Dr. Kim knows Andy

Today we started things off at Eastern - it was a busy morning! First we met with Dr. Kim.... then we met with Dr. Kim. Confused? FIRST we met with "old" Dr. Kim. He started Eastern 36 years ago, is 94 years old, and still oversees the adoption of every child that comes through Eastern. Under his guidance more than 45,000 children have been adopted. You read it correctly - 45,000! It was a great honor to meet with him and I (of course) did not think to ask him for picture since it was a bit overwhelming to see him in person. There were about 8 of us in the meeting with Dr. Kim, all couples adopting babies, but one remarkable thing happened to Andy during the meeting. We all sat down to chat with Dr. Kim, and he began asking (more like checking to see if he was putting the right names with faces) who each of us were. After he asked Andy his name he said, "You are principal of the school, yes?" WHOA, DR. KIM KNOWS WHO ANDY IS?!!?!?!? We were astounded! Of all the thousands of couples that come through his door, he remembered something about Andy!

After meeting with "old" Dr. Kim, we met with "young" Dr. Kim. She is currently the director of Eastern. She chatted with us about the history of Korea, how the adoption program came to be, and how important all of us were in the lives of "their children." Needless to say, between this meeting and the meeting with the other Dr. Kim, it was a great start to our day.

Prior to the meeting with "old" Dr. Kim, we had the opportunity to meet some very important people. Theo's foster family has had another little boy living with them for several months. Obviously, Theo and this other boy have had a close relationship as foster brothers. His family is also in Seoul this week to pick him up and it turns out they are from Wheaton! It was great to meet them and we plan on getting the boys together once we are all home. We had hoped that we would find out a little about Theo's foster brother's family, but we never imagined that we would be able to continue their relationship at home in the states.

Andy and I had about 1 hour to spend with Theo at Eastern today. We had a great time playing! In fact, he's taking to us so well, that we will be going Sunday afternoon to pick him up for good! We were expecting to pick him up Monday morning on the way to the airport, but everyone feels that since he is doing so well, the quicker he's with us forever the better! Andy and I are thrilled (and of course nervous - you know me!) that he will get to spend time with us before the "long and scary" plane ride. So far he seems like such a happy and content baby - we're bracing ourselves for hour #10 on the plane when we're sure he's going to start screaming like crazy!

Our first family picture - with the famous red chair!

After our Theo meeting with had the opportunity to have lunch with other families at Eastern. There were SO many of us that that dining room was completely full. All of the families that I have been e-mailing back and forth with were at lunch so it was nice to meet everyone in person. We are all planning to visit the Korean Folk Village on Saturday together. We were going to try to go to the DMZ - but all the tours are booked solid. Had we been able to book on Monday there were seats available, but our availability for the week was determined by Theo!

After our morning at Eastern, we spent the day at Naedaemun Market and Itaewon. To describe Naedaemun would be nearly impossible - y'all will have to wait for the video! Itaewon was not what we expected - although we did manage to get some great deals on ties for Andy, and a "Prada" purse for me! Tomorrow we plan to visit the Korean War Memorial, a palace or two, Seoul Tower, and at least one more shopping district. Before I finish up, I will leave you with one more Theo video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCnJpThDCbM