The adventures of it all....

We have to document these past days or we will forget all the "stuff" that happened to us on our journey to Alec!


The drama of the Kansas City Airport was really the thing we can't forget from Saturday. Our flight to Korea was so nice - we didn't get to sit together which was weird sitting by strangers for 13 hours - but my two guys were super quiet. The one on my right was young and fell asleep immediately and kept falling over toward me...then jerking awake just before his head would hit my shoulder....then falling over toward me again. He was completely exhausted - but then woke up and quietly watched videos and ate our yummy meals without a word to me. The gentleman on my left was super quiet - he was on his way to Cambodia from Montreal and he still had a 5 hour flight after we landed in Seoul. He was not excited at all. He watched NO movies and read NO books the entire 13 hours. He just sat still as a mouse watching the map of the little airplane moving on our flight path and checking how many kilometers we had left to go. I think he said he slept one hour....he was too tired to concentrate on a movie. Poor guy really didn't enjoy it much. Me personally - I did absolutely fine the entire flight. Watched 3 movies and the time passed rather quickly actually. Erin said she was the same - watched movies, ate and slept. Her seat mates also spoke no English - so no worry of conversation there.


We landed and got through customs quickly, exchanged some money and grabbed our KAL bus to our hotel. Uneventful which was exactly perfect! We washed up a bit in our room and struck out to find a quick shop, made sure we remembered how to get to SWS and then back to our room. I tried calling SWS to let them know we had arrived - but no one spoke English and it was Sunday night in Korea - so I finally just gave up and decided to wait till morning. We organized our gifts - realizing we had left a photo album at home - but made do with what we had.


After a night of intermittent sleep...we got up and got ready early. I tried calling SWS at 8:00 AM -but was told to call back at 9:00. The phone rang in our room - and it was our case worker asking us to come there at 9:30. So we headed out to grab some coffee and stroll the 5 blocks over. We got in that hilarious elevator

and headed up for what we thought was a planning meeting. Instead we found out we were heading out to the foster home immediately! We were able to stop by the hotel for our gifts and then we were on our way. It was a 40 minute drive to a very different, but beautiful part of Seoul we had not seen.
We arrived in a very quaint neighborhood...and came around a corner to see our sweet Jeesuk outside waiting for us. We had a wonderful visit with foster mom and sister....so funny how you can tell people are just good people without even being about to communicate with them. Body language and the love we could see they had for our little man told it all. We stayed about an hour....Alec was a little quiet at first and then came out of his shell. Much more than Ava did - I actually got to hold him a couple quick moments. That never happened with Ava. He loved showing us his toys and was almost showing off! An hour flew by and we took 300+ pictures and headed back to the reception center. We were told we needed to be back at SWS at 10:30 the next day (June 1 here in the US) to pick up Alec.



So.....we ran back to the hotel....changed into comfy clothes and headed off to the market. Caught the subway without a hitch (last year I got stuck in the toll thingy that you put your ticket in)

and came out of the subway into the biggest, craziest market we had ever seen. We were a little overwhelmed at first...so we wandered for awhile eating huge hunks of fruit on sticks and some unknown delicious street food. Erin at one point got in a line (I can't believe I didn't get a picture of it) with a ton of people getting some extremely popular steamed meat filled buns that we had no idea what it was. Delicious! We got all our gifts and hanboks for the kids and headed back to the subway.


We relaxed around our room that evening knowing that the next day we were going to be busy with a 15 month old!


The next morning - we nervously got dressed....stopped by our favorite cafe for breakfast and headed out. We were a little early - which is always fun because you get to watch all the babies and foster ommas coming in and out. Then here came little man....and the process began.
We exchanged gifts and information. We laughed at his antics...it was obvious he had been to the reception center alot - everyone knew him....and he acted like he owned the joint. We signed one piece of paper. We waited for his final "physical" from the orphanage physician to make sure he was healthy enough for travel....and then the time came.

I know why I could not be a foster mom. Giving up a child....that you have loved and nutured....I couldn't do it. My heart breaks for Alec's foster family - I know they are missing him terribly. Our joy is their pain.

Alec and Erin slept fitfully in the bed (I slept on the couch with a bit of a belly ache - too much street food???) - got up in the AM - drug all our bags downstairs and caught the shuttle to the airport. We were put in a holding room on our way through customs like there was some problem with Alec's Visa - but we were released with no explanation. Needless to say we left customs quickly and quietly before they could change their minds and waited anxiously at our gate!

And then the long long long flight home. Alec was truly exceptional.......at the time it seemed so hard....but he really did fabulous. We were so exhausted we finally did get some sleep...all 3 of us....spilled some wine (it comes with every meal on Korean Air) and some soup (on Alec's feet no less)...but other than that no real big messes. Our transition in Chicago was amazing - the staff was so helpful as we were in a bit of a hurry....even though we had a 2.5 hour layover - we needed every minute of it to get through all the gates and searches. In Seoul - they took our temperature as we got off the plane - but not in Chicago. So we had "tylenoled up" for nothing! Our flight to KC was wonderful - we slept the entire way! We were so excited to go up that exit ramp and into the arms of our family!

I was telling Shannon today (after a little tiny meltdown) it all seems rather surreal....but then I see this gorgeous little man toddling around and know that it wasn't a dream...we actually went to Korea and came home with "Little Brother". And the journey continues.....