Lucas Michael Hudson

We're Home!!

2008-11-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

Hello! We made it home!! Thanks to everyone who came to the airport to meet Lucas. We really appreciate it. The trip home went very well. We left Molly's house about 8:00 and headed to the airport. Although Molly told Lucas' house mother not to go with us, she found her way into the van and went anyway! It was a good ride to the airport and the driver and house mother left us curbside and said goodbye. We checked in and got to the plane for Lucas' first plane ride. He was very excited and kept pointing at the planes and saying "plane" in Korean, I think. Just as we were heading down the runway to take off he fell asleep. The flight to Tokyo was about an 1:45 minutes and he slept most of it. The flight from Tokyo was delayed about an hour so we spent a couple of hours walking around and playing. We finally were able to get on the plane and I will say Korean air is no Singapore air, but it was still good. For a few hours we did what we could to entertain Lucas, and then he slept for another few hours. Upon arrival in Texas we had about 45 minutes to get through customs, go through immigration, reclaim and recheck our baggage and find our new plane. We literally ran through half of the airport and found our plane actually waiting on a few people from the Tokyo flight. Thank God because we were ready to be home and it may have been ugly if we had to catch a later flight. When we got to Kansas City we had a ton of people waiting to greet us! What an amazing sight to have so many family and friends to take the time to come out and meet Lucas. It was an experience to remember. Since coming home, Lucas has started the adjusting process. He is eating some of our food and is learning a few words. The kids have been great with him and he has been playing and having a lot of fun. Thanks again for everyone's support and prayers. You all are the best!

Ready to come home!

2008-10-29T14:23:00.000-07:00

Another hour and a half and we will be on the road to the airport and Lucas will be headed home! Steph and I have never been so mosquito bitten from our room, but it is totally worth it. I think I would have gotten less bitten laying in my backyard in August! Oh well! It's 6:30 in the morning and we are showering up and going to eat breakfast with Molly. We had a wonderful conversation with her last night over coffee. She is the most caring person that anyone could ever meet. An entire life dedicated to protecting those who can't protect themselves and taking care of everyone, no matter what their case may be. She is an amazing person and has countless stories to tell. Every story she relays, she tears up like it was yesterday and you can tell the amount of caring that she she has for all humanity. After Lucas' final doctor visit yesterday, we took him back to his room for a nap and he did not want to go. He wanted to stay with us, but we needed to repack and really wanted to get some sleep for todays journey home. We left him one more night in his room, but now he will be coming home with us for good. His social worker said when they tried to get him to lay down, all he would say was, no, he didn't want to. He wanted to stay with us. I think he is as ready as we are to come home. Molly said he may have some discipline to learn, because we think he kind of runs the show around here. Most other people in his house are totally disabled and require help for everything. I think they let him get away with more just because he is able to! Although he is full of energy, he is also very sweet. When we had him in the room yesterday he found some treats. Steph gave him two and without asking he gave me one to share! He is going to be a great addition to our family. Love you guys! See you today........ :)

After the ceremony

2008-10-28T23:15:00.001-07:00

Before I put anything on here, Steph wants to make sure you all know that I am updating the pictures in the photobucket account, click on the picture of the hotel below and the rest will come up! Thank you. We just got back from the ceremony for Molly Holt. It was a very special business meeting. Molly was being recognized for their family donating 3 acres of ground for a new building for special needs. Her family donated the ground about 8 years ago, but the government has just finally gotten around to making it a reality. The mayor was there and we got to shake his hand. Many very important people were at the event. We were the special guests of Molly's and were able to sit in on the presentation. She wore her hanbok and was very excited. It was a major event for her. Afterwards, it is tradition to take the special guest out to lunch, and it is also tradition that if the guest has guests then they get to go too! We went to a Korean resturant and had lunch. It was like heaven! Wave after wave of food kept coming. As soon as you finished the course they brought out another round of something totally new. Two ladies who spoke English sat at our table and told us what we were eating. Steph was happiest about chicken and rice that tasted like mom's, and the fork they brought her! I kept waiting on dessert, but no, more food! We actually had to leave to come back to Ilsan for Lucas' doctor visit before they were done bringing out food. I can only imagine what I might have missed!! We got back to the house and found Lucas. We were able to walk him over to the doctor for his final check up. The new doctor was very nice and she took the time to go over anything we wanted to know. After the doctor visit, we took him back to our room and played for a little while. He drew on the magna doodle and tossed his camel around. He has already said a few words, repeating after Steph. He was so excited and wanted to get into everything. He was ready for a nap and we decided maybe we should pack up a few things to get ready for tomorrow, so we took him back to his room to sleep. We think he is very ready to come with us and are hoping for a smooth plane ride home. Kids and Gigi, we are going to try and call once we get settled in at the airport in the morning, about 10:00 am our time, 8:00 pm or so your time. Thanks to you all for everything. Can't wait to see you all and for you all to meet Lucas! Love you all.

Farewell Party

2008-10-28T16:32:00.000-07:00

We went to his farewell party last night at 7:00. What an amazing expereince! He had all the people that live with him, plus his house mothers and volunteers, Holt directors and staff. All in all about 60 people. They sang for him and prepared him tons of food. His foster family was there too and I think she made almost as much food herself as the entire staff! It was about 2 hours after his normal dinner time and all he wanted was to eat. He kept saying party and cake! My kind of guy! The minister said quite a few things, then his house mother spoke. Steph gave a little speech and they all clapped for her. It was a very touching ceremony. Lucas wore his purple hanbok and looked great! We tried much of the food and I have to say, it is either absolutely bland or cold and spicy, I haven't seen an in between yet. We was very thrilled with the entire event and so were we. Lucas had a special pumpkin cake and his foster mom brought Steph a beautiful flower arrangement.
This morning we ate breakfast with Molly Holt and she has invited us to a ceremony just about 5 minutes away from the center here. Lucas then has his last doctor checkup at 1:00 and then we are hoping to hang out with him for the rest of the afternoon. I will post more tonight after the day is over. Kids we love you very much and miss you all! We leave for the airport tomorrow morning and will call as soon as our phones start working again!

We met Lucas!

2008-10-28T00:52:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally made it to Ilsan. Apparently we missed our shuttle this morning, but we had a great social worker who drove us here herself, 45 minutes from Seoul. Upon arriving, our social worker checked in with Molly and we headed to our house. On the way, we drove by a building and Ms. Lee, our social worker, said, look..there is Seung Hoon! He was just sitting outside his house with his house mother playing. We went to our room and dropped off our luggage. Then we went to Molly Holt's house where she had lunch prepared for us. She had a meeting in Seoul, so she left us to eat. After lunch, we were not sure what to do so we headed out to look around. There wasn't any looking around to be done, because right outside Molly's door is the playground and there was Lucas and his House mother playing! We went over and watched him swing for a few minutes. Then he went to the sandbox area and started playing in the sand. That was all the incentive that Steph needed. She went over and played in the sand too. I took pictures and video, then I got to play in the sand too. His house mother left us to play and that's just what we did. We went from the sand to the swing to the teeter-totter and back. We played for about an hour and a half. Then, an Ilsan director came and got us and took us to watch a video on Ilsan and how it came about as the vision from Harry and Bertha Holt. After the video she gave us the tour of Ilsan center. Lucas let Steph carry him and he held both of our hands. He even called us mom and dad. They currently have about 220 residents here and all are cared for and loved very much by the staff. Tonight they are having a big party for Lucas. It is a very big deal for him as well as everyone here at Ilsan. Lucas went to take a nap and we were left to do what we wanted for a few hours. I found the kitchen in our house, which is more like an old dormatory. It had two computers set up, I suppose for volunteers who come up. Right now there are not any volunteers here, only Steph and I in a large building so I unhooked a few things and got my computer up and running so that I could email and post! We are getting ready for his party. I hope the pictures are posting ok on the site. I will try to put up more after his party tonight, but I fell asleep at the computer last night! See you all soon. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers! We miss you.

Korea Trip

2008-10-27T16:38:00.001-07:00

Photobucket Album

Written by Steph

2008-10-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a very emotional day. Lucas' foster mom had so much stuff for him and a story to go with everything she had, from his first hair cut to hand prints from just this September. She made me a necklace with a cross and a ton of stuff for the kids. She exudes love for these kids. She has had 16 foster children since 1998 but the sweetest part is that she said she loves us at least 100 times. The social worker/translator said it was very rare to get so much stuff and to expect more from Ilsan, so we purchased another suitcase! Kat's foster mother was also very sweet and sincere. When I would get overwhelmed and cry she would hug me and rub my hand. She would softly rub the pictures of Kat as if she were hugging her. At one point she kissed the picture of Kat. Kat was her 3rd foster child. Since then she has sent 2 children to Luxembourg and 2 domestically here in Korea and has also had a total of 16 foster children. She seemed very happy to get pictures of Kat and cried when I told her that Kat had picked the pencils off of her Tol table that the foster mom had sent for her!
After all of that. Scott & I walked 1/2 mile back to our hotel carrying about 80 pounds of pics, clothes and other things. Boy did we look like tourists! Scott blogged quickly and we headed on our tour. The palace was amazing and full of history. The two markets were very busy and big! I was a bit overwhelmed and did not get to shop as much as I had hoped but we did get a few things. They also took us to a government set up for ginsing, that we would have been ok without seeing. Lastly, they took us to an amethyst factory. Amethyst is the stone of Korea as we ll as Kat's birthstone. After the tour we were so tired and hungry, all we wanted was the nearest food! Papa Johns or Bulgogi Brothers BBQ Korean? We decided on Bulgogi. No English on the menu and picture The Melting Pot but with a big gas grill in the middle of the table. The food was ok, but we left hungry and did what most Americans would do...4th meal at Papa Johns. Scott got a pizza and Cokes and we headed back to the room. After we ate, Scott fell asleep in front of the computer and I did lying on the bed. Now it is 6:00 am and I've been trying to go back to sleep since 4:30. I'm counting the minutes until it is a good time to call the kids, we miss them very much! Well, it's almost time to call them so I'm going to shower and finish packing our new bag! We leave the Holt office at 10:00 to head to Ilsan to see our Lucas. Yaay I can't wait!
Steph

What a morning

2008-10-26T20:31:00.001-07:00

We just got back to the hotel from meeting the foster parents. I will write more later, but it was a very amazing experience. Lucas' foster mom and dad were there and I swear she brought everything she ever had for him, clothes, books, hundreds of pictures and everything she knitted for him. He is apparently very into music and likes to dance. He also likes giraffes and alligators. You could tell how much the foster parents love these kids. Kat's foster mom was a true joy. She had a little two month baby (foster child #16) with her. She told us that Kat was her 3rd foster child and we were the first set of parents she had gotten to meet on a return trip. She was very excited and thankful for all of the information that we were able to tell her about Kat. She cried very much and told us what amazing people we were. We all know that truth, that it is only because of people like her that we are able to bring such wonderful, happy children home to be with us. We have to go to our Korean tour now. Will post later and put up a couple of pictures of the trip!!

Can't Sleep

2008-10-26T15:06:00.000-07:00

Well it's Monday morning and Steph couldn't sleep, so about 6:30 am we are up and getting ready. Looking forward to meeting the foster moms today, but first I need some coffee and breakfast! From our hotel window it looks like another beautiful day in Seoul. Except for the mountains in the background it looks a lot like Kansas City.
Good job Kalvin at soccer! Glad to hear that Boo Blast was a good time. Will post more this evening. Love you all.

We made it!

2008-10-26T05:17:00.000-07:00

Well here we are in Seoul! What a day of travel. We left Kansas City Saturday at 9:45. Got in to Denver and had to sit in the de-ice zone for about 20 minutes. When we got off the plane our next flight was boarding, so off we went to San Francisco. After a nice flight we headed to our gate in San Francisco. As we got to the original gate they paged us to tell us that our gate had changed! We headed there and got straight on the plane again. Singapore Air! Wow, that is a great airline. The seats were comfortable and the food was great. Two meals, hot towels, unlimited snacks, drinks and 12 hours later we arrived in Seoul (Sunday evening local time). After clearing customs we had a nice ride in our Holt van to our hotel. It was 55 degrees and dark so we didn't get to see much but I think we are too tired to look at anything. Hope all is well at home! Thanks for your thoughts. We will be meeting both foster moms (Kat's & Lucas') at 10:00 in the morning. Hello to Kalvin, Ben and Kat! We love you guys and miss you! See you in a few days.

Where to begin?

2008-10-17T18:07:00.000-07:00

Our family of 5 is about to become 6! We started our current journey back in January of 2008 when we decided to adopt again. We were hoping to get our referral towards the end of the year, but little did we know it would happen sooner than we thought. Our good friends, neighbors and fellow adoptive parents had met a little boy, Seung-Hoon Kim, while they were in Korea bringing home their most recent addition. They mentioned to us that we should find out all that we could about him as he was very sweet and in need of a loving home. We began to work with our adotion agency and in June we were matched with Seung-Hoon, that you will all come to know as Lucas Michael Seung-Hoon Hudson. We have been waiting impatiently for everything to be processed and now he is ready for us to bring him home. Steph and I will leave Kansas City on October 25th and arrive in Seoul, Korea on the 26th. We will stay in Seoul the first two days. On Monday we will be able to meet Lucas' foster family as well as Kat's. After this sure to be emotional day, we will travel to Ilsan and stay for the next two days at the orphanage where Lucas lives. We will be able to stay with Molly Holt, the daughter of the founders of Holt-International, our adoption agency who pioneered international adoption over 50 years ago. We will be bringing Lucas to his forever home Thursday, October 30th, arriving in Kansas City around 6:00 pm. Off to pack!