precious seoul

I finally changed my blog settings to make this blog a bit more private... so that I can share my baby's precious little face! Isn't he so sweet? Oh, and we finally decided on an American first name... Max. He is being named after Brian's grandfather. We will call him Max InChan Arnold. I had been contemplating a couple of other names for my choices, but I have to admit that the name Max grew on me, and now I think that he totally looks like a Max InChan. I can't wait until he is here running around our (and his) house.

These pictures were taken April 18th when our agency went to visit him in Seoul, South Korea. He had just turned 7 months old. Here, his foster mother is showing him a picture of his mommy and daddy who are anxiously waiting for him in America.

we were also fortunate enough to have received a video of this special time where he received a care package from us. out of all the toys they threw his way, he seemed by far the most interested in this picture. in the video you can see that he holds onto the picture with both hands and brings it close to his face. he only let go of it after his foster mother pulled it away so that they could practice his ability to sit up on his own and to do an "army crawl."

i think i mentioned in a past post, that i am so thankful that the foster mom showed him our picture and explained to him who brian and i are to him (omma and appa). i hope/pray that she continues to share this with him so that he gets some sense of who we are.

i have to admit that it's been a really difficult couple of weeks for me since we learned that we won't be able to bring him home for such a long time. we've had lots of rain the past couple of weeks which hasn't helped my mood much either. this morning as i was driving to work, i was reminded that behind the clouds and fog are the beautiful mountains. while the rain is here temporarily, it won't be long before the sun is shining again. and while the rain is cold and gloomy, it makes for beautiful green mountainsides.

so even though this period of waiting for Max is long, difficult and seems gray, i know that in the end we will be a family and will be thankful for all we have been given.