Where to even begin. So from the start of our trip pretty much everything that could go wrong did. While waiting for
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Our flight Kim spilled her coffee literally four times before the cup got knocked over completely and I just laughed uncontrollably, we had been up since 4am. Boarded our flight in San Diego on time only to be told there was a problem with the plane that they needed to fix (we sat praying we would make our connection), an hour later we are told to de board and it can't be fixed. Stand in a long line to try and find seats on some plane to get us to Ukraine, and the attendant is having no luck and doesn't think she can get us there in time for our Tuesday appointment (mind you it is Sunday morning at this time). I start looking up alternate airlines on my phone and find a flight thru Aeroflot a Russian airline and she is somehow able to switch all our flights and get us booked on that instead. Fly up to LAX, run through the airport because signs all read our plane to Moscow is in final boarding phase, literally run past Ty Burrell (Phil Dumphy!!!) can't even stop to stalk him through the airport or get a photo, and amazingly make it to the plane. We are in a row with four seats and naturally Kim and I are stuck in the two middle seats.
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Kim starts making friends with the guy next to her that says he is a boxer (and forthwith called "my boxer friend" by Kim the entire flight), he asks where we are going and why. Kim replies adoption. He looks at us both and asks "they won't allow you to adopt in America?". Totally thinks that Kim and I are together, so awesome. We have a 12.5 hour flight to Moscow and try to watch some movies, sleep, eat, repeat. After lots of turbulence and a numb rear end we arrive safely and find a cafe in the Moscow airport to kill time while we wait for our next flight. Well we get to boarding time and go to our gate and no one is up or boarding, strange right. Our ticket says our flight leaves from gate 18, yup that's where we are at. I decide to check the board invade something has changed, and of course it did and we are nowhere near where we need to be. We start running again trying to read all the signs in Russian of how to get to gate 6 and find it just in time because we apparently have to board a shuttle to take us to our tiny plane out on the Tarmac and they were getting ready to leave. We ride over, get out and freeze in the 20 degree frosted air while in line to climb the stairs for the plane. And then we are finally on our last leg to Kiev after only 28 hours of travel.
We arrive in Kiev and go through passport control then to the baggage area. We wait for what seems like forever and then the bags start to come out. We each had two bags (one with personal effects and a second with donations for the children). The baggage carousel stops... But we are missing one of Kim's bags still. We walk over to an attendant and try our best to communicate and explain we lost a bag, what it looked like, etc. It takes about 45 minutes to fill out the one form and get everything understood, and they say they will call when it has been located. After leaving we find our driver Eugene who will take us to a wonderful woman Karen's house to stay for the night before our SDA appointment in the morning (at this point it is 8:45pm in Kiev Monday night). Karen has been waiting for us and graciously has dinner ready, we are able to talk a bit before going to bed and trying to get some much needed sleep. However Kim is not doing well with the time change or the excitement for her appointment, so when I roll over in the middle of the night I hear a "Hi Ally!" and can't help but laugh.
We wake up early to make sure we are ready to leave on time, Kim with her thermos of coffee in hand to keep her awake. We arrive early at the SDA and wait for our turn to be led up the stairs. Finally the time comes and we meet with a very sweet woman who shows Kim the files for both Yana and Alex, containing a small photo of when they were younger and 1-2 pages of brief information about them. She quickly accepts the referral and we are told we can come back tomorrow to pick up official paperwork to be able to travel and visit the children :). And in that moment we forget about the 30 plus hours of travel and everything it took to get there, we just recognize how great God is and the power he holds to move mountains and make the orphan a son or daughter.
More Tomorrow.....