Seoul Day II: Umbrella's and Expectations

Honestly I don't think we even own an umbrella.

It was a very rainy day here in Seoul.

Our tour guide was about 2 hours late meeting us at the hotel, but we headed off on foot shortly after his arrival for our tour of Seoul.

He helped us navigate the subway system (everyone says its easy, which I am sure it is, but it really helped having someone do it for you the first time).

This says "if you walk through this you will never age".

The funny part is, that after we took the picture we never went through it...

Guess were ment to grow old!

I had no idea what to expect or what it included, but since we had to be at our agency to meet Luke's foster mother by 3pm, it had to be cut even shorter.

William, our tour guide, is a college student studying law at one of the best Universities in the world here in Seoul.

His English was fantastic and you could tell he was very smart!

We headed out to Gyeongbukgong Palace.

It was way cool and almost breath taking!

We missed the changing of the guard by a few minutes, however we were able to get this nice shot of us with a guard.

(ya, thats my son)

After our tour of the palace, we headed to the Folk Museum for a quick tour.

Then grabbed some lunch at a dumpling resturant in the art district.

Again, be proud cause I tried new food!

Tofo, Pork, and Vegtable dumplings!

At this point Luke is exhausted and I think he is asleep in my arms.

We raced back to our hotel (and got a little lost in the process, as no one seams to know where we are!) to get ready to meet Luke's foster mother.

Since the day we got Luke I always wanted to meet her.

I have no regrets about him being escorted to the United States.

However I have always regreted not being able to meet her and thank her.

I truly felt nervous about meeting her.

We get there right on time and she is waiting with the head social worker in her office.

She recognizes him right away!

As opposed to crying...I think I just started sweating.

She had pictures of Luke in her hands and we went to a meeting room to sit down and talk with her.

We were able to give her gifts and update her on how Luke was doing.

She also bought Luke crayons, coloring books, and stickers as a gift.

I think I expected Luke to react to seeing her.

Instead he was just kinda bouncing off the walls and was getting very sleepy.

I also expected a very sweet and romantic (I don't think that's the right word) moment between the two of them, instead he was ready to get home (the hotel) and go to bed.

Somehow we were able to get this picture.

(ya, Luke looks thrilled dosent he)

She was so happy to be there and meet Luke.

In fact she is coming by the office tomorrow to bring her camera and take more pictures.

She also said that she would love to recieve more letters and photos of Luke (I need to do a better job of that).

So tomorrow is the big day.

I don't know how to say this, so I'm just gonna put it out there...

I have no expectations on how it is going to go tomorrow.

I am truly deep down thrilled that tomorrow is the day.

We have been waiting so long now, but all of our waits and needs and wants mean nothing now.

Tomorrow is the day that is gonna change lives forever.

Deeply.

Tomorrow Leah looses the only family she has ever known.

Tomorrow Leah's foster family looses their child too.

Tomorrow Leah gains a family that will love her forever.

Tomorrow Luke goes from being an only child to being a sibiling.