This is the day

Well we met with Paxton again today. We got to spend 30 minutes alone with him in our room. He cried about 15-20 minutes of that time but did finally calm down and just rested in our arms. It was so sad. I know that tomorrow will be really hard for him and so will the nights to come. After we returned to his foster mom he was all smiles. We even got a laugh out of him! So sweet. He loved to just cuddle us when had calmed down, but he never came back to us. We had our prayer meeting yesterday as well. We had looked forward to meeting the senior Dr. Kim, but his health is very bad and he's in the hospital. Someone else came and said our prayer for us. It was very neat. We also signed our papers saying that he has been delivered to us and he is free from physical illness and defect! Our baby is ready to come home!

Today we are meeting up with three other couples and are going sightseeing together. If the weather clears up that is. It's very cold here today. 32 is the high for the day. It also rained/snowed last night so it's going to be a COLD day here! For those of you about to travel, don't forget rain gear!

It's way to early...

It's about 6:30 a.m. here. I've been awake since about 2:30. I finished reading the last of my two books. I've spent thirty minutes in the computer room, I've showered and gotten dressed. I've made breakfast. I've made a list of all the gifts we are going to try and buy today. And now I'm bored. We're going to try and hit another market today. Yesterday the one we went to wasn't what we were expecting, so hopefully today we'll have more luck. I did buy Naia a beautiful hanbok yesterday though. Today I hope to find some practical gifts for everyone.

We get to see Paxton again at 3. Too many hours for me to figure out how long that is. My hips hurt today from walking so much yesterday! We walked and walked and walked. Today will be more of the same. I'll be taking some tylenol for sure tonight. It still seems a little surreal that we're in Korea to bring home our baby. Other than the language barrier, it doesn't really feel like we're in a foreign country. I'm sure that on Sunday night when he's crying and wants to go back to his foster mother the reality of everything will set in! For now I guess I'll just live in bliss and have a good time!

Introducing...

We finally got to meet our sweet Paxton! He is precious. He has the sweetest smile that he only shows rarely. We got to meet with him about 50 minutes or so. As we were walking down the stairs to meet our social worker here, we saw his foster mother come in the door. She recognized us right away and we knew that "she has our baby!" She was carrying him in a sling on her back, underneath her coat! He was asleep when he got here, but she handed him right to me. Oh he smelt so good. And so small. Not really small but small, he now weighs a whopping 17 pounds! He was just adorable. Then he started crying so I gave him back to his foster mother. She sat him on the table in the room we were in and he played with the toys. Every time I would touch him or try to get him to hold my fingers, he pulled back very quickly! Not with Brent though. He loves his papa. He didn't cry either of the times Brent held him unless the foster mom left the room. Then he screamed. He screamed every time I held him! She told that he loves his foster dad, so I'm sure that's why he loves Brent so much. We played with him about 50 minutes then it was time for them to leave. She wrapped Paxton back up on her back and they left.

So here are the pictures. The real reason I'm sure you're still reading! Without further ado...

Paxton Sol Efird


Isn't he precious?! He really loves his foster mother. He is probably her last foster child b/c of her age. He's been with her since he was 20 days old.

I also went and held babies this morning. So sweet! I walked in and washed my hands and put on a gown and they just handed me a baby! She was 8 months old and so cute! I even got to change a dirty diaper. We're about to go back there until a couple we met is finished meeting their baby and then we're all going to go do something together.

Awake and Ready to go

I actually slept most of the night last night! Our room is right next to the nursery so we heard teeny baby cries most of the night. I can't wait to go hold them today. The bed is really really hard! Kind of like sleeping on a pallet on the floor! We were so tired though that it didn't matter!

We get to meet Paxton in just a few hours! I cannot wait to see him. In his passport picture he looks so sweet! He's finally getting some of the crazy hair that other babies from Korea seem to have! Too cute! We just met a lady from the US that is leaving today with her baby. She's the first adopting family that we've met so far!

We both slept decent last night. We were so tired though. We walked around and had dinner at Outback last night! There are some intersections that don't have crosswalks and we couldn't figure out how to get across to eat at KFC! Today we'll know to just get on that side of the street early! Dinner was good, but we can't wait to eat some real Korean food. Maybe we'll get brave when Emily and Nathan get here and all eat out together!

Are we there yet?

We finally made it to Korea! Our flight ended up being over 16 hours long. We're exhausted! We do get to sleep in just a little in the morning though! We get to meet Paxton at 10 a.m. We are soooo excited!

It's very cold and windy here. We went walking after we checked in this evening and are still trying to thaw out. Our room is right next door to the babies room at Eastern! We've heard teeny baby cries each time we've gone back to our room. Tomorrow we get to visit with Paxton and his foster mother for one hour. Then we have lunch with the Drs. Kim. After that we are going to go hold babies! I can't wait. I couldn't talk Brent into it tonight, but he said that's what we would do tomorrow!

Xavier and Naia, I hope you had a great day at home with Juby yesterday. We miss you so much!! You wouldn't have liked flying over here at all! It was very very long! We'll post more tomorrow after we meet Paxton and we'll try and get pictures on here as well!

Ice, sleet, rain, oh my!

Please pray that the weather holds off! It's been sleeting here all morning and the deck is covered in ice! The sidewalks and roads are all probably pretty slick!

We're almost packed and getting ready to leave! Brent is packed up for the most part. I've not even started packing yet! I've got the bathroom stuff packed up......almost. I keep emailing my mom and Brent's mom for last minute instructions for the kids! AND

My friend Jennifer might be having her baby today! She's bringing their youngest over here to play so she can go to the doctor and get checked out to see if it's labor or not! Keep her in your prayers as well!

Good day today

We had a much better day today than yesterday! The kids played really well most of the morning. We didn't leave the house until this afternoon and that was great for both of them. We've had some really good quality time with them before things get crazy starting tomorrow. Sunday's are always busy for us with church. Also tomorrow I'm going to Ft. Smith the finish shopping for clothes and boots(!!!) for Korea! I love it when my mom takes me shopping.

Today we took the kids to see the movie Bolt. Too cute! It's all about friendship and being there for your friends. Very very good movie. I'm so glad that it was good. And it was really funny for everyone without all the "adult" jokes in it! We loved it. "awesome"

And of course today we made our daily trip to walmart to get the things on todays list. One thing I forgot was undershirts for Paxton. He's used to wearing at least two layers of clothing, so I don't want him to be chilled as soon as we get him! So we got those and we've gotten two suitcases packed. Not big ones, but I did get the diaper bag packed so I could use it as a "carry on". Then we packed our bag full of donations and gifts. We've got the big suitcases laid out and I'm sure we'll start packing those tomorrow. Well okay let me admit, I probably won't start packing until Monday!
Have a great rest of the weekend!