Despite the flavor of my blog throughout our stay in Ukraine, we were somewhat spoiled. We did not miss a single target date during our entire complex process of adopting Landyn & Henry. In fact, we exceeded our targets! There were numerous threats of coming up against a barrier but nothing ever materialized. Until our very last target; our connecting flight to home. After traveling almost 24 hours on less than a full night’s sleep, we cleared immigration & customs in DC to learn that our flight to RDU was cancelled. We had been spoiled by our success to that point & frankly, never really considered that something like this would happen. And there was no simple solution to the problem.
Long story short, we survived without injuring either of our kids. It’s not their fault but they were driving us CRAZY! I finally had to tell Landyn to “zip it”! And Henry followed her lead. Well whuddoyaknow? When they stopped moving their mouths for two minutes, they fell asleep! We arrived in RDU on a different airline carrier about 5 hours later than planned without any luggage (well, as it turned out our luggage was there – came in on a later flight with our original carrier – the one that cancelled our flight – but no one advised us that our luggage would be there, so we didn’t even look for it – not that we would have been able to identify it with our eyes crossed – we were sooooo tired). We missed our friends who came to the airport to welcome us home. I was terribly disappointed but keeping it in perspective we were HOME with our KIDS!! My parents pulled up to the curb, we jumped in & after almost 30 hours of traveling, were off for home!!
There was a brief resurgence of energy once we arrived home & the kids explored their rooms & took a quick inventory of their new loot but it was lights out within 30 minutes. And everyone woke up reasonably refreshed. Or, probably more accurately, still operating on adrenaline!
Our first day home was pretty busy. I was completely – to the point that I was almost over – prepared for our trip to Ukraine but that’s about where the preparation stopped. I did not have adequate clothing for the kids upon our return. In my defense, this was on purpose; not an oversight (well, the no pajamas thing was an oversight). I chose not to buy them clothing beforehand because there were two big unknowns: 1-what the weather would be when we returned (it was not hot here when we left!) & 2-what sizes the kids would wear. So armed with the answers to both of these questions, I headed out to Old Navy for shorts & t-shirts BY MYSELF! It was wonderfully quiet!
We spent most of the day just hanging out & allowing the kids to explore their new home. We took our well-cared-for (maybe even slightly overfed – but no complaints from us because he was very much loved in our absence) for a few walks. On the second walk the kids rode their new razors. We felt like a scooter was the best way to assess their balance with the intention of progressing to bicycles soon.
I have always intended to do my best to prevent my kids from being overstimulated & overwhelmed by their new lives & all the people anxiously awaiting their homecoming. But I was regretful that friends had come to the airport to greet us & it didn’t work out (our friends & family have been more than generous in their support!). So we invited friends to come by yesterday evening while we were all four still pretty much running on adrenaline. And it worked out perfectly. The kids played with all of our visitors’ kids & never really even knew they were the reason for so many people stopping by. I wonder if this afternoon when people don’t show up with gifts if they will think something is wrong!!
There was much ado about our luggage. United Airlines insisted it was their policy that we had to pick up our own luggage from the airport. After both Richard & I spent at least an hour each on the phone United Airlines agreed that, despite their policy (which, I pointed out to them, doesn’t do anything for “customer service”), they would “do the right thing” (those are my words to them!) and courier our luggage to us. I tell you this because, while it was frustrating that we had to argue with the airline to bring them around to realizing the impact on their customer of their poor policy, at least we were empowered enough to advocate for ourselves. It is hard to appreciate how compromised you feel when you are in a foreign country and cannot even speak on your own behalf. It is, indeed, GREAT TO BE HOME!
These days are a wonderful time for us! The kids are still very excited to explore their new world and the reality of the hardships that accompany their new world (learning a new language, making all new friends, and blending into a new culture) is not yet obvious to them. There is no real agenda for the day at least for the next few days. In the life of a child that comes from even less than just having very little, all is right in the world today! We are blessed to share this time with them. And blessed that our friends & family have shared this time with us as well…
Welcome home!
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