We are home!

We made it home Christmas day about 2:00 pm. Uncle Mel met us at the airport and brought us home. It was nice to have someone drive us home because after being awake for 32 hours I am not sure how safe it would have been for us to drive. Mom had the house all decorated and had gone shopping for treats for us all and had been cooking the family favorites for the holidays. It was great coming home. We are very grateful to everyone that has been there to help and support us through this past month (and much longer in some cases).

The trip was long and there were a few issues, like there being no tickets for us in Kiev and having to wait in long lines to try to find someone who spoke enough English to help us so we did not end up staying in Kiev for the night. We rode in the car for 1 ½ hours to get from Kerch to Simferopol, got on a plane and rode for 2 hours to get to Kiev, waited for 2 hours for the ticket booth to open and check in at the airport to open. We tried to check in to the flight and found out we did not have tickets, waited in line to get tickets, found out they did not take US dollars, waited in the line to exchange money, waited in line again to get tickets and then checked in for the flight to Amsterdam. This flight was 2 ½ hours or so and then we had a 12 hour layover. The airport was amazing! It had a mall, many stores, museum, play house for children, hotels, sitting areas for TV. We arrived about 15 mins before it all closed. So we walked around, tried to find a place to sleep which was impossible because of the overhead announcements, bright light and people cleaning and talking. We wanted to stay in one of the hotels but they we all booked. It seemed like forever but we were finally on our way home. This flight was about 8 hours and we dozed off and on throughout this flight. We were so happy to be home! It was great seeing a familiar face, hear English being spoken and to see Mountain Dew for sale.

We hope to return to bring the children home the end of January to the middle of February. We have no idea on how long we may have to wait. The paperwork to send to Russia to request the birth certificate will not even be ready until January 5^th. George is going to stay in contact with the children and send them letters and pictures while we are gone. Vitaly has a cell phone that he shares with Pavel so George will be able to call and give them updates. As I get more information I will post to keep everyone updated.

Stay tuned!!