 Ryan Wilfred Hae Chang Jankowski was born Lee Hae Chang on April 12, 2003, in the Republic of Korea. He lives with his forever family--mother Carla, father Tom, and big brother Joe--in the Detroit area of Michigan, USA. This site tells the story of our trip to Korea to bring Ryan home and welcome him into our family.
After a wait of many months, we received a call on the afternoon of June 16 from Jennifer, our able social worker at Bethany Christian Services, that Ryan had been referred to us for adoption by Holt Children's Services in Seoul, Korea. This was our second Korean adoption through Jennifer, Bethany, and Holt, but we were as excited and nervous as first-timers! We met with Jennifer that evening at her home, and she introduced us to Ryan via the two photos on this page (taken when he was about a week old) and the accompanying medical reports and paperwork. According to his records, he was found to be healthy, happy, and alert by the doctor who examined him. We were happy to learn about him, eager for him to join our family--especially Joe, who had been wanting a little brother for a long time!--and over the next couple of months we all fell in love with him.
 On Friday, August 22, Jennifer called and told us that Ryan was ready to come home. After a flurry of weekend activity, during which we received a great deal of help from friends and friendly strangers both here in the U.S. and in Korea, we were ready to leave the morning of Monday, August 25. We traveled to Korea accompanied by our good friend Deborah ("Aunt Debbie" to Joe), who graciously offered to travel with us and help out. Not only was she great company and an excellent traveling companion, she was indispensible in helping us care for Joe while traveling, and for Ryan on the return trip. We couldn't have done it without her!
We spent seven nights in Seoul and returned home to Detroit on September 2. Our trip to Seoul was fun and amazing and memorable in every way. Not only did we get to meet our new son Ryan, we got to meet many generous and friendly Korean people, spend a good deal of time with Ryan's and Joe's foster parents, explore Seoul and the surrounding area, and enjoy many great Korean meals! All of us--Tom, Carla, Joe, and Deborah--had the trip of a lifetime. We look forward to the day when we can take Joe and Ryan back to the country of their birth to show them what a great place, and what great people, they come from.
The photos on this site are organized into chapters reflecting different days or adventures on our trip to Korea and for a few weeks after we returned home with Ryan. The chapter pages have narratives below the small thumbnail photos. Please click on the thumbnails to see larger and clearer versions of the photos. You can navigate between chapters, or from photo to photo, by clicking on the small arrows at the top of the pages. If you'd like more information about any of the people, places, or things depicted here, if you are interested in Korean adoption or Korean travel, or if you have any questions or comments at all about this site, please don't hesitate to contact us. We love children, we love adoption, we love Korea, and we'd love to talk to you about any or all of them! Feel free to drop us a note at tom@phinished.org. Thanks for visiting, and we hope you enjoy the site!
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