"Family Day" August 11, 2006

I was importing posts from our old blog during our adoption of Twinkletoes and I found this post that I had typed but never posted.  I thought I would share it now.  You can also view our past posts from Twinkletoes adoption in the archive on the side!

"Family Day", also known as "Gotcha Day" by some, is the day that we received Twinkletoes into our lives and our family forever! Our appointment time was set for 3:00pm on Friday August 11th, 2006. We had the morning to keep ourselves busy as we greatly anticipated the afternoon events. We spent the morning visiting the Royal Palace and had a great Korean lunch with the aid of a wonderful guide and interpreter! As we were going back to the guesthouse at about 2:15 that afternoon we had to pass the Holt offices and we saw that Twinkletoes and her foster mother had already arrived for our 3:00 appointment. We poked our head in and had to give Twinletoes a squeeze and a kiss but they told us they weren't ready for us which was o.k. because we had to go back to the guesthouse and get our video camera and batteries in our digital camera changed (just in case - we have had them die at inopportune times too often). We also wanted to pick up some flowers for s Twinletoes' foster mother so she wouldn't have to leave empty handed, as we knew this would be a very difficult time for her as she deeply cared for our daughter!

We went and prepared what we needed and made our way back to the Holt offices along with another couple from the guesthouse who very kindly offered to capture our experience on video. We entered to find Twinletoes drinking a bottle (holding her own bottle!). Almost the whole foster family had come to see Twinletoes off. Things went pretty quickly. Twinletoes foster mother had some gifts for us, including some pictures of Twinletoes while she was in their care and a Hanbok for Twinletoes to wear when she celebrates her first birthday (1st birthdays are a big celebration in Korea and they wear their traditional dress). We had the flowers that we gave to Twinletoes' foster mother. While the foster family said their last good-byes, Ms. Lee went had us sign some last paperwork, gave us some final directions and gave us a bag of baby supplies. It was then time for some last pictures all together and the prayer circle. We all gathered together as Ms. Lee offered up a prayer for Twinletoes, her future, our travels, and all those who have been involved and will be involved in Twinletoes' life. Then we were told we could go - that was it. They watched us as we walked out of the building and down to the guesthouse. It truly was an amazing experience and I often times held back the tears of both sadness for the foster family and for Korea losing such a beautiful girl and tears of joy for our wonderful new daughter that the Lord has blessed us with!