Trip home

Sunday morning we woke early, went to breakfast in the hotel and were able to relax through our meal. We checked out and sat in the lobby for a few minutes until Max, the driver taking us to the airport, showed up. He is much younger than Vladimir, who picked us up on our first trip.

It is amazing how much less traffic there is on Sunday morning, compared with Wednesday morning when we came in. We were able to move along without any problems or congestion all the way to the airport. I was very glad that Vladimir had taken us the "second route" on the way in to Moscow from the airport so we could see the "suburbs" of Moscow.

Max showed us pictures of his beautiful wife and daughter as we were travelling to the airport. She is just a few months older than our son. It is so amazing to say that. Our son. WOW! I've longed for so long to be able to use those words. OK, back to the trip.

Max took us in the airport to the first security line. He could go no further with us. We scanned the bags coming in the door, scanned the bags going into the ticketing area, took our bags over and opened them up to be searched, then over to the ticketing counter were we checked our big bags. The woman was able to speak English :) and checked us all the way through to Columbus :)

From there we went into another set of lines and through customs, where they checked our passports and visas and took back the paperwork we filled out on the way in, making sure we did not extend our stay past our visa.

Once past this area, we were in a duty free "mall". Our gate was on the other side of the airport, so we walked around, jostling past the crowds until we reached our gate. It was at this point that we had to remove all jackets, shoes and have everything scanned yet again. Whew, we made it!! We were able to sit down and relax.

I saw a couple come through the line with a small child. HHMmmm, I thought to myself, I wonder if that is the other family from our adoption agency that should be coming home today. Being the "shy" and "quiet" person I am :), I walked over and said- "Hello- are you the Dini's? I'm Debbie Swingle." It was!!! We were able to talk for almost an hour before our flight started boarding. They saw their son later in the same week we met our son. It was neat to be able to compare notes on how their journey went. Their small son had done very well meeting his brother:)

Our flight was uneventful. 3 movies, 2 meals, 2 snacks and multiple drinks- wow, 10 1/2 hours is a long flight! We arrived in New York on time, but by the time we taxied in and unloaded our full flight, we had about 40 minutes before our next flight. Boy could we feel the prayers! We went through the airport to baggage, got our bags, carried them to the re ticketing area, rechecked them, went back through screening (jackets, shoes, purses, bags all on the conveyor belt through the scanner) on through the next area- customs. We were able to make it through there pretty quickly, and had 20 minutes till our flight- at the other end of the airport!! We stopped, breathlessly at a Delta gate we were speeding past, and I asked if they could please call our gate and tell them we were on our way- please don't close the door. We heard the "final boarding call for Columbus, Ohio" 2 times while moving at a very fast clip through the airport.

And then, amazingly, we arrived- and even more amazingly, the door was still open! Thank you all for your prayers getting us home! We got on the plane and settled in. Amazing how warm the body gets after a 20 minute run in boots and wool cardigans :) Also, amazing how short a 1 1/2 hour flight is after having just completed a 10 1/2 hour one!!

We arrived in Columbus and Tim listened to his voicemail. He had a message from his sister, to call him as soon as he got the message. We soon discovered that Tim's mom had been in and out of the hospital all week and was currently in for observation for a possible heart attack, with a heart cath scheduled for the next morning. We couldn't wait to get home!!

Our luggage actually made it with us on the plane, so after a few minutes, Tim's coworker picked us up and took us back to the fire station where we had parked. After talking with his coworkers for a few minutes about our son, we took off for home.

We arrived home and checked in with Tim's Dad and talked to his mom- who seemed to be doing well. When we finally got home and in bed we realized we had been up for almost 24 hours. What a day!