Blessed Beyond Measure

We are home! We have our beautiful daughter in our arms. On one hand it doesn't feel real, but in that same moment it feels as though she has been here forever. Our trip to DC was amazing, actually that word does not even give justice to our experience. God blessed us in so many ways that we almost felt unworthy.

Where to even start!

Well, we received a call about a week or so before we left for DC telling us that we still owed $1700 when we picked up Karina. As many of you know, our costs were much more than we anticipated and we were not going to be able to even cover the costs of our plane tickets for her to be escorted home. Thanks to an anonomous donor, we were able to pay for the plane tickets, but the $1700 was another story. Well, God is so good and He truly has met every financial need in this adoption. We have had a little extra money come in from here and there, someone who owed us a little money showed up to pay us, and then family members that so generously gave us more than they could afford to give. In the end, we had every penny covered. Unbelievable really.

We stayed at an extended stay hotel near the Dulles airport. The staff was so wonderful and we really felt as if we were just staying with friends. They were so excited for us and did everything they could to make our stay memorable. All of the staff pulled together and bought a gift for Karina when she arrived. Each of them went out of their way to meet her and give us sincere congratulations. It really meant so much to us to be able to share that moment with so many cariing people.

The morning before her flight arrived, we had the chance to do a little sight-seeing. We went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. It was a great distraction to make the wait go by faster. The Museum was amazing and we agreed that we have to go back when our kids are a little bigger.

The afternoon finally came and we headed off to the airport. Once we found where we needed to go and saw that her flight had landed I started to get butterflies in my stomach. We stood at the automatic door, holding our breath for the full second before you could see who it was. We stood there for over a 30 minutes, saw so many smiling reunions, and patiently waiting for ours. This was by far the hardest part of the trip. Then, all of a sudden, we recognized a face. It was Svetlana, our escort, and trailing behind her was our sweet little Karina. The moment Karina saw us, she had a very puzzled look on her face as if to say what are you doing here. We scrambled through the crowd and made our way to her. She was so scared and confused. It all happened so fast for her. Within about ten minutes we were standing in the parking lot saying good-bye to Svetlana and on our own.

The noises were so loud, it was rainy and cold, and she knew we were not able to speak her language. She couldn't even look us in the eye, much less let us hold her. She cried for about an hour and then her guard started to come down. Ever so slowly, she started to look at us, let us touch her, and by the end of the night, we even saw lots of smiles. Much to our surprise, she fell asleep for about 4 hours before we headed out early the next morning.

She was a really good traveller. She was not afraid of the airplane and felt rather comfortable. She had to sit by the window and like any other 3 year old did not like sitting in her seatbelt, but other than that, she did great. She was awake all but 1 hour of the trip, so by the time we made it to LA, she was DONE. So, our last few hours were a bit challenging, but I think considering the fact that she had basically been in the air for 3 days she did terrific.

As soon as we landed in Fresno, I asked her if she was ready to meet Ben and Sam. Her eyes lit up and I saw the biggest smile so far. She kept saying she wanted to see Ben, Sam, and babushka. It was adorable. Our homecoming was so wonderful. We were greeted by the boys, my mom, Mike's parents, and Laurel from our agency. Karina got bears, baloons, and a little doll.

By the time we made it home, all three of the kids were laughing and playing as if they had always been together. They played their little hearts out until Karina and Sam fell asleep in the family room. She even slept the entire night!

Today, we had an absolutely wonderful day. The kids are getting along so good. The boys are "showing her the ropes" and she is loving the attention. We spent most of our day playing dress up. At nap time, I had a pink princess and two jedi masters. It was so cute.

For now, I will end this post, but promise to put photos and update everyone in the next day or so.