Audri and Pa arrived home a week after we did, and let me tell you I was grateful to have that week to recover from the massive Ukrainian flu strain I had and to move Na into his new “big boy” room.  I also had time to buy some things for Audri–and this was something I couldn’t do for Na when we brought him home since we arrived all together.  This time, it was nice to be able to take the time and make some purchases based on her correct size and preferences.  By the time they made it home the following Friday, Audri’s new room was all ready for her.

I was worried at first, when we met them at the airport, because I wasn’t sure if Audri would remember me when she saw me.  But the instant she did, she was all smiles and it just warmed my heart!  I was so glad things went so smoothly.  Pa said she slept during the entire flight home to Seattle, which explained her cheerfulness at 11:00 p.m.  This was advantageous, too, because when she met Scout for the first time, she smiled and pet him and giggled when he licked her face.  Scout, on the other hand, seemed a little perplexed.  First, he lost his sister and then we bring a new baby home!  It took him awhile to break out of his mopiness.  I think Pa helped with the transition by giving him lots of extra attention, taking him places and letting him sleep in the den on the floor beside Pa when Pa had a bad case of jet lag and kept crazy hours.

Audri seems to be adjusting pretty well though she doesn’t like sleeping alone in her crib.  We’ve tried different strategies–like putting her on our bed until she fell asleep and then placing her in her crib.  On the night after they arrived, she fell asleep in Pa’s arms on the couch in the den, making it easy to transport her to her room upstairs.  I hope she gets over her fear soon.  I hate to hear her wailing because she’s afraid of being alone.  But, oddly enough, she’s perfectly fine when we slip her into her crib and then come and see her in the morning.  She never cries during the night (our bedroom is right next to hers), and she’s super cheerful when we come into her room in the morning.  I guess it’s just that initial reaction of being alone after being in a room with several children for so long.

But honestly, that’s been the only hardship.  Audri is a hearty eater and has pretty much enjoyed everything we’ve put in front of her–which makes her so different from Na who has always been a picky eater.  His jaw hit the floor when he saw her eating tomatoes!  Funny thing, though, is that seeing her try new foods has inspired him to be a little experimental himself.  No, he still won’t eat tomatoes…but he’s often said, “I’d like to try what you’re having for dinner tonight!” instead of having his usual “cheesey noodles”!

We still have a long way to go with little Audri…she definitely needs time to play catch up.  There’s no doubt she acts more like an 18-month old than a nearly 3 year-old.  But I know, in due time, things will fall into place.

The alarm went off at 5:45 a.m. and for a few moments, I had no idea where I was.  It didn’t take too long, especially since Na’s foot jabbed me right in the ribs.  It was time to wake up, splash some cold water on my face, get him up and get ready to go back to the airport.

It only took 30 minutes to get ourselves and our luggage back together, but when we got to the lobby, the queue to board the shuttle to go back to the airport wound its way from the parking lot back inside the hotel.  Our flight was at 8:30 a.m. and the way I saw it, if we had waited too much longer to get on a shuttle, we would surely have missed our flight (again!)

The porter called me a cab and within five minutes, we were out front of the Delta terminal.  The ride cost $15!  For a 5-minute ride!  What a wonderful way to feel welcomed back to the States!  I only had $16 and the cabbie pretty much laughed at me and took off.

Another huge line wound its way around to the Delta ticket counter–and from there, we stood in yet another line for security.  So that by the time we got through, it was pretty much time to board our flight–without breakfast.  The line at Starbucks was at least 50 deep, while the line at Burger King–the only eating establishment open–was 25 deep.  I opted for the magazine stand, where I plunked down my credit card and loaded up on chocolate covered raisins, bottled water, and trail mix.  I felt like the worst mom on the planet.  Who feeds their child chocolate covered raisins for breakfast?

What was worse was that when we got our seat assignments at the Delta ticket counter, the woman told me all she had left was the Emergency Exit Row, in which Na wasn’t allowed to  sit because he was too young.  She told me that we’d have to have our seat assignments changed at the gate.  But by the time we got to the gate, everyone was boarding.  At the counter, I stood next to a woman complaining about being seated on the absolute last row, in front of the lavatories.  She whined that her seat wouldn’t recline and she couldn’t stand the smell of the lavatories.  But when she caught wind that I had to change our seats because of the law prohibiting Na to sit in an exit row, she whined even louder, saying that she wanted our seats.  The woman behind the desk refused to give in.  Somehow, she managed to re-seat us, but it wasn’t without HER hemming and hawing about how difficult it was and why the woman at the ticketing desk shouldn’t have assigned us in the exit row to being with, and blah, blah, blah!  The irony of it all was that these were two full grown women whining and my six year-old son took everything in stride!

Finally, we boarded the flight and I felt at peace once we got in the air.  I was going home and it felt grand!

Amazingly, those five hours passed quickly.  We landed at 11:30 in the morning and caught a cab to take us home.  It was warm out but all the sights and smells comforted me immensely.  When we got home, I basically threw everything in the living room.  I damn near wanted to burn all of our luggage, I was so sick of schlepping it for the last 36 hours.  I took Scout out of his kennel and he happily mauled us.  It felt great to be home.  Mr. Na instantly ran upstairs where he spent the next few hours playing with all of the toys he missed.  Meanwhile, Scoutie did the saddest thing: he went from room to room whining and then stopped in the den and laid down on Moofie’s bed, whining some more.  He was trying to tell me that he, too, lost his best friend.

Since our outbound flight from Kiev to JFK was delayed by five hours, Na and I were going to miss our connection to Seattle.  Pa thought ahead and booked us on a later flight, so at least we had the chance of coming home the same day.  But we were out of luck.  After a 10-1/2 hour flight to NY, without sleep and sufficient cold medicine, we landed at JFK only to sit on the tarmac for another hour waiting to be taxied to the gate.  Finally that happens, but a giant “people mover” had to come and get us off the plane and take us back to the International Terminal so we could go through customs.  Just about the time we made our way through customs, an announcement was made that JFK airport was closed until further notice.  For the first time in history, there was a tornado advisory in effect!  That meant the ramp was closed which meant we couldn’t get our luggage, which meant we had to stay in the Customs area, which meant no cell phone service to call our house sitter and let her know we wouldn’t be coming home until the next day!

Three hours later, JFK re-opened–flights resumed but those of us who had later flights were stuck for the night.  Luckily Delta was gracious enough to put Na and I up at a hotel nearby.  I loaded up on some cold medicine at a nearby kiosk and dragged my poor child through a rainstorm to hop on the train to take us to the hotel.  We arrived at 11:00 p.m., ate at the restaurant, and fell asleep.

I know I’ve managed to skip over a few days (and what seemed to me like thousands of hours!) but I wanted to report that we are all in Seattle!  It feels great to be home, although it’s incredibly hard to believe Oatie is gone.  She leaves behind a gaping hole.

Mr. Na and I rode the train from Kramatorsk to Kiev–and from there, we stayed for another day before embarking on a 36-hour journey home.  Let me tell you–we hadn’t planned on a 36-hour journey.  It was the most miserable traveling experience I had ever been through and it’s left me not wanting to travel again for a very long time!

First off, I was sick.  So even the train ride to Kiev was scary.  Between not being able to breathe and feeling flu like symptoms, I was pretty afraid to be traveling alone with Na without Pa.  I woke up sometime during the night with a very bad bloody nose.  I must’ve given my poor schnozz a run for its money what with all the blowing and nasal decongestants I was taking.

I felt ok when we got to Kiev and we went straight to the American Embassy so I could fill out Audri’s paperwork.  The whole thing took only an hour.  Klas then took us to a new apartment, which was the very same apartment we had when we first brought Mr. Na to Kiev!  Of course, he didn’t remember it, but the lady renting it out to us sure remembered Na!  She was amazed–which seemed to be the trend throughout the trip.

I even managed to nap, and when I awoke, a fellow adoptive couple called to see if we could all get together for dinner.  They had just adopted an 8 year-old girl and were heading home in a few days.  I looked forward to getting to know them.

Na and I took the Metro–his fifth underground Metro–and we met the family and shared each other’s experiences over dinner.  Their daughter is lovely.  She seemed to be at ease with Peter even though he couldn’t speak any Russian!  After dinner, we walked around and I noticed that my eyes felt kind of gooey and my vision was getting blurry.  When we said our goodbyes and went back to the apartment, my eyes were hot pink!  I had caught pink eye on top of everything else!

It was 11 p.m. and there weren’t any Aptekas open…plus we were being picked up at 8:15 to go to the airport the next morning and it seemed unlikely anything would be open beforehand.  I was in agony.

The next morning, I woke up at 6–showered, woke up Mr. Na and we headed outside to look for some breakfast.  We found a little kiosk right at the bottom of the Metro steps that sold mini warm apricot croissants.  They hit the spot, but my eyes were still giving me a lot of trouble.

Lucky for me, when our driver picked us up, he told me there was an Apteka in the airport and that he would get me a bottle of Sofradex for my eyes.   Everything was much better until we got to the ticket counter and right after our driver left us, I noticed that instead of our flight leaving at 10:55, it was leaving at 2:40!  I had just given our driver the last of my Ukrainian money to give to Pa when he saw him the next week.  We had five hours to kill in the airport, no money, and very little to eat for breakfast.  I just stood at the ticket counter and cried.