A Day of Exploring

Hello Everyone!!!

Today was the day of walking.  We walked all over the place and are exhausted.  Plus, it is sooo humid here.  I think the temperature would be great except for the humidity.  We were sweating like crazy.  Although, I hear you Oklahoman's are doing some sweating of your own with 100+ degree weather.  We feel for you.  

We started our morning by walking down to Eastern Social Welfare Services.  We wanted to see where we would be going on Tuesday.  It's about a 10 minute walk from our hotel.  Ours was a little bit longer since we couldn't find it.  Thankfully the Korean people are more than willing to help you out.  However, there is a huge language barrier.  HUGE!  Also, on our walk back from Eastern, we saw a Navigator's sign on a door.  Being the adventurous people we are, we went in to check it out.  I guess the staff were having their weekly meeting and so we got to talk to them about being in the Navigator's in college.  They were very nice and gave us some juice of some sort.  We walked around for a while, going into a shop or two to check stuff out.  Then it was lunch time.  We have only eaten American food since being here.  I'm scared to try Korean food but we are supposed to go eat Korean with Aaron's sales rep tomorrow.  We have eaten Papa Johns' Pizza, TGI Friday's and Pizza Hut.  I'm so glad they have American food.  After lunch we went on the subway for the first time.  It was a little confusing at first but with some help from a nice Korean man, we finally figured it out.  We went to the biggest book store I've ever seen and the busiest.  There were books and people everywhere.  The book store was a bit overwhelming.  In the children's section, you couldn't even walk because of all the people.  We exited there and went to a Palace.  And after all that I was so hot and exhausted that I just needed to come back to the hotel to rest and cool down.  It was an adventurous day for us.  We will see what tomorrow holds for us.  Just 2 more days to meet our little Pryce.  Oh my goodness.  Thanks for the prayers!  Keep them coming!!!

View from our 9th floor room.

This was the nice man that helped us get to Eastern.  

Eastern Social Welfare Services

Can't believe we will be there Tuesday meeting Pryce!!!

The Navigators

The Gyeongbokgung Palace

One of the guards at the palace.

We are wearing our Oklahoma shirts today and there were some American's at the palace that noticed our shirts.  They knew the OKC Thunder and the OSU Cowboys.  It was nice to hear some familiar words.  

The Flight

Hello Everyone from Korea!  

It is 6:20 Saturday morning in Seoul.  We had a very long trip getting here but thankfully it was not too bad.  We left Oklahoma Thursday morning and got here Friday afternoon.  The first flight was good but the second flight was amazing.  Honestly, I didn't really want to get off the plane.  Well, except for the fact that we are going to get our son!!!!!  It was wonderful, like a mini vacation.  We flew on a 747 which I know nothing about, but Aaron was soooo excited about.  Apparently, the 747 is a double decker, and we got to sit on the upper deck.  It was great.  There were only a few people up there with us so we had plenty of room to walk around. We each had our own TV with tons of movies and TV shows to watch.  Our seats would lay all the way down.  It was awesome!!!  We were able to sleep a little.  Of course Aaron didn't get much sleep because he was watching movies.  And we had great food.  After dinner, we had ice cream sundays.  AAAAHHHHH!!!!  

We don't get to meet Pryce until Tuesday (which would be Monday for you all).  We are very excited but honestly I'm a little nervous.  I'm just not sure what to expect, and I'm so afraid he is going to hate us.  Please pray for everyone...Pryce, his foster family, and us.  This transition is going to be difficult for everyone, and we are hopeful that Pryce will attach to us quickly and feel comfortable with us.  We will have a couple of days to win him over before we get on the airplane for the long trip home.  Pray, pray, pray please!!!!

Tomorrow, we are meeting up with one of Aaron's Sales Reps.  His family just happens to be Korean and in Korea right now.  I'm not sure what we are doing yet but I'm sure it will be an adventure.  I'll take lots of pictures to blog about later.  

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support!  We could not have made this journey without you!!!!

These are the 747's lined up ready to go.  They are huge!!!

This is our plane that we flew on for 11 hours.  

Aaron giving the "peace" sign.  Notice all the room we have.  Thank you Aaron for being so smart and saving all our airline points for many, many years.

Here we are.  This is before the 11 hours on the plane.  It was great!  

It has been a wonderful experience so far.  Of course, we are such homebodies that we miss home but are excited for the adventure.  

See you all soon!

Spring has Sprung

So I know it's not officially Spring but it certainly feels like it here.  We have been playing outside all week.  Jett has discovered the art of picking flowers, really they are weeds but he doesn't know that.  Not sure what they are called, but they are those little purple flowers.  I remember when I was little, those flowers covered my Granny Bond's yard.  I would go and pick handfuls of them to give her.  She always acted so pleased with my presentation of weeds.  

And of course the bouncy house.  All we hear is, "I want bounce bounce."  And so the bouncing begins!

  

I love this picture of his hair.  What a mane this kid has?!?!

I think most of you have probably heard the latest on Pryce, but in case you haven't here it is.  Our paper work was not submitted in this first batch to the Korean government.  So we are still just waiting.  Our adoption agency is saying we will probably get to travel to Korea at the end of July.  It's been so frustrating and hopeless at times but it has been a time to really rely on God and His timing.  Hopefully soon that adorable little Korean will be joining his family!!!

New Pics

Hello Everyone!!!!  

Here are some new pictures of the adorable and growing Pryce.  He is starting to look like a little boy and not so much a baby.  I am so sad that we are missing out on his life but hopefully soon he will be home with us.  By the way, please pray for us.  The adoption agency in Korea will be submitting some paperwork soon and we are hoping and praying ours is included.  This would be a HUGE step for us.  

 ADORABLE!!!!!!

Pryce's Room

I know...I'm updating my blog again.  Can you believe it????  

So this is Pryce's Room.  I took pictures from day to day while we were getting it ready.  And I had to brag a bit on the stuff that I made for him.  

Day 1:  What a mess!!!!!!

Day 2:  Still a mess!!!!

Day 3:  Much better with a lot of help from Aaron.

  

 I made him a rugby stripe duvet cover for his bed and curtains to match.  

Day 4:  Ready for that sweet boy to be home in his room.  

Okay, are you impressed?????  hahahaha

Keep praying.  We have a home study on Saturday (our second one because it has taken so long to get him that we have to update it).  We are still hopeful that we will travel in April even though we have heard of more delays in the process.  

Pryce at 16 months old

Here are some new photos of Pryce.  He is 16 months old in these pics.  He's a big boy (about the same size as Jett).  We really hope that we are getting closer to bringing him home but at times it seems so far away.  We are praying that we get to travel to Korea no later than April.  So please pray for us.  Honestly, I'm getting really tired of waiting.  I'm hoping Korea will hurry up and get that boy HOME!!!  

We are so thankful that Pryce has a sweet foster mom.  It's going to be so difficult to separate these two.  You can also pray for that.  In the last reports, they have said that Pryce is very shy around strangers and that it takes him a long time to warm up to new people.  That is not good news for us.  I am praying that God will create an instant bond between us.  

Updated Photos of Sweet Pryce!!!

Recently a group of people from our adoption agency went to Korea, and we always get the opportunity to send a few small gifts with them for our little one.  They always bring us back photos and sometimes a video.  Here are some pictures of Pryce playing with the toy we sent him and reading one of the books we sent.  

We are amazed at how big he is getting.  He weights the same as Jett.  We are pretty sure Jett will have a big brother instead of a little one.  We are so excited for what 2012 will bring for our family.  Hopefully, we will be traveling to get our precious baby boy and bringing him HOME!!!!!

 He's a thumb sucker.  So cute!!!!!

 We also sent some family photos but I think he is more interested in the phone we sent him.  

 Look at those hands and feet...he is going to be a big boy!

 We cannot get over how cute this kid is and he's all ours!!!  Yay!!!!

He's standing on his own.  We aren't sure if he is walking yet.

1st Birthday Photo

This is an older picture of Pryce in his traditional Korean hanbok.  They wear these for their 1st birthday and other formal occasions.