AT LAST PAPPAS HAS HER FAVOR

Pappas Guymon had last seen Jessica on Monday, September 14th when Jessica was still fussy and unsure of who she would allow to hold her. Jessica still would not let me hold her either. After that, Pappas saw everyone and their mother start holding her and she would smile - through the blog. So, mammas and pappas were invited over on Sunday, September 20th. As they walked in the door, I predicted that within 60 minutes she would be in his arms and happy to be there. Sure enough, actually within 15 minutes, she went to him and was happy being there.

She has really come along and become comfortable with just about everyone. If she isn't quite sure of someone, she will stare them over and once comfortable, most likely she will go to them. Julie and I can't quite tell now if her fussiness that shows up periodically is just because she is a baby or if sometimes it is that she just isn't quite as comfortable yet with her new surroundings. But she is doing great. She seems to be laughing more and more everyday. She is definitely easier to do things that makes her laugh. Smiling a lot!!!

GETTING ADJUSTED

We have been home for 6 days and what a contrast we have seen along the way.

Jessica is doing wonderful. I think the biggest change I saw was from Monday to Tuesday and it just keeps getting better for her everyday that passes.

Monday, she was clingy to Julie (and Samantha) and really didn't want to be put down. Julie and I could both tell that she was missing her foster family and seemed to be missing those things that just a few days earlier had provided the comfort a one-year old needs. At the same time, while bowling, a stranger had come over after overhearing our adoption story and put her arms out for Jessica and Jessica leaned over and went to her. By this time, she was not comfortable with me, Julie's parents or most adults. But out of nowhere, while we were bowling, Jessica willing went to Julie's mom and continued to be comfortable the rest of that night with her.

Tuesday, when I got home from work, Jessica was wandering around the house away from Julie, investigating closets, drawers, and anything that was within her reach. She has been reluctant to come to me which I have been fine with - so many new things and so much uncertainty for her, it wasn't necessary to force the issue. The night before was a perfect example when she went to Judy. Jessica will return to her happy-go-lucky self as she gets comfortable with her surroundings. So Tuesday night, she wandered over to the dishwasher and began taking out the silverware and dropping it on the floor as I was trying to load the dishwasher. She let me pick her up and also when she got upset at something, she actually reached out for me. Julie is still her "security blanket" as she should and you can tell the motherly bond is growing each day.

Each night, Jessica is going to bed easier and easier. The first few nights there were a lot of tears. Tonight, I am not sure if I heard any tears and Julie just held her and gave her a sipper cup since she has shown little interest in formula or a baby bottle. Based on what we have read, Jessica will be in our bed for a few weeks until the security of being in her new home is well established. She loves fruit, yogurt, apple sauce, milk, bread, Ritz crackers, and most of the finger food that we give her. She has a very healthy appetite which also has shown up as she has gotten more and more comfortable with her environment.

The kids absolutely adore her and she adores them. When they get home from school Jessica gets so excited to see them. They love to make her laugh. She will go to each one of them. Samantha makes her laugh by doing a high step walk while holding her. Spencer can tickle her under her chin which makes her laugh as well. Brady likes to run up to her quickly and make her laugh that way. And Colby who seemed like a small boy when we left to go get her, now appears to have grown in one week while we were gone - in contrast to Jessica he seems like a giant now. Colby even loves to try and pick her up. We are trying to monitor for jealousy or a tendency on our part to give too much attention to Jessica at the expense of one of the children. So far we haven't seen or noticed any problems. We all seem so enamored with Jessica finally being here that we have all enjoyed having the extra member of our family with us. Julie and I are so proud at how quickly our kids (all 5) have adapted and warmed up to each other. While the honeymoon will end someday, we are thoroughly enjoying our new family.

After talking on Monday with my dad, I noted to him after just the first day, that there was not a need to give her space. While the first 3 days or so, she has had her struggles adjusting, Jessica didn't seem to be adversely affected by additional visitors. So Grandpa Fox and Grandma Fox couldn't wait and planned a visit to come up from St George to see their newest granddaughter. Jessica does stare you down and looks you over while she is getting use to you. The few strangers have been the exception to this rule. In the case of my Dad and Betty, upon their first arrival and ride in the car to Spencer's game - Jessica looked them over and was comfortable keeping the distance. My dad had mentioned that he wasn't expecting that this trip would result in a successful bonding experience with her. He was quickly proven wrong. Wednesday night, all of Thursday and Friday morning before they left, Jessica was demanding Grandpa time. Betty was not far behind on the holding avenue with Jessica. There was definite bonding with her grandparents for the 2 days that they were here. I am so grateful that Jessica had time to bond with them so early on.

Again, she is getting so comfortable each and every day with her surroundings and her new family - it is truly amazing how quickly things have progressed. When Julie told me earlier in the week that on two occasions for short periods of time later in the week (Friday and Saturday) that I was going to have to watch her alone, I was a bit nervous about how much crying she would do during those times. By today, I was no longer worried because of her progress. Jessica and I were buds for most of the morning. She will even come to me now when Julie is holding her. So by the time Julie had to leave for 3 hours, there was nothing to worry about. Just the normal entertainment requirement that had to be met. She hung out with me, slept, ate and welcomed the kids home from school. Jessica is an absolute blast. I had forgotten how much fun a 1 year old is - yes she demands attention but she is so cute and fun. She is laughing and smiling a lot more. Still somewhat guarded at times with her smiling, but like I said, each day there is obvious progress in her comfort level. She is truly a member of the Fox family. We are more complete with her finally here in our home.

Julie finished decorating her room. With Samantha we were unable to get really girlie in decorating her room for a couple reasons. However, before we left for Korea, Julie told me that she really wanted the decorations in her room to be ALL GIRL! Pink, purple and a lot of butterflies. We also had a professional calligrapher in Korea paint her name "Jessica" on a scroll that hangs in her room. We also have a framed Korean character for love which is her Korean given name "Sa Rang" that is going on her wall. While we didn't want to overdo it with her Korean heritage, we did want to have a touch of her culture in her room. For now though, in keeping with the recommendation of the experts, she will remain in our bed for a few weeks until she is fully over the separation anxiety.

Everyone that has seen her pictures always comment on how adorable and cute she is. As biased parents, we refuse to argue about this because she in fact is adorable and cute; much like our other 4 kids - yes BIASED but I don't think anyone in their right mind would argue these facts. But may I tell you again as a biased father, that the pictures don't do justice for Jessica. Her petite and adorable face will melt your heart. She is a little doll!!! I hope everyone will get to meet her soon. She is truly love personified - no doubt why she got her name Sa Rang.

I plan to continue to make entries once a week until routine dominates and everything for Jessica seems to be fully adjusted. Thanks for everyone's support during this long adoption process. If anyone is considering adoption, do NOT hesitate to ask us about the process, the challenges and the blessings of adoption. For us, this has been an incredible and rewarding process. Jessica has indeed been well worth the challenges we faced a long the way. All these challenges have made it that much sweeter. Jessica is a blessing of perseverance. We have been blessed.

HOME SWEET HOME

So as we came down the escalator to the bag claim area at the Salt Lake airport, there to greet us was 4 very excited children and Grandma and Grandpa Guymon, Aunt Misty and cousin Meah. Samantha had made a sign to welcome us home. That was emotional in and of itself. Grandma Guymon had warned the children that they would need to be careful not to overwhelm Jessica. That maybe they would need to stand back and just let Jessica get comfortable with everyone. NOT NEEDED. The coolest part of the welcome home was when Jessica was put down on the ground by the kids and she started hugging them and smiling and interacting with them. I had given them that same advice before we left but it has been unnecessary except when she has gotten tired and fussy. How quickly she has taken to the all four of the kids has been amazing. Samantha was picking her up and carrying her like a little mom. Within the hour of their meeting, when Samantha would put her down, sometimes Jessica whined until Samantha picked her back up.

We decided to head to a park to let the kids play, have pizza and share the stories of our trip and the plane ride home. It was fun just seeing the kids continue to interact with Jessica. I have seen Jessica crawl up to Brady to give him a hug. Spencer was bouncing a ball and tickler her under her chin which was getting her to laugh. Colby who 1 week ago look like a munchkin, now stands by Jessica and looks like a giant. Having him as the baby, I guess we forgot he was still growing. None of the kids seem at all jealous of Jessica but continue to be excited to finally have her home. We have been including a plea in our family prayers to allow Jessica to come to our family and now she is finally here.

At the park we celebrated Jessica's belated first birthday. She was showered with presents by her siblings and her extended family. Waiting at home we even had an afghan that my mom knitted a baby's blanket for who knows who that was found in a closet at my dad's home several months ago. We aren't sure why it was sitting in the closet. My mom would knit afghans all the time in for her grandkids, friend's babies and whomever else she had in mind. With my mom passing 5 years ago, the extra baby afghan seemed to be a present straight from heaven to a special little girl who will only hear about her wonderful grandma who always had a heart close to heaven. Go ahead and tell me that was just a coincidence and I will laugh in your face. When my dad gave us that afghan wrapped in baby shower wrapping paper, it has been waiting for Jessica on our mantel now for 4 months.

What a world wind this past couple weeks has been. Today we took her to the reception center for an extended family party for Julie's side. She is showing all the right signs. While she gets a lot of comfort from Samantha holding her and playing with her, and that she loves playing with her brothers, in the end when she is in the need for the most comfort, she must have her mommy. We realize Jessica still is adjusting. She still misses her foster mom. We don't expect it to change overnight. But we know we can provide the necessary comforts and reassurance that she needs to continue to transition into her new family. Two sets of grandparents, 7 uncles, 7 aunts, 18 cousins, 1 spouse of a cousin, 3 brothers, 1 sister, 1 dad and 1 mommy - she won't be lacking for love, that's for sure. Dad, grandma and grandpa are patiently waiting in the wings for her to get comfortable with her new environment. She is adorable!

OUR FLIGHT HOME

We got checked in, made it through immigrations with the proper checks being made of this Caucasian couple coming through with a Korean infant. We boarded early and got settled into the bulk head seats which gave us an option of getting some type of bassinet for the ride if we needed it. As you may suspect, Jessica continued to cry just in little bits throughout. We had all sorts of things to provide her in hopes of distracting her from her thoughts and feelings of separation.

I tend to worry more than Julie does about things. For me, with the encouragement and advise my Dad provided through the blog and with the email Christie from our agency sent which eliminated some of the mystery of what to expect during the travel time, when Jessica came to me at Eastern for 10 minutes or so without crying (even though see eventually got upset at the end of that 10 minutes) I knew it was just a matter of time before things would be fine. Seeing Julie caring for Jessica as a mother while riding to the airport was reassuring too. Julie did tell Jessica on the ride out to the airport that Jessica's grandpa had told her to hold her close even if she cried hard. I am not sure Jessica understood but we knew we were doing the right things to help her during her early anxious moments.

The 10 hour trip really could not have gone much better. We suspected their would be bumps in the road, but it ended up really being only one bump. For what seemed like much longer than 20 minutes, early on in the flight Jessica had her own breakdown. Not that 4 kids make you seasoned veterans as parents, but it sure seemed like she was tired on top of everything else. What complicated matters as much as anything was the goodness of a lot of people that unfortunately couldn't be drawn on. As Christie had warned us, the flight attendants wanted to help us and Jessica so badly. We had three flight attendants around us at any one time surrounding our seats during this twenty minutes trying to stop Jessica's tears or they requested to hold her. We had two Korean mothers (probably similar in age to Mrs. Kim) who wanted to help - asked to take her. We tried as kindly as we could in turning down their offers to help, but Julie had to on 3-4 occasions just tell them that she needed to bond with her and that they could not hold her - although I don't think “the bonding” concept translated over very well everyone gave us the space we needed. Imagine if you will, we have a Korean infant who is suffering greatly from separation anxiety and she wants to go to these people who look much more familiar to her than we do. Christie again told us not to feel bad in telling the flight attendants or anyone else "no" but that the time was important for us to bond with Jessica. She wore herself out during those 2o minutes in Julie's arm and fell asleep finally taking her pacifier. I found the situations when she struggled interesting - as she cried and pushed away during these moments, she also pulled in and held close to Julie. I am sure she was confused in wanting to get away from these strangers but wanting and knowing the comfort she would receive was from these same strangers. The bond phase is truly a process that happens over time.

She slept for 7 hours. While the flight attendants offered us the bassinet, Julie did not want to put her down and have her wake up. So Julie, her butt and her arms suffered a bit for 7 hours while Jessica comfortably slept. Later I had Jessica for 1 hour sleeping at the end of the 10 hour flight after she fell back asleep and my butt was begging for mercy - I can only imagine Julie's physical suffering. Julie adjusted as best she could while we basically watched movies and talked. Julie had the thought that while we had 2.5 years of emotional labor while waiting to get Jessica, these 7 hours were Julie's physical labor pains.

Jessica has never really taken a bottom of formula that Mrs. Kim gave us, but when she did wake up we did confirm something else Mrs. Kim had told us and that was that Jessica loves watermelon and cantaloupe. She ate all the fruit they gave us with one of our meals. She remained in pretty good spirits for the rest of the flight. As mentioned before, she did fall asleep again for the last part of the flight.

Coming through immigrations, we completed all the proper paper work to get Jessica's Korean passport stamped so she is a offically a legal resident of the United States of America. The gentleman that helped us even gave the standard speech to Jessica of "Welcome to the United States of America". For those wondering, a Korean adoption becomes official after 6 months. At that point, the child of two American citizens automatically becomes a citizen and can apply for a U.S. passport. For now, she is a legal resident of the U.S. (she will be receiving her green card in the mail) and can apply for a social security number so she can WORK! Despite formalities, Jessica is one of our children and will be loved just as much as we love our other four wonderful children.

The 3 hour layover at LAX was fairly uneventful. We ate sandwichs with a McDonald's coke. Jessica ate watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes and honey dew. As with most kids, once the initial appetite is met, eating becomes a game and so was the case with the fruit. Spewing it from her mouth was much funner than continuing to eat it.

The flight home from LAX to Salt Lake City was unfortunate in some degree, but at that point it was possibly only a frustration for those around us on the plane - but mildly stress for us. The travel was near an end, so the fatigue was high for all three of us. However, the real distress for Jessica on this flight was her ears. She was fine on the plane until it took off. She cried for most of the 1 hour 22 minutes of flight time. As soon as the plane landed, she stopped crying immediately. I am not Sherlock Holmes, but the clues seemed to indicate that Jessica was suffering from the uncomfortable pressure she was feeling in her ears. We were unable to get her to take her bottle or for the life of me, she wouldn't pop her own ears - just kidding. She was content as the plane taxied into the gate and we got our stuff together to deplane.

The thoughts of getting her home, as we landed in Salt Lake City, was exciting, but more important than that was the thought of introducing her to her new brothers and her new sister. That was to come sooner than later as we knew right outside of Security was a welcomed and emotional sight for Julie and I.

THE PICKUP

When we got to Eastern that Saturday at 11:50am the front doors were locked. We headed around back to see the foster dad, the foster mom (Mr. and Mrs. Kim), Jessica and two Eastern workers that we hadn't met before. They were able to get our luggage and we were now just waiting (ended up being 20 minutes) for the driver to show up.

Jessica was handed over to me when we got there. She stayed calm for about 10 minutes with me holding her and looking around. The toughest part of this whole "final meeting" was the foster parents. Mr. Kim stayed out in their car the whole time. Previously Mrs. Kim told us that Jessica was really close to Mr. Kim. We assumed it was too tough for him emotionally, so he just stayed in the car. Mrs. Kim was visibly emotional and did breakdown as we left. This was a huge but necessary tradeoff for getting a child that received all the love they needed during that first year versus a child that received little nurturing and just sat in a corner of an orphanage staring at the walls but not having any seperation anxiety.

As hard as it was to see Mr. and Mrs. Kim struggle with saying goodbye, Julie and I would not have wanted it any other way. They spoke no english, so we always had to have a translator to assist in the communication. I think she knew that we understood and knew how much we appreciated her. I have no doubt that Mr. and Mrs. Kim will hold a special place in our hearts forever for the love they freely gave to Jessica during that first year. They are great people. Julie said the night before that what she knew she would be most emotional about was seeing Jessica's distress AS WELL AS Mrs. Kim's emotional struggles with saying goodbye. I don't think either of us realized how attached Mr. Kim was until that day.

We left Eastern with Jessica sitting on Julie lap crying for her loss with little understanding of her gain - but that we knew would sort itself out in time - and with Mrs. Kim crying as the van drove away. Jessica cried for most of the 50 minute ride to the airport.

Once we got to the airport, Julie put her in a carrier and carried Jessica on her back - which is the way Mrs. Kim explained earlier that Jessica liked to be carried. While there were intermittent sad sounds that Jessica made, for the most part, she had settled down a bit. However, we wouldn't see a smile from her the whole trip even though she seemed content and calm for most of the trip home.

FINAL STOMPING THROUGH SEOUL

Sorry for the gap between entries, but from the next 3 or 4 entries, you may see that we had really no time to get on the computer and update everyone. Then last night sitting in the comforts of our office chair in front of the computer, I fell asleep. Well, here we go on the updates. . . .



Friday night, we went to bed somewhat reserved and nervous about the next day and picking up Jessica for the trip home. That is when I wrote the last entry. I googled "adoption and stranger anxiety" but didn't come up with much that directly applied to our situation. We had already read enough on it that I wasn't sure if we would find anything new. Then I realized I should write to our agency to get a feel for what to expect. The next morning Christie wrote us a detailed response which ended up be exactly what happened on our journey home. She was spot on. Her email along with my dad's response, helped to take a little of the mystery out of the look ahead.


For our last few hours in Seoul, we had a lot we wanted to do. We actually woke up at 3am - again our clocks were off and a little anxiety acts as an effective alarm clock. By 5am we were out the door in search of the LDS temple. We had the address written down but our taxi driver had no clue. Julie knew of the metro station that was close to the temple. There are two entrances to the metro that have that same name. Murphy knew well that we would be taken to the farthest of the two. After wandering the backstreets, the mainstreets, and every other street in that area, we found the temple. In light of what was to occur in the next 24 hours, the time spent in the temple was a very emotional 2 hours.



From there we went to a bookstore we hadn't had a chance to before today. We wanted to get a few books for Jessica that had Korean and English writing in them - namely interactive kid books we could use on the plane. We also got some crayons, blank pad of paper, and other things we thought might entertain Jessica on the 12 hours of flight time home.



Throughout the trip it was always entertaining to be ask on the simplest of items that the cost was over 10,000. The Korean won has a 1,200:1 exchange rate for 1 US dollar. We were paying 15,000 won for the simplest of souveniers.


Throughout our wanderings in Seoul, we constantly imagine what the editing would look like if we were on "The Amazing Race". We got stuck with the taxi driver that hadn't a clue on where we wanted to go; I am sure on a few occasions that we were wandering in circles around the place we were looking for. Having seen that show so many times, we knew exactly how our scenes would have been edited.



One other thought I failed to explain earlier was Dr. Kim of Eastern shared with us and another couple from Texas there to adopt a child, an authentic Korean meal. Julie did good trying everything. I cleaned off my plate but have to admit that there were a couple of items that took me to the edge of my limits. I maintained all food items in my stomach. It was funny thought, the two items that tried my gag reflects was a simple piece of fried squash and a dim sum (similar to a pot sticker that I have had hundreds of time with Chinese food). It was somethingn they put with it that I wasn't use to. But generally speaking, Korean food was fine though I still much rather eat Chinese food.




Our final stop after the book store was the changing of the guards at the Deoksugung Palace. They had changed the times when the changing occurred so we missed it the day before. This time we got there just before 10:30am giving us plenty of time because 2 different people told us that it would be at 11am. Well, sure enough the changing of the guards occurred at 10:30am. We would have missed it had we stopped somewhere to eat which we were considering. The guards were dressed in old traditional Korean military dress. The ceremony was really cool to see.



At this point we had over an hour before we had to be at Eastern for our "gottcha date". That is the phrase adoptive parents use to mark the day that they "get" their child. Eastern, the night before, had arranged to pick us and our luggage up at our hotel and bring us to their building. We were able to arrange for them to come and pick up our luggage and just meet us at their building at noon. That really helped out not having to worry about getting our luggage there. So off we headed to Eastern with a lot of excitement and a little bit of anxiousness to go with it.

OH MY ACHING FEET

Today has to be the "day of the walk". We did a ton of walking and riding around on the subway. The best part of the walking was we got out of the subway and walked around and really saw a lot of Seoul even though some of it we were a little lost.

Today we saw the Deoksugung Palace, the New Seoul Tower, and the Village Replica that was like going to pioneer park with the locals dressed up in the traditional formal Korean dress, living in the old Korean style homes. We tried to go to the Folk Village which was recommended to us by a few friends. But our visit to Eastern today broke up the day making it impossible to get out there before it closed. We actually started heading out there but realized when we were getting closer that we wouldn't make it. That is when we redirected our trip to go to the tower and the village.

We did go to Eastern today and visited with some of the executives. Dr. Kim gave us brief history of Korea over the past several decades explaining about the stigma that existed concern domestic adoption as well as single mothers. Things are changing but some of it still exists. She gave one example that a mother planning to adopt domestically would stuff their clothes and fake a pregnancy so that people would assume that the adopted child was one they carried.

We got to see Jessica again today. During the visit the foster mother and social worker left the room to see how she would do. For the first 20-25 minutes she was fine. She was a little hesitant but she played with Julie and I pretty good. She still was reluctant to let us hold her but she was pretty good at interacting with us. However, she then started to get restless and then got really upset. Eventually the foster mom came back in and calmed her down.

Our agency warned us that she was starting to show signs of "stranger anxiety". We were expecting it. We totally understand it. But when you see the distressed look on her face and realize that tomorrow she will experience again but this time for real - it is heart breaking. We are praying that Jessica will be comforted and that we will do all the right things to help her be adjust.

So now we are excited but reserved in our emotions, knowing that this will be tough for her. She is so adorable. I told the kids that they would be shocked at how much more they will love her when they meet her for the first time than they ever imagined.

We are lucky to be bringing such a sweet girl into our family.

CATCH-UP OF OUR TRIP TO KOREA

In order to not be overly voluminous in my entries (though I may have failed on one or two of the entries) I want to go back for our kids' sake and mention a few things I have skipped over. Anyone out there who does not think they can control their "smart remarks" should end here on their reading of this entry. (And yes, I know who you are!!!!) WARNING - EXCESSIVE DETAIL BELOW - If you are mentally or physically unable to handle excessive detail, please stop reading and comeback tomorrow.




One of the pictures I took was of the Arrival Board at the Soeul airport that shows our flight - Korean Air #18 which arrived almost an hour early. I thought the kids would enjoy seeing the Korean characters on the board. Julie and I were seated together but fortunately the flight was not full and we had the extra seat to have space on the long flight. We basically read, watched movies and slept. Far different I imagine from what our return flight will be with an infant. We hope to keep Jessica entertained on the way back or maybe she will do us a favor and just sleep. As our agency advised us, we requested and got the bulk head seats for the return flight to give us some extra room along with a basinett which you can also reserve. Hopefully the return flight will be just as uneventful.



The visit with Jessica was awesome. The only "bummer" was something that Julie and I have had problems with before but over the past couple years have been able to avoid by proper planning. As we walked into the room, I had the camcorder and camera in hand. I set the camcorder up on a tripod so I could record some of contact we had with Jessica. I also started taking picture (not a typo) before I looked up at Julie with HORROR of "We have a problem Houston!" Yes in fact we had a dead battery. The other battery was back at the hotel (improper planning) getting charged (proper planning) for future need. This couldn't have been a worse time for this situation to revisit our family. We did have the camcorder which Julie knew how to setup to take still photos which we did - however, we don't have the cords to transfer the pictures onto our computer. This really has been the only OOOPPPSSS of the trip so far. I did get one picture before it went dead. The quality of the pictures using the camcorder I am sure will be slightly poorer but we did get some good photos. That was the reason I went back into Eastern as we were about to leave with a jump drive I had in my backpack to request an early copy of the picture that Eastern took of us with the foster mom and Jessica.


The first visit with Jessica really could not have gone better. She was very inquisitive toward us at first but we had several really sweet and playful exchanges with her throughout that hour. She would come up to both Julie and I to play and babble. She would laugh and smile with us and hand us stuff. As I mentioned before both the foster mom and social worker would encourage her to instead of giving them a toy to give it to her new mom (a-maa) and dad (a-paa). The only thing she was reluctant to some degree on was us holding her for very long. A little more so with me than with Julie. But she wasn't real comfortable at all being held so quickly. But again, she was very sweet and would smile and laugh with us during this exchanges. It was very heartwarming to see her slowly warm up to us. It is obvious why Eastern handles the transition in mulitple visits. Our next visit will be today for a medical exam of Jessica and later another hour of playtime with Jessica and Mrs. Kim.

Funny thing that happened during the visit - and may I remind you at no point did I hear or read the warning "to turn all cell phones off". But while playing and chatting, Julie's phone rang. I took a quick embarrassing glance at the phone to see Spencer was calling us. I opened and shut the phone to get it to stop ringing. The social worker overheard me say it was my kids and wanted us to answer it. We declined and said we would call them back later but we knew our kids were excited. Spencer was obviously undettered by the hangup knowing that at that second (7:30pm MDT) we were very likely with Jessica since we had told everyone in the blog the schedule of our visit. So in came the second call and I answered it for a quick chat that indeed we were with Jessica. He could hear the foster mom talking in the background. (By the way, phone service has gotten so much better over the years, there was no delay in the sound coming through the phone.)


One thing that the foster mom mentioned through the social worker was that she has been surprised at how Jessica has grown even though she is not a big eater. We tried to explain to her that we have a boy named Brady that is exactly like Jessica. He eats when he has to but he doesn't eat a lot but he still grows. She thought that was funny. (Hey Brady, is Moosey getting excited to see Jessica too?) I was planning on giving Jessica the letter you sent for her on our second visit.

As I mentioned in an earlier entry, the most incredible keep sake was tw0 photo albums that Mrs. Kim gave us that had over 200 pictures. The ones seen in the photo show a cute grinning Jessica in one album and her first birthday that is a big deal here in Korea. You can see behind her in the photos a huge banner that they made for her. Several pictures throughout you can see pictures with Jessica and some of Mrs. Kim's grandkids and two daughters. We are sure that many will miss her here in Korea. They do encourage you to send back pictures and letters through Eastern for the foster families. We are excited to do that for Mrs. Kim.

We found a webkin fox at the LAX airport (just like the one Colby has) and gave it to Jessica. She on several occassion with the encouragement of the foster mom and social worker, hugged it very tightly. Colby, I hope you don't mind that Jessica now has the same webkin as you. But you guys can show her webkins on the computer. She maybe a little young to play on the computer, but I know she will love watching you guys play on the computer.


Most of our wonderings throughout Seoul has noticeably been void of other non-Korean travelers. Other than last night when we were in a more tourist-y area, we have been the only caucasians around. The Koreans we have had contact with througout our visits, have been very kind and polite. Seoul is a very clean city. Huge as well.

We are trying to fit in what we can as far as touring. The short visits and the three visits scheduled with Jessica only leave a few windows to do much site seeing but we are planning on getting in a few things we have been told are must sees. That's all for now.


Last entry for now - we have a photo that reminded us that kids are the same all over. Julie took this picture as we were walking down the street. We titled it "The Korean Samantha and Paige" - what do you think Samantha and Paige?




That's all folks. Hey kids!!!! Souveniers have been bought so get the surprise chair cleaned off and ready for a show!!!

FIRST VISIT WITH JESSICA

So we did get our sleep in. In Korean time, we sleep from 9pm (as soon as we got in the room) and sleep until 2am. We both woke up and did a few things to get organized for the next day. Sleep again from 3am to 7am. For the most part, we seem to have adjusted our clocks pretty quickly.



This morning we wrote thank you notes, organized the gifts we were giving to the Foster Mom, Social Worker, and Eastern Executives. We checked out the subway map and figured how were going to get there. We decided to be safe and leave around 8am to get to Eastern by 9:50am when we were instructed to get there.



The hotel offered a shuttle bus to the subway station. We took a 40 minute subway ride to the stop right near Eastern. Julie was relieved to see Pizza Hut, Outback Steakhouse and KFC right near the final stop. She should be good for a short stay in Seoul.



We arrived right on time and meet our social worker. She gave us all the paper work we were going to need to bring Jessica back to the U.S. No more than 10 minutes later, we went up the stairs and into the playroom where Mrs. Kim (Jessica's foster mom) and Jessica were waiting. This is the room that we've seen many times in the videos that we have seen of her during the past couple months.



Seeing Jessica for the first time in person was surreal. She didn't look much different from the last video we have of her at 11.5 months. She looked at us with a straight face - not scared but just interested. Julie and I were cautiously excited about seeing her but tried to allow the space she needed to get comfortable. Both the foster mom and our social worker were encouraging her to go to A-maa or to A-paa. We showed her pictures of the kids. She seemed really interested in the picture of Spencer, Samantha, Brady and Colby. She held it for a few minutes and was looking the faces over. We also had a picture of her soon-to-be new grandparents.



We sincerely felt a deep appreciation for her foster mom who seems like a very loving and wonderful lady. She obviously has a close bond with Sa Rang but seems to understand the process of turning her over to her new parents. We exchange gifts. The most incredible gift that Mrs. Kim gave us was two albums full of nearly 200+ pictures of Jessica from over the past 11 months. That will be a precious keep sake that helps fill in the first part of her life that we missed but in which she was well loved by the grandchildren (5) and family of Mrs. Kim.



We said goodbye for today after about an hour of getting acquanted. Eastern had us take a picture all together. We will visit again with her tomorrow (Friday), have lunch with the executives of Eastern and tour the facilities there at Eastern. On Saturday we will get Jessica before leaving for the airport to return to our home and to our children. We can't wait to share her with everyone and have her as part of our family forever!

WE MADE IT TO SEOUL

For what has been a very long day of traveling, 22 hours, it went pretty smooth. We are sitting in our hotel room, exhausted. With that said, it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be for being on the Korean Air flight for 12 hours.

We were meet at the airport by an Eastern representative. It took 2 hours though to drive to Seoul and get to our hotel. Rush hour traffic is terrible at the time we were driving.

Our driver's favorite movie star is Jim Carey. We thought of Spencer.

We are safe and I will put more on here, but for now we are both beat and want to sleep. Tomorrow, at 10am, we get to meet Jessica for the first time in person. That will be 7pm Wednesday night in Utah. We are excited.

I will write more later and add pictures. (Done!)

A Letter From A Mom To A Mom!

Julie was able to capture our sentiments and feelings toward Jessica's foster mom in the following letter that we wrote and had translated to give her when we meet both of them for the first time:

Dear Kim Jong Soon,

It is hard for us to find the words to express to you our gratitude for what you have done for us. We will be forever grateful for the love that you have given Kim Sa Rang over the past year. You have provided her with a home in which we know she has felt loved. We know that this time will be a part of her for the rest of her life. She has accomplished so much while in your home and grown beautifully. We know she has thrived because of your loving touch. We look at her pictures and video with you and can see the love that you have for her and the love that she has for you. We are so thankful that she has begun her life in such a positive way and know that this will continue with her until she is grown. It will be nice for her to have the pictures of you so she will be able to remember how much she was loved before she came home with us.

We want you to know that we love her so much. When we first saw her picture so many months ago, we knew that she would be our daughter and our love began to grow for her. You do not need to worry. We will take such good care of her. She is so important to us and we will treat her so well. Our goal in life is to help our children create and accomplish their dreams. We want to give them healthy, happy, wonderful lives and Sa Rang is now one of those children. She will get all the love and happiness that she deserves – which is endless.

She has such an excited group of people anxiously awaiting her arrival - mostly, her three brothers and sister. They have waited so long to have their baby sister come home and they are going to shower her with love. Her big sister can’t wait to play with her and share all her things with her. Her big brothers want to take care of her and protect her. We know they are going to have so much fun together. She also has 16 cousins, many aunts and uncles and two sets of grandparents that can’t wait to meet her. They have all seen her pictures and videos and know that she is going to be such an important part of their family. She is going to be loved by many.

Mainly, we just want you to know that we love Sa Rang and we love you for taking care of her for so long. You are an amazing woman, because we know it will be hard to let her go. She is a beautiful girl and is going to be a joy to our life. Please know that we will always remember you and hold you in a high place in our hearts. You have given us a great gift.

Love,

Scott and Julie Fox

ON THE EVE OF OUR DEPARTURE

We are doing one last family trip with the kids before we head off to Korea tomorrow morning. For our annual Kids' Day with our friends, we decided to come to Antelope Island with our trailer for a night of camping and games.

We already hiked to the top of one of the highest peaks on the island - all the kids made the hike on their own. We also saw several bison, and a bunch of antelope. We went out and floated in the Great Salt Lake. Colby fell on his run out to the water (about a quarter of a mile) and got a real bad pair of skined knees. We had plenty of treats and good food.

The kids keep asking when Jessica will be here and the realization that she will be home with our family in less than 6 days is getting everyone excited. Julie and I have our plane tickets (SLC to LAX to Seoul) and hotel reservation. Eastern has been forwarded our travel itenary. They will meet us at the airport for the hour trip to Seoul and to our hotel.

Right now I am looking out onto the Great Salt Lake. We have made our last day list of things we have to do before we leave. It isn't too long. We got most of the stuff done before we left Sunday morning for our "quick" campout. We are definately exicted for our trip. The kids will anxiously wait at home until we can bring Jessica to her new home and family on Saturday evening (Septemer 12, 2009). NOT LONG NOW!

WE FINALLY GOT IT!!!

Today (September 2, 2009) we received a call from our Adoption Agency who informed us that Eastern Social Welfare Society, Inc. located in Seoul, South Korea, had Jessica's Visa in hand which gave us our green light to travel. We are scrambling to get our travel plans arranged so that we can leave on Septmber 8 (Tuesday), arrive in Seoul on September 9 Wednesday with plans to see our Jessica in person for the first time Thursday at 10am.

Along time ago we knew we would be naming her Jessica, but until recent hadn't decided on her middle name. We wanted her middle name to be tied to her Korean background. Her Korean name is Kim Sa Rang - Kim being her surname. Julie and I decided to use "Sa Rang" as her middle name. So yes, she will have the name Jessica Sa Rang Fox. For the past 10-11 months she has been cared for by her foster mom. She has been well taken care of and loved as we have waited to get all the paper work finalized. With our eye on Jessica, this has been an 8 months process. But it has been a 32 month journey since we decided to adopt internationally.

Spencer, Samantha, Brady and Colby are ecstatic about Jessica and can't wait to have her home. Having another girl is making Samantha giddy. This has been a long wait for out family. We can't wait to have her home.