Introducing...

And here's the moment you've all been waiting for - the Johnson family photo. Elliot Andrew Jin-seo is in the blue on the left, and Russell Matthew Jin-pyo is in the yellow on the right. Interestingly, the more people you have in the picture the harder it is to get a good shot of everybody. (We've heard about this from our friends with multiple children, but now we've experienced it first hand.) Russell looks a bit fussy in this one, and Thomas doesn't look particularly happy, but that was not the case at all. Thomas was very excited to see the boys, and Russell was very laid-back. It was a very exciting moment when the foster mother and her cousin walked into the room carrying Jin-pyo and Jin-seo. All we had seen were those baby pictures, so we weren't even sure what they would look like. Suddenly, there they were; no longer images or imaginings, but real and in the flesh. In that moment, we transformed from admirers and dreamers into parents.

The foster mother recalled when got the call to care for twins, she had been unsure what to do and called her cousin who lived nearby. Her cousin responded, "Get them!" And from the day they came home to her, her cousin came over every morning to help. Russell and Elliot were always very excited to see her. The foster mother said, "They are good greeters." The woman holding Jin-seo on the right is the foster mother, and the woman on the left with Jin-pyo is her cousin. Both are wonderfully kind and caring people. We've now been lucky twice on that count. Beth then began quizzing them about all the child-care details: what do they eat, when do they sleep, what do they like to do? All of the answers were great, and it sounds like we've got two more wonderful children. We won't try to recreate the Korean here, but they had nicknames. Russell's translates, "Big Brother" and Elliot's is "The Smart One." We'll see Russell and Elliot again next Monday for physicals, and then get to take them with us on Tuesday.

The next meeting of the morning was a reunion of Thomas and his foster mother. Thomas was a bit shy at first, but warmed up by the end. We got some great video of him showing her all his Star Wars guys and explaining who they were. Thomas was her 27th foster child, and she had child number 33 with her. Of the 32 previous, we were only the second set of parents to meet with her again, and Thomas is the first foster child she's gotten to see again. She was clearly very excited about it. It was great for us to see her again, as well, and thank her again for the wonderful home she had provided for our son. We explained to her how we are often told Thomas is well behaved, to which we always respond, "Mrs. Lee did a great job!" We also let her know that we have a picture of her with Thomas on our refrigerator and that Beth and Thomas pray for Mrs. Lee every day. Mrs. Lee responded that she keeps the names of all 33 children in her bible and prays for them daily. She prays they will grow up to become ministers in their countries. Perhaps we have now found the root cause for Thomas' affinity to liturgical hymns. Pictured to the right is Thomas' social worker, who is still working with Holt and was also there today.

Later that afternoon, we went to Insadong for some shopping and an authentic Korean meal. To the left is Thomas removing his shoes, and to the right is us sitting cross-legged at dinner. Thomas was very tired by the time shopping and dinner were over and was asking to go back to the hotel. As we made our way back out of Insadong, we passed a brass quartet playing New Orleans-style jazz. We stopped to watch for a second, then began to move. Thomas said, "I don't want to go." Daddy asked, "I thought you wanted to go back to the hotel?" "After this is over." We stayed for a couple more songs (When the Saints Go Marching In and Hey Jude) and went home.

Thomas is now sleeping. Hopefully he'll make it through the night. Last night he was up at 2:30, a move in the wrong direction. Beth somehow coaxed him back to sleep until 6:30. Wish us luck for tonight.