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I have plenty of other things I want to write about our time with family, but for now, I'll just chronicle our flights back. I will need to take more time to share the family stories. ^^

We left MN on January 6th, and by the time we got to our place, it was January 8th. That was not a whole lot of fun. I actually didn't realize what time we were supposed to get in until a day or two before we flew out. Genious here, for sure.

We had no issues checking in or getting through security. God was certainly with us the whole time. Right before my diaper bag went through the scanner, the man there asked many times if I had any liquids in there. I replied quite a few times that I had already put everything in a ziploc, but it suddenly dawned on me that I had hand sanitizer that I had forgotten to take out. That saved me a possible interrogation right there. The funny thing is, though, that Hee Suk had two tubes of gochujang (hot red pepper sauce) in his bag that he didn't take out, and no one said a word. Hmm...

We just relaxed at the airport. I changed Nehemiah's diaper, only to have to change it again right away since he decided to poop right after I got out of the bathroom and sat down again. That's my boy! We were feeling a little hungry, so we got a little something at McDonald's. (Nuggets for me, a snack wrap and mocha frappe for him.) I was watching to see when the gate agents returned because I needed to request a bassinet, but there was already a huge line to see someone. Apparently, many people had no seat assignments, so they wanted to get their seat numbers. After waiting quite some time, some man finally cleared out the line and told those people that they would get their seat numbers later. The lady first told us she couldn't give us a bassinet, but she then realized we already had bulkhead seats. I think she thought I was requesting bulkhead. If I were, I would have definitely been pushing for them because most of the people sitting bulkhead had no special reason to be seated there.

I don't know if it's just Delta or what, but they run very inefficiently in my opinion. Then again, I never want to fly Delta again after what we went through to pay for our son's ticket when flying out to MN. Korean Air let us request a bassinet at check-in, but the Delta check-in lady said she can't do anything, that it's all done at the gate. Apparently, families and elderly are no longer a priority on anyone's list, because no one called for them to be seated before general boarding began. I was advised just to go ahead anyway. Our seats were the last section, so we our section was called first anyway.

Nehemiah was absolutely perfect throughout both flights and at the airports. He slept most of the time and had only one minor fussy period on the way to Narita. We were able to put him down to sleep when meal time came around so that we were both able to eat at the same time. It wasn't really an issue, but last time, one of us would have to hold him while the other ate because he didn't want to lie down at that time.

On the bassinet front, when the flight attendant came out to try to attach it to the wall, our little hoel thingies were apparently defective, so we had to switch seats with the people next to us. They were both very kind and agreed, but it's still annoying to have to switch because everyone feels more comfortable being right by there overhead carry-ons. I just wasn't too happy that this was an issue to begin with. It made me wonder what else was wrong with the plane...

Let's see, I'm getting myself all out of sorts here. Ah, yes. Our flight to Narita was courtesy of the most seatbelt sign happy person ever. It was probably the most turbulent flight I have ever been on, but the pilot had the signs on for apparently no reason many times. The reason this is so annoying is that when the sign is on, we have to take Nehemiah out of the bassinet. He was fantastic, though.

We actually arrived one hour early in Narita. We had to wait after we landed so that they could clear a gate for us since ours was occupied. Trying to call my parents was a pain, as the pay phone wouldn't let me use more than 5 10 yen coins. 100 yen gets you about two seconds of talk time, but we made it work. I told Hee Suk to call his brother several times, but he assured me it was alright, that he didn't need to. Remember that for later...

Sometime after we arrived at our gate, I noticed a "note" by our flight information--it was one hour delayed! What was supposed to be a 2.5-hour layover suddenly turned into a 4.5-hour layover. I was concerned about that affecting our ability to catch a bus back to Seoul, but Hee Suk said there were some that ran late. His brother was to pick us up from wherever the bus dropped us off...

We sat down in the "reserved" seating at the gate, which was designated for the elderly, handicap, pregnant and those with babies in arms. There was an elderly woman sitting there, and she looked at our baby and said he was beautiful in Korean. I respond with thank you in Korean, and she said, "Oh my, how can you speak Korean?" She talked with Hee Suk for a long time and just thought I was super mom: "Number 1, Number 1!" It turns out that she was returning back to Korea after visiting her daughter in Virgina. She was originally from North Korea and lost her husband soon after her daughter was born. Her story was really touching. It was funny, though, because in Korean fashion, another old woman came over from sitting with her child's family (I'm guessing it was her son, his wife and their two children) and asked her if I was her daughter-in-law--she said yes! Hee Suk and I just looked at each other and laughed. The lady was very nice, but I know Hee Suk must have been happy with a little break from the conversation. I had actually lied down in the middle of them talking to try to get some sleep, so I don't know how long they had been at it.

She said that because Nehemiah's head is nice and round and because his ears are so flat (which older people apparently find important, including my father's mother), he will be very smart. I always think it's interesting to hear who people think Nehemiah resembles. She immediately said his father. Since so many people think he resembles me more and many others are starting to say Hee Suk, it just goes to show he is a perfect mix. ^^

Anyway, I have no idea what time we finally left, but the flight was so empty! Some people got rows all to themselves. I had asked to be switched to aisle seats while we were waiting, but it was pretty much in vain. We had an empty seat next to us, which was nice. (For the record, I am a window seat person, but that doesn't matter when you have a baby! I didn't want to be bothering anyone if we had to get up with him at all.) They expected us to arrive at 11pm instead of at 10, but we wound up getting there are 10:30. They arranged for a few buses to take the passengers into Seoul--one for the north side, one for the south side. The north one was to make it's final stop close to our place, so that was nice.

Hee Suk finally called his brother after we arrived, only to find out that he was in the middle of drinking. His brother thought we were arriving Friday night, not Thursday. I knew something was going to happen. Hee Suk knew very well he couldn't completely blame his brother, though. I told him to send him our flight info and to confirm our arrival with him in advance because the one phone conversation they had of, "Hey, we are arriving Thursday night--could you pick us up from the bus stop? [Brother is a little busy but agrees.] OK, thanks!" was just not enough in my mind. I didn't say it, but obviously, I was right. Hee Suk made a million phone calls to see if someone could pick us up, but one person was also out drinking, another's phone was off, and the rest followed suit.

Again, God was very much with us. I wanted to change Nehemiah after we got our luggage, and by the time we finished, everyone had gotten theirs. To myself, I thought we might have ruined our chances of catching the free bus since everyone had finished. We were just in time, though. Thank God! Hee Suk spent the bus ride trying to dig himself out of the whole he had dug by making phone calls, and near the end of our ride, I asked him, "Well, what if we asked the bus driver to just drive a little farther from the last stop to drop us off in front of our place? We can pay." He liked the idea and asked, and sure enough, he was willing to do so! What a huge blessing. We figured that if we had paid for our bus ride back, it would have been about 20,000 won, so we would give him 20,000 won max, 10,000 won minimum. After we unloaded our stuff, he asked him how much we should give him. He just asked for 10,000 won! This wound up being even more convenient than his brother coming to get us, so I just couldn't be mad at him at all. I was just thankful for such a huge blessing.

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For as perfect as Nehemiah was on the flights, he has been a bit less than so since coming back. He has started crying a little differently where pretty much nothing comforts him, so we were worried that he might be sick or in pain since it was pretty shrill a couple of times. When I shared my parents advice of letting him cry a bit more than we do while we were on the plane, he was concerned about making him a "tough baby" if we did so. However, while he was crying a lot during my shower, Hee Suk suddenly turned into Mr. Baby Expert and just lied him on the bed to let him cry, not talking to him or touching him. He said that he had tried consoling him, and when nothing worked, he figured out he was just having a temper tantrum (hmm, I wonder who he gets it from, APPA...) and that we could pick him up to console him once he calmed down so he learned not to throw a fit like that. I choked back tears while watching him shed his own, but when he did calm down, I was able to easily pick him up and cuddle with him.

This is working out really well so far. He's been having more fits today, and it almost seems as though they are getting shorter and shorter as he figures out that I will only tend to him when he has calmed himself down. I'm not much for the cry-it-out method, but it seems like this is just what he needs to learn not to throw his little fits.

Anyway, before I get off on too many more tangents, I will sign off. I need to make his mobile before I start classes again. Otherwise, it will just never get done. Like I said, I have plenty more to share and hope to get to it all soon!

For now, I just need to send major thanks to my family for all that they have done for us. There is so much I want to say, and maybe the words will come for it later. For now, it is all very much so in my heart. We are incredibly grateful for all of the love and support.

Thank You, my Lord. There are no words that could come even close to being enough to express my gratitude. Thank You.