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 Little Bo Peep lost her sheep! I guess the trend for bonnets are out....but boy isn't that bonnet cute on Grace!  Grace loves to read with Grandma Risher.  This past Sunday we were at Joe and Andrea's house and Andrea let the grandchildren pick out one item out of the Katherine's Collections box. Grace couldn't wait to see what was in the box. She loved the glittery butterflies. Grace definitely fits in with the Katherine's Collection side of the family!  This is Grace with her cousins! Wow keeping two children under the age of 1 still and looking at the camera for a picture was tough.  Kelly teaching Grace how to use the computer. Aunt Kelly sure spoils Grace! Well this past weekend Grace was showered with more wonderful family, friends and gifts. We had another shower at the Brickyard Gardens. We had a great time! Grace has been very vocal these past couple of days. It seems like she has just found her voice. She has started to play by herself in her bed. Sometimes she just lays in her bed and talks. It is so cute to sit and listen to her. Grace received a letter from Santa this week. It surprised me. The return address was from the North Pole. It was personally addressed to Grace Yeric and the letter mentioned KY. Thanks for reading! Krista
 After church last Sunday we ate at John's parents house. We are going to start a tradition of eating together as a family on Sunday afternoons with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jennifer, and cousins Jeremy and Zachary.  Tennis Anyone? On Monday Grace watched Grandpa and Grandma Risher play tennis. Grace was ready to hit a couple of balls herself.  Grace has been practicing sitting up without support. She is getting so big! We are so proud of her! It's amazing how she has changed in just a few short weeks. Grandma Risher babysat Grace on Wednesday night while John and I went to our couples group meeting. Grace really enjoys being with Grandma Risher. Grace loves to sit in her excersaucer and laugh at Grandma Risher. This week we had wonderful dinners delivered from our church friends. Boy I could really get used to dinners 3 times a week.....no dishes! WOW! Grace had her first walk in her new stroller. Thank you Grammy Yeric! We love our new stroller! Also this week we went to the KY police station and got the car seat checked. Grace and I had a lunch date with the girls at a local japanese restaurant. I felt like I was back in Korea eating on the floor. Grace did a great job while we ate.  Friday night we enjoyed spending time with the Elwood's and Aunt Kelly. Today we have a Sig-Ep picnic and tonight we have another baby shower! We will update again next week! John, Krista and Grace
  Today was Grace's first visit to Holy Spirit Catholic Church! She did great! She didn't fuss and she loved looking around at all of the people! We tried to take several pictures of her on her first day at church! As you can tell by the second picture she was getting a little bored of all the pictures. Here is a quick story that we found out while we were in Korea. The foster mom was very interested in knowing if we were Christian. She said that she took Grace to church on the last Sunday that she had her. That meant a lot to us to know that she was in such a loving christian home in Korea. She is starting to roll over. But, once she gets on her tummy she can't seem to get back around to her back. We have a feeling she will have a few teeth very soon. She is chewing on everything she can get into her mouth. We have switched from Korean formula to American formula with no problems. She loves playing in her excersaucer and seems to be enjoying Baby Einstein videos. Many have asked how things are going. All we can say is "Great Great Great". Grace is doing wonderfully. We are all getting plenty of rest. She has been sleeping through the night! It seems that we are all getting into a routine. Pretty much perfect. We are all so happy. We will post more soon. John, Krista and Grace
 We are settling in and trying to get into a routine. Grace enjoys sleeping through the night and so do we! She sleeps from about 10pm-5:30-6:00am. She enjoys the morning with John and then I give her a bottle and she is back to sleep. So I have had some time on my hands.....but they have been filled with writing thank you notes, cleaning bottles, putting away gifts, and getting organized...no sleep for mom! We have so many things to play with now that we have had our shower. The picture above shows Grace in her new Exersaucer.....she absolutely loves it! It helps her balance her head as she enjoys all of the stimulating toys around it. Grace is growing so fast.....we have been home from Korea for a week now and I feel like it has been 3 months. Grace is doing new things everyday! We will continue to post new pictures. Thanks for all of the kind words and prayers throughout our journey! Krista
 We had a wonderful weekend in Ohio visiting Grandma Cindie and the rest of our family and friends. Here are some adorable pictures!  Grace was showered with gifts on Saturday....but she couldn't keep her eyes open for the party!  Grace loves her daddy!  Grace loves hats and bows!
  First there were two now our family is complete! It is 12:30am and we are up enjoying the midnight hours! Grace is wide awake and ready to play! I better go! Krista
We're Home! We finally made it home tonight at 6:00pm. We are so jet lagged! It is 9:00pm and Grace is finally laying down.....but it is only for a short nap I'm sure. Because it is 11:00am in Korea. So it is just nap time We are beat. We will post pictures and update later. Thanks for everything. You guys are the best Love John, Krista and Grace
    Done posting until Japan. Don't want to be on here and miss out on playing with my girls! See you soon Love always John, Krista and Grace We will be on Northwest Flight 1571 from Detroit. We will be in Nashville at 4:09 pm on Tuesday
 It has been a few hours and we have had a little time collect our thoughts... As Krista said this has been the most amazing and wonderful day ever!!! When we got to the agency, I don't think we were really "nervous" but we were definately a bundle of nerves. We had been preparing for this day for a long time. It was very emotional. Not weeping or anything---exciting!!! It was very moving seeing the Foster Mom saying good bye to Grace. Krista and I both cried. You can tell she really loved our Grace. There was a definate language barrier but you don't have to understand what she is saying when you hear her talk to Grace. I imagine she was wispering in her ear that she loves her and will never forget her. Makes me cry. They told us what we need to do when we leave, gave us a diaper bag and a baby carrier and it was time for us to go. It was very difficult leaving the Foster Mom. She was sad, Krista was crying, I was crying and it was pouring down rain. But, Krista gave her a hug and we left. Sniffling the whole way back to the hotel. Full of excitement. Grace was pretty fussy at first. We think she was just really tired. She took a quick nap with Krista while I was at the bank. Then when I got back  we played and she cried and then she feel asleep again. For about an hour and a half. Now Krista is feeding her and telling her all about her new home in Kentucky. Telling her about Scooter, Tom and Goldie. She is telling her that the animals will love her. Letting her know that there are many many people awaiting her arrival. She is almost a celebrity. Maybe not a celebrity but definately a Princess. Here are a few more pictures. Talk to you soon. We will be home tomorrow. Love, The Yerics John, Krista and Grace P.S. We will post some more tonight.  
 We are officially parents to Grace Eugenia Yeric! This day has been the most emotional day I have ever experienced. We met Grace, the foster mom and her daughter at Holt at 2:30pm. We sat in a room for 30 minutes playing with her and feeding her. Then when it was time to take the final p  icture Grace fell asleep. We were given so much from Holt and the foster family. The foster mom and Grace had a professional picture taken and I was crying so much that I don't even remember saying thank you. Actually I am crying again right now. We have had Grace for 2 hours now and she has taken two naps....one with me and now one with John. Boy does she scream when she is tired! WOW! Well we will try to post more before we leave. We will be leaving Korea in about 13 hours. Oh one more thing.....she loves to look at herself in the mirror! See everyone soon! Krista
Krista is in labor.......well actually she has been in labor for 18 months. It is 12:30pm and we will be going to get Grace in 2 1/2 hours. When you get up we will be proud parents of Grace Eugenia Yeric! Stay tuned for our evening update I am sure we will have more pictures! Oh. I forgot to tell you guys. Yesterday before we headed out to the market I was watching a little T.V. Just about the only channel that comes in clearly is the Discovery Channel. (I'm not complaining) Well I was watching this show about building big structures. And you know what was on.......Beech Bend Park. The show was about building big roller coasters. And Beech Bend and Holiday World were featured. They had Dallas and his family on being interviewed. It was really cool. Especially because John from Nebraska was watching also and he got to see our hometown. They showed video of the square and hospital hill. I was so surprised when we saw it. I guess they took out a $4million loan or something like that just to put it up. That is it for now. Talk to you later. I am sure Krista will post later when we get Grace. John
 Dinner was served Korean style! We just ate at a delicious Korean restaurant this evening. We sat on the floor and the meat cooked in front of us. The kimchi was delicious. Tonight John's back is very sore...I wonder if it was because we sat on the floor and ate? Or it could have been from all of the shopping today. All the side dishes are served in their own individual bowls.....the poor person that has to clean all of the dishes....I feel bad for him. We finally have the hang of the chopsticks! We are able to eat good bites of food. Tomorrow we are going to go to one more market and then go and pick up Grace! We can't wait! Hope everyone is doing well. We miss talking to everyone on the phone but it is nice to get all of the e-mails! More tomorrow. Krista
 We just got back from another day of shopping and siteseeing. We started out at The National War Museum. It was great. There were so many interesting things to see on the outside. It is the largest war museum in the world. Outside there were military vehicles that date back to WWI. Very cool. This is a picture of a gigantic bronze statue out front. There is a statue on each side of a 2 or 3 story symbol that represents a sword and a tree. It was very detailed. The statue is probably 25 feet tall at the tallest point. There were also trucks, tanks, planes, submarine, helicoptor, troop transports and something I took a picture of especially for Eugene.  MLR. Multiple Launch Rocket. This one was built by USSR during WWII. It was used by the North Koreans in 1957.  There is also a Memorial there similar to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. The only difference is that the memorial here is for all the Korean soldiers that have died in the "modern era" wars. There are even blank places for the future soldiers.  After the museum we went back to the subway and headed to Itaweon to shop. That is the place close to the US base. Lots of street vendors. Now, if you know Krista, she is a bargain shopper. You should have seen her work. She would ask the price. If it was too high she would just say thank you and walk away. The hard part was that the vendor would follow you for a minute trying to bargain. It was a pretty fun day I have to say so myself. We didn't buy much. It was just fun to be out. There were many foreigners there. And most of the vendors spoke at least a little english. It is very similar to a flea market back home. Kind of like the market down in New Orleans. Lots of the same thing over and over. Just different prices. The weird thing was, you would be in one shop, go through a door and be in another shop then go down the hall and around the corner and another shop then down some stairs and you would be in a huge room of other shops. The one thing they really pushed was custom tailored suits. Everywhere. To bad I don't wear suits to work. Another funny thing. They would see me and they would say "Big sizes" like I'm big or something. HAHA. I can't tell you how many times I have had to duck my head under things. I am surprised I haven't cracked my head yet. For lunch we decided we needed some American food. There is McDonalds, Subway, Outback, KFC, Burger King and a few others. We chose....  Pita Time. Even though we weren't eating Korean food we didn't want to eat something that we can get at home. It was delicious. Definately would do well in any college town in the US. They are pitas stuffed with different kinds of meat and then any toppings you want. Sort of like Subway but better. It hit the spot. The pitas energized us enought to make it through a long day of shopping. Well that was our day. The last full day without Grace. We will have her with us for good in less than 24 hours from now. We have an appointment at the agency at 3pm on Monday. That is 1am KY time. Hope everything goes smoothly. Well gotta go. Krista is down in the nursery playing with the babies without me. Talk to you soon John
Quick post from John. It is Sunday morning. We just got back from breakfast. Well not really breakfast. Our favorite street vendor was closed. We were really starving. We didn't eat anything last night. We were just about willing to eat anything! (well not really anything) We found a Paris Baguette store. Wait, you mean we are not in France! We decided on splitting a ham sandwich. Yep you heard me, Ham Sandwich. Also Krista had not 1 but 2 popsicles. 1 chocolate and 1 coffee. We also bought a grab bag of stuff--fried bread with filling (chocolate), something like a jelly donut, a hotdog baked with bread around it. They do have pigs-in-a-blanket in Korea. You would be surprised what they can do with a hotdog here. Everything was good. But not your tradition "breakfast". We are now back in our room. Krista is reading. We are going to ride the subway to Itaweon today and do somemore shopping. We are also going to try to go to the nursery and play with the babies here in the Guest House. An observation. I noticed that all the curbs on all of the streets are made from--granite. Pieces of granite cut and set as the curbs. Kind of interesting when you think about how expensive granite (countertops) are in the US. Also, the motorcycles and scooters do not have to follow hardly any traffic laws. They can pretty much go anywhere they want. If they don't feel like waiting for a green light they can just go on the sidewalk to the crosswalk and go that way. It is really strange. And kind of dangerous for pedestrians. Anyway that is it for now. I better post a picture of my new baby girl or you guys won't come back to the blog. Ok, here it is. Aren't they adorable? Makes me smile everytime I see it. John 
  Well we made it....one day down one more day of siteseeing before we can see/get Grace. We are anxiously counting down the hours.......We just want to get her and get on a plane. We started the day with a walk to my new favorite street vendor. She makes the best egg sandwich--white bread, egg with corn and other vegetables in it, ham (might be Spam), and cheese then she puts some kind of sauce on it, kind of like poppy seed salad dressing. It is really delicious. We have been there the last 2 mornings and will probably go a few more times. This morning we also got a sandwich at another vendor. Very similar but it had pickles, ketchup and mustard also. They made the sandwich and folded it in half and stuffed it into a paper cup. After breakfast we went on the city tour with a couple here from Nebraska adopting a baby boy. We had a really good time seeing the city. We saw an  ancient emperors palace. (picture on left) We also went to the National Museum. It was interested but strange. You know when you go to a museum or something like that at home what ever exhibit you are seeing you already know a little about it? It was not like that at this museum. We knew nothing about what we were looking at. We saw the origin of the Korean written language (Hangul). Pretty interesting. There are thousands of symbols. Our tour guide said Korea has been proven as one of the simplest languages to learn. Can you imagine learning a language with over a thousand symbols?  There are so many people living in Seoul. The whole country of Korea is only the size of Michigan (I think). I am not sure how many million people live in the whole country but it seems like there are millions and millions just in Seoul. Here is a picture of the area where we shopped....can you imagine John shopping in this crowd? The shopping did not last long. Way to many people for John!  We had a traditional Korean lunch with our tour guide and the couple from Nebraska. Bulgolgi, kimchi, rice, seaweed salad, turnips, raw squid in hot sauce and soup. Pretty much the same as we had last night. Anyway, tomorrow we are going to do some more shopping. Probably Itaewon. It is near the US Airforce Base. Lots of English there. Today we spent the afternoon at Inson Dong. Kind of an outdoor market. Tons of people. Lots of neat things to look at. We bought some gifts to give to Grace when she is older. Also I bought her some of the cute barrettes that she was wearing in her hair when we met her. I looked all over this afternoon for those barrettes but as we were getting back on the subway to come home I made one more stop.....and there they were in a shop in the subway. They are really cool barrettes.....they are like little springs. You pull the spring apart, pull it into the hair and then release....really cool invention.....haven't seen anything like that in the states. I know you guys don't want to hear about all this stuff but we am just trying to pass the time until we can see Grace again. I know we are in a beautiful foreign country, the birth place of our daughter but all we want to do is get her and bring her home! We are really just passing the time until then. Monday at 3pm can't come soon enough. Talk to you soon, John and Krista
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