Our flights were on time (10.5 hours to JFK & 1.5 hours to Richmond). Ira enjoyed her first ever plane ride immensely. She didn't get sick & it was hard to keep her occupied, but we managed. Neither one of us slept as we both were anticipating the trip for different reasons. Ira didn't get sick on the first plane. I gave her a Dramamine before take off and that may have helped. It was fantastic landing in the U.S. Customs was not quite what I expected. We had to deal with the curtness of the customs agents and they never tried to make you feel welcome!!! Well, that's NY. Once we got on the second flight after a 4 hour wait, Ira did manage to get sick while trying to sleep. Oh well! I had a plastic baggy to minimize a mess and it worked. When we got off the plane and headed for our luggage, Ira spotted her Mama and sister and moved quickly to embrace and kiss them. She stayed wide awake all the way home. Once in the house we thought she would crash after being up for more than 24 hours, but she was too excited to see her new "digs!" She was wide eyed and we gave her a brief tour of the house and showed her to her new room. She had a smile that went from ear to ear. We finally got her to put on her pj's and she crawled into her new bed. She slept like a baby. After she woke the next day she made her bed, put all her clothes away and took a bath. She really seems to love it here and she follows Lisa's every move.
In the last 2 days we have been blessed to have a number of Ukrainian adopted families stop by or be together for lunch after church. It totally relaxed Ira as she could talk to others in Russian and also she noted how well their English was coming along which has encouraged her to step up her efforts to learn. She said her first full sentence tonight. She came up to me and said, "I am going to sleep," and kissed me good night.
Ira did call her grandfather today and he can now rest easy that his granddaughter is safe in America.
We have not been able to post pictures for s while. Keep an eye out for the pictures of the entire trip to be put on our "Snapfish" web site in the very near future.
Pic 1 - Ira on the plane from Ukraine; Pic 2 - Ira, Nicky & Ella for after church lunch; Pic 3 - The families for dinner after church; Pic 4 - More of Pic 3 (All Ukrainian adopted families)
5 comments:
Glad you guys are home safely. Our prayers must have made it to the right place.
Ira looks sooo happy! I'm sure she will fit right in with the family as well as the rest of her Ukrainian cohorts here.
Also glad to see we will have lots of baby sitters! Woohoo :)
Laura and Rob
Dale, Debbie and Ira,
We have followed your journey from the beginning and are so happy you made it home safely. It is really nice that you have so many families in your home town to be able to visit and share your experience with. You are welcome to follow our journey. We leave June 11th and have a appointment on the 14th. We are really getting excited now. Any ways enjoy yourself and best wishes with Ira.
Jill and Robb
Congratulations. Glad you made it home without incident, but we miss the phone calls we shared. We are looking forward to joining the gang for lunch in a week and a half. See you soon!
Dale and Ira, Welcome home!!!! What a great Mother's day gift for Debbie. John, Danielle, and I wish you God's blessings and much love and joy with Ira.
Love
Your Connecticut friends.
Your quest has finally come to an end and now your new family life begins. What a blessing. We're so happy for all of you, but especially for Ira, who will get a second chance for a family - and a great mom and dad! Your story has been a great inspiration to us all. Best wishes to you.
Ann and Emmerich
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