Sunday, May 19, 2013

Planes, trains and automobiles

Our day began, thankfully, just like it has the past 10 days - with bacon and eggs.  I know y'all must think I'm all about the food.  I am, and that's okay.  It's the Garden Hotel breakfast buffet.  They want us to be all about the food.  That's why they make it so awesome, each and every morning.

Jubilee enjoyed her first waffle this morning before we left for the airport.  Isn't she the cutest baby girl on the planet?


As you can tell, Wyatt is not happy to be leaving the Garden.


One short party in the lobby later and we were on our way!





Rebecca helped us through the checkin process, and I was so relieved to be free of the luggage.  When we said our goodbyes at the security checkpoint a bit of sadness washed over me.  We had such an amazing time in China.  If my kids were all here (and we had a money tree to harvest) I could've stayed much longer.  One last hug around Rebecca's neck and we were off to the gate to wait for our flight!





Our first flight was from Guangzhou to Seoul.  We were seated next to a very nice gentleman that lives just a few hours from us.  I'm so glad I asked him if he speaks English! I enjoyed hearing about his four children, the Bible classes that he teaches and his church family back in the US. Wyatt and Jubilee were both delightful during the 3 hour flight.  I know I'm being a whiney-hiney, but their delightfulness during the short flight established some pretty unrealistic expectations for the 14 hour flight to come.


Incheon International Airport in Seoul is probably the best place to have a layover.  You just can't beat cleanliness, cute little ones and the Hello Kitty Cafe!  We enjoyed our time there, though I must say Riley was a bit off-the-chain. I think Joey was a little bewildered by Riley's train antics.







The flight from Seoul to Atlanta was nothing short of a nightmare.  I really did think that the diaper bag full of clever entertainment options and the most delicious of toddler snack selections would be the ticket for a pleasant trip....yeah, well, that was not our reality.  Wyatt, it seems, does not like to be told "no", and he can cry extremely loud when he doesn't get his way.  The nice gentleman next to us showed him how to press the light button on the remote control in front of him, so sweet Wyatt did just that - again and again and again and again, until I (and the people all around us) had had enough.  Once I began preventing the fun button pressing, Wyatt began crying very loud.  I wish I had known that his crying would be so loud and obnoxious because the light flashing was a lot less obnoxious.  I even tried to give him the little remote control back, but it didn't work.  Once he's mad, he's mad.  He did eventually fall asleep and sleep for many hours - and I am thankful for every one of those hours.

Jubilee did fine on the flight, as long as we could walk the aisles with her.  The turbulence was bad, almost the whole flight, so we had to stay seated.  Little miss would arch her back and holler.  Dean and I handed her back and forth across the aisle often, needing a break from the madness.  The flight attendants were very attentive and came by often to fan our crying babies and offer something that might help.  One, without warning, even picked Jubilee up out of my lap and began to walk off.  I'm sure she was trying to be helpful, but Jubilee flipped!  Our friendly flight attendant quickly plopped her right back into my lap.  After that, passengers began to offer advice.  She's too cold; she needs more clothes.  She looks hot, you should take off her socks.  She's hungry.  She's thirsty.  She's very, very tired.  I was never so thankful as I was when the captain announced our approach in Atlanta!!  I'm certain those were the longest 14 hours of my life!!

As we headed for passport control (along with two international flights of passengers), I pulled our two visa packets out of my bag and we began looking for the special situations line.  I was so thankful when I saw only a few people in front of us.  The other lines had 50-60 people waiting.  One of the employees in the waiting area said, "Oh no, brown packet", when she saw us.  Those words didn't exactly give me a good vibe.  It seems that when our flight was delayed, Hartsfield sent many immigration officers home because of budget cuts.  I was confused about that because our arrival was expected, only delayed by an hour.

I'm sounding whiney again, aren't I?  By the time an hour and a half had expired there in immigration, I was done with my whining.  We brought out snacks for the kids and they played with their friends in line with us.  We also met two chaperones bringing children to families here in the US.  Pretty exciting, if you ask me!  We finally made it to the counter and were greeted by Officer Smiley.  Jubilee celebrated her US citizenship with a dirty diaper right then and there.  We were ushered pretty quickly to the visa processing waiting room, and from there the wait was only about 20 minutes.  Dean and Tate went ahead to baggage claim while I waited for the babies passports.

As soon as our passports were returned to us, we gathered our stuff and headed for the arrivals lobby.  I  can tell you that seeing the faces of our family, friends and coworkers was the most beautiful feeling in the world!!  So many had taken the time, late at night even, to come out and welcome us home.  It was AMAZING!!



Hugs and kisses and introductions flew by and it was time to head for the van, all 11 of us!  It's a beautiful thing to have the whole family together!  Blake drove us home and were welcomed by so many surprises - enough that they deserve a whole blog post.  I can't wait to share about what was waiting for us at our house!!  Next time....

Good night, folks, from the good ole US of A!!

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