Dec 7: Heading Home!

12/7/07: The day had finally arrived! We woke up VERY early and finished packing. We waited until the last minute to get William up, got him dressed and into his coat, and sat him on the sofa where he tried to fight sleep.

Sveta and our driver arrived, and we loaded into the car. It was still very dark outside, so William slept almost all the way to the apartment. We arrived and unloaded. We got to the gate where we'd say good-bye to Sveta, and there were people EVERYWHERE. She pushed us to the front and we said one last good-bye and thank you.

We proceded to the counter to check in with Ukraine International Airlines. Next we went to immigration. In addition to turning in the papers that we'd been carrying around since arriving in Kyiv, the official asked for a copy of our adoption decree and William's passport. We waited and waited and began to worry. Finally everything was returned to us and we went to the waiting area. We sat and waited, and then our flight was called. We made our way through security and then boarded the plane.

William did great on the first flight, to Vienna. Zack was happy to have an aisle seat, and william was thrilled to be able to see out the window. We were served a light breakfast, and he enjoyed the bread and yogurt, and juice.

We arrived in Vienna and found our way to the Delta check-in counter. The first lady was very nice - she even gave William a chocolate Santa! The second lady, apparently with some Ukrainian ties, gave us a huge hassle, even though we had all the proper paperwork. Finally she gave us our boarding passes and we went to wait in the security line. And as luck would have it, we get to the front of the line and our grumpy "friend" from check-in had come to work security. Once again she acted like we were doing something illegal, but finally we were allowed through.

We were at the gate well before boarding time, so Zack got out the computer and sent some emails. William enjoyed his chocolate Santa, and we made about a million trips to the bathroom (guess that's what boredom does to a 5-year-old!).

William and I boarded the plane while Zack finished on the computer. The flight attendant thought William was adorable and invited him to see the cockpit, so we made our way up there (why did I leave the camera with Zack!?!). He was fascinated and looked at everything carefully.

Then we made our way to the seats. We had middle seats this time, but thankfully there were three in the middle, so no one else was sitting with us. William was excited to find the little travel package on his seat, and quickly put on his headphones and sleep mask. We setttled in for what was to be a LONG flight from Vienna to Atlanta.

William probably slept a total of 2 hours on that LONG flight. But he was an angel! He listed to music, enjoyed all the food, charmed the socks off the flight attendants, went to the bathroom and estimated 20 times, colored, etc. I think he was more patient than we were! He especially enjoyed the ice cream towards the end of the flight, and we gathered from a broken dialogue that this was his first time to eat icre cream!

Towards the end of the flight, our favorite flight attendant said there was an open window seat and one seat next to it, if William would like to sit there for the landing. So he and I moved and he had a blast watching out the window those last few minutes.

We arrived on time and made our way to customs, where we got to go to the very short American citizens line. How great to be on American soil again! We picked up our bags and went to immigration and they took the coveted folder and proclaimed that our son was now an American citizen!

We rechecked our bags, and made our way to the arrivals area. As we came up that escalator, Zack and I were so excited. This was the moment we'd be waiting for. And as we arrived at the top, we were welcome by William's three sets of grandparents, one of his uncles, and one of our friends, along with a cool WELCOME HOME banner!

We finally introduced our son to our family, and announced his name. There were lots of hugs, and a few tears, and we made our way to baggage claim.

Once we got our bags, we went over to the side and William was showered with gifts. He had the best time, and I think he was more excited about the clothes he received than anything else. We were too, since he only had one pair of pants and a few shirts!

We were glad to be home at last! Before we made it to the interstate, William was zonked out. We stopped by Zack's parents home and picked up Adie (our dog). She immediately jumped in the car and sniffed out our boy, then gave him a big kiss!. He never woke up!

We arrived at home and got him out of the booster seat. He seemed to recognize the house from all the pictures. I asked he wanted to stay downstairs or go to bed, and he said bed. So we went upstairs and put pajamas on him. Then he decided he wanted to go downstairs with us. We went downstairs, where Adie greeted him enthusiastically. He wasn't so excited, but reluctantly smiled. He was excited, however, about the toys in the living room. Zack's parents had stopped by earlier and left him several things around the house, and there was another gift from some of our friends. He opened and looked at everything.

We showed him around the house, and then went upstairs and got ready for bed. We all started towards our bed, and he motioned that we needed to kneel for prayers. So for the first time, we all three knelt beside our bed in our home, and prayed. We had so much to thank God for!