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!