입양허가

입양허가 – "Permission of adoption"

This was posted on the Korean Courts public website yesterday.  This should mean that the 14 day waiting period begins.  The only waiting question now is regarding Hyun's birth mother.  I ask for your prayers again for her... her strength, discernment, and that she will feel the love and presence of God.  Honestly, the interaction with her may have already come and gone.  We will not know for certain until we hear something officially from the agency.

Dear Heavenly Father,

입양허가 -These are the words written by a judge or someone in the court system – yet, it was truly granted by You.  Oh Father, how I give You praise that You gave us favor in the eyes of the judge.  I know the words we spoke, but I will never know the words he heard – I know they were from You.  You have heard our cries and have answered our prayers.  You are a faithful and loving God. Amen

Trip 1 Day 10 Court Day

Ahhh! Beautiful Wi-Fi connection!  Several of you have tried to contact me regarding our court hearing on Friday since I haven't posted - thank you for that, but I haven't posted because I haven't had connection.

We are actually in Dallas right now, and will hopefully be back in Tulsa in just a few hours.  Trips like this are always wonderful, but it is also so nice to be back on US soil.

As for our court hearing - I can't imagine that it could have gone any better.  Our judge was so kind and jovial.  As soon as we entered the court, he said, "Before I even begin, I want you to know that I have thoroughly reviewed all of your paperwork and home studies, and I see no concerns."... so that was of course very reassuring.  He made similar statements throughout our time together.

We were told that the judges rarely speak to the children that attend court, and, if they did speak to the children, it was usually just one simple question - "What did  you think about your brother/sister when you met them?". Well, the judge took an interest in Reese, and asked him a lot of questions regarding our time with Hyun, his hobbies, etc.  Our home study mentioned that we had been learning Hangul, so the judge asked Reese to speak to him in Hangul.  Reese introduced himself and told the judge how old he was in Korean.

The judge spoke to Ron a lot about his hobbies - which in speaking with the other adoptive families who also had court hearings on the same day as us, he asked almost every husband the same questions regarding hobbies.  Ron thinks maybe he was trying to determine if the husbands leave their families behind to pursue their own hobbies. 

The judge also enquired about Ron's mom's health since she had been diagnosed with cancer.  The judge also laughed when highlighting Ron's minor arrest record from when he was 19 years old (it was for a trespassing violation - which, by the way, he wasn't even really trespassing).   

He only asked me one question - "What is 60 Days Around the World?"  "60 Days Around the World" was a curriculum I was doing with Reese at the time of the first home study where we had a map and a booklet that taught us different things about many cultures and countries.  It would also share the hardships of the different countries, and then we would pray for each country and it's people.  After I shared this with the judge, he said, "this is one reason I love western culture.".  I think he appreciated that we appreciate and care about a variety of cultures.  I'm so glad the judge did not ask Reese the question about this curriculum because he was 5 when our original home study was completed and doesn't remember it at all!  We would have looked like such liars!

So the big question of the day... "When do we go back to Korea?". I don't know.  There is a very good chance that the preliminary approval will be completed sometime next week.  This particular judge is known for being slow and meticulous before the court hearing while being very fast after the hearing.  If approved, we think there is a good chance we will be going back first week of June, BUT  we don't know for sure until we receive final word from our agency.  There is still the unknown factor regarding Hyun's birth mother; we have no information regarding how their contact with her has been.  If she has officially signed all the necessary paperwork then early June is a real possibility.

Trip 1 Day 9: Nanta

Today was filled with preparation for our court hearing, a bit more sight seeing, and a trip to see Nanta - an amazing, non-verbal theatrical show in Seoul.  This show was definitely a highlight of our trip.  It was really funny and full of skill - martial art style dancing, drums, amazing use of knives, and a few other things.  Reese was mesmerized through the whole thing.  I think he went expecting to be bored.

Not really anything in the way of pictures today.

There are 8 families headed to court with us tomorrow... Each has been waiting similar time frames as us.  There are 6 boys and 2 girls waiting to be adopted to each of these families.  Obviously coming to Korea is a trip of a life time, but it is surreal that we ultimately all traveled this far to stand in front of a man that has never met us and will determine each family's path forward based on a 10 minute translated conversation.  I've heard many good things about the judge in which we have been assigned, and I am believing that we will be chaperoned by the Holy Spirit... May our words be His words, and may His love shine through us tomorrow.

Our court hearing will be happening when in is 9pm central and 10pm eastern time Thursday evening.  If you are awake during this time, will you join us in prayer?

Love you all!

Trip 1 Day 7: Hyun Day

"Faithful is He who calls you, and He will also bring it to pass."" 1 Thessalonians 5:24

 

I have contemplated many times - what is the "it" talked about in this verse?  I believe "it" will vary during the various seasons of our lives, as God molds and shapes us... as He calls us to different opportunities.  As I read this verse this morning during my reading and prayer time, all I could envision is that we are living amidst the "it" actually happening.

 

September 19, 2012, God gave me a vision of thousands of children (mostly middle - high school aged) standing, facing this giant wall. Their hands were folded as if they wanted to pray, but the wall was so huge that they couldn't see anything before them, and it was so tall that they couldn't see anything above them.  I somehow knew that these children were orphans, and, because of this giant wall standing before them, they were having difficulty seeing God; their fear was so great, and the words "Abba! Father!" could not come out of their mouths.

 

Eventually I was able to walk up and tap one on the shoulder and point up.  After looking up, he tapped on the shoulder of the person next to him, and that person looked up.. then another, and another.  God's words to me that day were, "You have an opportunity."

 

This is our "it" right now - our opportunity, to teach Hyun and Reese to one day cry out "Abba! Father!" to the one true healer.

 

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Little words need to be said about our day... I will let the pictures and videos speak for themselves.

 

 

 

Anyeongasayo, Hyun!

Where is Hyun?

Hmm... We still can't find him!

 

Come out, come out, wherever you are.

Sharing an apple with big brother

Hello friends!

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Then to finish up our day, we went to eat and walk around near a local university.  Good food, music, people, and fun... and it was just a good time to spend together as a family. 

 



Shrimp with the head and eyes still on.

One store had this cool robot guy.

 

 

Trip 1 Day 6: A Day in Central Seoul

After our day of rest yesterday, we were ready for another big adventure.  Reese slept until 10am!!!! So we got off to a slower start than I had anticipated... but, no big deal.  We started the day with a small breakfast in a café located within the same building as the agency, orphanage, and our guest house. 

One of the many things we love about the Korean agency that we are going through is that they are not completely focused on shuffling kids around.  They have a wide ranged ministry helping people with special needs and educating single mothers who have chosen to parent their child rather than choosing adoption or abortion.  The café that we went to this morning is part of that support that the agency provides to these women.  The women can work at the café for extra money and the proceeds go toward educating the women so that they can parent well and obtain higher paying jobs to support them and their child.

Seoul Tower
After breakfast we maneuvered the subway system to central Seoul (we are in the southwest part of Seoul) in order to see North Seoul Tower and then go to the Namdaemun Market.  North Seoul Tower is on top of Namsam Mountain and is the geographical center of Seoul. 

The Seoul tower is known as the tower of "love".  Many people from all over the world come to put their "lock of love" at the tower.  I don't fully understand the tradition, but - hey - we're here, so we might as well join in.

Tree made out of "locks of love"

Our lock...

Reese standing on the exact center of Seoul

Carter - this one's for you, Buddy!  Grampy Whiskers climbed to the top with us!

The rest of the "guys" that climbed to the top with us.

Reese snapped this picture... I don't know how long these woman stood like this, but they were standing like this when we got there, and they were there when we left.  It was a looooong time.

Namdaemun Market

After a few hours, we walked to Namdaemun Market, which is basically like an outdoor flea market with anything you can think of.  It was so fascinating - it is a fast paced market with a lot of bargaining - though I hate to admit it, Ron and I just paid full price for everything.  Bargaining in Hangul is not a skill I posses at this point, and, honestly, it was already reasonably priced.  We were able to pick up a few gifts, souvenirs for ourselves (including a beautiful tea set that I was hoping to get while I was here!), and a few fun things for Reese's class.

 Subway

Because we had walked to Namdaemun from Seoul Tower, we decided to take a different subway line back to our guest house since it was closer than the line we went on originally.  Well... hmm... speaking more Korean would have been helpful at this point!  We kept looking at the map, walking in circles, thinking the station had to be close!  Well, it was - It was seriously right next to us for about 30 minutes.  We've lost our marbles!  The hustle and bustle of the subway system on the way back a little crazy, so we were thankful to make it back to the guest house a little after 7pm.

Tomorrow we are back to focusing on the real reason we are here... we get to spend part of the day with Hyun.  Will you all pray with me about our time together with him and his foster mom?  I feel like I could gleam so much information from her, but our translator we had last time really struggled.  She had to look several things up on her phone to try and translate properly.  It was just a little painful for all involved.  I of course have a lot of questions for her about Hyun but am hesitant to ask because I'm not sure that it's coming across right, and it's taking up a lot of the time that we have with Hyun. 

Many families are staying at the guest house with us now, so it has been nice to connect with several other families who have gone through the same process as us.  We were also able to meet an adult adoptee who is here to adopt now that she is married.

My brain is so full of amazing memories.  Thanks for sharing in all of this with us.  We really appreciate all the comments, love and support.

Trip 1 Day 4 - Worship in Suwon

Today is actually day 5, but it's been relatively uneventful (we needed a day of rest!) and I missed my post on Day 4 - which was full of excitement.  Yesterday will definitely go down as one of the most unique Mother's Day I have had and probably ever will experience. 

We spent the day with Esther and Peter again.  Their church had a special event planned for today - Sports Day.  So rather than meeting at the church, we met at a local gym with 600-700 other members of their congregation.  We started with a worship service, had lunch and then participated in Sports Day.  Ended the day with a visit to the Hwasang Fortress (built almost 1000 years ago!), another wonderful meal, and then we headed back to the Suwon Station for travel back to Seoul on train and subway.  We arrived back at our guest room around 10pm.

Worshipping with our Christian family in Korea was so moving.  Several songs were familiar to us - though they were of course sung in Hangul. 

Peter preached a sermon that I will hold onto (Esther was translating for me) - he used the Psalms to discuss and teach about praising God in difficult times.  He used analogies of the Koreans having victory and freedom from the Japanese.  They sang a song that was written as a result of their victory, and then Peter changed the words of the song to sing about the victory we have in Christ versus Satan.

While singing the song, he played a traditional Korean small gong "Kkwaenggwari".  At the end of the day, Peter gave us his kkwaenggwari as a gift.  I can't tell you how much this means to us.  It will probably be our most treasured take away from this trip (with the exception of our son of course).



Gong given to us by Peter

During church, Peter introduced our family and shared a little of our adoption story.  The people of the congregation were so kind to us and honored us in so many ways.

Sports Day was an absolute blast.  Every age group participated in this event.  I am so impressed with how healthy and agile the elderly are in this society.  The congregation was divided into 4 groups (red, blue, yellow and green).  We all sat in bleachers, and as the host would give guidance to how many people from each team should participate and general instructions for each event.  Since we couldn't understand what the host was saying, all the congregation would just push us out into the gym as to say "It's your turn - go!".  So Ron and I would participate in events without even knowing the rules sometimes, but we would just get to the back of the line and follow the people ahead of us.

Here's what I learned during these events:

• Ron looks great in a clown wig, dress and flippers
• I am apparently good at kicking traditional Korean shoes a long distance
• Americans, in general, can't hula-hoop at all in comparison to Koreans (the hula-hooping was some pretty serious business!)
• Americans, in general, are better at riding scooters than Koreans.
• Korean "Bingo" is actually American "Connect 4"
• Rock, paper, scissors can be fun for children and adults!

There was a relay race using scooters, and when Ron and I rode (we were on the same team) we went a bit faster than most everyone - so the host declared that Ron and I had to race each other.  So Ron and I raced, and the crowd went wild.  It was so funny.

What a fun time!



Go Blue Team!

 



Ron in relay race in wig, dress and flippers



This was an event for people >70 years old... look at them run


Reese and I racing while holding a ball between us

Leaving Esther and Peter was very difficult for all of us.  We have, for so long, looked forward to our visit together.  Our being there helped them feel closer to EunJoo, and we just felt so encourage, loved and inspired by them.  It was definitely a time we will never forget.

So, I will end with a really funny story.

Our trip home felt long - we were so tired.  When we got off the subway, we exited to a part of town that we were not expecting, and we were turned around, and it was late at night.  As we were trying to get our bearings, we were walking down an "alley", but there were still many people walking around.  A man dressed in a suit walked past us and let the loudest toot I have ever heard.  Even funnier than that is he did not miss a step, and NOBODY around us responded at all.   We were trying so hard to hold it together, but we were so tired (and we have an 8 year old with us) - we lost it.  It was hard to focus on finding our way home after that.  Every time we think of it now, we all just start cracking up.

Pictures of Hwasang Fortress

 



Young boy protecting Hwasang Fortress :)

 

 

Trip 1 Day 3 - Suwon Trip

We traversed the KTX (Korean train system) today in order to travel to Suwon - a city about 1 hour south of Seoul and is also the home of our friends Esther and Peter Kang.  For those of you who know our sweet friend EunJoo... Esther and Peter are her parents.

Riding the KTX to Suwon

Peter and Esther are unbelievable hosts and treated us like kings and queens.  We spent the majority of the day at the Korean folk village where we got to explore many of the historical houses and traditions of Korea.  Also, there were several shows with dancers, acrobatic horse riders (I have no other idea of how to describe this...), tried a variety of foods, and bought some souvenirs.

Can you tell which ones are statues and which ones are Reese?

No lie... this is dried squid, and I ate it.

 

This is a woman making silk out of silk worms

Mannequins depicting old traditional schooling for boys. 

After the folk village, we took a bus back to the older part of Suwon and got to tour  Peter and Esther's church in which he is the lead pastor.  It was such an honor to visit here and hear about the amazing work God is doing through these two and their entire congregation.

Entry to "Suwon Church"

We found some beautiful art in the church that was painted by my dear friend EunJoo!

Peter had made a reservation at a favorite local restaurant that is owned by a friend.  They had the table prepared and ready for us when we arrived.  Everything about this restaurant was perfect.  We had our own little room set aside, we sat on the floor, and was provided every Korean side dish ever invented. We were also given golpi beef which is a type of beef in which Suwon is well known.  The "coals" were brought right to our table, where the beef was placed in order to cook.

Entry to restaurant

As if that wasn't enough, Esther and Peter reserved a night for us at a local hotel (they had been given a voucher for a free night - and they were so kind to give it to us!).  This hotel is well above and beyond!  It is beautiful, and I definitely took advantage of the amazing tub, bath salts, and all the other things that could be used to spoil us.  The view from our room is awesome.

 

Even the toilets are high tech in this place!

There are all these buttons and I have no idea what they do!

Peter and Esther... wow.  Thank you for being wonderful hosts and making us feel so welcomed to Korea.  It was an amazing and unique experience.