Hooray! By the grace of God we ARE HERE!

Dear friends, we have touched down once again in Russia! This writing is long, but hey, its my blog right? So here we go…Here’s the scoop on our ‘adoption pregnancy’…and believe me, it has been an adventure.

At this point in my ‘Adoption Pregnancy’ we are experiencing some really hard Braxton Hick’s contractions…and I am more than ready for the actual labor to begin…enough is enough!

Actually, in the adoption world, just what would be the equivalent for an epidural??? Anyone know??? ‘Cause I WANT ONE NOW!!!!

So, where to start? Well, first of all, how do you combat S-T-R-E-S-S? Give it up to G-O-D!

Second of all - the VISA situation. As I wrote earlier they we done and found…But it had become clear that there was no way we were going to be able to drive to San Fran to pick up those things. We had no clean clothes, had not yet packed, was still plain old pooped from YBC Camp, and both of us HAD to work on Monday. (Taking that day off was just not an option. Too much work to catch up on and prepare to be gone for).

A friend had asked earlier in the week if he could help us in any way. He had also was looking for odd jobs to make money, so we asked him if he would drive there for us. We paid this friend $100 (He drives a Honda – plenty plus some left over) for gas plus $100 to drive to San Fran to pick up the VISA’S passports for us….Basically as a courier service for us. We gave him MapQuest directions and V’s number, and told him he needed to go NOW!!!! He said he was leaving at 2 pm…so we figured he would be there by 6 pm and back to Bako by 11 pm. Well, I’m still not sure what happened, but after a couple of ‘tracking’ phone calls he landed on our door step at 4 am. Okay…we needed to leave, AND LEFT for LAX at 5 am, so you can see that this was too close for my comfort. I was so worried he had gotten in a wreck, but John kept calling him to see where his progress was, and he was on his way. Still not too sure why it took him 14 hours for an 8 hour trip, maybe traffic??? Who knows. I just didn’t have time to find out.

Anyway, some how I thirdly managed to work on Monday, do all the laundry, and pack…and by 1:30 am Tuesday morning. We were finally ready to go!

So, now we are on our way to LAX. No issues there. Great early morning LA traffic. Made it in less than two hours with a stop along the way. Parked our car in long term parking because it was waaaay cheaper than driving back and forth twice, and pretty darn convenient to boot.

We got through check in, baggage and passport control, etc, with no issues. We were feeling pretty at ease, sitting down to wait for our flight and then we hear: American Airlines Flight 1960 to Chicago has been delayed 30 minutes due to a traffic backup from bad weather." THUNK! (BTW, in case you didn’t know, that was my heart dropping to the floor :) Uh ohhhh…..We had just looked over our tickets and knew that once we landed in Chicago we only had only a mere 45 minutes to get on the connecting flight to Moscow. So, I went to the counter, explained our situation, and asked what would happen if we missed the connecting flight. Wouldn’t ya know, there were NO OTHER flights leaving for Moscow from Chicago, including on any other airlines, till the next day. So, my boss will appreciate this part…my ‘GOLD’ personality came out.

I asked her, “What are our options?” She stated that since it was weather related, they were not liable…we would have to wait for the next available flight.

So, then I ask ”Is there nothing they can do to assist us making this connection?” She stated “Not that I am aware if.” Hmmmmm…You have GOT TO BE KIDDING! Nothing you can do?

I then ask (I am calm by the way – BIG Customer Service smiles ) “If they know that by AA’s choice we are late connectors, can they not hold the flight for us?" " She says “No.”

So, again…here I go: “Okay, how many other passengers are making this connection?" She tells me 7. “So you are telling me that we can’t ask them to let us and the other 7 people trying to make this connection off first?" I smiled REALLY BIG this time. She smiles back and says “Well, yes, I can ask the Captain to do this. But most of the time passengers do not listen.”

Hmm, we’ll see about that!

Not satisfied this is enough to get us on that flight I continue “Can you call Chicago and ask for a car to pick us up and take us to the other terminal?” She says “Well, yes, I suppose we can do that also.”

By this time I am gritting my teeth. I remind you that these people are getting paid to work at the AA travel desk, and I AM having to create possible solutions enabling John, myself and 7 other passengers a way to get on another connecting flight…this is NOT brain surgery here people! Use the brain God gave you!

So, once again being the "GOLD" personality I am, as they finally start boarding the flight and I return back to the counter to find out how far behind we are going to be in landing at Chicago. Get this! The SAME person that I had just had said previous conversation with 30 minutes earlier states to me – and this is NO LIE – “Well, if I had known you only had ‘X’ amount of minutes to make your flight, I would have assigned you seats closer to the front of the plane so you could get off sooner. I must have had the most incredulous and dumbfounded look on my face. For once in my life I was actually speechless. OMG! HELLO MC FLY! Remember me? I’m the one that just figured out how to help you to get us to the other terminal faster…remember? UHHHHG!!!!! She quickly moved us from the 30’s to the 20’s in cabin seats.

So, we board the plane (BTW, I am TOTALLY spoiled with Lufthstansa…On AA there was no meal, unless you paid $6 for a chicken wrap - John did, I passed, no thanks. For that kind of money I’ll finish my Cheetos, thank you very much - and the service was mediocre to say the least at this point in the game) and the trip was uneventful. As we were landing the Captain made a statement that if people were not in need of getting to connecting flights ASAP, please stay seated so others could get off quickly. I remember thinking thank goodness the gal remembered to say something to the Captain.

Okay, so…the plane stops, we jump up, grab our carry on's, and start moving down the isle…we have exactly 13 minutes to get 3 terminals over and board the other plane. We are moving along and all of a sudden everyone stops. We wait, and wait…2 minutes goes by…1 more, now 4. I am looking at my watch about to freak out…I stand on my tip toes to see what is going on and there is this guy trying to get a big old’ bag out of the top bin. I HAVE HAD ENOUGH! I would never see these folks again so what did I have to lose? I yell as loud as I can: “Sir! Could you PLEASE MOVE! WE HAVE 9 MINUTES TO CATCH OUR NEXT FLIGHT! And thank you Lord the humanity in folks came out! People started saying ‘“Move move!” and the waters parted. They sat down, moved over, and got out of our way. One lady said “Well, they should have told everyone to sit and let you off first!” Yeah, tell me about it!

We ran as fast as we could up the causeway. I don’t even know what happened to the other 7 people, ‘cause I had no time to worry about them – I just RAN. We saw the car that would transport us way off stopped in the distance. We knew we could not wait for it. We continued to run as fast as we could…I had to walk after a short time as my back was not going to allow me to run anymore - period. (I am now so sore I can hardly move!) Frustration! I just said “Go! Go!” and John just kept on running. (I tell ya all the hunting and mountain hiking he does pays off gang!) John made it over three terminals in about 6 minutes. He had them hold the door, wait for me, and they closed it right behind us.

Praise the Lord we made our flight! Don’t ya know I prayed sooo hard the flight over that it would all work out – and it did. Thank you Lord!

That leg of the flight was good. The plane was about half full. John got to move into a bulkhead seat with lots of leg room, and I watched movies on demand the most of the time. BTW, have guys seen Fools Gold? So cute! Loved it!

As always the international flight was sooo much better that the domestic one. There were two other adopting families on the flight, one of which was the family we were with the same day at ‘Roses’ orphanage! She sat with me and I shared pictures of Rose and her daughter I had taken and talked for a long time. It was great to see them again. They also rode into Moscow with us so we chatted quite a bit.

My dear friends and family. It has become more clear than ever that God wants us here…this He has made abundantly clear to us. He worked through the VISA issue, the flight issue…everything to make sure we were here for a court date that HE had chosen and was given to us in record time.

Thank you God! And thank you to all you who have been prayer warriors for us. We really feel it!

So, now that our stress level has dropped a bit, we are settling in. I am emotionally spent. We had dinner, shopped for groceries (no big meals/dinners out for us budget adopters – waaaay to costly here) to eat in our apartment (Andrei’s at Peace Travel. BTW – it is such an awesome apartment! We are right off Arbat Street and the new Starbucks! Okay, so we will be buying a Starbucks each day. I cannot stand Nescafe, YUCK!)

We will see Rose tomorrow…I will show you more ‘ultrasound’ pictures when I can tee hee hee…

My heart is so full right now. I am at wonder at not only how wonderful of a Savior I have, but also all of those around me who have made this adoption possible.

Chris, Bryce, Carrington and Aidan. We love you so much! Thank you for being such sweet and loving children. You will be such AWESOME big brothers!

Steph and Greg, thank you again for taking care of the boys!

Debra…How ‘bout that Grand baby??? Email me!

BJ, Di and my co-workers - Thank you for the bottom of my grateful heart for helping me and allowing me to be here – You all are terrific.

My friends at FRUA. THANK you for your prayers and kind words! I remember you and all the other adopting families in my prayers daily.

Tamara – So awesome too be here with you!!!! Mia is beautiful!

Bobby & Marci, Tom & Myra, Dennis & Marie, and all of those that have gone before us on this tough and more often than not stressful adoption journey…you inspire John and myself. In a word – THANK YOU - for your support.

Will write more tomorrow…

Queen Bee :)