Our last day here (and official "Forever Family" day)!

Yesterday, Christian fell asleep at 3pm and apart from trying to get him up briefly for half an hour, he slept straight until 2am.  I think he really needed the rest - he woke up cheery and telling us that he got up on the 'right side of bed' (as opposed to the 'waking up on the wrong side of bed').  It's 4am now and he's in a great mood :-)  I decided not to fight it and spent the last two hours packing all of our stuff.  Our flight leaves this afternoon and we will meet Mari at the airport to take her home.   I'm hoping that we will be able to take a nap this morning to give us some more energy.

I cannot say enough how wonderful the experience meeting Mari's incredible foster family was - definitely the highight of the trip! They are such a generous, loving family and welcomed us and made us feel so comfortable even though our communication was extremely limited. During our short visit, Mari's foster mom was working with me so hard to make Jin Ah a little more comfortable with me. You can tell that they just love her completely - the entire family works together to care for these children.  While we were visiting at the orphanage, all Mari had to do was to look at her Appa and she would break out into a huge smile!  The older daughter is also a favorite and can get her into a great mood just by singing her special butterfly song.  The younger daughter is extremely artistic and gave us an an incredible sketch of Jin Ah. And while Mari was napping, I 'talked' with Grandma a little bit and got some information about how she comforts her by lovingly squeezing her arms and legs. We've been thinking of her and her Seoul family and getting very teary eyed.  Grandma and foster mom kept pointing me out to Mari and saying "Omma" (mom), but I told them that I can be called "Mommy" but Kyung Sook will always be her Omma.  We are all family now and I want Mari to be able to know them as she grows up.

I just also wanted to point out something very huge from our meeting. 

That's Mari handling Christian's beloved lovey, his most precious item.  He actually let her play with it without complaint, which is completely amazing considering his normal tolerance for sharing.  I know that there will be many fights and whining in the future, but I was so proud of him for being such a great big brother to his new sister!
Anyway, this will be my last post until we make it to the other side.  Please pray for our trip home.