Party of Five

Oh what a day! After nearly a day of traveling, we arrived safely home. Mom & I parted ways in Chicago. It was such a bittersweet moment- saying goodbye to my mom, who got me through the doubting, nervous & exhausted moments and the anticipation of Lucy meeting her family!

At the airport in Seoul, we had customs escort us from Immigration thru security to our gate. If they had not, we would have certainly missed the first leg of our trip home. We weren't seated together initially, but we got a gem sitting next to us from Narita to O'Hare. An older Korean man, who spoke no English was in our compartment of the sardine container. Lucy did fantastic during the entire flight due, in large part, to this older Korean who entertained her, held her & let her sleep on him for no less than 4 hours. Even upon descent, Lucy wanted him to hold her. I'm sure he was comforting in ways I didn't know how to be: clicking his tongue (which many Koreans did upon meeting Lucy), patting her on the back just so, etc.

When we got off the plane at RDU, Dave and the kids were waiting for us, of course. What an anticipated arrival for everyone! Lucy went RIGHT to Dave. Jackie was beaming from ear to ear, skipping all along the way. Cameron was happy to be together. He filled my empty arms when Dave took Lucy & didn’t let go.

When we got home, Julie, Deane, Serpil, Hunter & Leigh were waiting for us, with party hats on! They (Julie) got a cake, Asian decorations, plates, posters, balloons all for Lucy’s arrival. We celebrated with lard and tears! Jackie’s class made a welcome home poster for me.

The kids played upstairs together, very comfortable with one another. It was as if they all knew they were siblings. Lucy crawled on both Jackie & Cameron, and they showed her every toy in the playroom.

She finally melted down 30 min ago, which is miraculous given the fact that she skipped her night time sleep. Dave’s sleeping with her now and I’m just about to head to bed myself. Jackie & Cameron are on their own. With an entire sheetcake of icing, what can go wrong?

I don’t have pictures tonight, b/c I don’t have the energy to upload them, but promise tomorrow will be full of pictures.

In the interest of sounding a bit religious, I had many fears and doubts along the way. But when I got worked up, one bible verse kept popping into my head: Psalm 46, (I think): ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ I found much comfort in that psalm. I know God was watching over us all, from finding the right baby for us & the right family for Lucy to sending my mom along to hold my hand so I could hold Lucy’s. It was exceptional from the beginning, but NOTHING compared to seeing the pure joy on Jackie, Cameron & Dave’s faces when I brought Lucy home.