It’s happened! That final phone call we have been waiting for has come in, we have been given final approval and Edric JoonSoo is officially our son! What a journey this has been and yet it is only just beginning. I think back over all the times I have doubted and been frustrated at the process and wanted to be in charge and yet despite all of my short comings God has been more than faithful. His faithfulness and promises and grace are not dependent on me (which is a really good thing), and I have been blown away by Him. I couldn’t have asked for a more supportive and encouraging group of people to walk through this than those that He has filled my life with each step of the way.
Ok, so now we get to go get our son, here’s the breakdown of the last few steps. We fly out this Saturday and arrive in Seoul Sunday evening. We are staying in a hotel not far from where the little apartment we rented was. We knew the area well enough and felt like it was a good option for us.
On Monday morning we will take custody. While we are super excited to take custody we are also very aware of how hard this day is going to be for Edric JoonSoo and for his foster mom. From those that I have talked to they all say it is terrible. From what I understand there will be a little time to play with Edric and get final paper work from the agency and then there will be a prayer ceremony. After that Clint and I will be put in the van and then Edric will be taken from foster mom and handed into to us and the van will drive away. People have said that their kids have cried, screamed, tried to get out of the van, and all of the above. Foster mom will also be grieving really hard. While she has always known this day is coming she has loved and cared for and given her all to Edric JoonSoo for the past two years. It is going to be really tough.
From custody we will then be driven to the US embassy where we will do his Visa Interview and then wait for an hour or so for all of those final papers. When he touches down on US soil he will be a US citizen. After that we will be driven back to our hotel.
Tuesday we have as a buffer day. If there are any problems at the embassy they can be taken care of then. We don’t have real plans for that day, kind of leaving it open to see how Edric is doing. We know of a park down by the river that Clint and I ran at when we were there last month and I think we are hoping to go down there for part of the day. We will see how things go.
We fly home Wednesday. We will leave Seoul Wednesday mid morning and fly 2 hours to Tokyo and then we have a short layover, and then leave Tokyo for a direct flight into Denver. We will be on United flight 138 landing in Denver at 12:40. We are inviting all who can and want to to meet us at the airport. We will have to go through customs and immigration in Denver so we will be coming out of the doors at the far north end of the main terminal (behind security and at the opposite end of the new construction). Please come and welcome Edric JoonSoo home. I am not saying he will be awake or happy and likely won’t leave one of our arms, but please come and celebrate with us there. I have a friend who is coming to photograph our arrival and to get the boys all meeting each other for the first time, so my only request is that you allow Leighton and Caedmon to run over and meet Edric first.
And then we will start figuring out how to be a family of 5. We are going to withdraw a bit and work on attachment and figuring each other out. I’ll keep everyone posted through the blog but won’t make any promises on how often. We don’t really know what these next number of weeks are going to look like, but we are going to take them one step at a time.
Hiking Mommy 