Forever Family

I've been wanting to post for some time to provide an update and to wrap things up on the blog, but it's been difficult to make the time to do it.  Usually when I start, I end up with a toddler in my lap!  We reached a milestone this summer which closes the book on our adoption story.  In June we received papers from the circuit court of Oregon that makes our adoption final.  Sam is now legally ours!  We also received a note from Holt (our adoption agency) saying that it was a pleasure working with us and if we needed anything else to let them know.  What a weird feeling to be done!

For Sam it means that his journey to find a permanent family is over too.  We are actually the fourth family he's had - birth mom and two foster families before us.  A term that Holt uses a lot is "Forever Family".  Even though we did not conceive him, we are his real mom and dad now, and will be forever.

Happy New Year!

Today is the first day of the new year according to the Korean calendar.  Today ushers in the year of the snake!  Us westerners see the snake as a symbol of evil and many are afraid of them.  In Korea the snake is not to be feared, but respected.  The snake is wise and cunning.  They are associated with long life, protection, and good fortune.  I think they can be kind of cute too.  Look at the picture we took of a snake statue as part of a Korean zodiac displayed outside the National Folk Museum of Korea:

We celebrated the year of the snake with my sister's 2nd grade class.  We took Sam along and dressed him in his hanbok.  Julie's class had been following Sam's adoption through this blog and were very excited to meet him for the first time!  The kids had practiced how to say hello in Korean and greeted him saying this and exchanging bows.  Many of the kids also gave Sam gifts.

Along with getting to know Sam, the class participated in some Korean culture.

Here Julie is making Hotteok, which is Korea's version of a pancake.  It is a common food served by the street vendors in Korea.

Here Julie's students are making Korean fans.

These kids are playing a game called Yut Nori.  This is a traditional board game commonly played to celebrate the new year.

Making paper lanterns.

The kids also built and flew their own kites.  Here is a picture of the whole class with Sam sitting in the middle with Julie.

It was a fun day for all of us.  Thanks kids!  

감사합니다

kamsa hamnida

Life with Sam

Life has been a busy, often chaotic, happy mess!  There hasn't been a lot of time to share much in the last month, but I have posted some videos.  Enjoy!

Sam's 2nd birthday

30 or so family and friends joined us at Papa's pizza for Sam's first birthday with us!  He wore his hanbok that he also wore in Korea for his first birthday party.  See how Sam has filled it out in the last year!

Sam's 1st birthday

Sam's 2nd birthday

Halloween

For his first Halloween experience we went to trick or treat at Grandma and Grandpa's.  He wasn't too sure about Grandma in her scary Tigger costume!

Playing around at home

This is what we do at home a lot these days.  He loves to play chase, get tickled, and laugh like crazy!

At Home

We've been home a week now.  Its been a challenging and exhausting week but a joyful one too.  Every day we learn more about our boy, and how to better communicate and care for him.

The first few days were a challenge with the jet lag and more grieving from Sam.  He would not go to sleep at night.  He pointed at the door and screamed and cried, expecting that we could just take him back to his foster family I think.  One spooky moment we had was when he was in the middle of a crying fit, he pointed directly at the picture we had of him and his foster parents in the living room.  Needless to say that picture is now hidden away.  He's constantly surprising me with how much he recognizes and understands.  He recognized a picture of Julie too, and carried it around for a while.  He misses his Gomo!

It's taken a while for him to get comfortable with his new home and new parents.  In Korea he was incredible with how well he handled the situation.  He slept fine, ate fine.  He would wake up from naps smiling and say "Hello mother and father.  I love you!"  But reality set in when we got home.  He was no longer as cheery and well adjusted as he was.  He was tired, fussy and clingy, would not take naps, would not go to bed at night.  Of course we were just as tired and cranky.  But little by little he has adjusted.  He still does not like to go to bed at night, but he is no longer grieving for his family.  He is not as tired during the day.  We have slowly given him more interaction with family and friends.  He's such a social little guy that I think it has helped him to be around others.  Being around others brings out his separation anxiety too though.  He usually cries when friends and family leave.  Of course he hates it when either of us are away.  It's natural given what he's been through.

It has been an incredible blessing being a family at home for a full week though.  We've taken strolls through the neighborhood, visited several playgrounds.  He got to visit both sets of grandparents.  He's had fun getting to know our rabbit Blanco!  We share in his joys and share in his sorrows.

Many more adventures to come!  Enjoy some of the pictures of Sam and his new home and family:

Helping in mommy's garden

wearing overalls like his great-great-grandpa Emery used to wear

Noodles are a favorite

With friends Jenna and Yuna

Yogurt is fantastic!

Go Beavers!

Sam with Grandpa Chuck

Day 6 - Coming home

An incredibly long day as we ventured home with our new son.  It started at 6am when we woke up in Korea Saturday - that's 2pm Friday Pacific time, and ended when we hit our pillows at around midnight Saturday at home.  Thats about 34 hours with only a short nap or two on the plane!  All things considered it went pretty well.  Sam slept on the plane most of the time.  The most challenging times on the plane were when meals came.  Sam wants to try everything - especially what you are eating.  And when you are all so close together and you can't just move things away from him, spills inevitably happen.  One nice thing about the flight was that the airport in Seoul and the airport in Seattle had playrooms.  So Sam could run around and tire himself in between legs of the flight.  There were some cute moments in the playroom as he likes to flirt with the girls.  He made one girl cry because he kept trying to hug her!

When we made it into Portland, Sam got to meet his grandparents for the first time.  They were very excited to meet him.  For Kristi's parents this is their first grandkid!

After finally getting home, Sam enjoyed exploring and getting to know his new home.  He especially likes his room and all his toys!  He quickly is teaching us what things need to be put up and out of site.  He was so wound up that night that it was hard getting him to go to sleep.  He also cried for his foster family again that night especially after seeing the picture of him and his foster family in the living room.

So now the Korean adventure is over.  It was a great time.  It was really more than I could have dreamed.  We are so excited to be parenting Sam and are looking forward for him to meet all of you.  We are also very thankful for all of you that have been following us on the blog and sending us encouraging words over facebook.  We even had several gifts waiting for us when we got home.  We are so spoiled!  Thank you all.

I imagine that even though Sam is with us now, I'll still update this blog periodically.  After all there is much more story to tell.  Sam hasn't even officially been adopted yet.  Yes, there are a few more hoops to jump through still.  But they will be happy ones.  We'll see how he adjusts but I also predict a big birthday bash for him when he turns 2.  You might get to see him in his hanbok for the first time.  Then there is Halloween and trick or treating for the first time, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Good times await.  Can't wait!

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:

Day 5 - More Sam time

It's amazing how life has changed now that we have Sam.  At the beginning of this vacation it was all about seeing the sights of Korea.  Now the only sight of Korea we care about is our little toddler.  Just sitting and watching him nap is a thrill.  Every laugh, every smile just makes our day no matter where we are.  We did however decide that we needed some family pictures in front of some Korean monuments.  So we spent some more time back at Gyeonbokgung Palace chasing Sam around and harassing the guards.

Enjoy some of our pictures from today.