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It felt strangely like we
were going home. As we made preparations for Dillon
International’s Visit Korea Tour, it felt like more than a
journey to our children’s homeland. Although it began as a
long-awaited family vacation, it became a profoundly spiritual
and life-changing journey home, for all of us.
It was truly a dream
come-true for our family. The years at Korean Heritage Camp had
prepared us well for the experience, and on the Visit Korea Tour
with Dillon, we were able to see and experience more of Korea,
its culture and traditions, than we thought possible in the short
two weeks that we were there. We fell instantly and hopelessly
in love with the country and its people.
It began with a dramatic
arrival at the state-of-the-art Incheon airport, where we were
greeted with long-stemmed roses and a welcome reception. We were
privileged to spend our first week in Korea at the guesthouse of
Eastern Social Welfare Society, where our children had begun
their journeys home to us. Meeting Dr. Kim, the founder of the
agency, was one of the many highlights of the tour. His gracious
and loving presence was overwhelming and unforgettable.
During the tour, we were
thrilled to finally be able to meet the foster mothers who had
lovingly cared for each of our children, and visit the hospital
where our son was born, truly the highlight of the tour for him.
We visited an orphanage, held babies, met birthmothers, listened
to their stories and shared ours. We shopped at Korean markets,
visited schools, toured museums, Buddhist temples, historic
palaces, and even the DMZ, a moving experience that we will never
forget. We learned to cook Korean food, perform a traditional
tea ceremony, and play the changu (hourglass drum). We dined on
delicious Korean food, experienced life as it was in a historic
Korean village, and spent an evening in the home of a gracious
Korean family. Our children were delighted to be able to spend
an afternoon at Everland, the Korean equivalent of Disneyland.
Any concerns we had about
anti-American sentiment quickly dissipated, as we experienced the
overwhelming hospitality of the Korean people throughout our
tour. We developed friendships in our tour group and in the
wonderful people we met in Korea that we will cherish forever.
One of the many dramatic
results of the tour was the change we saw in our children while
we were there. In each of them, we witnessed a remarkable
transformation, as they gained confidence, affirmed their
identities, and embraced their Korean heritage proudly, a
positive change which has endured since our return home.
Finally, a climax of our tour, which brought our adoption
experience full circle, was the blessing of escorting a precious
baby home, a powerful and intensely emotional experience that
will remain in our hearts always.
We left Korea reluctantly,
each of us personally and powerfully affected by our experience
there; now more than ever aware that Korea has been and will
always be a part of us. Although we had initially made the
journey assuming that this would be a once-in-a-lifetime trip, we
knew, as we left this beautiful and enticing country, that we
would return one day, in response to the yearning that would
forever be a part of us, calling us back home, to Korea.
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Dillon International
