Oh yeah…did I mention we were going to Seoul?

We arrived in Seoul this afternoon. All is well. Oh yeah...did I mention we were going to Seoul?

First off, don’t get too excited. We’re not going to Seoul for Peanut Butter.   Well, we are—we’re just not going to bring him back.  We’re going for a visit.  That sounds a little crazy, but it’s only a little crazy. Some of you have heard a lot of this, but it all happened so suddenly, that we really haven't talked to many people about the whole story, so here it is.

We first were introduced, virtually, to Peanut Butter (whose real name is going to be Matthew Ji-seok, by the way) in October of 2011.  We were hoping to bring him home this Spring.  Obviously, that didn’t happen.  Then, we got a phone call a couple weeks ago saying that our travel call was likely to be more like late Summer or Fall.

After a brief period of frustration and dismay, Heidi focused all her ex-travel agent skills on her need to see the little guy this Spring.  She managed to make the finances and logistics work out such that we could go and see Peanut Butter (you can’t count her husband’s trip to the emergency room against her). 

Heidi’s key insight was separating the two goals we had for the trip to Seoul as it was originally planned:

1. Bring home Matthew / Peanut Butter
2. Show Elaina around Seoul, let her be part of Peanut Butter’s introduction to the family, and let her meet her foster parents

We had planned those for a single trip, because, well, who wouldn't? You don't just dash off to Seoul on an impulse...except, maybe, when you do.

Because we’d have two kids needing extraordinary amounts of attention (one being pulled away from his foster parents and going home with relative strangers, and the other, suddenly the only child no longer, and having all of her abstract adoption knowledge made real and concrete at once, maybe even dredging up subconscious memories), we’d planned to bring along my mother-in-law. 

So, that was going to be 4 plane tickets (not counting Peanut Butter) and one hotel stay.  Heidi split the two goals.  We’d bring Elaina with us on this trip, and on the second trip we’d go alone.  That has a lot of advantages:

1. Two trips, but each is easier because each is with just one kid.
2. We wouldn’t have to take my mother-in-law, so we’d save a ticket there.  (My mother-in-law’s great, and she’d be genuinely helpful to have along, but they don’t let her fly free.)
3. It de-risks the travel expense.  Instead of 4 tickets at some unknown price, it’s 3 tickets now at a known-good price (again, unless you happen to make a stop at the ER), and only 2 at the future, scary-unknown price.
4. We get to see the little guy right now.  I don’t know whether that’ll make the waiting harder or easier, but it fills a need (specifically, the need of a mother in nesting mode, which is a need you don't want to jump out in front of).
5. It might make the transition easier for him later, having spent at least a little time with us.

We’ve arranged to meet with Peanut Butter, meet with Elaina’s foster parents, and later in the week, we’ll actually get to take the little guy for most of a day—10 to 6. 

So, that was the plan anyway.  The plan is currently flexing a bit to accommodate some unexpected stops.  But again, that’s another story.