Traveling Home

Saturday morning, we woke up to another wonderful meal prepared by our host family. Then, Sasha and Michael (who could give Jeff Gordon a run for his money) picked me up to run back to this little market area to pick up some t-shirts for our boys. We almost had a wreck. You would not believe me if I told you how they drive in Ukraine. Put it this way, while we were there, President Yuchenko (I'm sure I didn't spell that correctly) did away with all traffic police. It didn't change anything. They drove four cars wide on one lane streets. They would pass fifteen cars sitting at a red light, going down the wrong side of the road with oncoming traffic. Also, standing on the sidewalk was dangerous because they were not apposed to driving down them either. I was just praying that I'd get back to Alabama in one piece at this point.

Anyway, they took me back for lunch. I am so full, I couldn't eat anything. Lee helped me out though. He always ate what I couldn't. Then, we were off to the airport. It is very, very busy at this airport. We had absolutely no problems getting through customs. We filled out our little report and went upstairs to catch our flight. They only had two gates that we could see. I was afraid we were at the wrong place, so I asked. They flash the flights on a sign just a couple of minutes before they start boarding. You have to catch a bus out to the plane. We have never been to an airport like this.

So we finally left Ukraine about 5:00 p.m. in Kiev. We flew KLM to Amsterdam. When we hit this airport, we started running. I was so glad we had our little baby carrier at this point because Sophie was wanting down and I'm sure I couldn't have held on to her without it. We were trying to get to the hotel inside the airport to spend the night. Sasha had assured us that it would be no problem getting a room. He saw no need in calling ahead for us (or helping us call) to make sure we had reservations. HE WAS WRONG! There are only about 30 rooms at this hotel and they stay booked. So, a word of advice... If you have a layover in Amsterdam, make sure you have reservations for this hotel.

Lee was not one bit happy at this point. We were told that we would possibly have to spend the night in the airport. We were hot, tired, (I'm sure we were smelly) and we had a very irritated little girl with us. The only thing left to do was to go to immigrations to see if they would give us a temporary visa for Sophie to leave the airport. Americans do not need visas, but Sophie was not an American yet. Anyway, when we originally asked, we were told that the agreement that they had with ?somebody? was no longer in affect. They no longer issue transient visas. This whole time, Sophie is screaming crying, trying to run around, and simply having fit after fit. Then this immigrantion agent said, "Someone has let this little girl down. She is only a small child and she is not to blame, so we will issue her a visa for the night." I could have kissed him! So we paid roughly about $60.00 (in Euros) for her visa. Then we had to go through immigrations, through the airport to find an area where they have a reservation center for area hotels. Lee called the first one we saw. They had a room available with shuttle service to the airport every 15 minutes. It was about $70.00 a night. I was not expecting much. Our only question to them was, "Do you have air-conditioning?"

We started toward to doors of the airport to reach the shuttle. I kept saying, "Please be cool, please be cool... We went outside. It was heaven! The air was sooooo cool. It felt like late November in Alabama. Then, we caught the shuttle to the hotel. It was wonderful. We felt as if we had walked back into civilization after being on some kind of safari or something. This hotel was extremely nice. For those who are looking for a good hotel in Amsterdam, I highly recommend the NH Schiphol Hotel. (I don't know what NH stands for.) We had the most comfortable bed with a feather mattress pad on it. The bathroom was so nice! We had a tub mat, great smelling shampoo, shower gel, and lotion. We could take a hot shower, then step out and cool off instead of sweating immediately after our bath. We had a real iron and ironing board. The chairs were comfortable. I know this sounds so silly, but after what we had been through, this was "like a piece of heaven!"

I was really dreading having to lay over in Amsterdam, but it really turned out to be the best thing that could have happened. I would have hated flying all the way back to the U.S. like we were. We were so hot, sweaty, and tired. The night in Amsterdam gave us our first good nights rest in a while. We ate dinner at the McDonald's right across the street from our hotel. I don't love McDonald's, but it was a welcome treat! Then, when we did get up at 5:00 a.m. to catch our long flight back to Detroit, we at least were clean and rested.

Sophie was sick during the night in Amsterdam. At one point, her fever hit 103 degrees under her arm. So I did sleep with one eye on her all night. I was so glad that I packed all of our medicine in her diaper bag. I don't know what I would have done without the Motrin, Benadryll, and Mallox. She had white patches on her tongue and throat. She wasn't eating either. Dr. Allen, our wonderful doctor at home, had told us what to do to coat her throat so it wouldn't hurt so bad. After hearing her symptoms the day before, he said it sounded like the same "hand, foot, and throat disease" that was going around our hometown. Dr. Allen was so sweet to make himself available to us at anytime while we were adopting Sophie. He was even going to see her in his office late Sunday night if we needed. Thank you so much, Dr. Allen!
Sophie's fever broke early Saturday morning, thank goodness! We left Amsterdam for our 8 hour flight back to Detroit. Sophie slept almost seven hours of this flight (another reason to be thankful). When she woke up, she felt so much better. She was playing and eating like she had never been sick (another reason to be thankful)!

We arrived in Detroit about 11:00 local time. We had to get our luggage because we had arrived from an international flight. Then we had to go through customs and immigrations here. Once we handed our sealed envelope that we received from the embassy in Kiev to the immigrations officer, and she stamped Sophie's passport, Sophie became AN AMERICAN CITIZEN! YEAH!

I hope and pray that one day she will understand what a privilege it is to be an American. I've always been one who gets chill bumps when I hear the National Anthem. I've always considered myself patriotic. I had no idea! Anyone who complains about our country should be made to go and live in one of these countries where they have so little. It is not only material things I am talking about. It is also about hope. Americans can hope for anything. The poorest child in America can grow up and if he is determined enough, do anything. Being in the middle class is a gift. Having a middle class is a gift. Knowing that a good education and working hard will help you not only survive, but prosper in life is something that we all take for granted.

Well, time to get off my soap box, huh? After Sophie became an American, we had to go out of the secure areas of the airport, then check our luggage again to fly to Memphis. We made it just in time to catch our flight to Memphis. Sophie was just like me, she had had enough of these airplanes! She began crying pretty much the whole time we were in the air. People around us looked really annoyed until we would politely say, "I'm sorry about the crying. This is our NEW daughter. She's traveled half way around the world in the last 24 hours." Then everyone was very helpful. The airline attendants began showing special treatment. Little grandmother type ladies began digging in their purses to see how she liked chocolate. Even other kids would take an interest and share their books. All of a sudden this screaming kid became so precious! It was really great to see how people reacted to our little girl. We were congratulated everywhere we went.

Soon we left Memphis for our final flight. By the way, I've sworn off flying for the rest of my life. We had very uneventful flights (another reason to be thankful), but I am a nervous wreck every minute of every flight. We usually fly to Disney World every other year. We are going to have to rethink this now. I never want to fly again! Anyway, we arrived in Huntsville Sunday about 3:30 (I think). I was off of the airplane much faster than Lee and Sophie. I was ready to put my feet on the ground for the last time. I also knew that Jordan and Chase were waiting on me somewhere, and I had to find them. Anyway, Lee was determined that he was going to be the one to carry Sophie in. When we went into the airport, I heard, "Hi Mom." I did not expect it, but I started crying. I had missed my boys so much. They will never know. My sister, my mom, and my dad were all right there. They had gotten special permission to be in the terminal when we arrived. The funny story about this is that they all had to go through security to get in there. My dad kept setting off the metal detectors because of his prosthesis. (He has an amputated leg.) So he had to totally remove his leg to get in there. They checked down in his leg to make sure he hadn't brought something in. I'm sure the security at the airport was thinking, "Just wait out there." Oh well! Jordan and Chase were so sweet! I know they were very excited to meet their new little sister. BUT... she was so exhausted! She had all of these people in her face. All she would do is push them away or hit them. I felt so sorry for my boys. Then we finally left the terminal area, went out of the secure area and we had a party of people waiting on us there. We had aunts, uncles, cousins, more grandparents and great grandparents, and friends all there to greet us. It was great. Except that Sophie wanted nothing to do with anyone right then because she was so tired. When we finally found our luggage, (they had moved it because we were late picking it up) we headed home. Once we hit Lauderdale County, we started seeing pink balloons on the side of the highway. Then we started seeing these little signs that kids had made that said" Welcome Home Sophie!" The Cumberland Presbyterian Church had a sign that said, "Welcome Home Sophie" Our church had the same sign. When we got to Foodland in Rogersville, there was a group of kids from Anderson Baptist Church and a couple of kids from our church standing on the side of the highway waving signs for Sophie! We were truly amazed! We stopped to let these kids get a good look at her. She had finally gone to sleep, so they were very quiet. Boy, those are great kids! We took their picture to save for Sophie. Then, we headed home. All the way down the highway there were pink balloons scattered here and there. When we turned in our neighborhood, more pink balloons. Our lawn was covered in ribbons, balloons, and signs that Jordan and Chase had made. We had a big banner on our front porch that the boys had made. It had Sophie's picture on it and it said, "Welcome home Sophie" Lee's truck was decorated. We had food waiting on us in the kitchen.
We had a wonderful homecoming!

We knew we lived in a wonderful community. We had no idea that so many people were following our story. We had no idea that so many people would be so kind to us during this time. Our church has been a solid force to lean on. Through their prayers, we have been given strength to see this adoption through. During times when I could do nothing but cry and worry about this child that was half way around the world, my Sunday School class would gather around and pray over us. I would immediately feel the strongest sense of peace! We knew we were being prayed for daily, not only in our church, but many of the churches in our community. So many of Anderson Junior High students were praying for us. I want you all to know that I am so thankful for you and your prayers. You are all wonderful kids. I am very lucky to know you! I don't know what I would have done without my family! Mom, Dad, Becky, Lynn, Bubby... Thank you all so much for babysitting. Jayna, you did so much more than babysitting. You were Mom to my boys. Thank you!

More than anything, I thank God for everything! There have been times in my life when I knew that God was with me. I've been blessed so much more than I will ever deserve. This past year, especially the past few weeks, have been different. I would never be able to explain it, but I KNOW God was with us during every step of the way with this adoption. Things fell into place for us in ways that no one could explain. Every need that we had was met. Every prayer that was prayed was answered.
God even let us know along the way that he was with us. I know this may sound funny, but this gave me even more peace. This summer, a sunflower came up in our flowerbed in our back yard. This had never happended before. In fact, I rarely see sunflowers anywhere. We thought about cutting it down when it first came up, but we didn't. We had one HUGE sunflower growing around all of our other manacured flowers. When we arrive in Kiev to go to the NAC for our appointment, their symbol of a sunflower with a baby in the middle of it was lining the stairway. Then, as we drive six hours away to Odessa to meet our new daughter, we pass miles and miles of fields of ...you guessed it, sunflowers. They were beautiful. Somehow, Lee and I both had the same feeling. We both just knew that everything was going to work out just fine. We knew that our little girl was going to be healthy and happy, just as we had prayed. And she is!