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.