Then we had Kathryn P come to visit. She stayed with us last year for the first time. We were so lucky to have her again. She is an awesome teenager (yes, I said that hehe) and we all love having her. I told her she could visit any time she wanted too. Ryan thinks the sun rises and sets on her.

We also had Lian G come from Arkansas to stay for KC.  We had her last year as well and it is so cool to have her come to camp and lend her expertise (teaching). hehe  Both ladies are Korean Adoptees and it’s just awesome having so many Korean faces in the house.  Caroline didn’t like either of them too much at first, but by the time they left, she allowed them to hold her.  She’s such a Momma’s girl.

Korea Camp was an incredible experience this year.  Ryan being a camper for the first time was just amazing.  The teachers were so great this year and the kids had so much fun. Ryan was so happy to have his friend Andrew in his class and he met alot of other new friends.  Ryan’s favorite part of Korea Camp was eating bulgogi. (Which is funny because I DO make it about 1 a month, so it isn’t like he never eats it)

Caroline made some new friends as well. Angie O’s little brother Adam was a VERY big hit. She wanted him to hold her every time we were near him. It was very funny because everyone know’s that she isn’t big on going to people.  Well I guess she just makes exceptions for cute boys

Here are some pics:

We’ll be flying to LA Friday January 23 from here at 8:30 and arrive LA at noon. Caroline arrives at 1:30pm and then we’ll turn around at 4:25 pm that same day to fly back. We’ll be home at 11:20pm that night! It’s going to be a crazy day but we just want to get her HOME!! Ryan will stay home with his Nana and will be home in bed asleep when we get back. He said the first thing he’ll do when he gets up the next morning is tell Caroline good morning! Sweet boy, she better not be asleep!

Donna

ps Prayers for my Sister-in-law Mi Ran in Korea, who is having surgery Wednesday.

The BIG SPECIAL SECRET NEWS from a few posts ago is this : Kun Imo will be bringing our precious Caroline home to us when she gets travel clearance. She’ll be traveling with our nephew who speaks english (she’ll need some help in immigration). Hopefully it won’t be much longer. We just reached 8 weeks wait now. Eastern told mom and dad that it probably won’t be until after January 1st. Which is consistent with what Jan has told us. BLEH! If we wait until after the 1st then it will be 17 weeks to TC. I am praying that they are just being conservative and we’ll get TC anywhere between 11 and 14 weeks.

Some things you might want to know about Caro:

*She can belly crawl.
*She can bite her toes while sitting up.
*She is very social and adapts easily. (BONUS!)
*She knows her own mind and makes sure you know it too.
*She comforts easily and doesn’t cry much. (PTL!)
*She is finally starting to teeth, drools a small amount, but not as much as Ryan. (Who was a DROOL MACHINE until he was 3!)
*She is developmentally on target (according to Eastern’s doctor) and her height and weight are on target too.
*She is just a little smaller than Ryan was at the same age.

She sounds perfect to me! COME ON CIS!!! I-600 APPROVAL KKTHX!

Tonight I read a blog by our forum friends Sarah and Tim. They are in Korea right now getting their baby and will soon be on their way home with him. Sarah’s been the one mainly blogging but for some reason Tim decided to blog and I am so grateful he did. He was talking about prayer and how God always answers. This is what he quoted from the bible :

1. “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
2. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
3. “Even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

BOY Did I need to hear those words!!!!! I feel terrible, as I’ve only been waiting (almost) 2 months and our friends the Conners waited 9 MONTHS for baby Drew to come home!!! I know the only way Nadra made it through was with Prayer. So THANK YOU Tim for reminding me to take my feelings to God and find strength in Him. Traveling mercies to you as you bring your adorable little boy HOME!

Ryan is still growing like a weed. He has 8 teeth and is much taller. He is 31 inches tall and 22 lbs. That is 100% in height and 75% in weight. He is eating just about everything now. He still has a great appetite, eating over 12 oz of baby food a day, plus anything else we feed him. He prefers to feed himself, so things he can pick up and eat are best. He really loves cornbread and blueberries.

He is FINALLY walking! He has taken 5 or 6 steps without falling at this point. He constantly stands (without pulling up) and tries to walk, well, tries to run actually. When he falls down he just gets right back up. We think he does much better when he is carrying something in both hands. He still cruises along the furniture and is VERY fast, so we can’t set anything on the coffee table or end table we don’t want him to get. Chase is still his favorite game and so wonderful to hear him squeal in delight as you gain on him.

He tries to climb onto everything. Our bed to get Grim, his bookshelf to get the ‘good’ books (that I don’t want him to chew on), and onto the kitchen table. Yes! The table! We play games there, so there MUST be something cool about it. He LOVES to be held so that he can see what is going on. He helps in the kitchen by dragging everything out of the pot and pan cupboard. He ‘helps’ me do laundry.

He can say Mama and Daddy. We think he has said Bath, Ball and Dishwasher (It really did sound like it!) We have been trying to get him to sign but I think he prefers to whine when he wants something. He sleeps all night with the occasional 3 am wake-up. He naps pretty good as long as he goes to bed on time and sleeps well.

We are so thankful for the dear friends we have in our lives. I know I couldn’t have made it this far without all my girlfriends wonderful advice. Thank you, Thank you!

People

* Man, there are lots of Koreans there. Seriously. In other large cities, London or Kuwait City, for example, the majority of the population looks native to the land, but there are significant numbers of foreignors visible. I had expected to see at least a small dose of Americans in Seoul, due to the close ties between our countries and the presence of the US military. I was surprised, however, to observe very few non-Koreans on the streets or on public transportation; I probably only saw one or two foreignors or groups of foreignors on any given trip into the city, and that was usually at a shopping district.

* Koreans are, as a rule, slim with small frames. Koreans who are even somewhat chubby are rather uncommon, and I can probably count on one hand the number of outright fat Koreans I saw on the whole trip (almost two weeks in a city of 10 million individuals). I lost about 8 pounds while we were there; while some of that was from low appetite, I’m sure part of it was the typical Korean diet of rice and lots of vegetables, with smaller portions of meat and fish.

Country

* Korea is very mountainous and very green (about 70% mountain). The mountains are heavily wooded and what flat land exists is covered with either city or agriculture. (See this or this for illustration.) Even within Seoul, areas that would normally be unused in the US, such as beneath the eaves of bridges over the Han River, are given over to rice fields and gardens.

* Korea is very wired. It seems like everyone has cell phones, and using them as cameras and music players seems to be the norm. The two relatives we stayed with had broadband Internet connections, including the house “in the country” down by Jecheon. According to Tom Vasel, the Korean government has a goal along the lines of broadband in every house in Korea by 2008.

* Internet game cafes are everywhere in Seoul. I made a bet with D before we got there that one would be within walking distance of the house we stayed at. As it happens, you could see one out the window, and there was at least one on every block in the entire city, as far as I could tell. Anywhere you saw “PC” was a game cafe, or “game bar” as hyungsunim called it.

* Traffic in Seoul is very thick. I was surprised to see a lot of SUVs (Kia or Hyundai, of course) and mid-size sedans in addition to the smaller vehicles; usually, everywhere outside the US that has expensive gasoline has a higher proportion of smaller, more economical vehicles. In addition, a lot of vehicles in Korea use LPG; LPG stations could be found throughout Seoul in addition to gasoline stations.

Hm, I’m sure I had more to comment on, but now I’ve forgotten what all I wanted to say…

Ryan did exceptionally well on the way home. The podegi kept him rocked to sleep half the time and the other half he was wide awake and checking everything out. We only had one moment of real crying and that was because he was still hungry after 160 cc’s of formula. I am constantly amazed at how much food this child puts away.

After 27 hours of airports and airplanes we arrived home to a wonderful reception of friends and family at the airport. Our social workers, Duk Young and Alice were there as well. It felt so good to be home and see my parents. They were so happy to finally meet their grandchild. And boy were they impressed! I think it was love at first site for Grandma.

We are thrilled to be back in our own home and Ryan in his crib! (in Korea we all slept on the floor together) He is doing great in it, once we can actually put him down. He is very active and wants to play play play. My dad set up the Jumperoo for him and oh boy is that fun! He really fights going to sleep but only wakes up once when he finally goes down.

We aren’t doing so well on jet lag. We went to sleep at 6:30 am this morning and didn’t get up until 3:30 pm. That doesn’t help any of us adjust. So tomorrow we are gonna try to get up earlier and earlier through the week.

As a first time parent, I am really surprised how I have no time to do anything! I knew it would be this way, but it is still a shock! Trying to unpack, wash clothes, wash tons of bottles, boil said bottles, pay at least a little attention to our 2 cats and still catch up on sleep? It will probably take me a month to unpack and I will never catch up on sleep, but I am home with my beautiful, charming baby boy and I have never been happier.

D

We hung around the house, showered (I finally washed my hair of all the gunk they sprayed in it for the pictures). We fed Ryan his lunch around 11 ish and wouldn’t you know it, he falls asleep until after 1. I actually caught a cat nap at the same time, I couldn’t believe I woke up before he did. We were waiting for him to wake up on his own but we were scheduled to eat lunch at Hav’s brother’s home. So when Dong Soon came to pick us up we just put him in the podegi and went. Once we got there, he ate again ( this kid eats all the time! the preflight report said every 3 hours, but sometimes it is only 2, he needs solids bad, but can’t eat them before he flies) and Dong Soon played with him for a while, and then Dong Soon’s wife played with him. When we left just after three, I put him in the podegi and he completely crashed. They played hard!

We got back and he was really getting fussy. When he chewed on his teether, he would make these awful faces and cry out. Not really upset, just uncomfortable and when I went to put some orajel on his gums, I found his first tooth through the gum on the bottom left side. I couldn’t believe it! My baby is growing up and I have only had him 2 days!

Tonight is our last night in Korea. I am sad to leave, but excited to get home. I want to see my kitties. I want to see my parents and friends, and mostly I want to be home with my husband and son.

We fly out at 11:15 am but have to leave for the airport at 8 am. Which equals getting up at 6 am to get everything ready. IGOO! Since we are flying internationally we need to be there 2 hours early. So our long haul begins. We are praying Ryan sleeps longer tonight!

D