12/10/06 Back Home

On Friday, December 8th, we arrived back home to the states. Our flights and connection through Munich was fairly uneventful. As anticipated, Helena was pretty stimulated by the whole experience. We woke up at 2:30 am Moscow time on Friday morning and she woke up as well about 3 am, despite our attempt to wisk her to the airport unawares. Our flight was scheduled for 5:50 am and since it was only 3:30 am when we arrived, the luggage check-in area was not yet open. We waited for nearly an hour as people lined up for their check-in all around us. I walked around with Helena in the front carrier. She was wide awake and active. We were very tired (already!) Finally we were able to check-in. The attendant looked through the papers Mike presented and asked if we had a ticket for Helena. Mike explained the airline had informed him she could go as a lap baby on the short leg to Munich. They told him he needed to go back through security and buy her a ticket even as a lap baby. I was a bit ticked off at this point. We pushed the luggage aside for the attendant to hold and I continued to circle the area with her for the second hour as I waited. After another half hour, Mike showed up with the ticket. We got to the gate just in time to board the flight. Thank goodness we had arrived to the airport so early, because we might have missed our flight.

The trip to Munich was only 3 hours and we were served a nice breakfast. In Munich we had a five hour layover and spend some of the time in the red carpet lounge. We set up some luggage and chairs to keep Helena contained but she managed to sneak out and enjoyed crawling through all the tunnels under the arms of the chairs. It was very early in Munich and at first there were not many travelers in the lounge, but as time went on, more arrived. Helena cried a few times and I don’t think the some of the travelers were too fond of sharing their space with her. As we walked to the gate to catch our 11 something am connection to the states, Helena fell asleep – but for only 15 minutes! We boarded the plane and began our final nine hour trip home. Helena continued enjoying other travelers, peeking over the seats, looking over in the next aisle. We enjoyed keeping her from going flying onto the floor or bonking her head on the seat in front of her (she had her own seat). I looked longingly at the couple across from us who once represented us. They sat alone, reading books and watching the movie while their children, six and fourteen, sat in another row and independently entertained themselves! At times, Helena did seem tired and we took turns walking her around the airplane. Later in the flight I’d put on her butterfly shoes, so some of our rounds on the 777 included her walking (no racing) as we bent over holding her elbow. After crying for a while, she finally fell asleep for about 20 minutes. Sometime during the ride, she fell asleep for another few minutes in my arms (I didn’t dare move her this time) and in all she logged about 75 minutes total sleep time over the nearly 20 hour travel ordeal.

We arrived at Dulles a few minutes ahead of schedule and with the exhausted and sleeping Helena (who fell asleep as we touched the ground) went to get our luggage and go through customs and immigration. She woke up abruptly when the passport control officer scanned her passport. It didn’t take too much time to get through immigration and enter the main terminal of the airport and when we did, we were greeted by a wonderful group of friends holding signs, balloons and gifts and shouting words of greeting. It was wonderful and a bit overwhelming, given our stupor. Helena rose to the occasion and managed to crank out a few smiles. It was great greeting our friends and several other adopted children who had entered the country through the same hallways. Michael’s parents and our sons arrived a few minutes later. I clutched whichever one would let me (Jacob I think) and vowed never to let him go. They both seemed much larger than I recalled. My knee, which did pretty well overseas is now hurting, given that I refuse to stop picking up my boys. Jacob and I have a ritual of twelve hugs a day and I have alerted him that we have a lot of time to make up for. Our entourage took many pictures of our family re-united and soon dispersed to send us home.

We are back home as a family now and I truly feel that my family is complete and this is the way God intended it to be. On our first morning, I got up with Helena at 5 am and Jacob came down and joined us at 6. We spent some time together uniting the two siblings one on one. It’s great to see the tenderness Jacob exhibits towards his little sister and he is enjoying building pillow walls and tunnels for her to cruise and crawl through. Justin was engaged with “Nutcracker” performances most of the day, so his time with Helena was brief on Saturday.

I am a few days late posting this and it is now Thursday, December 14th. We are now pretty tired but adjusting and really enjoying Helena. It is like she has always been with us. The nights are a bit difficult but I'm sure it will take a while for her to re-set her schedule and for us all to adapt. Thank you so much for reading and for supporting us on this venture.