the day we met our son.

here is the post we have ALL been waiting for.

after almost 10 months of waiting to meet choi boy, it is surreal to think that our first meeting with him has actually come and gone.

and what a meeting it was!

we walked into the agency and waited in the reception area while our social worker finished up a meeting. as we were waiting, in walked a familiar face. a face we had known since the end of february. a face we would recognize anywhere.

it was choi boy's foster mom. and on her back, choi boy himself!

we chatted for a few minutes and then choi boy and his foster mom went upstairs while we met with our social worker. i was so jittery and nervous that i had to ask the social worker to repeat herself several times. it didn't help that she insisted on speaking to us only in korean, so i was quickly translating in my head as we went along and i *think* i got everything. i hope!

finally, we got to go upstairs to spend some time with our boy. the playroom was occupied so we went to a small meeting room instead. it was a little awkward being in a tiny room that had very little toys, but as it turns out, all we needed to engage choi boy was some food. he was *SO* meant to be our son! ;)

the FM handed me some yogurt to feed choi boy and he was so excited to get some:

he checked in with his FM every once in a while, calling out, "umma!" just to make sure she was there, but for the most part, he hung out with us, checking us out and coming to us to ask for some yogurt. so cute -- he'd walk over, mouth open and leaning in and he'd smile every time he got some yogurt in his mouth!

we brought out some sweet potato puffs for him to try, and true to form, he happily ate those, too.

how do you think he felt about them?


we also brought out a new pal for choi boy to meet and choi boy was so sweet, hugging the little monkey and passing him around.


since there weren't very many toys in the room, choi boy decided that he wanted to climb on the table. there he showed us some of his many faces and was quite a little ham for the camera!



where have i seen that look before??

oh, that's right! here:

they're going to be BFFs, i know it. :)

apparently, this next one is choi boy's "winking" face:

so cute!

we found some toy instruments and had an impromptu jam session, with some yogurt breaks in between, natch:



our meeting lasted for only about 40 minutes or so, but, all in all, we thought it went wonderfully. choi boy even willingly came into our arms for some family pictures (although, he was more interested in looking at other things instead of the camera)! and the best part was, in the end, he reached out to me and snuggled for a bit. so sweet!



our first thoughts? choi boy is SO cute! he seems really curious and playful with a bit of a independent/slightly stubborn streak -- the FM said he insists on doing everything by himself first! he also seems to have a generally cheery and happy personality, smiling a lot and laughing and engaging others in his play. oh, and he has weird hair. kind of a mullet. nice!

and you wanna know something surprising? there were no tears at this meeting! from anyone -- including ME! i know, crazy!

it was amazing and we are so grateful that this first meeting went so well.

the next time we see choi boy will be friday afternoon, and because of our flight time on monday morning, we will actually get to take him with us after the second meeting. we are so excited to have extended time with choi boy, but at the same time, the idea of spending 3 days in a foreign city with a toddler that doesn't really know us and vice versa is a rather daunting! we would so appreciate prayers and positive energy coming our way for the weekend! :)

i can't believe our time is here! what a wild ride it has been...and i'm sure it will be even wilder still. ready or not, here we come!

we wouldn't have gotten here without all your love and care for us -- thank you for rejoicing and celebrating with us! love to you!