The pictures remind me that even getting to her foster home that day was memorable. The chauffeur who safely delivered us through Seoul to the outskirts of town must be distant kin to Mario Andretti. The twisty alleys were too narrow for cars to pass, almost too steep to climb on foot. Our foster mother’s apartment building, like much of Seoul, clung to the side of a mountain.

Inside, the brick building was as clean as a hospital. We started climbing stairs. On almost every landing an apartment door stood open; our social worker explained it meant someone was at home if neighbors cared to drop by. Two double-flights up, she stopped outside an open door – the apartment where our baby had spent more than half of her young life. The small pile of shoes in the hallway prompted us to take ours off before stepping up into the apartment onto the ondol floor. Our foster mother (who we’d met the day before) smiled at us from the kitchen, nodding toward an alcove, one finger held to her lips. Peering around the corner, we saw Claire Seong Ah wide-awake, greeting us near-strangers with a gummy smile..

Our foster mother was caring for two babies under the age of six months. Yet she had hand-rolled platters of Korean treats, cut small towers of fruit and squeezed fresh orange juice. She served us on a low lacquered table on the floor where we sat playing with Claire. Our social worker cheerfully translated our questions and our foster mom’s stories, like how Claire enjoyed a quick zip around the block on her foster father’s motorcycle!

Barely announced by a friendly tap on the doorframe, a woman stepped into the apartment. She was a foster mom too, living across the alley.  She had come over to say goodbye to Claire. Riding on her back was her foster son, one of the most beautiful boys I’d ever seen. Even with my own baby on my lap, I was smitten! Our social worker introduced Hyeon Bhin as Claire’s “boyfriend” whom she played with every day. He was a waiting child; they were praying God would soon find his forever family.

Hyeon Bhin was five months older than Claire. While she sat quietly in my lap licking my rings, he cruised the room clapping, waving, and patting us on the head. And I thought, “Why is this little boy still waiting? Whatever his special need, it is completely eclipsed by his personality!” Had the law allowed it, we would have taken him home, too! I settled for an extra roll of exposed film instead.

            One short week later we were back home in Minnesota with Claire. Our four-year-old daughter was charmed (and only a wee bit jealous) of her new baby sister. When I developed the film, I discovered I’d taken six and half inches of pictures in Korea! My first sort yielded a short stack of Hyeon Bhin that I sent to Peg Studaker at Children’s Home Society & Family Services (CHSFS) for his family someday. I was surprised a month later to find a note in our mailbox postmarked Illinois. It was from Hyeon Bhin’s adoptive parents. A few weeks after we returned from Korea, they accepted his referral. They’d named him Alex and now they were waiting to bring him home.

            His mom Joy and I emailed each other frequently during their long, long wait. Then last December, the fax machine at (CHSFS) finally yielded the magic piece of paper: Alex was ready to come home. Into his parents’ flurry of last minute emails, I slipped a request: say a little prayer over the babies at Eastern. By that time, we were waiting again for our next referral; maybe one of those babies was the one God had conceived for us. Joy emailed from Seoul that when they toured the nursery, she asked if they could take home an extra baby. The social worker replied, “You can try. But we always check parents’ pockets!” Alex came home in time for Christmas.

In a few weeks, Claire and Alex will meet again for the first time since those days they played together half way around the world.  Although at last report, Alex has already replaced Claire with another (very kissable) little girlfriend from day care.  Joy and I plan to take Alex and Claire to CHSFS to thank the Korea staff, and to take more pictures in the place where their American stories came together.

While their stories are coming full-circle, yet another has begun. We met Alex before his parents did; Alex’s parents saw our new daughter even before her first picture was taken. What about those babies they visited at Eastern last December? One of them was referred to us last month. We’ve named her Lilly. Sometime in July my husband and I will have the privilege of visiting Korea again to bring her home.

Who will we meet in Seoul this time? New friends bringing home their own babies? New babies waiting for their forever families? It may be hard to imagine beyond that sweet face in the photos of the baby you are waiting for. But like Alex slipping into our lives on his foster mother’s back, adoption comes bundled with the unexpected: other children, other families you will carry around on your heart forever.

With thanks to Joy, Adam and Alex for letting me share their story, too.

Carrie and Mike welcome email from waiting families.  Click here to contact them.

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