Home at Last

I should be napping along with Alex and Matt, but I'm too excited about being home! Here's a recap of the last couple of days...

On Wednesday we got up at around 6:30 that morning to get ready, have breakfast, finish the last minute packing and get checked out by 8AM. We managed, but Matt had to skip the hotel breakfast buffet while I went down with Alex to eat, so he could get get everything organized.

Off we headed to the airport for our Moscow to Atlanta flight. We prepared for our flights as best we could by packing some snacks, treats, and toys for Alex. I think the flight was about 11 hours long or so. Overall it went pretty well, but there were times that it seemed like Alex was a ping pong ball going back and forth between Matt and I. Our son does not know how to sit still. I think he probably didn't sleep more than 20 minutes during the whole flight though.I'm sure you can imagine how much he despises the seat belts, and much to our fellow passengers dismay, they had to deal with his crying and temper tantrums from time to time. They were all quite understanding however. Alex had many admirers around us despite his spells of crying, so I guess he knows how to turn on the charm. There was a 10-year old girl and her 7-year old brother from Israel sitting in front of us, and they both thought he was so cute and loved playing peek-a-boo with him.

Once we got to Atlanta, we had been warned by others about the process going through customs to take a while, and we were further warned by the Atlanta airport official that the wait for Alex's immigration paperwork to be completed MAY take two hours because there were many people waiting. Well, we had waited about 45 minutes in the holding pen, and while I went to the restroom, our name was called and everything was done - I didn't need to do a thing! So we were able to have plenty of time to make our connection from Atlanta to Minneapolis. Alex finally slept for part of that flight for maybe 45 minutes, however he really lost in when it was time to land and we were getting his seat belt on him. We could see the light at the end of the tunnel though, and we made it through!

Once we got to Minneapolis, we felt so relieved to be home. No more Russian language, no more store clerks rolling their eyes if you didn't give them exact change, no more living in a hotel, no more handwashing laundry, no more brushing your teeth using bottled water, no more being away from Ty - we were home at last!

As we started to walk towards the luggage carousel, I could see in the distance a young boy holding a neon green sign on a stick - I even cry as I still tell this - there was our son Tyler, holding a welcome home sign that he had made for us and Alex. He had the hugest smile ever. It felt so good to give him a big hug and kiss! He had grown a few inches in height it seemed, and grew more independent while we were away - he was acting so grown up. We are so proud of him! We missed him so much! Matt's parents and my parents were also there to greet us at the airport - it was SO NICE to have them all there to share in that moment with us.

And of course let's not forget Alex. He was sitting in his stroller taking all of it in. And he seemed to recognize Tyler from the pictures, and I think maybe it all clicked, that he realized now he was going to be home at last!

We got home to a very neat and tidy home thanks to our moms and had some delicious banana cream pie and then everyone left and we went to bed. Alex fussed a little going down for bedtime, but it went pretty well. I woke up at 3AM and couldn't get back to sleep very easily, because I was so excited to be home, here with our whole family finally together! Ty went to school this morning, but he was wishing for a big snow storm so he wouldn't have to go to school. This weekend we should have some good bonding time together as a family. In the meantime, we're resting up from our trip and excited to hear about other families traveling to Astrakhan in the near future. I'll try to get links to their blogs on the sidebar sometime yet.

It's so cute how I can already tell Alex is looking up to his big brother Ty. He gave him a big kiss today when he got home from school - it's those moments that I live for! It's also so neat how Alex seems to like it when we pray together before a meal or before bedtime. In fact, he has reminded us on occasion if we've forgotten to pray! We are so thankful to the Lord for seeing us through this journey from beginning to end. I'll post more in the days to come, but I'm trying to decide if this blog should end and a new one will begin, or if my blogging days may be over for a while. Stay tuned.