Communication is just as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after. ~~~Ann Morrow Lindberg

Well, I have been here a week today and am really getting acclimated to the time difference, the people of Korea and the schedule of the trip. (However I am not used to being away from my family for so long!!) The families arrived last night looking soooo tired and pooped!
One family missed their connection in Chicago and they don't arrive until tonight. (Actually they should have landed by now and will be at the hotel in an hour.)

Today we got on the bus and headed to the traditional Korean Folk Village. It is a very cool place with traditional dancing, a mock traditional wedding and many other things of 19th century. It was only around 75 degrees with no sun but very, very humid.

I lead the Blue Bus, and we stay together pretty much the whole time. My bus has the families with the younger children on it. Many of the kids are 8, 9 and 10 years old. They have been very busy making friends and I am in love with all of them. Being the mom of
two teens and a twenty year old, this is a refreshing change!!

Tomorrow is the big day for many of the families and this comes after being here less than 48 hours. It is the day they head to the agencies that placed their children with them. It is such an exciting day. Many children will meet their foster mothers, a few young adults will meet birth family, and many will go to visit sites where they were born. An exhausting day as well. These meetings are really on my heart and mind as I know the precious gift it is to be able to meet with these people. I hope that communication will be comfortable and that what needs to be said isn't lost through translation.

What I pray I am really sensitive to are those who don't get to have a meeting with foster mothers or birthfamily or site visits (that happens because the sites have been torn down to put up high rise apartment buildings). Listening to all the excitement of others will be very tough. I am sure tomorrow will be a day that is like a "grande double-expresso" for many people, and sleep will not come real easy!

I have recieved emails from many of you wishing me luck and letting me know that you are praying. Thank you so much....God has been good and the trip is going really well.