Home at last!

After I made the "Shhhh! The baby is sleeping" post, I went back up to find Lydia and Katy still sleeping. Lydia is a very restless sleeper and was all over the bed. Around 4 AM she started almost thrashing about and felt a little feverish. We gave her some children's Tylenol and some water, which she proceeded to throw up all over Katy. Thankfully, there is a washer and dryer at the guest house. Not sure if this was all stress induced or what.

We got up around 5:30 AM and got ready to head to the airport. We meet in the Eastern lobby around 7 AM and Dr. Kim prayed over us and another baby that was being escorted home. Then off to the airport. It was raining when we left and the ride to the airport was uneventful. Lydia was out of it, which really helped as we went through the check-in, immigration, and security check points.

We had made the mistake of requesting a bulk head seat and bassinet a couple days before, but they didn't have seats together. So when we checked in for the flight, the agent said she would try to get us seats together, but that the flight was full. She sent us to check-in at the gate to see what they could do. We didn't even make it that far before this was resolved. As we were going through security, a Korean Air gate agent comes running up with new boarding passes with seats together on the flight, with one of the seats being an isle seat which worked out great.

So we finally get to the gate and decided to give Lydia some more water. She smacks her lips when she wants food or water. It is very cute. Unfortunately, we didn't learn our lesson from the night before, and she proceeded to throw up the water all over Katy and me. Let's just say that by the end of the trip we all three made several outfit changes, and so did one Korean Air flight attendant who didn't listen to our warning not to give her very much water.

The flight was very long. Lydia did great on the take-offs and landings. She sucked her thumb during these which helped. During the flight she would cry and we would get up and walk her up and down the isles. The Korean flight attendants were incredible. During the times when we had to stay seated and she was crying, they came an got her and walked with her. I know that we were were told not to let others hold her, but I think we were just in survival mode on the flight home and took any assistance offered by the flight attendants. We could tell she was still searching for her foster mother on the plane. It was hard to see this, especially for Katy.

Eating on the plane was an adventure. The food wasn't as good coming back. They had some American offerings. We were actually hoping/expecting to have some rice with the meal. We tried feeding Lydia some formula and some of the cooked carrots which she enjoyed . . . for a few minutes anyway. At least we were a little more prepared for this one. We got a little smarter for the second meal. I took Lydia and walked back in the galley while Katy ate her meal. They had some oranges with this meal. I had the bright idea to try to feed her some of those back in the galley area. Which she also enjoyed . . . for a while. That led to my next shirt change. The flight attendants on Korean Air were awesome and we got a picture with them after we landed.
We highly recommend flying Korean Air if you have travel plans taking you to Asia.

We didn't sleep on the plane and were pretty tired by the time we got to DFW around 8 AM. For all the hundreds of times I've flown through DFW, I have never gone through immigration/customs there. After we walked for what seemed close to a good half mile, we finally arrived at the line for immigrations. Since we were the last ones off the plane, this line was pretty long. After we got up to the immigrations officer, we were directed to a room where they processed the adoption CIS paperwork. This took a long time as there were several other people ahead of us. Finally, after about an hour or so, we were cleared to head to pick up our bags and clear customs. Some advice for anyone adopting internationally and traveling through DFW. . . On your customs declaration form, be sure to list ANY food (packaged or not) you are bringing back into the US with you (including anything the foster mother/orphanage gives you for the return flight). Fortunately, the immigrations officer clued us into this, which probably saved us some hassles in customs. We had bread, seaweed, onion puffs, formula etc. that the foster mother had given us for Lydia. After picking up our bags and clearing customs, we rechecked our bags and picked up our boarding passes for the next leg of the trip to Tulsa.

Since we had a 5+ hour layover in Dallas, we had arranged to meet our relatives/friends in the DFW area for a late breakfast/early lunch. This was incredibly convenient for us because we met at the Grand Hyatt's Grand Met restaurant, which was in the same terminal where we landed. We meet everyone around 10:30 AM and had a very nice visit. My cousin, Joy, and Katy's sister Megan & Stuart and their family and Megan's friend Jessica and two of her children met us. Lydia perked up when the food came and enjoyed eating some bananas, pancakes, and some ice chips. (Which she kept down. This was good, because we were running out of clean close by this point!) Lydia seemed very fascinated with her cousin, Jolie, and even let her feed her some ice chips. It was a great visit and I think all 3 of us felt better after eating.


After that, we headed back through security, which did an extra thorough job inspecting Lydia's diaper bag. When we arrived at the gate were were surprised to see a familiar face. Dennis from church was there on his way back from his mother's funeral. It was really good to see him, just sorry it was under those circumstances.

The flight to Tulsa was delayed about 5-10 minutes due to a mechanical issue. Something about some worn fiberglass in the engine housing. Nothing to worry about. Really. Lydia was great on that last leg of the flight. I think she is getting the hang of this flying business.

As we exited the terminal, we were welcomed home by several members of our church family and our Dillon adoption agency family. It was a great home coming. Our friends helped carry our bags, which was so thoughtful. John even got our car for us out of the long term parking and brought it right up to the door by baggage claim. Then they helped us get loaded up. VIP treatment all around! We have an awesome church family and are truly blessed. (Cornerstone, you are awesome!)

But wait. . . that's not all. When we get home, the yard has been mowed & trimmed, the refrigerator has been stocked with milk, fruit and other food. I think they even cleaned up the house a for us. How incredible! How do you say "Thank you" to people who are so supportive and loving towards your family. We are so blessed!!!

It is soooo good to be home. Although, when we finally got home the time change hit us. I laid down and took a little nap. Katy stayed up with Lydia who was a little fussy. She fixed her some rice and bananas. I relieved Katy and took Lydia so Katy could get some rest. Finally, around 2 AM we were all awake and fixed some food. Lydia was really good while eating and was making eye contact with Katy and me. She has this thing about being held. You have to be standing up when holding her. As soon as you sit down she cries. Although, Katy was finally able to get Lydia to let her rock her to sleep. They were still in the chair when I came in to do this post.

We thank God for this little girl and the blessing she is to us. We appreciate all the prayers and support from everyone. I truly believe the prayer support made all the difference for this trip. We had a wonderful time in Korea and are so happy to be home with Lydia.