Ashah meets her foster mum

We had a very special day the other day, Ashah got to meet with her foster mother, although she was shy, she did end up giving her a cuddle and sat on her lap which was beautiful to see. We exchanged gifts, Ash got some hello kitty sock, and then she also did some writing in her book for her foster mum. Alex will hopefully see his foster mother as well. Just being here this time has been really special, both times we've come to pick our beautiful children up it has been around 0 degree, very cold and snowy, so its so so nice to be here enjoying the sun, today was 21 degrees, so easy to get around and do things.

We seem to leave our room around 11am and not come back till 5 or 6 o'clock. we've been catching the train a lot which is easy, it goes to anywhere you want. We've visited market (which are so overwhelming- too much stuff), seen palaces, bridges, parks and eaten a lot of food (still)...we've actually found this really cheap eat out across the road from where we are staying, the lady is getting used to us so much so that the other day when we went in, she was making sushi, it was fresh, she shoved it in Matt's and my mouth, I got images of nonna Lina...she just wanted to make sure we had something in our bellies while we waited for our food...and tonight she gave us 2 fried eggs on the house, a really sweet lady.

Tomorrow we are going to try and go to the Korean Folk Village similar to Sovereign Hill, Ballarat in Victoria, people dressed in traditional clothes, korean drumming, dance and little homes from different eras. We are here in Seoul till Monday when we will travel by fast train to Busan...so the days are rolling on, we are having lots of fun, but also looking forward to returning home.

Seoul- South Korea- the birth place of our children

For a while there we thought we weren’t going to get to Korea…the first day a 10 hour delay, we had to reschedule and get a hotel for the night then the next day 3 hour delay…we were glad to get here. If we hadn’t had the delays we wouldn’t have met some of the nicest people, so sometimes you can see God is at work for the bigger picture!

Seoul is such a nice place, very clean and organised, with beautiful trees and plants decorating the streets. We are currently staying in the guesthouse where we met our children for the first time. There are about 6 floors, and two of those are used as guest houses. On the 3^rd floor is the little hospital where the babies stay before they are placed with foster families…I took Ashah there the other afternoon, so many cute babies, Matt also took Alex he loved it.

Seoul is a very easy place to live, and very much up with the times…there is a 4 level underground subway system that takes you everywhere and the whole city is wifi (internet that is). The food has been great and we have found a very cheap and fresh quality eat just across the road, the lady there was so nice she had a beautiful scripture up on the wall and there was an older gentleman eating there that looked as if he may have been homeless or poor and she didn’t make him pay for his meal…she even gave the kids extra food, I think we’ll be back there.

The kids are doing really well and we are all adjusting well to the welcomed change in temperature, its been cool but good weather to go around to do things. We plan to stay in Seoul for about 2 weeks and then make our way down to Busan by fast train (it takes over 7 hours by car but only 2.5 hours by train, it goes fast approx. 300km an hour!). Busan is a harbour city and some people that we met at the airport suggested some other destinations close by, so we will probably hire a car and drive along where the mountains meet the ocean and surrounding islands.

Cebu

We arrived in Cebu on Saturday and have had a great time meeting up with people from the church here. The last time I had seen them was 5 years ago, we came to stay here for 2 months, Alexander was only 2 years old... Matthew has been back 3 times with out me but it was really great to now be here all together again. During our time I made friends with many of the young girls that were 9 and 10, and now its been a pleasure to see them grown up into teenagers. It has been a real encouragement to meet up with all the people in the church that we know, they are so hospitable and serve their community with passion...but their love for Jesus shines out bright, you can see their trust and hope in God for their lives, its wonderful.

I went with some of the ladies in the church to the local hospital, they've been doing this for 8 years now, every 3 months. The hospital is less than the standard we are used to, so for me to go in it was hard, but then realised that at least they have somewhere to come to be cared for. We went around praying for people, many shed tears as we would pray for them or their loved ones. It was a very moving experience for me.

Yesterday we were excited to be able to visit Armie and her family... 4 years ago Matt and Rob met her family and saw that her son Jason was ill with a leaky heart valve. Through the help of Children's First Foundation we were able to get the help for Jason (he was nine at that time)...so he came to Melbourne with his mum and was operated at the Children's Hospital. Many of our family and friends contributed to supporting them while they were here. Jason was very sick and was actually close to death...but yesterday it was hard to imagine that it was the same boy, now 13 running around and playing with his cousins. While we were in the same area, Matt shared at a local church, the one that Armie attends, again we were encouraged by the leaders there, we know their difficult circumstances and love the way they talk about God being by their side.

We are now looking forward to our next adventure, we leave for South Korea on Sunday. We are very excited to be visiting the birth place of our children, we will try to travel around the country, as in the past we have only seen Seoul the capital, but now we will try to go south to a place called Busan.

Thank you every one for the response to the pig project on Talim, please keep this in mind, please email us if you would like any more information...or if you would like to know about any other ways you can help.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers as we travel, we really feel them.