Oct 8 2010 Arrival Home

How exciting it was to get off that plane!! I just knew that we would have an awesome welcome home party waiting for us. I could not wait to see Steven and the kids. We did it, we did it is all I kept saying to Ian, Ellia and Benjamin. The funny part was some passengers on the plane said, "wow, you have your hands full", little did they know, hehhe.
Once I had the kids in their stroller...I pulled out their American and Ukraine flags and handed it to them. I actually quickly showed them how to wave the flags and they got it quickly. So as we came around the corner...I could see lots of little kids through the frosted glass and I said Ian Run, Run and we Ran as fast as we could around the corner!!
We were surrounded with so many hugs, cheers and kisses. They loved it. We managed to take this picture quickly.

Blog catch-up: Almost Home

On Oct 6th after Gotcha Day, I brought the kids back to the apartment to get them dinner and maybe give them a bath before the train ride. Well, no that didn't work out...the bath part. It started to get to cold and I was a little afraid of letting them go outside and yes "catching a cold". LOL I laugh because I could hear my mom say that. Benjamin already knew the apartment and my rules of "no touch" the TV antennas, stove, fridge and computer (that was not even mine). He was very happy to tell them what not to touch. Even though he could not say words his facial expression said it all. He also did the one finger "no, no" when Ian and Ellia were touching the computer. Earlier this morning, I had cleaned and packed all my bags for the train to Kiev. I made sure to make a "snack bag" and "diaper bag". I was going to keep them awake until we arrived to the train. Our train would depart around 2230. We would arrive in Kiev at 0630 the next day. At 2130 our taxi drivers (yes we needed 2 cars because of luggage and kids) arrived. They were terrific helping bring down all the luggage. We had experience with this elevator stopping 3 times already so we did not want that to happen with the children. Being on the 8th floor did not make it easy either.
I included some pictures of the kids at the apartment.




Not sure if I mentioned that there was no washing machine in the apartment. It was hand washing and line drying all the time. I did hang my pants on the line outside (just off the porch) and somehow they flew off the line down 8 floors!! Ugh I was so upset but they must have been picked up because they were no longer there when I went to go get them a couple hours later. Funny. Here are some pictures of the apartment too.

We have been home for 11 days now: Time to catch up on this blog

Sept 6 was Gotcha Day for Ian and Ellia. Translation for those who have not adopted....The day you free the kids out of the orphanage. It is a day mixed with emotion. You are excited, nervous and exhausted by this time. Tons of trips have been made, you are down to the last money saved, your planning your return trip and finalizing it (it was Eldon from Golden Rule Travel for us...thank you Eldon). Your traveling to buy train tickets and hoping there will be train tickets to get back into Kiev, you are emailing the embassy to make appointments for the children's medicals and visas. So many things to do but you are so excited because you know you are just a few days short of heading back home to the USA with your children. Part of you is also fearing the plane and layover. You hope it will not be to stressful on the children...you hope they don't have any GI problems ( diarrhea...hate to be blunt but it was on my mind). Those toilet rooms are so small. But even with all those thoughts and things to do Gotcha Day is a celebration for both you the child and the orphanage. I picked out the nicest clothes I had with me and stopped by the store with our facilitator to buy some bananas for the children left behind, some chocolate and treats for the orphanage nannies and some small gifts for the nurses and doctor at the orphanage. In regards to Benjamin's we bought some champagne for his nannies (they really wanted to celebrate....and they deserved it for taking such good care of these kids). We had a Gotcha Day Oct 1st for him. Here are some pictures.