Coming Home

Wow, where do I begin?  We are now a family of five!  Let me back up just a bit.  I woke up at 4 AM on Friday in my daughter's birth country filled with excitement, emotion and nerverous engergy.  In 4 short hours we would be turning Lauren's world upside down and tearing her away from everything she knows and loves.  It was going to be a hard day and my mind couldn't stop racing.  Mike slept until 6 AM and then we began to prepare ourselves for the big moment.  We called for a taxi and left our hotel around 7:40 AM which was a full 30 minutes before our meeting time.  Mind you, the trip to ESWS takes about 5 minutes from our hotel.  It was raining and rush hour so we gave ourselves plenty of time.  We arrived, unloaded our bags and were greeted by MeeHyeon and her loving foster mother who also doesn't like to be late.  ESWS was dark expect for a lone cleaning lady, so we had no one to translate for us as we waited the 20 minutes for our social worker to arrive.  You'd be amazed at how much we were able to say to each other without words.  Her foster mother told us MeeHyeon didn't sleep well the night before and thought she knew what was going to happen.  She explained the bag full of snacks she so lovingly prepared for our flight.  Told me how Lauren doesn't really like her shoes on and when to give her the next bottle.  There were still moments of silence where we just sat and stared each other and this beautiful little girl that would always tie us together.  There was so much that each of us wanted to say to each other, but how do you express such emotions?  There were many times when I became teary-eyed thinking about how all of our lives were going to change in a few short moments.  Our social worker arrived for our 8:10 appointment and had us sign a few more papers, then we were able to properly thank MeeHyeon's foster mother.  By this time the tears were flowing in full force.  MeeHyeon picked up all the emotion and was fussy.  Her foster mother took her outside in the rain to calm her and carried her on her back.  We were so glad that they had these last few minutes together.  Dr. Kim arrived around 8:30 AM to say a blessing for MeeHyeon and our family.  Even though we could not understand what she was saying it was amazing nonetheless.  Immediately after the prayer we were rushed out the door to the waiting van that would carry us to the airport.  I gave MeeHyeon's foster mother a hug and they asked me to get into the van then my daughter was handed to me by her foster mother.  Mike got in and we immediately took off.  We all began to cry and we looked back to see her foster mother being supported by the loving arms of our social worker and Dr. Kim.  Lauren cried for her "omma" but soon settled into my arms and fell asleep.  The trip to the airport was a blur.             

Lauren woke up when we arrived at the airport and loved to look around at all the people rushing around.  After checking in for our flight we headed to our gate where we gave her a bottle and we really began to bond. 

We boarded our 11:40 AM flight to Chicago around 11 AM only to sit on the tarmac until 1:20 PM before we took off.  By this time we knew that we would not make our connection in Chicago, which added to our stress.  But the good news was Lauren.  She did amazing on this long journey.  She slept, ate, and played well, but mostly just wanted to be held.  She only fussed when we changed her diaper.  We had bulkhead seating with a bassinet, so that was a lifesaver when she did sleep.  We got a peek into her true personality during the flight.  She loves to snuggle and play this game where she gets right into your face, feels your face and shakes her head.  When you do this back to her, she giggles so hard!  Her favorite toys were plastic disposable cups.  She also loves to mimic people, so by the end of the flight she was waving to people and saying "hi" to them.  So cute. 

Another nice thing about the flight was we met another adopting couple, Rob and Amy, whose daughter Tabitha was adopted through SWS. They took the same flight to Seoul with us and joined us on the way back. Tabitha slept a bunch during the flight, we're sure in anticipation of playing with her two older brothers in Michigan!

So we finally landed in Chicago with about 15 minutes to catch our connecting flight.  Well that wasn't going to happen, since we still had to go through immigration, claim our luggage, check in for our new flight, go through security and get to the gate.  The Korean Air staff is great.  They had already rebooked us on a new flight for a few hours later!  This flight was also delayed about 1 hour and 20 minutes, during which Mike and Lauren took another nap.  

                                           

Their nap continued on the plane.  We finally landed in Minnesota, much to our relief, around 5 PM.  We knew we would have two wonderful little boys there greeting us.  To be continued...