In the excitement and breathlessness of the last few days, we forgot to  publish a post announcing that we did indeed make it home. We are here, and we are all doing great.

We got up early on Friday morning and began preparations for our flight home. Greg and I got up around five o’clock Ukrainian time, which is 10pm—Thursday night—Cincy time. We had everything ready to leave for the airport by 7:45, only 15 minutes later than we had hoped, and we got to the airport a little after 8. This should have been plenty of time, since our flight didn’t leave until 11:05, but it turns out that we cut it very, very close. Since we had to change our tickets, we needed to go to the Delta counter rather than the check-in counter (different places in the Kyiv airport as we learned the hard way), and they had some trouble changing the girls’ tickets, since they were both lap babies. Meghan and I waited with the children while Greg tried to get the tickets changed, and we just watched the clock tick. Once we finally had the tickets, we still had to go through security and passport control. The lines were long, and things were a little complicated because of the extra paperwork to process for a child who is leaving the country because of an adoption. We did make it to our gate just in time to board, but not in time to grab anything to drink, and we were all very hot, tired, and thirsty. The flight home was uneventful, and all three of the kids did great. I didn’t even know that babies could do that well on such a long flight. The only bad things were that Greg didn’t get to sit with us, since there were only three seats available together, and they didn’t give us very much to drink on the flight, so we spent most of the next ten hours being thirsty. We actually landed an hour early, so we had plenty of time to get through customs and immigration. Once we found our gate, Greg went off to buy us as many drinks as he could carry. When he asked what we wanted, Meghan and I each responded, “Coke, water, tea, iced coffee, and anything else you can find.” He just brought us back one coke and one water each. Even though the timing worked out well, we almost missed the flight home, because Delta had over-sold the tickets, and they were having to turn people away. We waited in line hoping and praying, but not knowing if there would be enough room for us. Finally, they told us we could board, and we all piled on to a bus. Then the bus drove around for a while, and we got on the plane. They had our seats scattered all over the plane. Greg was in row 26, I was in row 27, Meghan was in row 20, and Josiah was supposed to be in row 12. We didn’t think our two-year-old should sit all by himself, and fortunately the guy who had the seat next to Greg agreed to trade with Josiah. We took off nearly an hour late, but somehow managed to land in Cincinnati right on time. When we got home, we had one of the biggest welcoming committees I have ever seen. My parents and all 16 siblings were there along with Greg’s parents, Greg’s brother, his wife, and their little boy. Everyone was so excited to meet Mikaela. We didn’t get any pictures, but my parents did, so I will have to see if I can get some of those up here in the next day or so.

We spent all day Saturday with family, and had a belated birthday party for Josiah that evening. We went to church on Sunday, and had one of the best Fourth of July celebrations I can ever remember having. Today Greg and I spent all day unpacking and cleaning. We still have a bit of work to do tomorrow, but we are really starting to feel settled.

It is wonderful to be home, and we can’t believe how perfectly Mikaela fits into our family already. We love her so much, and can’t imagine life without her. She is a little treasure. And again, thank you all for praying for us throughout our time in Ukraine and our trip home.