WE'RE FINALLY HOME!

(Maureen's Post)
After what has seemed a long time coming, we are finally home with our son. Back when we first made the decision to adopt in March 2005 we never dreamed what a wild, but wonderful, experience that we would have. As Jodi, one of our travel partners said, any negative feelings or annoyances we may have had during the whole process from the paperwork to the travel home are starting to fade. I would have to agree. Even now, as incredibly jet-lagged as we are, we are so happy to have James home with us, and we find so much joy in all the new things that he is discovering.

To recap the past day, Andrei picked us up at midnight to drive us to the airport. He is a very nice guy, and we wish we had the a chance to spend more time with him and get to know him better. We had commented that we had liked some music that he was playing in the car, so he went out of his way to make us a CD of the music which he gave us as we were going to the airport. We had heard about using the Lufthansa V.I.P. services out of Almaty and asked Andrei about it. He said sure, why not try it, and took us there to check in. He dropped us off, and we said our goodbyes and gave him our thanks. I believe it cost us about $200 USD, but we felt it was worth it and were glad we used it. Their lounge/waiting area was great as it had overstuffed couches, and I was even able to catch a quick nap while waiting for our flight. The people there took very good care of us, and they even had their own passport control booth so that we didn't have to wait in line with everyone else on the flight. Plus, we got to jump in line ahead of the rest of the people getting on our flight. Sweet. We had mentioned to the Mechems and the Sullivans earlier in the day about doing the V.I.P. thing, but we had some miscommunication and ended up doing it by ourselves. So, we spent the 3-hour wait before our flight lounging around in the V.I.P. area while they were in the regular terminal worrying and waiting for us to show up. We did touch base with them again once they boarded the flight, though, to let them know we were on the plane. One thing the V.I.P. staff did that we really appreciated was to make arrangements for us to accommodate James, even though he was only traveling on a lap ticket. For the first leg of our trip to Frankfurt all the bulkhead bassinet seats were taken, so they rearranged our seating so that we would at least have one of the 3-seat middle rows to ourselves. That way, Sean and I would each have a seat and we could put James down in the seat in between us if needed. It worked out well, as Sean made another makeshift "bed" on the middle seat for James to sleep in. Plus, we each had the convenience of having an aisle seat. This was a pretty quiet 7-hour flight since it was a red-eye flight and most people were sleeping. James did pretty well on this flight, and we even managed to get a little nap in, too. As with our first experience with Lufthansa back in January, we enjoyed the food (as much as anyone can really enjoy airline food) since it was more like the food we would eat at home. I got a cup of coffee with my breakfast on the flight and thought that it was the best cup of brewed coffee ever! I think spending almost 7 weeks drinking Nescafe Gold instant coffee had something do with that.

We had a 5-hour layover at the Frankfurt airport, most of which was spent at a cafe where we could just hang out with the Mechems and the Sullivans. The stroller was helpful here as James was asleep some of the time, and we could also push him around in it at the airport if he got a little fussy. That was $25 well spent. This part of the Frankfurt airport was much nicer and newer than the terminal from which we departed for Almaty back in January. Our time together finally came to an end, and we said our goodbyes to each other. It is so nice to know that we can still keep in touch with everyone and get updates on all the kids as they grow up. Then it was time for us to head towards our gate, but we first had to go through security again. The security at the Frankfurt airport is very tight. They hand-wand and pat down every single passenger, not the metal detector machines and random searches like we've seen here. They even patted down James! The nice thing was that since we had a baby, we were able to bypass the long security line when we got there, which is something I haven't seen before. One thing I have seen before but never had a chance to take advantage of is pre-boarding the plane since we had James with us. Now, that was nice. We're learning that having kids does have its perks sometimes!

Our second flight was not quiet at all since it was a daytime flight. It was very long (11 hours) and very trying on our patience, let me tell you! The Lufthansa V.I.P. office back in Almaty was able to confirm bulkhead seats for us on this flight so we were able to get a bassinet once we were at cruising altitude. The only thing is that the baby next to us on this flight would not sleep the entire flight, so you can imagine how cranky he was. He was 9 & 1/2 months old, but actually looked like an 18-month old, but that's another story. Of course, there were other babies around us since they also had bulkhead seating, so sleeping was difficult as all the babies, including ours, took it upon themselves to start crying at different intervals in-flight. Lovely. Overall, James did very well. I think his teeth were just really bothering him today, not to mention being in all these different environments. However, James did have some fans by the end of the flight. At one point in the flight he was extra fussy so Sean walked the aisles with him wearing the baby carrier, and James flirted and smiled for the flight crew and passengers.

At 1:45 PM our plane finally touched down in Houston. We went through Immigration/Dept. of Homeland Security, and once they stamped James' passport he automatically became a U.S. citizen! That was such a good feeling. Then we collected our luggage. Interestingly, our stroller did not make it with us from Frankfurt to Houston even though we had checked it in at boarding, not with our luggage. The story was that it may have been left on the jetway or maybe it ended up on an Air France flight (we're still trying to figure that one out). We weren't worried about it since the stroller served its main purpose which was for use in Almaty and the Frankfurt airport during the layover. We just felt bad for a family trying to get to Houston that had checked in a carseat while boarding the plane, only to find out it didn't make it to Houston. We went quickly through customs to find my parents and my brother waiting for us. They brought flowers and balloons, and it was so great to see them. They were so thrilled to finally meet James. We then went home and found they, along with R.J's girlfriend, Anna, had decorated the house, too! They stayed a couple of hours before leaving so that we could get some rest. As we were driving home, we realized just how big everything is here and just how convenient things are, too. After being in Kazakhstan for so long and staying in apartments our house seemed really huge to us at first. Even my closet seemed really big! If anything, our time in Kazakhstan just reminded us how lucky we are and made us appreciate that we live in the U.S.A. even more. Too bad not everyone sees things that way, though.

Overall James is adjusting as well as can be expected. Tonight is his first night home and he has been waking up every 1-2 hours, sometimes with nightmares. This is all so new to him, so right now we're trying not to overwhelm him with too many things. Plus, we're all trying to deal with jetlag. Hopefully the adjustment will get better, and we are confident he will continue attaching to us as the days go by. We just ask that everyone be patient with us. We are very eager for everyone to meet James, but we also need to do it in a way that is in his best interests and that means taking things kind of slowly for the next few days to weeks. So, please don't be offended if we don't invite everyone over at once. Something that may sound strange is that we may ask you not to take James from Sean or myself if one of us is holding him. We are trying to establish with him that we are his primary caregivers and the last thing we want to do is have him think we're just handing him off to another caregiver, which is what has been done all his life until we came along. It would be better to pick him up from the floor if he is playing. That is also the reason why, at first, we will be the only ones to feed him, rock him, bathe him, change him, and comfort him, at least until he is comfortable with his surroundings and has adjusted well. James needs to understand that he actually belongs to someone now - that he's not just another baby in a group - and know that he can trust us to fulfill his needs.

The pics above of our travels home. The last pic was taken on March 8th, the day after we arrived home. It is also International Women's Day in Kazakhstan. It is a national holiday there and in all other former Soviet bloc countries. Sean brought me roses to celebrate it. If you notice, behind it is another gift - my cup of coffee from Starbucks! Ahh...

Before I go, I just wanted to mention how much we appreciate everyone for everything you have done to help us make this happen, especially those of you who have kept us in your thoughts and prayers. We feel even more sure than ever that this is what we were meant to do. James and his personality fits in with our family perfectly.

Special thanks to my brother, James' Uncle R.J., for keeping things going on the home front and taking care of our furry kids, Tyson and Tippy. Big thanks to Susan Cotten, our stateside coordinator, Jim and Cindy Harding, the Sisters, and the whole staff at World Partners Adoption for helping us find our son. While in Almaty and on our flight back we met some other families that had used other agencies, and while they were very happy they were united with their children, many were unhappy with how their in-country process went. I can honestly say that overall we felt very well-taken care of while we were in Kazakhstan, and that helped us make some very enjoyable memories that we can share with James when he gets older.

Wishing everyone well and lots of love to all!

It sure feels good to be home. :-)