From foster mom's arms to mom's arms....not easy!

We began our day as usual. We ate breakfast and then headed out. We went down to the Harley Davidson store today. They had statues all around the store.





While we were there, they had a truck of bikes come in. It was fun to watch them unload it.

The store was huge!


Right next door, they had a store that made Indian bikes.

We got a taxi back to the hotel and brought our packages in.
We then went back out to Insadong since we have yet to walk down the whole area!





The time was coming to head to the agency, so we returned to our room and got our gift for the foster mom as we did not want her to leave empty handed. Our drive over there took f.o.r.e.v.e.r today! We arrived 10 minutes early and we were still the last couple to get there. But, just be impressed that we were early! (you guys know I am not the most punctual person!) The families that we had lunch with yesterday were also there to pick up their kids. They were running around and playing, but Olivia was in the cove of her foster moms legs. I went over and started talking to her, and she turned away. Her foster mom gave her the phone to talk to her foster dad one last time. She pushed it away. Some papers were brought for us to sign, and I have no clue what they said as I was so nervous and focused on the upcoming transition.



Dr. Kim came down to read the Korean prayer that is always read before the children are handed over to their forever families.

This is the prayer translated into English:

"Precious lives, our angels, we send away these lives to foreign countries, with scarred memories of their homeland. Please forgive our sins and allow Korea to be a better country, so that we will be adopting children from other countries, instead of us always sending ours away.

We send them for care. So please protect these lives and help them lead a happy life in their new homes. Always provide them with grace and intelligence, lead them to live by the rules of Jesus Christ, to have luck, to help benefit others, and to return the glory to our Lord.

It is our sincere wish that these lives will not forget their home country and the love of the people who took care of them. Father, please remember the foster families who worked hard whether it is favorable or unfavorable conditions to protect these lives, and give them blessings for the benefits they provided with. By your blessings, these adoptive families will be full of love and be under your protection.

Now the children are leaving: Please make their way as easy as possible, lead them to the most pleasant life.

In the name of Jesus Christ,

Amen."





For the first time, I saw emotion from our foster mom. I knew what the prayer said, and I also began to cry. I gently placed my hand on the foster mom's back to let her know that it is ok.

After the prayer, they were quick to put us in a van and send us on our way. They took the family that was headed to the airport first and then came back for us.



They asked us to go to the van and the foster mom would bring her to us. She handed her to me and Olivia buckled and started screaming uncontrollably. Her foster mom stepped behind the van, but heard her screaming and returned. I didn’t know if she wanted to hold her again or what she wanted, but I think she was just trying to console her. The other couple got in the van, with their happy quiet baby and off we went. We were ALL emotional! Olivia did not want us to hold her at all.

**We have video, but its too hard to watch right now. I can still hear it and see it all when I close my eyes.













We put her in the seat next to us and she got on her knees and looked out the window. She then took her coat and put it over her head and slowly fell asleep. We got to the hotel and I picked her up and we made our way back to our room. She slept on me for the next 2 hours.









She woke up and had some yogurt and played a little bit with some toys and then we ate dinner. She tried a bite of pizza, but spit it back out. She liked throwing her bottle, and everything else, so we just went with it.







I thought things were going pretty good at this point since she wasn’t crying so I decided to change her diaper and put her pajamas on. She fussed a little, but did ok. We played a bit more and went up to have some strawberries with some friends we met while we were here.



They could not believe how well she was doing. (me either!!!!!) She yawned, so I told John we needed to head back down here. John fixed her bottle and gave it to me to give her and I rocked her for about 20 min. That was 10:30 last night! It is currently 6:31 and she is still sleeping soundly! Amazing!!!! God is good. He wrapped his arms tightly around us and got us through our first night. (pretty sure the first night typically does not go this smoothly!) We are headed to the airport so I need to finish packing. Pray us home!!!!