Last Day as a Family of Two

Ironic, but our final day as a family of two was mostly spent preparing for Jae's Gotcha Day and every day after.  We purchased gifts for Jae (toys, books, etc) and items needed to care for him over the next 3 days (baby wipes, favorite foods, etc).  In the morning we stayed mostly in the neighborhood only because we had an important lunch date that we didn't want to be late for.  At 11:30 we had lunch with the President of Eastern (our Korean agency) as well as 6 other couples who are here to meet their child.  It wasn't until this lunch that we realized how lucky we were to get agency housing. There are quite a few other families that were forced to get an expensive hotel room and as a result, feel quite isolated from the group.  Paul and I are very lucky to come back here every night and share stories with all the other guests.  It makes it easier.  Thank goodness we were smart enough to move fast the day we got the travel call because even a few minutes might have been the difference between $60/night at a warm friendly location vs. a $250/night hotel.  Going back to the lunch, the President, Dr. Kim, gave a small talk about Eastern and its mission followed by a buffet style lunch for typical Korean food.  It was really nice.  They do a lot of good things here and it goes well beyond adoption.

After lunch we caught the subway over to a market more common for tourists.  A lot of souviners, crafts, and traditional Korean items for purchase.  Our main goal was to get Jae a name chop.  A name chop is a Korean name stamp made out of hand carved stone that is inked and used as a signature.  We had a good recomendation for a particular shop and it lived up to its standards.  The lady was very sweet and apparently does good work because she has made name chops for the Queen of England, the Prince of Norway and the Prime Minister of New Zeland and had the pictures to prove it.

After a few other small purchases and ice cream we made our way back to the subway and home.  Since we were done being on our feet and ready to get home, dinner consisted of 2 small clemtine oranges and Korean ramen noodles (AKA spicy ramen noodles) that we purchased at the neighborhood grocery store.

Tomorrow is Gotcha Day!  We are less than 24 hours away from taking Jae in our arms!  And if I am being honest, we are overwhelmed at the idea.  We are going to be caring for a 17 month old out of a tiny little room for the next 3 days!   But, everyone here is very supportive (again, nice to be at the agency) and has already offered to do a diaper run, or a dinner run, or whatever we need.
Tomorrow is a very BIG DAY! 

ps - In case you haven't already notice, my spell check is not working.  Everytime I go back and read an old post I find another spelling error.  Just remember I am sleep deprived, nervous, and in general, just a bad speller. A horrible combo.

Love,
Jae's Mom