Monday: Forever Family Day

Monday began with a missing bar of soap. After a brief interrogation, a one word confession: "potty." Plunger is not a word that easily translates into Korean, but eventually the hotel staff figured it out. We then took quick trip to Kyobo Bookstore (think Barnes and Noble times 20). We were able to pick up a children's book with both English and Korean Hangul script, a Korean cookbook, and a nice coffee table photo book of Korea. We headed back to Namdaemun market and found matching Hanboks for the kids when they are a little bit older. We've struck out at finding a white Hanbok for Maren's baptism. Though 25% of Korea is now Christian, traditionally in Korea white symbolizes death, so some shopkeepers were a little appalled at our desire for a white one.

We arrived at Holt at 3PM. Maren Yeon-A and her foster mom were already waiting for us. The social worker reviewed all the travel documents and instructions for her formula. Foster Mom gave us a beautiful Hanbok for Maren Yeon-A's first birthday and a little care package with snacks for all of us for the flight. She was sure to fill us in on what she'd eaten, her diapers that day, that she still needed her afternoon nap, and she'd already bathed her (which was good, since most of the attachment and adoption literature says to wait as long as you can to give a bath, so the baby still has familiar smells for comfort). Foster Mom helped me get Yeon-a into a my baby carrier and I could hear her sniffling and trying so hard not to cry. She is an amazing woman. We said our good-byes. As we walked out of the building, Rowan looked at us and said "I happy." Walking out as a family of four was this overwhelmingly amazing feeling. We have been blessed twice with miraculous children. Maren looked terrified and quickly fell asleep. She slept the entire walk to the subway and ride back to the hotel. When she woke, she was inconsolable. She is so attached to her foster mom, and she knew we weren't her! We did get some restless, intermittent sleep. Maren Yeon-A has slept the last 6 mos with her foster mother on the ondol (heated) floor, so, I woke up at one point with pain in my jaw to find she was sleeping on my head!

Here are a few photos of the big day. We've blocked out Foster Mom's face for her privacy and at the request of our agency.

The Big Brother and our social worker