Post from the US--Quite an adventure home!

Hi everyone! Thought I'd do a post from home while John and Haylee rest in Izmail. For those who are interested in the travel details--I know my Haylee will be :) I had to leave my camera with them so sorry, no photos!

We are doing well here. It was quite the adventure to get home and we are so thankful to be here in the USA and back to everything familiar, except that we wish John, Haylee, and Sean could be with us...it was hard taking off in the airplane and leaving them behind. Now they are sick which is even worse but we are thankful they have some medicine there and that our translator Irina and the family we got to know that live near by are helping them.

To come home we had to take a 4+ hour drive by taxi to Odessa where the train station is. We left at 5:45 pm and I think got there after 10. Our translator had to meet us there...so I was definitely way outside my comfort zone going in a taxi with 2 children in a long drive that felt more like a car race because they drive so fast --with no seatbelts available. I was holding on to them and praying the entire time that we would get there safely. We stopped twice on the way to use the "toilet" which were a hole in the ground to squat over (one didn't even have doors)--it was not pretty and the funny thing is that you're expected to pay to use it! Thankfully the taxi driver who took us is one of two who have driven us every day in Izmail and this one has been very kind and helpful to us and he paid the fees for us and helped Jonah to the men's room. Still, I was so glad to get there.

What I saw of Odessa at 10:30 at night was a bigger city with lots of buildings and buses/cars and lots of people walking around on a Thursday night. Our facilitator met us there and we got to the train car...there were 2 bunkbeds in a small compartment with a place for our luggage underneath. Irina took the train with us which we were glad about After getting settled the train started and we slept during the 9 hour train ride to Kiev. The kids slept pretty well but I kept hearing a noise like someone was trying to get in--it may have just been the door. We were glad to be able to lay down and rest. Once there around 8 am, our friend Jamie (american missionary in Kiev) met us at the train stop and she and Irina helpd us take our luggage to Yuri's van. We dropped Irina off at the bus stop and said goodbye and then Yuri drove us to the guest house there. We were so glad to be there where we could just relax for the day. (It was May Day in Ukraine so Kiev was gearing up for a big day of parades and holiday but since we arrived early we avoided much of the traffic...it would have been neat to see what they do, but we were tired and ready to relax)

At the guest house there was another american missionary there with a couple from the US who were there to help her with her mission work for a while. We enjoyed visiting with them over breakfast, then they went out for the day and we had the place to ourselves to rest...I took a nap and the kids watched movies. Jamie took very good care of us--feeding us a good lunch and helping us call loved ones and coordinating for us to have the downstairs so we could leave early for our flight out. For dinner we enjoyed an american meal of hamburgers with our new american friends (they don't eat alot of beef here--mainly pork and chicken), learning about their ministries and sharing about our adoption. Yuri our driver and owner of the house we stayed in was celebrating his 50th birthday- his "jubilee" year--so they had lots of family/friends next door at his house. I felt bad that he had to get up so early to drive us on his birthday weekend but he didn't mind. The kids enjoyed playing with Teras--our Ukrainian friend who had shown us around Kiev when we first got here in April.
We had to get up a little before 2 am to head to the airport with Yuri and Jamie--who got up too to help us. June the other missionary had drawn a map of inside the airport and wrote in Russian how to ask to get our seats together. Jamie was able to take me to the checkin and thankfully the lady spoke English. Jamie prayed with us and we said goodbye and headed through security and to our gate. We had 2 hours and went to spend our hgrivnas for some muffins and it cost more than I had, but a nice american man sitting near us offered to pay the difference for us. So, we made it onto the first flight fine, depite feeling like zombies :) We had a snack meal and landed in 3 hours in Frankfort.
Frankfort was much bigger than Kiev's airport and we got shuttled from the plane to the terminal. Our airline counter wasn't open yet (we had a 5 hour layover--which I preferred over our other option of an hour) so we managed to call John with a phone there, exhange some currency and buy a few snacks/small souvineers--Germany was very expensive!! so my "euros" went fast. We checkin (with English speaking agent) and got seats together thankfully. Then we had to walk to a shuttle to our gate where we met a nice couple from Texas there with a group from church after visiting Israel. Security/customs went fine and we found our gate and waited another 2 hours, eating some snacks we brought.

When it was time to board, we were bused to our plane (3 buses full) --we were so glad to finally be on the plane as we were so tired. Jonah was a little bummed that there wasn't any kid movies like the way out here (different airline) but enjoyed talking to a nice man next to him who didn't speak much English and playing his leapster, and Naomi had a nice young lady from Bulgaria next to her. Naomi and I took naps and Jonah finally collapsed later for several hours. We had meal (pasta), lots of drinks (the kids love!), and a sandwich snack before we landed. We had a few bumpy times but thankfully we finally landed in the USA around 3:45 pm!! I finally got to journal a little and was thanking God for the amazing ways he had taken care of us over in the Ukraine so far, especially through some wonderful christian people who took us under their wings and really went the extra mile to help us however they could. We had a few bumpy times but thankfully we finally landed in the USA around 3:45 pm--we were so glad to be back home.

We had to wait a while for a shuttle (good old Dulles airport) but security/customs went pretty fast. As we walked into the area where people receive you and I spotted my parents and the girls, I cried I was so happy to see them and finally have them in my arms. They were both so beautiful (also decked out in matching dresses from Nana) and happy to see us--it was a sweet reunion and Elsie hung on to me the rest of the time. We called John and Haylee and I found out they are sick there :( We grabbed some food and headed home to go to bed!! I'm sure it will take some time to get readjusted. I heard the next morning that John and Haylee were doing a little bit better and taking it easy today on Sunday. Thank you for your prayers. God is good!

The verse I thought alot of in the Ukraine and the way back was from Psalm 139...
"Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your Presence?
If I go up too the Heavens, You are there. If I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast." as well as one my friend Mary shared, from Isaiah 30:13 I think, "in quiet and trust is your strength."