Day 1 Seoul, South Korea

Our flight over was great and we don't seem to be feeling any jet lag, perhaps because it was night when we arrived and we went right to bed.

 Today was fabulous! As you will see from the photos, we visited the Social Welfare Society babies' home today where Jake lived from birth to 2 months of age. The babies are beyond gorgeous and we got to hold as many as we wanted!! I held a baby that was born two days ago. The lady who met with us gave us gifts, a set of wooden chopsticks for Dave and I , and a ceramic mom and dad holding a baby for Jake. So lovely! She sat with us and let Jake look through his entire file, and we even got a copy of a newborn photo that we didn't have. She told him that, when he is 18, they will help him search for his birth mother if he is interested. They don't allow searches before the age of 18. I had sent his birthmom a necklace soon after Jake was born and it was still in the file, so she hasn't been back yet. This was a day none of us will forget!

Before our meeting at SWS, we went to COEX, which is the Korean world trade center. The beautiful flowers you will see in the photographs are from the floral displays in front of COEX. We enjoyed seeing a group of preschoolers in uniform touring the gardens while their teacher taught them to say "hello" and "good-bye" to us in English. Even the very little children here bow when they greet us - so adorable. In the lower level of COEX is a huge shopping/restaurant area where we had lunch. We had Chicago pizza Uno - shame on us! Many people from the nearby office centers were coming in for lunch while we were there and we were impressed with how beautifully dressed they were. Most of the men wore suits while the women wore lots of black clothing with layers, tights and leggings with very high heels.

We are about to go out to dinner now. There is an area called Dongdaemun Market where the shops are open all night, playing loud music and displaying cheerful colors. We will check that out for sure!

It was nice losing a day traveling here because that puts us a little closer to getting Gage. It is now Friday night here and we wonder what he is doing and thinking. We really don't know if he has been told yet that we are coming to get him on Tuesday. Please pray that God will ease his transition to a completely new life with us. We can't wait!

Thanks to all of you for supporting us through this journey. More news tomorrow!

pics from adoptive house in korea

file:///Users/jakebauer/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library/Originals/2008/Korea/IMG_0098.JPG

Ready To Go!

Here is our precious new son.

Ready to Travel!

Our trip is all confirmed! Our itinerary looks like this:

Wednesday, October 15. Fly to Seoul, South Korea.
Thursday, October 16. Arrive in Seoul early evening.
Friday - Sunday, October 17-19. Touring in Seoul including visit to the
Social Welfare Society where Jake stayed as an infant.
Monday, October 20. Fly to Shenyang, China. Shop for gifts for orphanage.
Tuesday, October 21. "GOTCHA DAY" !! We will pick Gage up at 10:00 in
Provincial Civil Affairs office.
Wednesday, October 22. Legal adoption process in the morning. Take bus
to Dalian where we will meet with Madame Pan, director of
the orphanage.
Thursday, October 23. Enjoy family time in the morning. At 1:00 PM, we
apply for Gage's passport and visit the orphanage.
Friday, October 24. Sightseeing to Forest Zoo and countryside.
Saturday, October 25. Sightseeing to Tiger Beach, Polar Region Place, and
Xinghai City Square.
Sunday, October 26. Sightseeing to Shengya Ocean World and Xinghai Park.
Travel from Dalian back to Shenyang by bus.
Monday, October 27. Complete paperwork for US Consulate. Pick up Gage's
passport. Fly to Guangzhou in Southern China.
Tuesday, October 28. Gage's medical exam and visa photo taken. Walk
outside the island to the markets, book store, shopping at
Pearl Wholesale Market.
Wednesday, October 29. Appoinment at US Consulate in Guangzhou.
Thursday, October 30. Sightseeing to Yuntai Park and Six Banyan Temple.
Oath taking in the afternoon. Evening train to Hong Kong.
See as much of Hong Kong as we possibly can in a few short
hours!
Friday, October 31. Depart Hong Kong for US. Arrive at LAX on the same
day.

Travel Approval at Last!!

We are thrilled to have received our official travel approval from China today!! Wouldn't you know, it is some kind of holiday in China and the consulate is closed so we will have to wait until Monday to confirm our travel dates. We have asked for a consulate appointment on October 27 which means we would meet Gage on October 20. I will post again on Monday when we have our dates set.