We arrived in Seoul late on the afternoon of the 13th. We had rented a two bedroom apartment located near Hongik University. Hongik University is located 4-6 blocks from Eastern Social Welfare Society, which is where all of our meetings with Makaio would take place throughout our trip.
By the time we got settled into our apartment it was around 6:00pm and we knew we needed to give it our best shot at locating ESWS before we lost daylight. The hunt for ESWS lasted nearly 3 hours and well into the evening but to no avail. We decided to give-up for the evening and grab some dinner so we could rest up for the next day.
We awoke that next morning around 3:30 - 4:00 am....jet lag in full affect. We immediately knew we needed to locate this dang building as our meeting was literally at 9:30am that same morning and we had yet to find out how to get there. So after an hour or so we decided to grab some coffee and set back out on our journey. It's amazing what a little sleep will do for you after such long flight overseas. Within 20 minutes of setting out on foot we had located our destination. Victory was ours! Notice it was so early the doors were shuttered for security!
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| Thank God she didn't wear heels! |
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| Victory! |
What a relief it was to locate that building. Now we needed to find more coffee and get back to the apartment to start preparing for our first meeting with our son.
All those months of waiting to see, and touch, and smell our little boy had come down to this moment. We arrived 30 minutes early....even though we were told specifically not to be early. You wait as long as we have and just try NOT to be early. Good luck! At around 9:30am we were ushered into the little room filled with social workers and office staff, so that we could begin filling out the necessary paperwork for his US Visa. It was surreal looking at his little passport, and filling out everything necessary to make him part of our family. This process seemed to take way longer than it should and I began to notice that we were coming up on our meeting time. We had a few pages left to go through when I felt a tap on my arm......and as i looked down, there was this beautiful little boy looking up at me with his precious little face....and he says "Omma".
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| "Omma"? |
For those of you who may not know....Omma means Mom! It was the cutest and most perfect thing that could have happened. We quickly sorted out who was omma and who was oppa....not that it mattered at that point.
In that moment....all of that waiting, all of that angst, and frustration just seemed to dissipate. My heart was so full....not to mention it was racing a mile a minute. In my mind I wanted to just scoop him into my arms and give him hugs and kisses, but I knew I needed to give him time and space to become comfortable with us at his own pace. That is so hard to do when you've been waiting for so long to hold him. We quickly were swept upstairs into a meeting room filled with toys so we could have our proper 1 hour meeting. Yes.....all this time waiting and you get 1 hour.
We spent the next hour playing with bubbles, and toys, and coloring books. Makaio has not a worry in the world and was as busy as can be from start to finish. There is an obvious bond and true love between him and his foster mother, which made Jennifer and I so happy. We also realize this will create a whole different set of obstacles to overcome once we take custody, but we wouldn't trade the love he has received these past two years for anything. We were able to take lots of pictures and video, and ask lots of questions about his behaviors and quirks. He is spoiled rotten....it is so obvious! Jennifer and I each got our moments to bond....me with the toys.... Jen with showing him pictures and videos on the iPad. It was an amazing moment in my life. Not knowing what it's like to be in a delivery room as a father, I can only imagine that this indescribable emotion is similar.
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| Crayola Time! |
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| Showing mommy how to use an iPad. I got this! |
All good things must come to an end. Our time had ended and we slipped on all of our shoes and headed downstairs to say goodbye. Makaio wanted to take the stairs and even let Jennifer hold his hand all the way to the bottom. It was a precious sight that I will never forget! Once we said our goodbyes, with a little encouragement from his FM, Makaio ran up to us each and gave us a big hug and kisses. Thats what I had been waiting for! And before you knew it they were on out the door and this moment we have waited a lifetime for had ended just as quickly as it began.
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| Who's helping who? |
At the conclusion of our meeting we met with our SW, who gave us our schedule for our next meeting as well as our court time and where to meet up. I was so happy that our next meeting was scheduled on my birthday. What a gift! Ironically it also happened to be the birthday of one of our sons FM's daughters as well. That must have been a sign right?
We went to bed that evening floating on good vibes and great energy.
Jet lag was still creeping in because I think we were both awake at 3:00am that next morning. As I thumbed through my emails I notice an urgent email for our program associate director.
Matt -
I know you'll be up early checking email....please call me, I have something I need to discuss with you.
Well.....what's a trip overseas without a little adventure right? Turns out our judge had requested everyone with a court date the same as ours to have psychological exams completed, translated and to the courts no later than March 28th. We were not returning home until March 25th, so we were put in a very peculiar position. Our only real option was to find a way to get this completed while in Korea. To make a long story short....we were able to track down a clinical psychologist who was licensed to practice in the US and Korea, who just happened to be in Korea at the time. Within 2 hours of contacting him we were in his office for the next 5 hours completing the MMPI and psychological interviews. Oh......the hoops we jump through. After meeting our son, nothing was going to stand in our way.
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| Completed MMPI and Psych Interview |
March 20th was a big day. Not only was it my birthday, but we got to visit our son once again. Prior to the visit we were able to go to the market and grab him some more toys and clothes. This meeting was amazing as well. We got to see some more of his personality...not all positive. He doesn't like to share....not even with me. He even stared me down one time when I took 1 of the 4 cars we gave him. In the end....I buckled and gave him his car back. I such a softie. He enjoyed showing Jen videos of himself from his FM's phone. He is a busy guy....you can tell he has such a huge heart....and he is very smart......yet stubborn. Oh boy we are in trouble.
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| The stare-down! |
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| This made my heart melt. |
Towards the end of our visit the FM handed me a cake with my name on it. She even gave me the present of some Korean Bokbunja Wine. Attached was a wonderful birthday card which her 16 year old daughter had translated from Hangul to English. I will cherish that card forever. What an amazing lady, to think of me on my birthday with all of this other craziness going on around her. She also gave Jennifer a Swarovski crystal bracelet that was absolutely beautiful. It was a difficult moment as we parted, knowing that this would be the last we saw of our son until we were united forever. Jennifer Shed a few tears......I choked mine way back into the back of my throat. Makaio saw Jennifer crying and ran up to her to hug and console her. These children are so innocent and sweet. It was so tough to leave him that day.....but we had to keep in mind that we were almost there.
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| Wine! |
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| Our SW accidentally put her finger in the icing when pulling the cake out of the box. |
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| Birthday card! |
We called it an early night that evening, knowing that we needed to get up early and be prepared for our court appearance.
We arrived to court with four other families about an hour early. We were the last of the families that day to go before the judge. You spend so much time stressing about what they are going to ask and how you are going to respond, but when your name is called and you walk through those doors it all escapes your mind anyway. Our judge was a nice lady....maybe late thirties or early forties. She seemed to know English as she acknowledged our answers before they were translated back to her. She asked us a series of 6-8 questions. Nothing out of the ordinary....and that was it. Within 10 minutes we were out of there.
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| That's us at the very bottom. |
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| Court Swag! |
And with the blink of an eye....it was all over. The anticipation....the meetings....the psych tests.....the court dates.
At this point everything else is out of our hands. We ask for your prayers as we await preliminary approval from the courts....to be followed by final approval......and travel for custody. Hopefully 3-5 weeks from now we will have our son.
We have been blessed with an amazing little boy. We are not ignorant to the fact that these next few months will be very trying at times. We ask for your patience and understanding as we all get acclimated to one another. Once we bring our boy home and we have that chance to bond as a family, we can't wait to introduce him to all of you that have supported and loved us and him throughout this process.
For those adopting families that feel like this wait is unbearable, know that we feel your pain, but also know that one day this will become your reality.....and once it does.....those days of helplessness become a distant memory, replaced by those memories of hugs, and kisses, and playtime with your child.
Here's to a quick approval! We love you Makaio!
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