Monday, December 21, 2009

What's the plan?

Ok crazy, but we found out some plans today. First I want to rejoice and thank God! We are going to go get our son and everything is falling into place! One Grandma is a teacher and has the week off we are traveling. The other Grandma has two days of that week off for new years and is taking an additional day off. So they are doing every other day. How wonderful! So blessed! We know they will be in great hands!
We found out a few exciting things today, blessings really. We get to stay in the Hotel we wanted to stay in. It is called the Somerset. Pluses include family friendly atmosphere, so they are used to adoptive families with children crying, awesome rooms including laundry machines in the room, and a full breakfast with made to order omelets all included! This is the place to be according to those who have been there and done that. Right next to a major shopping district where we can pick up local items to bring home for Jack to give him in the future, and to pick up other items on our list to bring home. One less worry and I am very excited to stay there!
We also got our schedule for meeting Jack and for picking him up for good! We arrive in Seoul at 9:30pm on Monday. We will be picked up by taxi arranged by HOLT, I have been told not to expect to get to our hotel much before 11:00pm so it will be a late night. But also an early morning because we meet Jack at 10:00am on Tuesday. We have been told to give ourselves 45 minutes to travel to HOLT on the subway which is near the hotel. (honestly I have no idea what I would do without the HOLT on line web-forums. I have learned all these tricks from families who have been there and done that and would have had no clue otherwise.)
We will meet with Jack and his foster mother, possibly the rest of his foster family maybe, and with Mrs. Lee who is in charge of things at HOLT Korea. She will interpret for us. We will meet with Jack and his foster mother for an hour. We can ask questions, and we will exchange gifts. Gift giving is part of Korean culture and it is important to show respect for your foster family and HOLT Korea by giving gifts. (this means I need to pack wrapping paper too since you cannot bring wrapped gifts through customs, another web-fourm tip)
Then we say goodbye to Jack for the day. Here is where things get interesting. We get to pick up Jack for good the next day. Most families have to wait a whole other day, but we were not told when we got airline tickets that HOLT is closing from noon on the 30th to Jan.3rd. So we get Jack on Wednesday. Many been there done that's have called this a blessing since it will give Jack one extra day to get to know us before we get on an airplane. We will spend two nights with him in the Hotel. Other families actually request extra time in country with their children, so that there is not so much change at once. He can get used to us but still smell the smells and see the sights of his country. We plan on trying to venture out on Thursday with Jack to do some site seeing. His second word ever in Korean is carry on back and we have been told that that is one of his favorite things to do, so we are planning on strapping him to my back and heading out to site see. Many others have done this and say the pictures they get of their child in their country before they leave are invaluable. Yet we will see where Jack is happiest. If it ends up being in the hotel room then that is where we will stay put. We are looking forward to this time to get to know Jack while in Korea, before we come home. Undivided mommy and daddy time before we add our other children back into the mix is a blessing. Or so I have been told by many. We will miss Allie and Ethan tons, and can't wait to bring home their new baby brother.
We will spend Christmas with Allie and Ethan here at home, then, spend New Years with Jack in his birth country! What an adventure! It seems so crazy but I have so much peace about everything. How awesome is God's timing? How awesome is his plan!

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