We are HOME!

Okay, I don't want to say that I kissed the ground when we got home, but I came close to it. Well, I haven't been able to update the blog since Christmas because our days have been one big blur. I couldn't the day after because all the teenage boys where taking up my space at the Internet! On Wednesday, The translator met me at the apartment in the morning and we started running to the judges office to get our paperwork, off to the orphanage to talk to the director (about what, I have no idea), we took Chris/Kola to the foto place to get the picture for his Visa, then back to the orphanage to see his play(it was awesome by the way), then we ALL went back to the apartment to meet and pay the landlady and got in the taxi to head to Donesk where we will pick up his paperwork in the morning at 8 o'clock. Once we got to Donesk we were starving, so we took Chris/Kola to McDonalds. The boy was in hog heaven and kept giving me the thumbs up. When we got back to the hotel it was almost 9:30...so we needed to get him to bed. Well, let's just say that he didn't go to sleep until after 1am. He was wound up!!

Thursday morning,

I handed our translator bunches of money and he headed off to get the Birth Certificate and Passport. He told me to be ready to go by 11:00. At 1:00 we were on the plane(thank you for your prayers that we wouldn't have fog).landed in Kiev at 2:45...drove like crazy to get to the medical center where we payed the doctor to stay late (they close at 2:00 on Fridays) to give him the exam. We didn't get there until 3:30 (we had to be to the Embassy by 5:30)....the doctor was in a meeting...WHAT!!. Someone rushed to get him. He did a quick exam, our translator hired a driver to take us to the Embassy while he was getting some other paperwork somewhere else. Our translator gets to the Embassy at 4:30 wanting to know where we are...we get there just before 5pm (the traffic was just horrible...but I did get to see the old KGB building). I try to get through security and it seems to take forever, I rush in and start doing my paperwork. They told me to take the rest of the paperwork with me, fill it out and bring it back in the morning. They had enough to begin the process and would let me in even when the department was closed on Friday.

We go downtown and have an apartment within spitting distance of Independence Square. It was 70 dollars and clean. Good enough for us! Just as all of us where walking down the street with my luggage, I felt something and heard a familiar sound. Someone had unzipped my laptop bag and was trying to take it. I went into turbo, ninja turtle mode and told him a thing or two in English. You know he was scared. Anyway, I was scared and only went to the restaurant next door to eat because I was terrified of what would happen. That was too bad because it was only 6;30 and I was next to a Gucci, Burberry and other cool stores where I can't afford.

The next morning we headed to the Embassy and finished our paperworkand the process took about two hours. Our plane didn't leave until 5:30, so the landlady let us stay in the apartment until 3 pm. Chris/Kola and I hit the streets (less scary in the daylight) and had his picture taken with Santa in front of the tree at Independence Square and just enjoyed our time. Our flight was to Amsterdam. After the first 30 minutes of Chris/Kola pushing every button he could find, I told the Airline Attendent to never respond if it went off, because I wouldn't push the button even if I was dying. Once we checked into the hotel inside the airport and ate, we went back to the room...ahhhhh, clean sheets and warm (clear) water. Our new son loves the remote control, and since I never get to use it at home...I didn't care. PLEASE CARE...there are 3 (24 hour) porn stations for your pleasure and of course he stopped on it and was laughing so hard that I thought he found a cartoon. Aughhhhhhhhhhh

The next morning we were up and boarding the plane at 6:10 (the flight left at 7:50). I don't even want to go into detail about the 8 hour flight...but lets just say it was long and he didn't like me at the end of it. The word no and the two spankings weren't recieved well. He doesn't like seatbelts and would always remove it when I wasn't looking and was pushing those buttons again...only this time the flight attendent wasn't as thrilled!!!

The flight from Detroit to Louisville was great because he slept the entire way!!! It was wonderful once we got to the airport. Mom, dad, Linda, Kerry, Marshelle, Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Ron and of course Matthew and David were to great us. Mom was taking a million pictures, dad was crying, Matthew had flowers and it was just an amazing moment. At one point people from other groups were coming up to us because they didn't know what was going on, but it was making them cry and then they cried more when they heard about the adoption and his new family. We headed straight to Cracker Barrel and had the most wonderful meal!!! Then we went to Wal-Mart to get him some PJ's and clothes for tomorrow. We had about 5 food groups on the pants he had on!!

You should have seen his eyes light up when we got to the house, they said it all. He slept with Matthew and as my mom said...she thought I was gaining a son...but I lost one, because all Matthew wanted to do was take care of Chris/Kola. It was awesome. I think Matthew must have kissed him a million times.