~~~So, not 10 minutes after we got home Fri. night, Tim Klaus called. (For those of you who do not know who he is, he is a friend who is adopting from Korea. His wife, Susan, was born in Korea and her family immigrated to the US when she was 7 years old. They have a birthson, Paul who is 20 months old. They are adopting a son, James, who is 8 mos. old.) He said they were free to get together with us on Saturday. We wanted to meet with them, but had no way to go in ourselves. So I called Ae-Ran to just see if she was open & available to take us in. She said she'd talk to Kyung-Hee and then call me back. After 30 min, she called back with everything planned out...we were to be picked up at 11:30am by Han Gi Lyaw (teacher from school/church), who would take us into Seosan to meet the bus. After helping us buy our tickets, she would call Ae-Ran who in turn would contact a friend in Seoul to pick us up at the bus station & take us to the hotel.
Everything went true to schedule on Saturday. Han Gi Lyaw was very good about making sure we were on our way before leaving back home. Once on the bus, James spotted an Australian and asked to go sit by him. They talked the whole way there. He is a Professor at a university in SeoSan and he told us about a library where we can check out English books! It is the largest library outside of Seoul. He was impressed by James' maturity and invited us to come visit him and for James to speak with his students. When we arrived in Seoul, we were greeted enthusiastically by SakYou (Ae-Ran's friend) and his friend YoungEun. They began talking about the subway and John & I looked at each other...we didn't know the subway was involved! But they spoke well enough English to be able to show us around the subway station and explain how to get back by ourselves. John even took pictures to help us. It took about 45 min to reach the hotel, transferring to a 2nd line half-way through. There are 8 major lines traveling throughout Seoul and 4 more minor lines.
We finally arrived at the hotel at 4pm. We had a wonderful time with Tim & Susan. We were not able to see baby James because he was admitted back into the hospital for observation before flying next week. Outback Steakhouse was only a 5 minute walk from their hotel, so that's where we went for supper. Tim & I went in initially to check out menu pricing first, and after we decided to go ahead, Tim was handed one of those black discs since we had a 15 minute wait. They probably thought I was crazy, but I got soooooo excited to see that disc!! I was amazed to see something so American in Korea! I guess that shows we've been out in the country here a little too long! We laughed when our food came...we had awesome mouthwatering steaks along with kimchi & cucumbers! The kids got a free drink with their meal and they chose kiwi juice. We were all amazed when we saw it ~ thick & chunky...it was true kiwi juice, made of pureed kiwis! Mmmmmmm, it was delicious! (all us adults took a sample sip) We ate and talked and talked and talked!!! It was wonderful!! Then, when we saw the time, we had to run and pray we would make our bus home!
When we left the restaurant, we were a little mixed up directionally, but then found the steps down to the subway. We headed down and were again confused about which direction to go. After showing our tickets to someone, they pointed out part of the way. Then, when we asked again, the man spoke some English and said that he was headed the same direction and getting off just 2 stops ahead of us! So we just followed him through the transition station and onto the second subway. As we rushed through the terminal and arrived just as the next subway arrived, he said, "God must be blessing you!" He sure was! We got to the bus station and made it with about 5 minutes to spare. The bus left promptly. We hit some traffic so it took a little over 2 hours. Ae-Ran's husband Kyung-Hee was there in Seosan to pick us up and drive us back home to Daesan. So, we made it home safe and sound!
God provided people to direct us and got us where we needed to be in the nick of time! Isn't He so good?!? I feel terrible after I feel so amazed at times when God has provided for even the smallest things in my life and before I've even thought to ask for help. He has been soooo good to us here...it's like we can almost physically feel His nearness and assistance, it's so tangible. I mean...when one is in a foreign country with major communication barriers, it's more expected that things are more likely to go wrong than to go right, and so when they go smoothly, you know it's by the hand of Someone bigger than yourself. Sometimes in the US, I would initially be grateful when something went well but not really realize it was God's Hand and acknowledge Him until later.
On the bustrip back, we had a special treat of icee's...melon popcicles and coffee & green tea, too.
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