Meeting Jae Day

Today was a good day. We finally met our boy Jae.  It wasn't the "dream" meeting that either Angie or I hoped for, where he would recongize us from pictures and run towards us awaiting the his first parental embrace.  Rather it started off as expected with him crying as we tried to hold him.  We could tell though that he had recognized us from the picture we sent months earlier. 

Angie and I got down to the meeting area a couple minutes earlier than the "early" time the adoption agency told us to be there.  As we nervously watched the door, our hearts were being tested.  Luckly Ang and I are both marathoners with good strong hearts!  A couple minutes into our wait a middle-aged Korean lady walked toward the front door and we each recognized each other.  She was in one picture of Jae and we had sent Jae pictures of us.  On foster Mom's back was Jae riding contently as most Korean children do, on their Mom's backs.

Once our social worker joined us, we found an open room where Foster Mom tried to get comfort Jae and to have him start to play with us.  He took a while to warm up, but after some peek-a-boo he started to smile, then Angie got him to laugh with some well placed tickles.

Of course, being 17 months old he's already built an attachment with the foster family, especially the foster Mom so asking him to immediately attach to us is a fantasy. 

We did get some good info from foster Mom about his likes and dislikes.  He like apples, seaweed, banannas, playing the piano, cell phones, books... he's not a big fan of orange juice or milk but that's about it.  He's an adventurous and smart little guy according to Foster Mom.  He also pronounces words very well, which is great, he can teach me how to say aluminum.

We also got some unexpected news that we'll have a "Got-ya" date of 9/2 instead of 9/5 which we expected.  Thus, our sightseeing in South Korea will be a little limited, but this is for the better. We'll have the weekend to get him comfortable with us before that long flight home.  So, no trip to the DMZ or to the Track and Field World Championships, kind of a bummer, but the alternative wins any day of the week. 

After our meeting with Jae and letting what just happened settle in, we went for lunch to a place without menus.  I was hoping to point to something.  With no luck on menus, we also had bad luck because nobody on staff spoke English.  So I ordered us both Bi-Bim-Bop, something I know is on most Korean menus.  It was delicious and too much to eat. 

That's all for now.