The Journey to EasterAnna

Born in the Republic of Korea on June 25, 2005

When people ask, "Why did you decide to adopt a third child?" it's so hard to adequately answer and not sound like a blabbering philosopher. But then again, the answer is simple: God led us to do this. He led us to this particular child, and even we can't explain it. But here is how it all started:

Ever since we came home with Emmeline in 1998, I knew I wanted another child, but I also knew that this child would be from South Korea. It was just in my heart that our third child would be Korean. I just knew.

I prayed diligently for over seven years for another child. Many times I felt that God was not going to give me another child, but then again, I also felt Him nudging me to be patient. For all of these years, I have searched on Rainbowkids.com for our child, because I somehow knew we would find him or her there. I found a child a few years ago who was so precious, and we reviewed his file. We didn't understand a lot of the medical terms and had our pediatrician look it over. The pediatrician adamantly said, "NO" after reviewing the baby boy's file - there were too many serious health issues and unknowns. We were heartbroken, and our hearts still ache for this little boy who has since been moved to a home for disabled children in South Korea. But I still didn't give up and continued to check the Rainbowkids site every week.

One day in January (around January 15), 2006, I saw the cutest picture of the fattest, maddest-looking baby girl in South Korea on Rainbowkids. I showed Todd, and for the first time in forever, he actually seemed interested in this child. When I bookmarked her picture on my computer, I named the bookmark "My Child" and laughed as I did so - YEAH, RIGHT! But surprisingly, every night when Todd would get home from work, he would ask if the baby girl was still on the website. Finally, after a week of stewing, I called Peg Studaker of Children's Home Society and Family Service in St. Paul, MN to ask about this baby girl who had already captured both Todd and me. She stated that another family was reviewing the baby's file, but I could check back the next week. So I did - and the family was STILL reviewing the file, but Peg told me to check back the next week. So I did, and guess what - the other family had decided not to pursue the adoption, and we were next in line to review the file! My heart was jumping all over the place. I told Todd, and I begged him to let us at least look at the file. And surprisingly again, he agreed. We had to fax our latest home study to Peg before she could release the file to us, and once I did that, I had the baby's file on email in no time! What happened next can only be explained as GOD. When I opened the file, there were huge pictures of the most gorgeous baby girl in a pink outfit. And as strange as it seems, I knew her. I had never seen that face before (she looked NOTHING like the Rainbowkids photo), but I knew her - I just knew she was mine, and Todd felt the same way. From that day on, we couldn't get our homestudy and other paperwork finished soon enough, because we knew what God has always known - this baby was meant to be in our family. The process was fast at times, and slow at times, but in the end, we now have our beautiful little daughter from South Korea! The day the travel call came from Jill at our agency was one of the happiest of my life.

This adoption was such an exciting and wonderful event in our lives, and I don’t think my description of it can do it justice. I am overwhelmed at how God has blessed us. I won't include everything I would like to say, but I want to say first that this adoption of EasterAnna has God’s hand all over it – there is too much proof for me to type it all out, but never under estimate Him when you ask for His blessing!

Here is an account of the day we met our new daughter and sister: Early Friday, July 21st, we gathered our things and left for the 6 hour drive to Atlanta. This was after very little sleep the night before, and you’ll notice how rough our eyes look in all of the photos! There was so much work to do BEFORE we even left, that we were already exhausted by Friday, anyway. We stayed in a really nice hotel near the airport and left on the airport shuttle after dinner, bound for the airport to meet EasterAnna. From the minute we stepped onto the shuttle, we were blessed with kind people who helped us throughout the night – starting with the shuttle driver, who was so helpful. Then the dreaded beg for gate passes – Todd & I went to the NW Airlines counter, and the manager said he could only give us one gate pass. So Todd told me I could go, and I said NO WAY was I meeting EasterAnna without him. So the manager asked if we had documentation that we were really adopting (thank you LORD that we had the presence of mind to bring a bunch of different pieces of our acceptance paperwork from CHSFS). That satisfied the man, then he looked at our id’s and said he could give us 2. At first he seemed cold, but once he knew we were legitimate, his countenance did an about-face and he was so kind and wished us the best. He did tell us that normally he would NEVER do this, and that we were one exception. We gave him and the ticket agent who also helped us a chocolate “It’s a Girl” cigar from Peterbrooke Chocolatier, a Jacksonville chocolate company. That seemed to make his night!

So then onto the gate, but my parents and our girls couldn’t come with us. So they waited outside Baggage Claim. Todd and I breezed through security and onto the gate. We had about 35 minutes until her plane was to arrive. We had the HARDEST time finding someone to video the moment for us, because everyone had to catch flights around the time we would need them! So I prayed for God to bless us with someone to film it, and He did – a wonderful lady and her son who were in no hurry. They were the nicest people and when the son (about 13) found out what we were doing, he was so interested and came up and hugged me. There went 2 more cigars! And finally, after being “in range” for 15 minutes, the plane landed about 15 min. late. The flight was from Detroit, and there weren’t many people on it at all. Then, we caught a glimpse of a Korean lady with a baby carrier on, and we saw two pink little legs hanging out of it and a head full of black hair coming out the top of the carrier – we knew it had to be HER! But then the lady disappeared, and an agent ran up to us and had to see our id, and he compared it with a document he gave us about the escort and the parents. THEN here came EasterAnna! She was sound asleep, and more beautiful than we ever dreamed. I could not believe how exquisite her beauty was. I am SO GLAD I had a gift for the escort. The man with her was her son, and they were so wonderful! They loved our baby and said they had been praying for her and for us. I was so touched, I cried yet again. We stay in touch with EasterAnna's "Uncle Hong" through email – her escorts are very special people and we are so very thankful that they brought our baby over the ocean.

Then came the moment when I was handed my daughter. We kept her in the baby carrier, and they adjusted it for me. She awoke but was sort-of semi-conscious, she was so tired. She looked at me and played with my necklace. The escorts showed me some of the things in the big blue bag from Social Welfare Society in Korea – one very special thing they showed me was a gift from EasterAnna’s birthmother – something I never expected! So, here came more tears! I was truly a blubbering idiot by now. I was just emotionally overwhelmed. After tearful goodbyes, Todd and I were on our way to Baggage Claim to meet the family! That was when EasterAnna took a liking to her Daddy – she gave him HUGE smiles on the train! Our girls and my parents were so thrilled to see our newest family member. EasterAnna just took it all in and even smiled some (sweetheart). This was so special for my parents, since they weren’t with us in China when we adopted our first two daughters. My Dad spent two weeks in Korea on a church mission trip when I was young, so Korea has always been special to him – and he was extremely excited to meet his next grandchild! Then we walked past Baggage Claim, and I instantly spotted the giftbag I had given the escort – so we saw the escorts again, and my family was able to meet them – what a blessing!

We had no trouble at all finding our shuttle back to the hotel, and we gave the nice driver a chocolate cigar. That night was exhausting, to say the least. EasterAnna was really playful and all smiles for a while, but when it was time to sleep, she was another story. We walked down to the lobby, and on our way down, something happened that broke my heart – she was saying “Omma??” “Appa??” with that questioning tone, and was looking around for them – my Mom and I just cried and cried. It just broke my heart in two. She called for them all night. I had no problem getting her to go to sleep in the Ergo, but she was up and down all night long, crying and missing Omma and Appa – I got 2 hours of sleep, and Todd got 3. So when we look horrible in the photos, you’ll know why – we are experiencing severe sleep deprivation already! Yesterday we all went to breakfast together and then started on our journey home. EasterAnna went to sleep right away and slept until we stopped for lunch at a Cracker Barrel. Who walks in but our church Minister of Music & his wife, who we know and love! They were also in Atlanta this weekend and were also on their way home! So they were the first church members to see EasterAnna and were so excited. We had a few crying fits on the way home, but by and large, EasterAnna was a wonderful little traveler! We even stopped at the Florida line to get a picture of us with EasterAnna as she entered her state for the first time.

On our first night at home in Florida, EasterAnna wasn’t at first very happy about the new surroundings – very cranky and curious but scared about the pets. The next day was a different story – she played non-stop, ate like a horse, and was so sweet. She loved the animals and was so excited when she petted our Golden Retriever. We did not tell her to do this, but she calls Todd “Appa” and called me “Omma” at first (Korean words for Daddy and Mama) - although I'm usually "Mama" now! I cried when she called me "Omma" for the first time. She said “Omma” and reached for me.

We can’t believe how smart this child is. We were told she was delayed, but here she is, and she seems advanced for her age. She is so intelligent and was already feeding herself with a spoon when we met her. She says tons of English words and understands everything we say to her or tell her to do. Here I was, worried about her all these months, and it was all for nothing!

When we finally finished looking through the SWS bag, here is what we found: lots of bibs, wipes, washcloths, 4 Korean bottles that she is very attached to, powdered milk (she’s off baby formula), powdered baby cereal, some medicine, tons of gifts from the foster mom and SWS, a baby toy from her birth mom and a bunch of clothes/outfits from the birth mom! I was so overwhelmed to see the birth mom gifts. I don’t know if this means there has been recent contact, or not. The clothes are EasterAnna’s size now. They are so cute and will be cherished forever! SWS also included her schedule and feeding info and her immunization records. The bag was stuffed full, for sure. We did get a hanbok from the fm, and it was the very one I’ve been trying to find and was unable to do so! She also sent pictures of EasterAnna wearing it, from her first birthday!

This has been such an awesome experience. If you can’t travel to Korea, don’t for a second think your experience will be second – best. For us, it was PERFECT in every way and now that we’ve experienced it, we are glad it worked out just this way. We praise God for the gift of this child in our lives. Sometimes Todd and I just look at eachother and we can’t believe how much we already love this little angel. We will work hard to be the parents she needs us to be.

Here are some other pictures of EasterAnna, all taken around 7 - 8 mos. of age. She is in excellent foster care, and her Foster Mother is a Christian. We are very thankful for this wonderful lady! She showers EasterAnna with love every single day and takes excellent care of her.