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Tuesday morning we left Korea. We had had such an excellent trip, and we were so happy that Ryan was finally a member of our family, but none of that helped to prevent the final day of our trip from being awful! It was pouring rain in Seoul, and we were soaked as we loaded the taxi with our luggage and as we unloaded at Incheon Airport. It was very difficult negotiating all the airport lines and customs and immigration inspections with a bunch of luggage and two small children, the youngest of whom was pretty crabby the whole time. Thank God that Deborah was with us...we really may not have been able to survive that last part of the trip without her help! Not long after the plane left Incheon, Ryan started crying and was pretty much inconsolable for the next five hours. Nearly every Korean mother on that flight held him for a while and tried every trick to get him to stop crying, but the only thing that helped was when one generous woman volunteered to walk up and down the aisle and find some infant Tylenol. At the time we didn't realize it, but Ryan was teething badly--the Tylenol helped to relieve his discomfort and finally allowed him to fall asleep in the bulkhead bassinet [Image 154] for a few hours. And that allowed the rest of us to relax a little as well [Image 153, Image 155]. After about 13 hours in the air, we finally made it to Dallas [Image 156], and after another few hours in extremely cramped quarters [Image 157], we finally made back to Detroit Metro. We were greeted by members of our family at the airport, and were greeted at home by some very thoughtful signs of welcome and congratulations left by friends on our garage door [Image 158]. Finally our family was complete, and we were home!
Our trip to Korea to bring Ryan home was truly the trip of a lifetime. We had an amazing time, met and befriended many lovely people, saw many fascinating sights, did many exciting things, and ate many delicious meals! Joe got his first real reminder of his country and culture of origin and some of the people there who still love him. And most significantly, Ryan became ours forever. The people, places, and things we experienced will be with us always, and Korea will eternally be in our hearts and an important part of our family.
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