Departure Day

I was up all night packing the kids luggage and putting the 3 memory books together for them. Each child was allowed to have one checked luggage weighing no more than50 lbs AND one carry-on backpack. Trying to fit all of their stuff in these 2 small bags proved to be much harder than I though it would be!!! But I finally got all the bags closed. YEAH!

Bless his heart, Josh has a terrible cold, so I let him sleep late. But I woke all the kids up at 8:30, so they could eat, shower and get dressed. While I was talking to one of the other kids, Sergey asked me something in Russian - obviously I did not understand what he said and I ignored him... the next thing I knew, he was UNPACKING his luggage! Yes, the luggage that took me hours to pack, and hours to get the darn thing to shut! I wanted to cry! At this point my head was pounding, I was completely exhausted, and I still had so much to do. I woke Josh up and told him that he NEEDED to get the kids away from the luggage or I was going to loose it! As Josh ushered the kids upstairs... the boys were still arguing that they needed to look through their luggage. Thank God for husbands and video games!!! Once everything was packed I quickly put on my clothes (of course I was the only one in the house that did not get a shower!) . As I was standing in the bathroom washing my face and brushing my teeth, Kolia came in the room and just stood in the doorway. He often would come and stand there as I was getting ready. He would watch me put my make-up on. When I would finish he would say "beautiful" in English and Russian. Sometimes he would sniff my hair or my shirt and say "good". He is such a funny boy! So today when I finished he hugged me so tight, sniffed my shirt and his eyes teared up. I just hugged him back and said everything is going to be ok! Of course I wanted to loose it right then, but I knew that I needed to hold it together.

I then ushered everyone into the van. Somehow Josh managed to cram all the luggage and Jonathan's stroller into the van (love my Honda Odyssey!). Then we made the drive down to the Atlanta Airport. Josh dropped me, Alexis, Jackson, Sergey, Kolia and Valia off at the Delta Curbside area. I had to carry the 2 large pieces of luggage, Alexis pulled the other one, Jackson carried coats, and then each one of the host kids had their rolling carry-ons. Josh and Jonathan went to park the car - Josh said he would find us later (we both had our cell phones with us). Keep in mind that I now had a full blown Migraine Headache! I felt like I was going to vomit & pass-out, add to that the emotion of what was taking place and trying to wrangle 5 kids and 6 pieces of luggage! NOT FUN! Poor Valia was a mess. She kept telling me "I no go" "I love you MAMA". Even after trying to explain to her (via a translator) that the decision was not mine - she still tried everything she could think of to stay! Kolia tried to be the tough guy, but I could see it in his face - he looked so depressed. While we were in the mile long check-in line he would grab my hand and kiss it. Sergey seemed content with the fact that he was going back - he just kept asking me about different things that belong to him (gloves, hat, scarves, gifts for friends) - he wanted to know exactly where each times was located within his luggage. At some point I finally said "Stop! All in bag, no worry, PLEASE!" I spent an hour in that line with my headache, 5 of the 6 kids, and way too much luggage for one person to handle! When it was finally our turn to check-in we got the nicest Delta employee EVER! My friend Muffy came up to the counter to help me with the kids and the check -in process because she knew I was sick and Josh was somewhere with Jonathan - Thank God she was there! I needed HELP! Kolia's bag was 5 lbs over (due to something being stuck in that bag after I was finished packing!) and thank GOD he didn't charge me the fee! He knew about the program (there were hundreds of NHFC coming through the line), so he took pitty on me! YEAH!! The only other trouble I had during check-in was Sergey started to pitch a fit when they took his bag, but Muffy and I both gave him "the look" and he quickly got the picture! :)

I took the kids to find Josh and Jonathan, once we found them we walked to the NHFC meeting area. We had just sat down when Muffy's husband came over and said that they needed me to come back to the Delta check-in desk because the guy forgot to give me something. So I took Jonathan with me and left Josh with the other kids. Once I arrived at the check-in desk I found out that he wanted to give me a gate pass so that I can go to the gate with the kids - which is a BIG no-no with the host program. I went ahead and took the pass because the Delta employee was so persistent, but of course I did not use it. I ran back to meet up with Josh. Then we got the kids one fast food meal - they each had a cheese burger, fries, and a soda. The medical worker from their orphanage who was here as a chaperon came over and sat with us. She immediately noticed that Valia had gained wight... she pinched Valia's tummy and laughed!
She seems like such a nice lady and the kids seem to love her. She asked me about their bad behavior and I said "choot - choot" which means just a little, she smiled. Then I told her that their behavior had was much better now and that we love them very much.

Then we heard the dreaded call for the kids to leave. The kids hugged Josh, Jack, Alexis and Jonathan. Then I walked with them as far as I could go. Valia was crying and the boys were holding it together. I kissed each one of them, hugged them, and said goodbye. I lost it as they walked away. It was funny to me and Sergey (the one that was ready to go back) was the one that walked backwards waving and saying "thank you ms. holly, thank you, love you, thank you, bye, paka, Ms. Holly - bye" I laughed at one point because I thought - my gosh child, your going to fall down walking backwards and waving! It is so interesting to me how much each one of the kids changed and started to blend into our family over the 4 week trip.

I stood there until hugging Alexis, crying until we could not see the kids anymore. Alexis and I walked back to meet Josh, Jack, and Jon-Jon. We sat there for a few minutes crying as a family. As we walked out of that airport I said "I feel like I am missing something" Jackson said "Mommy you are missing 3 somethings!" He cried and cried. It really surprises me at how upset my kids were considering the fact that the host kids rejected them, hit them, took our attention away and broke so many of their "things". I am really proud of my children.

On the way home, we stopped to get something to eat and I was so excited to purchase a fast food meal for under $20! :) And I was actually able to eat some of my meal - I only had to hand off part of my meal... when the host kids were with us I could forget eating any food - they would snatch it (they did not dare to take Josh's food!).

When we came home Josh crashed on the couch - he is so sick! I made sure that he had the medicine he needed then I went straight to my bed, turned on the TV and for the first time in a month I was able to sit there for as long as I wanted, watch TV, talk on the phone and do NOTHING! As I was sitting there enjoying my alone time, Muffy called me to inform me of the plane crash in NY. AT the time, she didn't know much info, so I turned the TV to CNN and quickly found out that it was not our kids and that everyone was ok. For those few minutes that I didn't know if it was them - I was just SICK! Then I found out that my kids were flying into JFK not Laquardia.

I kept checking on their flight info last night and I found out that their flight to Moscow was late leaving NY - it didn't leave until 9:06 last night. Bless their hearts they are going to be so tired and hungry! Each child was only allotted $20 to purchase food and drinks during their long layovers in NY and Moscow. $20 does not go far in an airport! Especially when you eat as much as my kids do!!!

I did the flight tracker periodically last night to see where the flight was. I was interesting to see where their plane was. They landed in Moscow while we were sleeping, then they took off for St. Petersburg this morning and as of now they should be back in their orphanage.

I was able to talk to one of my girlfriends, Cara, today. She is in the process of adopting a little girl through NHFC host program. Because her daughter has CP and uses a wheelchair, she was allowed to go all the way to the gate with the group. I asked her how my kids did once they left us. She said that Valia still looked very upset, but she was not crying. Sergey was fine. Kolia was showing his wild side (as usual!). She said that as the group was walking to the gate he jumped on the back of one of those little cars that drive through the airport! That's my little monkey man! Always up to something! ;)

For me the hardest part of this is not knowing if they are ok. I wish I could comfort them, but I can not. All I can do right now is pray for them. My heart aches, it has 3 HUGE holes in it.