Trip 2: Day 4- Gotcha Day

I'm sure by now most everyone has seen the sweet and joyous video of Lola. Yesterday was everything I dreamed it would be and more. My heart is so full it could literally burst right now. God is soooo good! 

We got to the agency yesterday at 4pm. Lola, Omma, and Appa, were all there waiting. She immediately wanted to play with us. But first, we had to sign and go over some paperwork as well as go through the bags Omma and the agency had prepared for us. Little miss busy body wanted to be right in the middle of it and we had to keep distracting her so she wouldn't tear up our papers for the embassy. She also kept trying to run out the door as we went through the bags of clothing, toys, diapers, formula, and then all the food Omma had made for her. It was the sweetest thing. Omma had made sticky rice, some sort of squid paste to put in the rice, soup, seaweed, beef jerky cut in strips, puffs, cups of water, and bottles. It was so so kind. After going through everything, it was time to leave. I handed foster mom a card with some pictures of Lola and her together. She opened it and then lost it. It was so so hard to watch. I asked the translator if they were going to say goodbye and she told me they would do so at the elevator. So we walked to the elevator and Omma was really really trying to be strong for Lola. They didn't hug her there because I think they knew that would be so terrible and hard for Lola. I embraced Omma thanking her profusely for all she had done and we both hugged and balled our eyes out. It was heart wrenching. Casey held Lola as we waved goodbye, rode down the elevator, and headed outside to the taxi. Lola was so distracted by all the commotion that she didn't cry at first. We played and looked out the window for the first 10 minutes. 

Then, she realized Omma and Appa were gone and she started balling. We held her and loved on her, but she was inconsolable for the next 45 minutes to the hotel. Even the taxi driver was being so kind and trying to console her, but nothing would do. It broke my heart but I knew this was to be expected and I would have been more concerned if she hadn't cried at all. I eventually distracted her with my makeup and she was good for the remaining 5 minutes. Why didn't I buy her some fake make up? She is so prissy and has already put every one of my makeup brushes in her mouth. She puts powder on her cheeks and then puts on Chapstick and smacks her lips. It's the cutest thing!

Once we got back to the hotel we played and explored the room. Lola ran around everywhere and climbed every last thing in our room. She is so busy! Truly she was meant to be our child. She will fit in perfect with her rowdy brothers. We also walked around the hotel some and went outside for a bit before we just decided it would be easier to order dominos than try to go someplace. We figured there was no way Lola would sit still long enough. 

We fed her some banana and sticky rice with squid paste for dinner but she didn't eat a ton. She did eat some of our pizza and really liked that. 

We gave her a bath, which she absolutely loved!!! She splashed prob 1/4 of the water out of the tub and thought it was hysterical. We put on jammies, attempted to read some books, and then fed her half her bottle. She didn't drink much of that either. Omma had told us that she hadn't pooped at all yesterday. Just before bed Lola pulled down her pants, squatted, and then started crying. Casey said she must be constipated. Poor baby. I picked her up in my arms and rocked her and she was asleep within minutes. I laid her in bed with us and she has slept all night, with the exception of waking up one time around 12:30am crying. I gave her a bottle, but again she only drank 1/4 of it. Omma has been giving her two bottles in the night but I really think it's a comfort thing and she doesn't really want the milk. We will try to replace that with something else once we get home and settled. (I'm sure all the dentists out there are having a cow!) Also we are going to try and wean her off the bottle and formula altogether soon because right now they say she is getting 6 bottles of formula a day. Wow! 

We will take it a step at a time.

Right now, it's 7:30am and our baby girl is still sleeping soundly. We are going to try and head down to the breakfast buffet and then we have our visa hearing at 1pm. Praying Lola wakes up happy and not scared about where she is. Thanks again for all the many prayers. We are feeling them. 

 

Day 3: The Final Countdown

Today is the day! The day we have been anxiously awaiting for so long. The day we become a family of five. The day Lola is forever in our arms. My heart is a wreck. I am feeling every emotion in the book as we wait for 4 o'clock to get here (2am Paducah time). 

We are staying at a new hotel called Marriott Executive Apartments this time (thanks to my amazing Aunt Katie for getting us a friends and family rate). 

After getting settled into our hotel last night we were able to get a little bit of rest (not a ton because our bodies thought it was 8 AM when we were trying to go to sleep). We were up by 630 and headed downstairs for our "complementary" hotel breakfast. Usually this means cereal and some muffins they just took out of the freezer. But we hit the breakfast jackpot at this hotel. They had everything from an omelet chef to grilled salmon. It was incredible and Casey was in hog heaven. 

We then went exploring in and around the hotel. This place is incredible. They have an 18 hole virtual golf course, an Olympic size swimming pool and baby pool, and a state-of-the-art fitness center complete with matching workout clothing for everyone to wear.

Next, we went to the IFC mall, which is a westernized mall with stores like Gap, Zara, and H&M. We did a bit of shopping, explored the food court (because we obviously love food), and then headed back to our hotel to gear up for getting Lola. 

Oh, and again......look how well they take care of things here. So fresh and so clean....

Now here we are, ready to go and get our precious girl. We will update as we can. Prayers appreciated!!! 

Trip 2: Day 2

We made it to Seoul safe and sound. Our flights were fairly uneventful, just long, cramped, and exhausting. I'll just leave you with a few pictures because I don't have much else in me. 

Tomorrow we take custody of Lola at 4pm so we need our rest. Night night! 

Trip 2: Day 1

It's finally here! The day we leave to go pick up our daughter from South Korea. As I expected, this month has been a rough one. After meeting Lola it has been very difficult to be away from her and we are ready to have her home. Henry said it best last night when he came out of his room and said, "I can't sleep mommy, because I can't stop thinking about Lola." Me too buddy....me too. 

We left Paducah at 6:20 this morning. The Paducah airport hasn't changed since were there last time. They still have the same old vending machines that no one can get to work and this trusty "charging station." 

Maybe I'm slap happy but I really got a kick out of that! 

We will be taking the same route we did the first trip. 

Paducah-Chicago

Chicago-Tokyo

Tokyo-Seoul

We also ate at the same restaurant for breakfast that we did the first trip and got the exact same egg bowl. 

Feels like deja vous.  

The difference is that we will be coming home with an additional family member this trip. I honestly still can't believe that it's finally happening. 

Our schedule for the week looks something like this:

-Arrive in Seoul Tuesday night

-Take custody of Lola Wednesday at 2pm 

-Visa hearing Thursday

-Head home Saturday and arrive home Saturday night

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported us along the way. A HUGE shout out to our parents for keeping the boys in such great hands. We truly could not have done this without you! We ask that you continue to pray for us as we embark on the greatest adventure of our lives. #brantleypartyoffive 

1 week follow up

It's been a week, so I figured I should post an update. We arrived home late last Friday night. 

Originally, we were scheduled for 3 flights for our ride home. Seoul-San Fran, San-Fran-Chicago, Chicago-Paducah. It turned out that our 1st flight was delayed 3 hours, which would have caused us to miss our second flight. So we had to enlist my father in law to call United and get us re-booked (since we didn't have international calling on our phones). He was able to get us on an Asiana direct flight to Chicago! This was such a blessing! One less flight and the plane was not nearly as crowded. Casey and I had an empty seat between us, so I got to spread out! It was NIIICE. I slept a solid 8 hours and squeezed in two meals and the Hunger Games movie. 

(Slippers y'all).

Our flight change left us with a little more time on Friday to explore the city. We toured two different hotels that we might stay at for our next trip. Although we loved our hotel, we will have Lola with us next time and need more space.

Of course we had to eat some street food!

After our hotel explorations we decided we better head to the airport. Of course, we were starved once we arrived because our bodies had become accustomed to just walking all day and then eating big meals!!! We darted upstairs to the food court after getting our boarding passes and turning in our wi-fi egg. Casey was DONE with Korean food so he ordered a burger at Shake Burger. I decided to eat "actual" Korean food for my last meal, since we were, in fact, in Korea. It was pretty delish! 

Then, we got ice cream at this amazing spot where they make the ice cream right in front of you using some sort of nitrous process? Crazy cool! 

Since we had a couple more hours to kill I started researching blogs about fun things to do in the Seoul airport. Well....I found a girl who had blogged about all these fun themed cafés inside Incheon airport such as Charlie Brown Cafe and Hello Kitty Cafe. Oh my stars!!!! I was pumped (because we hadn't tried enough lattes on this trip). 

We started off for Charlie Brown Cafe near gate 12. We looked and looked, but it was nowhere to be found. No worries. All I really wanted was to find the Hello Kitty one. I LOVE HELLO KITTY!!!!! She said it was near gate 24. We arrived at gate 24 and looked up, down, and all around. It too was nowhere to be found. What on earth?!? We asked around only to be told that it was no longer in business. Color me 52 shades of disappointed.😱

My new goals for our 2nd trip now include the following:

3.) Hello Kitty Cafe

2.) Buy Casey a suit

1.) BRING LOLA HOME!!!!

#3 and #2 goals are also contingent upon how well Lola is doing and if time allows. She will obviously be our #1 goal. Perhaps Lola is a big Hello Kitty fan as well and we are just meant to experience it together! A girl can dream.......

So now we just wait. Wait to hear that we have preliminary approval (which we hear usually takes a couple of weeks) and then wait to be given a date for our visa hearing. We are hoping we get to travel home with her sometime here in the next 4 weeks. Please pray for us. Even though 4 weeks is a short time away, this mama is struggling. Now that we've met Lola, held her, played with her, smelled her, and loved on her, it is so real. We need our daughter home. The boys are so excited to meet their sister and I can't wait until this family of 5 is all under one roof. We love you Lola. We will be back for you soon!!!!

This was her 1 year old birthday picture. Isn't it the sweetest?!?