here is some random cuteness.  There is lots of fun stuff coming up with Christmas and Gran and Grandpa coming back and getting to meet the rest of the family too.

WE HAVE MIA!

So we are back in the hotel room.  It is a little before 3 in the afternoon here and Mia has been sleeping since about 1:15.  The foster mother said she didn't really sleep last night and that she had been a little fussy all morning.  So we are happy so see her rest.

Things at the agency went fine.  The foster family showered her with so many gifts it is unbelievable.  We haven't been able to go through everything just yet.  The foster grandmother made Mia so many clothes including some that she embroidered with her new Korean name Kwon Soon Mi.  It is so obvious to us that she has been well taken care of and loved so much.

Sam's Mom has gone to get us lunch and we are just hanging out in the hotel room for now.  We will take it one step at a time to see what we do next.

She is a Daddy's girl already.  She loved Sam instantly.  She was happy to sit in my lap when we got back to the room and we had a lot of time with my parents on Skype so they got to just watch her with us.  

Okay so in the middle of writing this Mia woke up at 3:15.  It is now just about 6:00 and we have had lunch with her.  She was very hungry and ate Kimbap (Korean sushi), strawberry yogurt, and apple juice.  She was very hungry.  We have also had several opportunities to change poopy diapers.  And by we I mean me.

Right now as I type this she is playing with Daddy.  But a few minutes ago she came over to see what I was doing.  Daddy was holding her and she kept leaning over to make me look at her.  

We are so in love with this little girl.  It feels like she has been with us forever. 

So there will be lots more to tell but for now we will leave you with what you came here to see, MIA!

City Tour Day

So today a volunteer with your Korean adoption agency met us in the hotel lobby to take us on a city tour.  Some tour guides arrive and just ask you where you want to go.  Not ours she arrived with a good friend and the two of them had researched things that are popular tourist attractions.  We discussed what we wanted to do for the day and then set out for the subway.

Our first stop Changdekgung, which is one of the palaces.  We wandered around taking lots of pictures and listened in to a bit of the English speaking tour.  These next few pictures are of Sam and his Mom and Jin being silly.  

After seeing the palace we went back to Insadong market where we stopped to have lunch with our tour guides.  Let me tell you if you aren't used to sitting on the floor the getting up is the hard part.  

Next we headed to Cheonggyecheon Stream to walk to our next destination. Sam's Mom remembers when this water was so dirty the just covered it over. Now the city has created a great place to walk.

Then we continued down to were the US Embassy is and a few statues.  The golden statue is of the King who invented the Korean alphabet and the bronze statue is of a famous general.  

Then we headed to Dongdaemun market to do a bit more shopping.  We wanted to buy Mia a Hanbok, a traditional Korean outfit.  She will also get one of these from the adoption agency but it was important to us to be able to buy one for her.  The photo looks a little red but it is dark pink.

After this we sent our tour guides on their way.  We were so lucky to have them from 9:30 - 3:00.  We then headed back to our hotel.  Jin went to meet an old friend from college for dinner and Sam's Mom and I went to Namdaemun market to do a little shopping.  We brought dinner back for the three of us.  Here is our spread of street food.

After Sam's Mom went back to her room Sam and I got all of the things together that we are taking tomorrow and packed Mia's diaper bag.  Now Sam is sleeping and I am finishing up the blog post. 

So our next post will be with Mia.  I can't believe that this day is finally here.  Now I just have to find a way to sleep.

Amy

 

A little more about our day

So we arrived in Seoul at 4:45 a.m. and got to our hotel around 6:30.  We had breakfast and then settled in to the lobby to wait for our rooms which weren't going to be ready until 10:00.  

Sam and I decided to take a little walk.  It is pretty cold here so Sam's Mom and Brother stayed behind.  We didn't go very far but it was nice to walk a bit.      Our hotel is right across from Namsan Park.

After our walk we were able to get into our room.  Sam's Mom was with us because her room, which is right next door, wasn't quite ready yet.  We opened the door and the three of us walked in and all stopped.  See next to the bed was a crib and it just made us all step back.  Sam's Mom said "Wow" and I said, "Boy that makes it real."  

After unpacking we headed out to Insadong which is a great shopping area in Seoul that has a wonderful art supply store that also sells name chops.  A name chop is a traditional type seal that you can have carved.  We got one for Mia with her Korean name we are giving her, Soon Mi.  Then we got a name scroll for Mia and some friends of ours.  Once we ordered those we went wandering around while we waited for our things to be done.

We ended up having tea in a small tea shop to rest and get out of the cold.

Right now we are back in the hotel. Everyone is taking naps while I catch up on emails and the blog.  We are headed out to dinner at 6:00.  We are going to walk down to Namdaemun market (one of my favorite places) to find a restaurant.

Tomorrow morning at 9:30 we will be meeting a volunteer in the lobby who is going to take us on a city tour.  We are going to Changdeok Palace with the secret garden.  After that we will probably go back to Namdaemun for some more shopping.

I still can't believe that we meet Mia the day after tomorrow.  It is so surreal.  I will post more tomorrow.

Amy

We are here!

So we are here all safe and sound.  The flight wasn't that bad for us.  We each slept about 8 - 9 hours of the way in 3 hour chuncks.  We got into our room and are unpacked and headed to go shopping.  Above you will see a picture of the beautiful tree right when you come in the lobby.  I will post more tonight when we are back in the room.  But for now I will leave you a little reminder of why we are here.

This little guy is waiting for his new special friend.

Have a good night.

Amy

We're ready to go!

We are all checked in and waiting for our flight and waiting in the crown room for our flight to board. They will let us do that at 12:00.

We are traveling with Sam's Mom and brother.  All of us are very excited and ready to meet Mia. We've been talking about what she will be like. We'll post more when we get to Korea. 

Mia Is Coming Home!

That's right Mia is coming home. Today Sam and I got the call we have waited years to get. The tickets are booked, the hotel is reserved, and we are ready.

We are flying Korean Air from Atlanta to Seoul on Sunday, December 4th. We get to Korea on Monday, December 5th. We will be staying at the Millennium Hilton. We are waiting to hear when we get to pick Mia up but we have asked for that to happen on Wednesday. We are then flying home on Thursday, December 8th. We leave Korea in the evening so hopefully Mia will sleep. Then at 6:40 p.m., Thursday, December 8th we land in Atlanta as a family of 3.

I will update with more details as we have them.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Amy

Update on Mia!

Here is a quick update on Mia. She went in for her latest Well Baby Check (WBC) on Halloween. We didn't get a new picture this time because we got a picture that was taken on Mia's birthday. So let's start with the picture.

She happened to be at the office that day for the agency birthday party and a package from us was there. You can probably guess that I got her the Mickey and Sam got her the other toy. This picture was such a surprise for us.

So now let's talk about her WBC. On October 31, Mia weighted 19.2 pounds, same as last month, and she is now 28.6 inches tall. She has 7 teeth now, 4 on top and 3 on the bottom. Mia also like to scribble.

Here are the words she is saying now, Mommy, Daddy, Eat, Cookie, Water, and she asks to be carried. I'm giving you the English, of course she is saying these all in Korean.

She seems to be doing great. We can't wait to have her home.

Amy

Our Story

Some of you have known Sam and I all our lives while others of you have know us for much less time and many of you fall in between.  We are starting this blog to help everyone follow our journey to Korea and back.  We wanted a way for each of you to be able to see what is going on and a way for us to give everyone the same information.

Before we go any further we want you all to know that we are very grateful for the love and support you have shown us in this journey and throughout our lives.  There is an ancient proverb that says …

"An invisible red thread connects those destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstances. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break."

This is so true for how our family came to be.  After all, how can you explain the journey that led Sam and I to each other and the journey that led us to Mia.

So here is how this will work.  I will update a few times between now and when we leave and then we will update from Korea.  Count on this as your place to find out the latest news.  To the right you will see our process.  I know it is long and believe it or not there are things that aren't listed.  Lots of paperwork that isn't listed.

Thanks again for all the support.

Amy