Day 4 - Julie's trip to Incheon

My sister Julie has had an amazing trip.  Not only has she been there to watch us adopt our boy, but she's been able to experience the country she was born in.  Julie was abandoned here by her birth parents.  She does not know who they are or her name at birth or birthday.  She does know that she was abandoned at a market in Busan and then transfered to an orphanage in Incheon called "Star of the Sea".  She was eventually adopted by my parents through Holt, the same agency we are adopting from.  She was 3 when she was adopted and has no memory of Korea.

Julie got the opportunity to visit the "Star of the Sea" orphanage on Thursday.  She bravely navigated the subway and bus system by herself to her destination.  What she found was a large complex where children of all ages lived.  Not only does it house orphans but kids with parents that cannot support them.  She was shown around the complex and even saw the room where she would have lived.  They opened up her file and showed her the information they had on her.  Unfortunately there wasn't much there she didn't already know.  There was no information about her birth or birth parents.  She did get to see an old picture of herself that she had never seen before and she found out that she was left abandoned with a note.  Unfortunately, the note was not kept and no one knew what it read.  They were very sweet and apologized for not having more information on her.  But Julie was just grateful for being there and seeing another piece of her past.

Here are some pictures of the orphanage: