Day 1 - Travel & Transition

Our journey to Korea started yesterday morning and got dropped off at the airport and checked in for our long 14 hour non-stop flight to Seoul.  6 suitcases, and 4 carry ons between the 4 of us.  After a 2 hour flight delay while we waited for our plane to arrive, we were off and ready to roll!

The kids did great on the flight, thanks in part to the many movies, video games, and activities they had for them to do.  Between a large variety of movies to watch, electronic games to play (Nathan beat me in Yahtzee), and a few things we had brought ourselves, the time went by quickly.  Thankfully, we all had a chance to get a few hours of sleep, which helped when we arrived in Seoul and it was 5:30pm (and rainy).

We were met at the airport by a driver from our adoption agency who was ready to give us a ride back to our guest house, where we are staying during our time here.  He was the greatest - very kind, knew a little English, and loved the kids!  He kept commenting how we have “great kids”, and Joshua is very fortunate to have “a great older brother and sister” to play with.  So kind of him...and a great way to be introduced to the Korean people (very gracious and loving)!

After we got settled into our room, we were eager to try and locate a dear family friend of ours, Rachel, who was planning to meet us here in Seoul for the week.  Rachel attended our church and was a volunteer adult leader in our high school ministry for almost 7 years before she became a missionary and moved to the Philippines.  She’s been a close family friend of ours over the years, and had offered to spend the week with us in Korea when we came to pick up Joshua.  What a blessing!!  The kids were super excited when she appeared in the lobby of our guest house, and there were hugs and kisses all around!  We hadn’t seen Rachel since over a year ago, so it was really fun to reconnect with her.  We were also introduced to Jared, a friend of hers who she knows that lives in Seoul, and together we decided to grab some quick Korean food before calling it a night.

We ended up finding this inexpensive Korean “quick service” restaurant nearby the agency, and quickly became immersed in the full Korean experience - not being able to read the menus, unable to communicate to the locals....but loving every minute of it!  Thankfully, Jared knew the Korean language and helped us find some great food that we enjoyed (who knew fried pork with cheese inside would be so good?).  The fun part of the evening came near the end, when the restaurant’s owner (?) came over and expressed a great interest in Brooke and Nathan.  We had been told that Koreans are fascinated with blonde-haired children, and even want to take pictures with them or touch their heads, faces, etc.  We had prepared the kids that this may happen from time to time, but it was still fun to watch it.  The owner definitely enjoyed seeing Nathan & Brooke, and we all enjoyed the fun it brought!

Brooke, Rachel, & Nathan - all smiles!

Day 1 in the books.....Day 2 is now just beginning, and the first time we get to meet Joshua (in 2 hours!).  = )