Safe at Home!!!!

WOW!!! WOW!!!......... WOW!!! I can't believe it. We made it. We went to Ukraine, adopted a child, and made it back. WOW!!! We made it. I can't believe it. Did we just do that?? I can't believe it. It really did happen though. We have the evidence to prove it.

This picture is at the airport in Kyiv with another couple from Fisherville, Kentucky that is in Ukraine for their second adoption. They have a biological son and two daughters that were adopted about 3 years ago. They are now adopting another son.

We made it in right at 10 PM on Saturday. It was a L-O-N-G trip home. Coy did exceptionally well, considering the circumstances. After all of the fun on Thursday and Friday, Coy woke up with the sun on Saturday morning. That is just after 5 AM local time (10 PM the previous day back here at home.) Luckily, I was able to rock and sing him back to sleep for about an hour that morning. But after that, no more sleep for us. Part of the fun that morning was giving Coy a bath. Stacey would spray his hands and he would laugh histarically. Then, when his feet would get wet, he would cry for all he was worth. This went back and forth several times. It was pretty good stuff. We went to the airport and it was fairly stressful getting ticketed. Our biggest trouble was getting our luggage from the point that only ticketed passengers were allowed to go to the ticket counter. With all of our luggage and Coy, and the nerves, it was just tough getting going. But we got to the counter (100 feet at most but it seemed like 3 football fields.) But once we got our boarding passes for the trip (and checked our suitcases), most of the stress was gone. At least the logistical portion of the stress.

One of the ladies helping us in Ukraine had given us suckers (two) for the plane ride. We thought that it would help with his ears on take-offs and landings. Well, the first sucker came out of the bag while we were still in the airport in Kyiv. He was not a happy camper. However, from his reaction, it is safe to say that this child had never had a sucker before. It didn't take him long to learn what to do with it. It did make a mess but it kept him quiet. At least until the sucker was gone, which was just about the time the flight started. We were trying to save the second sucker for an emergency so we went with a cracker. He held it in his hand as the plane sped forward on take-off. His eyes became wide again as he experienced the speed of a take-off. The take-off was fairly turbulent and the plane was shaking around. He swallowed hard and I was expecting to see crackers coming back at me. But after about 5 seconds of that, he gave the "oh well" look and bit into the cracker that he had in his hand. It was kind of funny because Stacey and I were both huddled over him, watching his every reaction, preparing to clean up a mess or see how he was going to handle the flying experience, especially since that was what we were going to be doing together for the next 20 hours. He slept on every flight and did not get exceptionally out of control. And when he did get fussy, we were able to settle him down relatively quickly. We did have to go to a couple of extra stores in the airport in Amsterdam to find a bag of suckers that cost 2.95 Euros (about $4.50 US) but it was worth every penny of it.

Here is a note to other prospective adoptive parents out there. Our total costs, start to finish, were in the neighborhood of $22K. That includes all of the paperwork, the airfare, our other travel expenses, our facilitators, etc, everything. But look at the picture of Coy playing in the rock box at our house and tell me who would question the first penny of it?? Not me. I would pay that amount and millions more for him, or any of our children now.

When we got to the airport, there were several of our friends and family there waiting for us. Stacey and I could feel the emotions of the entire ordeal, not just the trip home, but the 2 years that we have put into this starting to release the minute the plane hit the ground in Louisville. We both begin to fight back tears. The walk to the area outside of security seemed like it was 10-miles long. The first face that I remembered seeing was my dad. Then I scanned the crowd quickly to find Caleb and Katie. They came to us and I still tear up just thinking about it. It is definitely one of those moments that I will remember forever. The looks on their faces were priceless, and I can imagine that the look on my face must have been pitiful.

Coy had been traveling for over 20 hours and had a total of about 6 hours worth of naps (1 hour on the first flight, 4 hours on the second flight, and 1 hour on the last flight) strectched out on airplane seats. We did not know how he would react to the excitement but he handled it well. He did seem to recognize Katie and Caleb and seemed to look at them like they were Disney characters or something. His demeanor was incredible and he was quite the star.

The entire trip was indeed an answer to prayer. It took us about an hour to leave the airport because of all of the friends that had gathered there. Some of our very best friends were late getting to the airport because they had a flat tire so we stayed and chatted some more. They own a sign shop in Shelbyville, KY (KileSigns), and they had made a large banner for us that said "Welcome Home Coy and Family" but didn't get to hold it up. They had also made Caleb and Katie t-shirts that read "My mom and dad went to Ukraine and all I got was this lousy t-shirt and a little brother". They have a great sense of humor and are great friends to boot.

We got back to our house around 11:30 and everyone was awake. Caleb and Katie had almost covered the house in welcome home signs for us. One of my favorites is in this picture. Coy's bed is positioned next to Caleb's bed. Caleb made a sign for Coy that reads "I Love Coy, 1st Night Today" and taped it on the end of Coy's bed. It still is hanging there and can hang there until he leaves for college as far as I am concerned. After we all got settled, Stacey and I got to bed around 1 AM. We thought we would sleep for days. Well, we both woke up around 5 AM and could not get back to sleep. I think we are better now.Lots of folks have congratulated us or called to see how we are doing. Our neighbors have stopped by to talk and we have generally been greeted by lots of people.

This pictures is of the kids after we got home from church on Sunday. Stacey's mom had been so thoughtful to buy Coy pajamas and church clothes so that we could go. She also made a lasagna and had it in the refridgerator so that all we had to do was heat it up. We have since dug out the boxes of 3T clothes that we have saved and will probably have trouble finding places to put them all.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed typing it. I have to admit, when I first started, my intentions were to just use this blog to update folks on how things were going without filling up folks in-box with stuff that they weren't interested in but it took on a life of its own. I really enjoyed it because it gave me a chance to share things that I probably would not have gotten to share otherwise.

At the end of our wedding video (yes I have watched the entire thing), there is a slide show of several screen captures from the video and then a message about the wedding scrolls across the screen. At the end of the message where you would expect it to say the end, it says "The Beginning." That is how I see this now. It is indeed the end of the trip but it is only the beginning of Our Big Adventure. It is not really even the beginning of the adventure but just a continuation of the adventure that we had already begun. It is so neat to look back on all of this and see how God continually, time after time, answered our prayers, calmed our fears, and guided our paths. He did it all. We were just along for the ride, and what a ride it was. But now that we are home, we are pretty much like any other family. We will have our disagreements, our struggles, and our triumphs and our joys. There will be a few bad days and lot of good days. But they are days together as a family and we will try our best not to take them for granted but to make the most of them. We will try to laugh at the times when the new kid is so excited about getting a bath that he keeps peeing on himself and the bathroom floor and has to keep getting back in the tub. Most of all, we thank God for giving us the opportunity to do this. He provided us all that we needed, just like He promises that He will do. We have an even more wonderful family now, thanks to His goodness and mercy. And we have another story to share with folks that we meet about how God didn't just stop doing miracles in Bible times but that He still does them today, with very normal people as witnesses to His greatness. When you think about it, everyone of God's children is a miracle. It doesn't matter what their family situation is, they are all the same. They are a miracle. This miracle just happened to be born a half a world away and it tooks us a little longer to get him to be with us than most, but he is with us now. And it is good.

By the way, folks, if you are traveling to Ukraine, be prepared for the toilets that look like this (all toilets, not just the boys urinals). I had read about them on other blogs but was still overwhelmed when I saw them. They are unique to say the least. At gas stations, the same kind of deal but imagine a port-a-let without the blue stuff that perhaps gets pumped out once a year and you pretty much have the picture.

If you get a chance, please come by and say hello. We would enjoy the company and a chance to share some of the details that we had to leave off because of the risk or carpal tunnel syndrome. Plus, we can't get enough of home. We love our home, our family, our friends, and our neighbors. Many of which are all three or just as good as any one. Thanks again for reading this and we hope to see you somewhere down the road.