ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz !

Hi all !

Here are a few hot of the press photos of Kijin !

Yesterday he slept sooooo much ! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ! He had a 4 hour afternoon nap, then went to bed again at 7:00pm- and up at 6:00am !!!!!!

Sometimes he falls asleep on the floor in our family room, in the middle of playing. He really loves this small quilt one of my great aunts made for me years ago. Sometimes he puts his head down , smells it and lays down on it. I think this is the same colour and texture of blanket he must of had in his foster home and or the baby carrier / Mei Tai? carrier that he was carried around in? by his foster mother.

Today I took him to my work office. First day out in the car ourselves ! He loves the car seat, looks around him constantly then falls asleep ! The office loved him of course, just observed the many people coming to check him out. A few smiles for the clerks then off we went !

He napped about 1.5 hours, for I had to get him up for his Doctors apt. He did not like that !

The Appointment went well. It was just a meet and greet the Doctor and to weigh and measure him as well. Then off we went to pick up Kyler from school. Another show of people checking him out, since Kyler has told them sooooo much about his new baby brother !

WHEW ! He also met his Grandma and Grandpa Wiersma today ! What a busy day !!!

He is doing really well. It will be a week tomorrow since we have had him forever. HE has been through a lot this week ! WE are adjusting as well....Ed is back to work, Kyler in school, and I am home with Kijin trying to do what I can around his schedule at the moment :) I get a 9 month paternity leave off- I am due back to work just before Christmas time. I will enjoy every minute of it being with Kijin :)

Our first family road trip will be on Saturday. We are off to Kitchener to celebrate my grandmothers 90th birthday !!

Goodnight all !

Karen

Home with Kijin

Hi all !!! WE are home with Kijin and trying to get our sleep and time back ! Ugh ! I'm soooo tired ! We are getting better though !

Sometimes Kijin is pretty close to his schedule and sometimes he is way off ! He is sleeping a lot though--when he sleeps we try to sleep or take shifts keeping up with him when one of us needs to sleep! He is drinking and eating well. Loves to play with Kyler when he comes home from school ! I have taken him on a walk each day and so far he has fallen asleep as soon as I hit the sidewalk ! He needs his "soothie" in his mouth every time he needs to sleep. Once it falls out, he is up and wondering where it went, for awhile we were up every 2 hours in the night because he keeps popping it out of his mouth ! Oh well, as long as all of us are getting some sleep, and he is happy , we are not complaining !!! We hope by the end of the week, he will have his days and nights in order and Ed and I are back on our own time zone !

The first picture was taken in Seoul- We took him out for a walk to the POSCO STEEL office building. This building was awesome. Inside the lobby, were about 100 TV Monitors hanging from the ceiling, playing a video over and over again with office music. The TV's were placed all together in the shape of 3 Christmas Trees !!! The centre of this building was a HUGE indoor water fish tank. It was about 2 floors tall. Beautiful sea fish , sharks, and turtles were swimming in this tank right in the middle of this large office building!!! It was about a 30min walk from our Guest Office room and it was a great place to show Kijin ! He stared at those fishes for a long time.

Also on the main floor of this building was a fantastic museum- on what POSCO STEEL has been working on for the past years, and what they are working on for the future ! Little miniture sculptures of what they plan to build in space, on water and placing all public transit above the highways. Amazing !!!

And of course the 2nd picture of Kyler finally holding his new baby brother Kijin ! So happy Kyler is !!!! Kijin took to him right away ! Kyler will be a great help- he still insists he will NOT help us change him, but will play with him and feed him ! :)

Right now, Kijin went to bed at 7:00pm--We hope he will sleep at least 8 hours, up a bit to play then back down to bed. Poor guy could not hold up his head anymore. He starts to put his head down on the floor , closes his eyes and falls asleep. He is also teething- biting on those fingers and putting everything in his mouth.

Well, now that I have a few moments, I can blog this stuff ! I will keep at it as long as I can :)

I am taking Kyler to get new shoes ! Yeah !! I get to finally get out for a drive !!! Shopping !!

LOL--

Talk to you later !

KEKK Wiersma !!

Seoul- Day 7- Seoul toToronto!

Hi all ! Our day started off really early in the morning. Everyone woke up at5:00am to get ready, fed and packed for we we needed to head out the door for 6:00 am to get to the bus to take us to INCHEON Airport.Our flight time was for 10:00 am. We put Kijin in the small stroller once again and with all our luggage and headed down to the lobby. One of the weekend doormen helped us walk with our luggage up the street to the R. Hotel ! Perfect ! What a nice man ! Now before I move on, I wanted to explain about another boarding option anyone can take here downtown Seoul before flying out of the airport which is 1 hour away. This HUGE building is located downtown Seoul. You can purchased flight tickets here as well is check in to your flight. There is a luggage claim , a customs department as well as Immigration. ITs called CALT. It's an advanced common use passenger technology for airline check in counters at the City Aiport Logis and Travel (calt ). So if you took this route, you do all your checking in, you take the bus to the airport, go right by all the lines and basically board your plane with no hassels !!! This is soooo cool and so well advanced why can't Toronto do this???? WE were impressed !!!!

This was an option we could take or just take the bus immediately to the airport and do it the old fashion way. We took the old fashion way !!

So off we went on the bus to the airport. Kijin sat on our laps, took it all in then near the end of the bus trip started to snooze. We got to the airport---wow it was busy !!!! No wonder CALT was another option !! Oh well.....How are we going to do this? A stroller, 3 large suitcases, and carrying some of our purchases ?? We found our way to Korean Air-Toronto boarding- it took hardly an hour , since it was nicely organized considering how many people were at this airport !!!! We booked a bulk head seating with a baby bassinet.

Once on the plane- they showed us our seating--and attached this brown bassinet baby bed to the wall in front of our seats. This fits for about a baby who is 1 years old or so. This was neat. I have never seen this before !! We were unsure if Kijin would fit in it our use it !!! WE will find out I guess. !!! I fed Kijin his bottle, and he fell asleep while making our way into the air- this was a blessing !!! He slept for about 30minutes and woke up with smiles for everyone on the plane. He was a popular boy on the plane ! HE really did well ! Ed and I kept him occupied for about 4 hours or so ,then he had enough ! Started to fuss, so we played with him and walked him around the plane. I finally got him to sleep and put him in the bassinet ! Whew ! Another blessing !!! He was sleeping and fits into the bassinet !!!!! Yeah !!! 2 hours later, the seat belt light comes on. WEll apparently Kijin CANNOT sleep in the bassinett while this is happening?????? Really??? But he was so secured in this thing and he was barely moving !!! ??? Nope--gotta take him out and hold him until the seat belt light gets turned off !!! UGH!!!! Ed got him out, he was starting to wake, looked around and basically fell asleep again ! Thank goodness !! SO all 3 of us got a bit of a snooze until he woke up again, looking for food. ! IT was now only 4.5 hours into the plane ride--we had 6 hours to go !!!!!!

HE did not fall asleep again--he was fussy- tired, cranky, but did really really well. Ed and I once again had to hold him,and keep him occupied or stroll around in the plane to keep him happy. WE did not let anyone hold him really...maybe 2 of the attendants for not very long, for we wanted to Kijin to rely on us and get use to us. This was a great bonding time , if we could do it...holding him throughout the 13 hour plane ride !!! UGHHHHH the plane ride was soooooooooo long coming home !!!! The food was yucky !! The snacks were ok--but the 2 meals we were served was really gross ! WE may be picky eaters, but the food was on the plane in the warmers for many hours, and all they offered were 2 fish dishes ! Working in a health department now for 5 years, you learn a few things of do's and don'ts of serving and preparing food. REally??? They fed us fish, or seaweed soup !!! UGH !!! We took the plates anyways, since we were STARVING and ate the bun or fruit ! They actually still serve peanuts on the plane too...I was really surprised about this ! ? What about those who have deathy allergic reactions to the peanuts or the fish?? WE really don't know ourselves if Kijin is allergic to peanuts yet !? Then too top it off, Kijin and I spilled the seaweed soup onto Eds lap !!!! OOOPPPSSSS !!!!!

WE finally landed !!!!!! YEah !!!! Kijin fell asleep !!!!! Got our luggage, went through customs and Immigrations with no problems or hassels--this was great !

Grandad Marshall was ready to pick us up !!! He took pictures for us !!!Kyler and Nana were at his last hockey game for the finals !!! They will see us at the house !!!

Kijin did not mind the car seat, within moments of the moving car, he was asleep again ! Poor guy was sooooo tired ! We landed at 10:40 am---but really it was around 11:00pm hours for us coming from Seoul !!! He did sooooo welll on the plane !!!!!! A trooper !!!! Ed and I were exhausted !!!!!!!!!!!! No sleep on the plane, and holding Kijin and walking around the plane for many hours done its toll !!!

WE finally arrive home :) Kijin wakes up and slowly takes in everything around him ! I showed him around the house, his room, and many new toys....not long, he was a bit upset and sooooo tired !!! Kyler and Nana finally came home ! Kyler won both the games in his tournament and scored 2x !!!!! Kyler loves his new brother !! Kijin took to him with no problems...lots of smiles and a playing partner !!!!!!! Many pictures taken.....yes...i have yet to download some.................. we feed him and then mom and Kijin had to take a nap ! My head was spinning ! It felt I have been up for 24 hours--in the plane.....My whole body was so tired--JET LEG !!! Yuck ! Kijin and I slept for 4 hours- had a great nap, woke up for dinner, and now it was time to try and keep him up so he would sleep in the night for us....

Well its now 3:44 am on Monday March 28th. He fell asleep around 8:oopm on Ed watching TV-we put him in his new room and crib--out like a light ! With his soothie in !!! HE is still sleeping !!!! I hope he adjusts well--so far soooooo good !!!

All in all, it was a good but long trip home ! Once again for those who will be taking the trip--just be prepared for anything ! WE packed Kijin's spare outfits, food, his toys and tried to keep him on the same feeding schedule. He did use the bassinet, but not very long...just remember, once that seatbelt light comes on, and if the baby is in it, you have to take him out of it. But the bassinett also provided us a makeshiftshelf, so we loaded it up as much as we could to keep the floor space clear in front of us to get up and walk around with Kijin. :)

I will do my best once again to keep blogging while trying to catch up on sleep and plan out our days ! We still have a lot of paperwork and home stuff to do--but we will get through it all ! Kyler starts school again today--after a 2 week March Break ! HE will have some exciting news to tell his classmates today !!

I am getting tired and hungry again--ugh !! Kijin is still sleeping--better catch some zzzzzzz ;s !!!

Thanks again for everyones emails and comments and phone calls !! WE will keep ya posted !!!

Karen, Ed, Kyler and Kijin= KEKK signing off from home- Pickering , Canada !!!!!

Seoul Day 6- Day 2 with Kijin

Hi all !

Today was Day 6 for us, the final full day in Seoul South Korea! Ed and I enjoyed touring around Seoul, and learning about Kijin's birth country. Of course the whole high-light of this amazing trip was to come and take Kijin home with us :)

Day 2 with Kijin was a good day. We took another walk earlier this morning and another one in the evening with him in our front pouch carrier ! He was very content, just enjoying the fresh air ! We are just packing and getting ready to leave very early in the morning. We hope Kijin's feeding and sleeping schedule will last us until we get home to Canada. !

Today we bought some Korean children and Korean cook books from the Hospital and dropped off our gifts to the doormen and for the nurses who look after the babies until they can be placed in a foster home. Thank you for taking good care of us !!!!

We enjoyed our stay here at the Guest House ! We did not see any other families staying here- but for those who are coming, good luck and have a great trip !

Thanks for following our blog up to this point ! I will post more pictures once I get home !

See u in Canada !!!

Karen , Ed and Kijin signing out from Seoul, South Korea

Seoul-Day 5 Getting to know baby Kijin

Hi all ! Day 5 , Friday March 25th, 2011 started off as a beautiful day ! A bit chilly but getting much warmer. I saw snow come down late in the night. A beautiful sight , when its coming down above the mountains!!! Today was the day we will be getting Kijin forever. So nervous and very excited !!!!!!

We headed out for a coffee at the Starbucks. Its just around the corner and they are everywhere ! Same decor inside and a relaxed setting as in Canada. We also bought mugs here for the 4 of us. It wasn't long until we had to head up the the hospital, 7th floor for our 10:00am appointment.

Right at the top on the 7th floor we ran into Kijin and his foster mom on their way to get a physical from the doctor :) Our social worker met with us there too and told us they will be right back, and to please wait in their office.
Not much longer, they met us in the office. We had to do some paperwork first, meet the Director of SWS, and then they presented us with beautiful keepsake gifts for Kijin which was the Korean Flag, and a keepsake box. I was then given Kijin to hold while they went over his schedule and gave us the items his foster family provided for him and the things we sent to him from Canada. They gave us his bottles, formula , diapers, soothie and food snacks to last us until we had to leave Canada. This was wonderful !!!!!!!

Then it was time for us to go. We parted at the elevator. We thanked them all profusely , shaking hands and hugging them as well. Ed was holding Kijin, for I had the 3 bags full of his belongings and food. Into the elevator we went, waving good bye for the last time ! Off we went to our SWS Guest house room which was about 4 doors down.

Here , we started to play with Kijin, showing him his new surroundings and took many pictures !!! It did not take too long for Kijin to realize that we were not familiar to him and he started to get upset. So we feed him, he fell asleep, napped a bit then woke up to my face and did not what he saw ! Some tears and sad faces, it took him awhile but then he got use to us and started to play with the toys we brought and got happier as the day went on. We took him for a brisk walk around the block, got some air and headed back to our room for dinner. HE is a good eater, loves to snack on cookies and fruits. The hard part was for us to keep him up until 10:oopm !!!! For his last feeding then bed !! Both Ed and I were tired, but we were able to hang on until 9:00pm ! Gave him his bottle and then he was happy and wanted to play !!!! LOL !!!

We turned off the lights, put him in the playpen, and then he just could not get comfy to fall asleep. I picked him up, rocked him to sleep and presto !!!! He was asleep !!! 10:00pm right to about 6:30am !!!!! Now we will begin day 2 of being with Kijin. We will see what the day will bring...............!!!!!

Karen and Ed and Kijin signing out from Seoul

Social Welfare Society , Inc www.sws.or.kr

The Seoul Social Welfare Society works on adoption which connects the children to families full of love, and conducts rehabilitation and welfare services for those who have special needs and nowhere to go. This organization does many more things for their community and overseas. Ed and I are currently staying in their "Guest House" on the 7th floor. It is a place for Korean children who are being adopted overseas and their adoptive parents together can relax in comfort while staying in their motherland Korea.

There is also a famous rock out front of the doors. ( we did take a picture of this..have yet to later download some of our pictures ) Every day, Ed and I go up and down the stairs to the 7th floor to our room. On the way up, on every floor, there are beautiful full size photos of Korean famous people holding newborn babies ! Very cute !! There are 2 very nice doormen who try and speak English and assist us in any way they can. We have brought gifts for them from Canada. ( Maple syrup and chocolates ) We will be giving them their gifts some time today :)

If you would like to know more about this organization and where we are staying, check out their website ! www.sws.or.kr Karen and Ed, signing out from Seoul

Seoul- Day 4

Hi all !
Day4 for us started bright and early !! So we decided to walk some more and head to the Bongeunsa Temple. This temple is very beautiful and a very nice experience to see it. It was so quiet, so early in the morning. It is one of Korea's most traditional Buddhist temples built under the name of Gyeonseongsa. We took many pictures and felt we needed to be quiet and respectful of our surroundings. Many people came to pray and bow to their Buddhist Gods. The picture below is the Main Temple ( Daewoongjeon) It is the most important temple of Bongeunsa and the centre of all religious activities. The Korean's are mostly Christians here and many believe in the Buddhist as well.

Since the CoEx Mall was right across the street from the Temple, we decided to hang out, eat and do some more shopping. Ed bought a lovely Tea Set and we found the popular Porogo? childrens toys - trucks and cars for Kijin - the only place we could find these toys was in the Aquarium Gift shop.

Now it was time walk back to our Guest House !!! So once again , we find ourselves, having a much needed rest since we have walked many miles today !!!!

Seoul- Day 3

Hi all ! Well we decided to venture out and try the Seoul Metro Subway!

We were right in the middle of morning rush hour ! People rushing everywhere on their way to work. Everyone dressed in their business attire, on the phone or reading the paper. We found the Yeoksam Station, which is not far from our SWS Guest House. We just followed everyone else ! We go below and had no idea what to do or where to go ! So many people ! How do we do this??? I tell Ed , lets go to the Renaissance Hotel and get some help ! We need a map or a tour guide !!!!! So back up we go to the street and walk to the RHotel. By the way, there are many many stairs !!! I can't believe these ladies do it in their high heels !!!!!!!!!

We found the information booth, got a Subway map and got directions on where to go. Could we walk there???? Nope !!! Gotta take the METRO !!!! So off we went, back to the Yeoksam Station. Once below many levels, where do we get tickets ??? We found the electronic ticket booths and had no idea how to use it. This nice man who spoke english , told us how to use it !!!

We had to take 2 subways to get our destination 1 ( oh ,oh !) . We can do this !!!!!

We followed the map and got to Anguk Station. ( me asking Ed every few minutes=are we going the right way?? Will we get lost????? Where do we get off again?? )

Once climbing all the stairs to the street level- we just walked and walked and ended up at Changdeok Palace.

This is a palace that was built many many years ago on which the King and Queen lived at. We took an english tour and took many pictures. We paid about $6,000 won each and the tour lasted about an hour. It was very sunny, but very cold !!!! We did not pack well for our warm clothes. Its very damp and it goes right through you !!! UGH ! I tried to stay in the sun as much as possible and later grabbed a large coffee to warm up.

We then walked and found our way to the Insadong Market. More walking !!!!!!! It was a long and narrow street with many vendors on each side. Little closed in stores, or small malls, and or street vendors trying to sell their stuff. The Koreans really love their cell phone trinkets. Everywhere we looked there was stuff for cellphones, carriers, key chains, business card holders, cigarette cases, and many many more trinkets. We looked in many shops for a Tea set- that was reasonable and good quality. We did not find one but found the name chop shop.

This is a very famous stamp shop. They carve names, in Hangul- on soap stones and you can use them as stamps with ink. We saw pictures of the Queen Elizabeth, Prince of Netherlands and Queen Sophia getting their names carved for their own stamp. We bought one for Kijin and Kyler. They even gave us free ink !

I bought a keychain and a 1 year , TON birthday card for Kijin when he turns 1 on June 18th. We did not spend much, but we are going to go back to the CoEx Mall and get a Tea set before we go home.

We did soooo much walking, now it was time to head back before the rush hour begins !! We followed the metro map and made it back to the SWS Guest House without getting lost!! YIPPEE !!

For those who will be coming to South Korea and are following our blog-----make sure you ask Mr.Lee the SWS Guest House doorman for a Seoul Metro map or get one at the Renaissance Hotel before you head for the subway!!!!!

The Metro is very overwhelming at first, but take your time, read the maps, the stations are written in english and you will get the hang of it . Wear good shoes, bring your bags to carry your purchases, bring some snacks, your water bottle and your Won $$$$ ! They do take Visa and matercards at some locations.

I think for the rest of today we will be chilling out, watching TV ( yes , there is one or 2 tv stations that play english movies all day and night !) and resting our bodies !!! I bet so far we walked miles and miles and miles........................................ !

Take care !

Karen and Ed signing out from Seoul, South Korea.

Seoul- Day 2 Con't.....

Hi all !
Seoul- Day 2 con't.....

After we ate our pizza, we decided to head to the CoEx Mall . Why not? We have lots of time ! Why don't we walk !??

We have a map ( not the best ) so we decided to go on line for the walking directions to this HUGE mall. So we started to walk South- taking a guess we are going in the right direction. After a few blocks we decided to ask some one if the CoEx Mall was in walking distance. WE asked a young Korean man, and thankfully he spoke English very well. He told us to walk with him and he will take us there...he lives in the area and is going that way anyways ! So we had a great conversation with him on the way to the mall. He told us where to go and what to see if possible. He told us about where he worked, how long they worked, a bit of Korean culture and just what was going on around us. There were taxis, motorbikes, motorpeds, bycycles every where ! On the sidewalk, on the roads, they seem to have the right-of-way at every block. We had to be careful to make sure they saw us before they took off out onto the main road !!!!

We located the McDonalds on the way to the mall , and made a note to stop there on the way back- get this ! They deliver McDonalds food to your home on motorbikes !!!

Our guide took us to the CoEx Mall, which is.... the largest underground shopping mall in Asia, Coex Mall. Here you can find not only shopping, entertainment and fine dining but also a variety of cultural activities. There are about 200 stores with national brands such as WHO.A.U. and Basic House and international brands such as ZARA, Apple and NIKE. Visit the 16-screen multiplex cinema, Megabox, the Aquarium, the Kimchi Museum or just shop ‘til you drop’. Our guide then left us at our destination and we thanked him and off we went !

Once inside this HUGE HUGE underground mall , ( its like YorkDale Mall-but much bigger and smaller stores ) we decided to walk and go with the flow ! We mostly just browsed and checked out the Bandi and Luni's Bookstore. Here we found a couple of Korean books for Kijin including a Hangul/English dictionary. I think we will return to check out more of the mall. We have 2 full more days before we get Kijin.

On the way back....we are now getting reallllllyyy tired of walking but found the MCDonalds ! WE grabbed a coffee, and a bit of a snack !

Now off to bed to rest ! Both of us has not walked this much in a lonnnngggg time !!!

Signing off from Seoul,

Karen and Ed

Seoul- Day 2- We meet Kijin Woo Cho Wiersma

Hi All !

Here is our picture holding baby Kijin for the first time !

Our Day 2 started off first meeting our Social Worker, Ms Park,Mi Mi up the street at the HAN SUH Hospital-7th floor. Once met, we gave her a gift and thanking her what she has done for us. She told us we were going to meet Kijin and his foster family at their home, 30min away.

A driver drove us to Kijins foster family's home. Ms Park took us up the apartment and there we met , Kijin and his foster mom ! Kijin was sitting on the floor , playing with his toys. We said our hellos, took off our shoes and sat down on the floor.

We sat a bit away so he could see our faces, hear our voices and get use to us there. We grabbed a few toys and started to play with him. His foster mom had our photo album that we sent to them many weeks ago ! She pointed to the pictures, to indicate to him, his mom, his dad, and brother Kyler ! The teether we sent to him was also being used and we saw our family recordable book on the tv shelf.

While playing with him, we asked our questions to our social worker and she translated everything to the foster mother. She then repeated everything to me and wrote it down for me , to get it all later in a written english report. Baby Kijin, is very cute !!!!!!!!!! He is not so big as we thought ! The pictures they sent us , make him look much bigger and older. :) We fed him a baby cookie while trying to get him to being held by one of us. He grabbed Ed's hands and pulled himself up !!!! WOW ! He may be an early walker !

His foster mother served us tea, cookies, and strawberry's. She held him while she fed him cut up strawberry's. We were able to take a few photos and a mini movie from my camera. When the hour was up, we gave Kijin's foster mother a gift bag from us, which was full of Canadian gifts to her and her family. His foster mom then provided us a lovely "Hanbok" for Kijin's first birthday (Ton ).

They came down with us in the elevator to wave good-bye to us ! We were to meet our social worker again on Friday March 25, 2011 at 10:ooam at the HAN SUH Hospital where we will be given Kijin's all his things and then he will be with us forever. What a blessing to look forward too !!

It was a fantastic visit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We can't wait until he is ours forever !!!!

We now have a few days to shop and get to know Kijin's birth country until we get him on Friday. What did we do today ?? We walked to E-Mart !!- ( got a little lost but we found it ).

What is E-Mart ?: Sort of like a Walmart ! It was a 2 story grocery store with isles all over the place with all their signs written in Hangul. This was fun ! We basically walked around and tried to figure out what we wanted to buy. We decided to buy food !!! We bought pop, water, a large bag with 8 mini bags of chips inside, baby cookies for Kijin, Jam, Bread and manderins ! ( cost about 24$ in Canadian ) We forgot to bring our grocery bags !!! The cashier provided us with 1 bag and the rest we carried. For those who will be heading to Seoul and visit E-Mart, bring your own bags !!!!!!

Domino's Pizza !!! Why not? It was on the way back ! So we ordered a medium cheese pizza !! Yummmmm !!! We wolfed that down flat !!! Don't worry, we will try something "Korean"!

We are now just chilling out and just planning the rest of our days before we get Kijin!!!

Talk to you all later !!!

Karen and Ed

Seoul -Day 1

Hi all !

My first entry I put in a few hours ago did not save- now I am re-entering our Day 1 entry !

Well, we took off on time, Saturday March 19th-11:50pm- Everything went well, hardly any line ups. The Toronto airport is very nice- I have not been there since 2001.
Before we boarded the plane- there was an elderly lady with a small yappy dog !! It was going on the plane as carry on !!! I could not believe this !??? Thank goodness we did not sit near her !
We were seated by the window-3 seater--Just Ed and I in the row...This was great- stretched out a bit- hardly slept--the food was ok-but not the greatest !! Loved the movie selection though !!
We arrived on time in Seoul at 3:30am Monday March 21--around 2:00pm Sunday for you guys ! The airport was very nice as well. WE had to wait for a bus about an hour to take us to the Renaissance Hotel-near our final destination.
We boarded the bus-5:40am--then it took us through SEOUL - we were able to view many tall buildings, bridges and cars on their way to work.
We got to the hotel around 7:ooam and then walked to our Social Welfare Society Guest House ( SWS ). Boy, that was fun ! Walking up the hill with 3 suitcases and a stroller ! Whew !! Woke us up a bit ! The walking directions we had were clear- we had 2 of them ! Thanks for those Barb !
The weather is like Canada at the moment. Cool, damp in the morning, sun in the afternoon- around 13-15*. Not much greenery yet !
We found our SWS Guest House and met the doorman and a couple from Sweden who just adopted a baby girl !! They were on their way home- 3 planes -around 18hours total to Sweden!
I am now not complaining about our upcoming plane ride home !!

We are now in our family unit 1. Which has a kitchenette, TV, Computer, phone, washroom, 2 beds, and a crib for baby Kijin. We have been sleeping all day and as I write this, it is, 4:ooam Tuesday March 22. Their plug units are different here. 3 pronged outlets- We bought an adaptor before we left to plug in our electrical devices that need charging. I have yet to find out how to upload our pictures to the computer. ?

There are no clocks in the room. We are relying on Eds BB to set off the alarm to get ready in the morning. We are now in Seoul South Korea time. ( 13 hrs ) or so ahead of you guys in Canada!

WE meet our social worker around 10am or so and then travel on to meet Kijin and his foster family !!! So exciting and nerve racking !

Anyways, I am going back to bed to see if I can sleep some more !
Take Care everyone.

Karen and Ed( who is sleeping right now ) signing off from Seoul , South Korea March 22, 2011, 4:08 am !

The Journey--South Korea

Hi all !

I think i got some sleep, but not much ! We have a few things to pack and do before we leave so this may be the last blog entry before we fly out. We do have a computer where we are staying, and I hope to be in contact with family and friends and update our Blog.

Here is basically our Travel Itinerary : Canada time to Korean Time ( 14 hours ahead )
Day 1 : Fly out of Canada from Toronto for Seoul- Korean Air 11:50pm Saturday March 19th
Day 2: Sunday--still in the air
Day 3: Monday- Arrive in Seoul 02:30am and check in at the Social Welfare Society (SWS
Guest House ) then sleeeeeeeepppppp zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..... ( i hope ! )
Day 4: Tuesday-Meet with our social worker and meet Kijin and his foster family
Day 5,6: Wednesday-Thursday Explore Seoul and receive Kijin , sight see if possible or just
hang out and learn more about Kijin
Day 7,8: Friday, Saturday Sightseeing or shopping
Day 9: Sunday 10:00 am fly out of Seoul---Return to Canada 10:00am !!

We are really gone 7 days, but because of the time difference back and forth it will seem longer or shorter ! Oh My !!!!

Wish us luck !

Talk to you later in Seoul ! ( I hope )

Karen

Ugh ! I can't Sleep ! zzzzzzzz

Hi all.
Bare with me on this blog entry !

Well its almost midnight and I can't sleep ! My mind will not shut down. I am very excited, nervous, scared and have a million things going through my head !
I am soooo excited to go on this trip, meet Kijin and see as much as we can of South Korea-Seoul in 7 days. ( less time with the difference--they are around 14 hours ahead ) Whew !
I am soooo nervous ! The whole flight, meeting Kijin, meeting his foster family , and especially just knowing we are not too far from Japan and what is going on there. I am praying every minute that we will be safe, stress free and come home on time as planned. We are flying out on Saturday, which means the airport will be a ZOO for all those travellers coming back from March Break and those coming in from Japan. Stress free, stress free, breeeeaaathhhheeee .....
Have I packed everything ? Do I have everything? Did I pack way too much or way too little ? ( too much i bet ) How do you people travel with babies????? Small kids??? All the power to you !!! Bring on the power to me !!! That flight home is 13hours plus with a 9 month old who hardly knows us !!! Thank you all who have called or emailed me to give me your support, suggestions and so on in the last week or so on how to travel with a baby !!! ( and more ! :)
I think my brain is in overload- !!!! Ya think ???
Kyler is a lot on my mind as well---a very excited big brother !!! He will have to adjust as well on all the changes that will occurr once we return ! Pray for him too that he will do just fine and learn that he is not the only child anymore. He has done really well in school this year, we hope he will continue to keep up his grades and that bringing Kijin home will not upset his school schedule too much !
Once we return on Sunday the 27th--lets hope I remember to pack his lunch and actually get him off to school on time on the Monday !!!

Once we are home, and have slept ( i hope so !!! ) and have finished with some of our appointments, etc, it may be some time before we venture out with Kijin and see our families and friends. So give us some time, we will get to you eventually, to show Kijin off !!

Well, thanks for letting me get some of these thoughts off my chest. I hope I can get to sleep now !

Thanks again everyone for your thoughts, prayers, emails , calls and keeping in touch on our Blog !

Off to bed zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz .........................

Karen

We are off to South Korea ! --Saturday March 19th !

Hi all !!! We got the call on Friday March 11th--that Kijin's VISA came in ! Yeah ! So we are booked to fly out on March 19th---YES this Saturday !!!! and return on the 27th ! We will meet him for the first time on Tuesday !!! We are very excited ! I think we have everything packed and more !! Kyler will stay with his grandparents in Kitchener as planned and anxiously wait for our arrival with his new baby brother ! Thanks everyone for all your thoughts and prayers up to this point and would love for you to continue to do so until we return !
We will do our best to stay in contact either by email/FB or our Blog while we are there !
Wish us a safe and stress free trip !

KEKK Wiersma

Kijin's VISA is in !

Hi all ! I got a call today that Kijin's VISA is ready ! Which means we will plan to travel to South Korea in the next coming weeks ! We hope by the end of next week that most of the details will be worked out and we will have a take off date ! Although we got our happy news today, our thoughts are with those in Japan and the rest of those who are devastated with this tragic event. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families who are in envolved and for those adoptive families who are waiting to travel to Japan or may be a "Family in Waiting" for a referral from Japan.

KEKK Wiersmas

New Photos of Kijin !

Hi all ! Today we got our updated photos of Kijin ! He is getting soooo big! He is a healthy almost 9 month old ! Wow ! We are currently on our 5th week of waiting for his VISA to be ready. ( it usually takes 8-12 ) Almost there !! Apparently our care package arrived at the right address and the right spot ! I hope there is a way for us to find out if it got to Kijin and his foster family :) Thanks again for all the emails, thoughts and prayers that we have been receiving :)

Karen, Ed, Kyler