Korea trip

You don't know how bad I want to post pictures of the sweet babies we brought home, but I have to respect the privacy of the adoptive families, the children and my agency so I am going to have to refrain from doing so. What an amazing trip it was! Of course I missed my hubby and my baby, but I knew it would be good for them to spend some quality time together and I knew I had to focus my mind on my mission...bringing the babies home safely. We did just that.

I was blessed to be able to travel with two adoptive mothers from Michigan whom were extremely easy to travel with and get along with. I also was blessed to sit next to such wonderful, helpful people on all 6 legs of the flights. It couldn't have imagined sitting next to more gracious, caring, intriguing people. I had many meaningful conversations with such interesting people from around the globe. All in all, I sat next to a former work-a-holic man who now opens charities with his family around the U.S, a man who opens up car dealerships globally, a woman who works for the secret services, a Rabi who taught be a few words in Korean, and the two that stick out in my mind the most are Sunny and Hunter (nicknamed by me). Sunny, a 70 year old Thai man who used to work for the U.S. government, had me in stitches on the way there and Hunter, a 50+ year old man who hunts everything from birds to tigers; Hunter was amazingly patient, helpful and only concerned about my comfort throughout the entire flight on the way home. I'm not going to lie, it was at times, difficult to be sandwiched between two people on a 14 hour plane ride while trying to comfort a tender nine month old baby who is grieving the loss of his foster mother, his birth mother, his caretakers at the orphanage, smells, sights, and sounds of Korea. Not to mention I was a complete stranger to him who spoke a completely different language than him. Keeping all of these things in mind, I tried to make as many sacrifices as I could for this child. I loved and cuddled him as he was mine. I tried to drink just enough to keep me hydrated, but not enough to make me have to go to the bathroom because I was not going to let anybody hold the baby. He was mine for that short amount of time and I made sure he was protected, fed, clean, and as comfortable as he could be.

The baby...oh how I love that little guy. He is nine months old (only 12 days younger than Pax) and what a sweetheart he is. He is gentle, reserved with strangers (which is good for a secure attachment in the future), and such a little lover. I have so many stories about him and my trip all of which can not be captured on this small area on our blog. I will tell you that the best part of the trip was seeing the parents cry with joy as they laid eyes on their child for the first time, thanking God out loud for bringing home their son to them. I was trying to be all professional, but I couldn't help it, tears were streaming down my face. Being the one to place their son in their arms for the first time and witnessing them softly embrace their child filled my heart with so much joy that I could not contain myself, I had to cry. I was just so happy for the little boy, no more wondering if he would find a family to love him forever, no more disruptions in his attachment to caregivers, no more confusion about who to love, it is all okay now. He is finally where he belongs, with a family that has been longing for him since before he was born and it was all unraveling right before my eyes.

I kept thinking about how long they have waited for this moment, the moment of meeting their child and this particular scene ran through my mind for days. I thought about the exact words I wanted to say to them and I documented everything I could think of on the plane ride home so I wouldn't forget one detail to share with them. I told them how he loves to be bounced, and how if you gently close his eyelids with your fingers he knows it's okay to sleep and will fall asleep right away. I told them things about positions he likes, his eating schedule, his "stinkies", and gave them a book I read to him about 100 times on the plane. I think about those moments over and over in my head and am so thankful to have been given this opportunity. What an amazing feeling. For that small amount of time, I felt like I conquered the world or that I was some sort of superhero. In reality I was not the star, in any way, but it was such a special feeling to deliver the baby to them. I got a small taste of the joy the medical professionals must feel after every delivery. WOW!!!