Finally we are here!

Well, we are here! What an experience. Let me start at the beginning. Saturday we began at 5:30 AM from Cape Girardeau. We drove to St. Louis to catch our plane and then it began. We arrived and waited. Because of the day before, there were delays everywhere, especially with Delta. I began to really wonder if we were going to make it. So finally our flight took off but it took off 40 minutes late. This of course put us a few minutes late in Detroit and we only initially had 35 minutes to catch our flight to New York any way and now we only had 15 minutes. We got off the plane and started running. We got to the gate and there was no plane. We turned around and found a flight board and the plane had been redirected to another terminal. We started running the other direction. When all was said and done we had run 35 very long gates and got to gate 57 and the plane was there but everyone had boarded and the door was shut. I almost broke down from sheer exhaustion and disappointment right then. The flight lady was still there and I ran up to her barely able to talk and managed to get out something like, “Oh please can we get on this plane we have boarding passes?!!!?” She gave me and Dan a not-so-sympathetic look and started typing on the computer as we were standing there trying to recover. She made a call and we were allowed to board the plane! We were sweating like crazy and my face was red from running half way across the airport. Totally embarrassing! Anyway, we got on the plane and then we waited, and waited……and waited……and WAITED! The captain couldn’t figure it out. He initially said we were waiting on some baggage which in retrospect was probably ours (funny but not funny) so in essence we probably made the plane late. Finally we were allowed to take off after 1 hour and 20 minutes of waiting. Guess what? That put us in New York 15 minutes before our scheduled take off for Moscow. What next? Well it came while we were on the plane to New York, somewhere over the Great Lakes. Dan says, “Where is the camera bag?” “I don’t know, you had it didn’t you?” “Yes, I did. It was strapped to my bag and I took it off when we got to the Delta gate in Detroit after running.” We immediately realized the camera was still sitting at gate 57 on the check in counter. Panic ensued once again. The flight attendant came by and we told him what had happened. He was such a nice man and knew what happened to us before hand when we boarded. He took our information and said he would call it in and we would probably get it back. It might just take a while. It wouldn’t have been so bad but Mom’s camera was in there too. If we don’t get it back we will just have to get her a new one. Ok, by now I was not having such a great day. We get to New York, FINALLY, and pull up to the farthest gate away from the terminal we need to be to catch our next flight of course, and the terminal hookup would not work. We were trapped on that plane for 30 minutes AFTER landing. The captain was very angry and frustrated. His comments kept getting more and more sarcastic each announcement. It was funny. What could you do but laugh? It was more of a hysterical laugh though. Anyway, while we were sitting there, computer guru Dan whips out the cell and pulls up Delta flight schedules and Praise God from Whom all blessings flow, our flight to Moscow had been delayed for 1 hour. We finally made it off the plane after actually having sat on that plane before take off and after landing a total of 2 hours and 20 minutes which was longer than the actual flight itself, and made our way like a herd of cattle to a shuttle that drove us around to terminal 3. It must have been a new driver because he passed terminal 3 and the security agent on the shuttle banged on the glass and started yelling at him and he backs up. What else? We were really laughing now! We got off, ran up a never ending terminal ramp and Delta people kept motioning us this way or that way. It felt and looked like a marathon, I’m not kidding! We finally made it to gate 13 just 15 minutes before the plane boarded for Moscow. We got on and totally crashed. Emotion, panic, excitement and all of those emotions were rolled up together into one. I was exhausted. Our flight was very cramped for the 9 hours and 35 minutes but hey, we were on that plane! Whoo hoo!!! The flight went well and we landed in Moscow, made it through boarder patrol and amazingly enough we went to the baggage area and like a shining ray of light our bags came sailing out of the back and then all was well. We couldn’t believe after all of that our bags actually made it. God is so awesome. We walked out and Alexander was there. What a great sight he was to see! He was so excited we were there. We told him about our camera dilemma and we bought one in the airport. Not a bad price. Same as in the States. Then we went over to the hotel and instead of sight seeing we checked in for the afternoon for a nap and a shower. That was so very nice. About 5:30 we caught the shuttle bus to Terminal D at the hotel. It is very strange to be in a place where hardly anyone speaks English. So we got there and no running this time. The plane to Vladivostok was on time and went off without a hitch. I couldn’t believe how quiet it was in the Moscow airport. The terminals were full of people but you could almost hear a pin drop it was so quiet. I guess Americans are just really loud people. The flight was the same way. We and another woman who is here adopting as well were the only Americans on the plane. The stewardess kept forgetting to ask us in English what we would like but by half way through she would remember and smile at us. Funny. We arrived and got off the plane. Dan stopped to take a picture of the plane and a guard came over and scolded him. I guess in some ways Russia will always be in the past. Our coordinator and interpreter Irina and Lana were waiting for us. We found our bags and amazing as it sounds, our journey began. We hit the ground running again but in a little bit different way. We checked into our hotel (Vlad Motor Inn) and got to stay for 30 minutes before leaving for the Dept. of Education to sign an official document to see the boys. We then went to the baby hospital to see Ben. They told us he wasn’t feeling good and had a cold. They went to get him and brought him in. He was soooooo little! He looks just like his picture. He had on a Christmas sweater with Santa Claus buttons on it, beige pants with flower designs on them, a blue & white checkered shirt underneath the sweater, pink socks and white sandals. He was adorable. He is very smart. They tell us he is very sociable with the other kids and is very curious about things. They laughed and said, “He is like a monkey! A little trouble maker!” Ahhhhh, just like Sam, no? He reminded us a bit of Sam as he sat there and played. His little hands were everywhere. He said the names of things and organized blocks. His fine motor skills are excellent. I took a picture of him and showed it to him and he smiled really big and said his name So he recognizes himself in a picture which is good. We gave him some crackers, a little toy truck and a tiger puppet. He pretended to feed the tiger and the cow toy sitting on the table. That was good too. We found out his mother and father had lost parental rights for many reasons. He will flourish in a loving environment I am sure. Yesterday and today both we made the long 3 hour trip to Spassk City orphanage to see Natel. He is an amazing kid! Very smart, eager and loving. We will definitely need some boundaries! We made our official decision on Nate today and the papers have been drawn up. We spent 3 hours with him today and 2 hours yesterday. We have lots of pictures and videos. There is so much to tell and I am always so very tired at the end of the day. Tomorrow we got see Ben again and then the next day we will probably make our decision. I will write more as I have time and energy. It has been and awesome but extremely tiring trip. One funny thing I must say is that we called Dr. Hoffman's office today and asked if we could send him some video of Ben for him to give us his opinion. The nurse told us he was in Mexico on a mission trip. Dan whips out his phone and tracks him down because if he was in Mexico he had to be with Jeff Smith and sure enough, he was. What are the odds of finding your pediatrician in Mexico when you are in Russia? God is on our side is all I have to say! That is so AWESOME! Thank you, thank you, thank you Dr. Hoffman! You are a good man!!!!