I wish I had a photograph of the first minute I saw my Amanda Mee Yeon. Amanda was two years old and was escorted from Korea. After all of the drama and excitement and effort involved with traveling to Vietnam for our daughter Maggie, being able to drive to the airport to “pick up a daughter” was outrageously surreal.

I had been told that while new security measures no longer allowed friends and family to meet planes at their gates, that sometimes an airline would give special permission to an anxious parent waiting for their new child to come off of a flight to get through security and wait at the gate.

We got to the airport with our three sons and one daughter, along with Josh’s Mom, an aunt, an uncle and a cousin. I was excited and nervous and really, really hyper. I waited on a line and finally got to a desk and after some frantic explaining and a wee bit of begging, they allowed “just one” of us to go, and I was given a “pass” to get through security and meet Amanda’s plane.

I kissed Josh and ran off frantically for the gate. After waiting on line, it was very close to the time that the flight was scheduled to arrive, and I wanted to be there, staring out the big window as the plane pulled up to the gate and then watch anxiously as people de-boarded until I could catch my first glimpse of her.

I was so caught up in my excitement that I didn’t even realize that Amanda and her escort were walking right towards me. It was 10 minutes before the flight was scheduled to land and I wasn’t close to the gate yet…but here came a small, gray-haired man holding an Asian toddler…it had to be them. I wasn’t ready…it wasn’t the right place and it wasn’t what I’d planned. My heart skipped a beat…and I tried to gain my composure. I tentatively approached Carl, the amazing man who had escorted countless kids from Korea, and introduced myself. I looked at Amanda…she was dressed in a yellow velveteen outfit, with pink thermals showing underneath. She had bright red sneakers on her feet and two lop-sided ponytails on her head, with her hair wild enough to illustrate the fact that she had been traveling many many hours with a man.

Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was wet with sweat where it met her forehead. She was the same exact size as our Maggie…just as we had expected. I talked to her quietly for a minute, and she didn’t turn away or cry, although she appeared to be tired and baffled as to who she was with and what they were doing with her. Carl put her down and she took my hand, and after a minute I couldn’t stand it anymore and I picked her up. She didn’t protest, and she felt so good in my arms…she smelled good and felt good and looked good. The flood of emotions…excitement, anxiety and sheer joy rolled into one finally overflowed and the tears started to fall as I carried Amanda back towards our waiting family. My little girl was finally home.

Yes, I wish I had a photo of the moment that my sweet, tired, sweaty little girl dressed in yellow, was handed to me that day in the Salt Lake City airport.