Planes, Trains and Automobiles

In a week and a half's time, our children experienced all three modes of transportation mentioned in the post title for the very first time. I doubt many can say that!

We woke up at 1:15 in the morning in Moscow to get ready to begin our loooooooong journey home. The morning of our flight home from the second trip was much different. Though we set our alarm, we slept past the buzzing and nearly missed being picked up by our driver at 3:30 in the morning. We rushed to get ready in 20 minutes and were out the door. With this last trip and with three checked luggage items (clothes for four for more than a week!), two children and all the food, snacks, toys and diapers that go along with them, we were sure we were up and not rushed. So, after about two and a half hours of sleep, our driver picked the four of us up and we are on our way home!

He drove us past Red Square. It was absolutely GORGEOUS in the winter night, all lit up. The Kremlin was very impressive and St. Basil's has a beauty the likes of which are not easy to come by. Unfortunately we don't have any photos from Moscow, but we'll make it back. Hopefully our kiddos will be better sleepers at that time and we can go stomach virus-free.

The Moscow airport is HUGE! Being originally from Chicago and having flown out of 'Hare countless times, I was expecting it to be large, but it surpassed even my imagination.

Our first leg was to Munich. Both kids were asleep for their first take-off, which eased my nerves a bit as I was worried about the change in air pressure giving them problems. Or second flight was the longest. Munich to D.C. The seats which we were originally assigned had us split up. Derek asked the wonderful Lufthansa (oh how I wish they flew domestic in the US!) employees and they worked their magic. Not only were we able to all sit together (D and B in the two seats by the window and me with C on my lap  across the aisle), but they bumped us up to economy plus seating, which offers more leg room. Nice! Celia was particularly taken with the Ukrainian man sitting next to us. I think it was his mustache... Both kiddos slept about four of the eight hour flight. Mama and Papa were able to snooze a bit too. Using the changing "table" in the lavatories wasn't as much of a nightmare as I expected. I'd say the only negative part of the flight was when C spilled an entire can of ginger ale on me. Things could have been much worse, wouldn't you say? Sure, they both cried a little, but it didn't last long. They were great.

In D.C. we went through immigration, where our babies officially became US citizens! We handed over our sealed (but perhaps a tad bit chewed on by our teething little angel) envelope to the officer and she stamped away. We all cheered when the final stamps were made on their US Visas in their Russian passports, making it official. Yay!

Several security check points and elevator rides later, we were getting ready to finally board our plane home! Unfortunately, the service on this flight (United) was by far the worst. I actually wanted to file a complaint on our stewardess, but overheard her refuse to give her name to someone else who asked for it. The physically handicapped passenger who conversed with her later told me he was asking so that he could file a complaint as well. Oh well. I let the comments and her attitude get to me for a few minutes, calmly expressed my disappointment, and then focused on the excitement that was to come.

Our homecoming was truly amazing! Our most supportive friends and family were waiting at the airport with signs, smiles, cheers and hugs. My heart welled up even more than I thought it could. To sample just part of the love and excitement, check out our story that was featured on our local news station. My brother- and father-in-law I believe were behind getting the station there. Though I wasn't looking forward to being on TV after a 26 hour journey, I'm so glad we'll have this to share with our kiddos when they get older. I need to burn a CD!

I was also just informed that our beautiful story was featured on HLN and CNN. If anyone catches it, will you please let us know? The Hunters made national news!

Okay, so I'm a few days behind in blogging. I hope to catch up tomorrow or the next day. Our first day home was tiring but oh-so-wonderful. Today was tough. I suppose any day that includes a trip the emergency room isn't a day in the park...

More to come!

Different Perspective

I'm going to be honest. I am so indescribably thankful to everyone who has donated items or money for our yard sale and to help us bring our children home… but this outpouring of love has been difficult for me to receive.


Truth be told, I didn’t have many friends in school. In eighth grade, I was the tall, lanky girl who had to sit at the edge of the lunch table by herself and was made fun of for being so skinny. Yeah, yeah, I know… You can hear the violin playing. But I’m not writing this for pity. Since then, for whatever reason, I have struggled with accepting love and assistance from friends.

I called my mom today to tell her about all the new items that were left in or just outside of our garage and explained to her how I felt. “I’m so undeserving of all of this. So unworthy of all this love,” I said. That’s not the right attitude—I know that and she reminded me of it. She proceeded to tell me how meaningful it was to her that people are reaching out to her daughter like this. The sacrificial love that everyone is showing is just so amazing.

And then it hit me and my perception changed.

All of this—the donated items, the gifts, the encouragement, the time and effort, the excitement—it’s all really for…my children. This love is for my children! And this new mother’s heart is so thankful that people are loving B and C before ever meeting them. It’s not about feeling deserving or not, it’s about being able to witness the love our extended family (read: our friends) is anxiously bestowing upon our kiddos. I’ve never experienced a feeling like this before. I’m praising God for all of this, there is no doubt!

Back to "Normal"

Today was my first day back to work since our trip...and since becoming a Mommy. Someone asked me what it was like to be back to my "normal" life here in Tennessee. While it's what I've known for the past few years, there just is nothing "normal" about it. Not anymore.

Being apart from our children just doesn't feel right. Even though we spent only a few hours each day with them for just six days, being with them fells like how things should always be. It feels unnatural not to be with B and C. But, despite all that, I know we are following God's path and all of this is supposed to be happening. There's a reason we have been chosen to become a family through the unique blessing of adoption, and there must be a reason for this waiting.

We showed some videos and pictures to Derek's parents today. Seeing their adorable smiles and beautiful dark, expressive eyes on the videos melts my heart and makes it ache at the same. Gosh, I miss them so much. *deep breath* We'll be together soon... I pray sooner than estimated.

On another note, preparations for the yard sale are going better than I could ever imagine! We literally have thousands of items that have been donated. I'm completely blown away by the outpouring of love and support. I will never be able to thank those of you who have donated to us enough.

Please spread the word! We would love a great turn out to help us raise some money.



Thank you!

I wrote a blog while waiting for one of our flights today. I'll post it below, but when Derek and I came home (just a short while ago) and saw what was awaiting us, I knew I needed to post something a bit more important.

We are two of the most blessed people to have such amazing friends and family. Derek and I are planning a yard sale for this coming weekend to raise some funds that will help us complete our adoption of B and C. When we opened our garage door and saw all of the donated items already present, I was just so overwhelmed with emotion and complete gratitude. For people to go ahead and get things started while we were meeting our children... I just can't even explain how meaningful that is... We are so unworthy of all that God is blessing us with through each of you (I don't even know who all donated things yet!) and through our perfect angels in Russia. I will be eternally grateful. I wish there was a better way to express my thankfulness to each of you... When we came into our house, there was a basket of muffins for tomorrow morning and dinner in the fridge. Derek said he even thought someone planted flowers into one of our long-forgotten flower pots outside! Thank you all. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

And now to what I was originally going to post:

Well, we’re back in Tennessee. While it’s great to be on US soil, I feel like a part of me is still in Russia. Of course I mean the kiddos, but I also mean St. Petersburg itself. It’s hard to describe, but I feel like that city is another “home.” It is now part of our family’s heritage and feels as such just as much as Chicago, my hometown. I love the people, the history, the food, the rich culture, the climate, and so much more. It is definitely a place that we will return to as a family years down the line.


Our trans-Atlantic flight had television monitors that displayed flight information such as outside temperature (-77—yikes!), speed and miles yet to go. With each passing mile, I felt the threads from my heart—which have been created and tied to our children—pulled tighter and tighter and the separation grow harder and harder.


But there is so much to do to prepare for their arrival, so keeping busy will be good. For the last few months, Derek has been great and researched several adoption grant possibilities for some financial assistance. Now that the adoption process is practically set in stone, we will apply and see what happens. We are also planning a yard sale for this Friday and Saturday, which—thanks to amazing friends—will feature A LOT of items. Please pray that buyers show up! Derek wrote a heartfelt letter, in which we asked if anyone was willing to donate some items. So many of you have offered to do so! I am so overwhelmed with gratefulness for everyone’s loving and giving heart. A few have suggested that I post the letter on the blog. I will do so in a post tomorrow. Our address is listed there (at least until I am able to make this blog public) for those of you who can make it!


In addition to the logistical stuff, there is fun stuff to be done as well! Their room is painted, but we still have to furnish and decorate it. It will be so fun doing that now, since we know their personalities. Oh, and clothes! I can’t wait to pick out cute outfits! Derek’s already said it’s going to be hard not to buy things for them every time we go into a store. Oy! Envelopes, Derek. Envelopes!


Well, I’m beat! (I feel I’ve ended nearly every post this way. Sorry about that.) We had to wake up at 2:15 a.m. St. Petersburg time (5:15 p.m. central time) after just three hours of sleep for our 6:30 a.m. flight. Interesting reason why we had to get up so early actually: Our hotel was on a small island between two of St. Petes’ rivers. The only way on and off the island are via bridges that are drawn up during the night to let the barges go through. I believe they go up at 2 a.m. and are brought down at 5 a.m. For those that need to get on or off the island between those times, there is a short 15 minute window starting at 3:00 a.m. during which the bridges are down. Our driver for that day lives east of the island. Once the bridges were brought down during this short gap if time, he raced onto the island, picked us up at our hotel on the west side of the island (which is about 5 miles east to west and 2 miles north to south), and made it just in time to cross the main bridge on the south side. Whew!

So, 22 hours of travel later, we've been up for 29 hours and are physically and emotionally exhausted. I'm going to bed one thankful friend and longing mommy.

Difficult

Today was very difficult. Don't get me wrong, it was full of so many smiles, giggles and love that will make great memories. But it was still difficult. Really, really difficult.

Thank you all for your prayers. They have been truly felt this week and so many prayers have been answered. I can't wait to share the joy with all of you when we return.

What Would We Do Without Friends?

One of my dearest friends came over tonight to assist me with going through some items in our garage in preparation for a yard sale. (Friday, October 22 and Saturday, October 23 - come support it if you can! Or let us know if you have items to donate.) I don't know what I would have done without her help! Well... yeah... I do. I'd most likely still be out there—probably shivering by now and keeping the moths from flying in my hair—sorting through random Little People toys, deciding which I should keep and which to sell. Thank goodness for my friend Sloane!

So many people have expressed their eagerness to help us. I wish I had more things I could ask people to do. Truly, I do. I have a "To Do" list a mile long (but really, who doesn't?), but I just don't know what to tell or ask of people.

Just pray for us. As cliche as that sounds, we definitely can use it. Those who know me well at all know that I tend to worry and stress more than I probably should. With everything that needs to get done at work, in preparation for the trip and the yard sale and so much more, I'll admit, I've allowed myself to become overwhelmed. But, I keep telling myself each day, "Just do what you can do." As long as we have the necessities (passport, visa, clothes, etc.) it will be okay. I pray that when I get on that plane, I'm able to leave the stresses behind me and focus on the joys to come!

New Friends, Continued Blessings

I just continue to be amazed at the blessings our Lord has poured upon us! While the adoption process is not for the faint of heart—as it can be a difficult and frustrating road—God has blessed us with such amazing supporters. There is no doubt that He has used our friends and family as vehicles for sharing His love.

This past week I had the honor of being invited to a local adoptive families group. I say "honor" because it truly was so wonderful being among bright and sincere women who have either already experienced the blessing of adoption or are right in the thick of the process, as we are. There is so much for me to learn from these women and so much to share. I can't wait!

The friends and family the Lord has blessed me with to this point have just blown me away. Truth be told, I was never one to have a bunch of good, genuine friends growing up. The love you all have shown me and Derek, particularly during this process, has been almost overwhelming. Words can't express how grateful I am of all of your support. We are so blessed to be able to share this journey with such amazing people. And our children will be all the more blessed to have you in their lives.

I'd say I can't wait for you all to meet them, but I can't wait to meet them myself! A little over a week!!!

Practice Makes Perfect

Okay, maybe not perfect, but at least more prepared!

Derek and I babysat for some dear friends of ours tonight. They and their two girls are more like family to us than anything else so I don't know if one can even consider it "babysitting." We had a blast! It's things like this that make us all the more anxious to bring home our little ones!

Below is a snapshot of some of the fun that was had. Who doesn't like playing "Pretty Pretty Princess"?!

We're Registered! (no, not at Target...)

I meant to update my blog long ago, as we have made another BIG step in our adoption. All of our documents have been organized, translated, apostilled/notarized and put together as our official dossier. Last month our dossier was submitted to Russia. We became officially registered in St. Petersburg!

Funny... seeing that phrase "officially registered" comes with a totally different meaning for pre-adoptive parents (PAP) as it does for expectant parents. If only becoming "registered" for us was as easy as taking the scanner gun and magically putting all our essential items together in one simple list. Ha! The hoops we PAPs jump through!

So, what does this mean? Once a dossier is submitted, PAPs can then at ANY TIME be invited to travel to the region in which they are registered and receive an official referral from the Ministry of Education (MoE), a governmental body in Russia. However, many placement agencies share information on potential referrals with PAPs before they travel when they are rather confident that those families might receive that official referral once in-country.

This, too, can happen at ANY TIME...

So... if anyone is still reading this blog, I would recommend you stay tuned. Things may get interesting soon.

Regarding the brief hiatus I had recently taken from the blog, the last several weeks have been rough. We've been ridiculously busy with work and attending/hosting/participating in church events. We're dog-sitting for my parents. I might have had a birthday at some point. But, what affected us the most was grieving over the loss of a dear friend... I have no words to explain this situation via a simple blog. All I can say here is it shook many people's lives. Readers, please be in prayer for my dear friend, Carrie, who lost her husband much too soon and much too suddenly.

I'll say goodnight for now. Thank you all for being a support to Derek and me though our process. Life is a never-ending classroom, with our Lord as the teacher. I've learned a lot in the last few months. I'm grateful to continually be shown just how invaluable good, true friends are. I love you all.

...Another Person's Treasure

After work today, I stopped by one of my closest friend's house to peruse some toddler items that her daughters had outgrown. In an odd way, I felt like I was sifting through treasures that I wasn't quite sure I had any business with. Let me explain.


Though people would use the phrase "paperwork pregnant" to describe the waiting stage we're in with the adoption process, sometimes I feel as if impending parenthood hasn't truly sunk in yet. Derek and I have put more work into preparing for parenthood than many people we know (if only every parent-to-be had a social worker come to their house and judge it top to bottom, or took a 560+ question personality test). We KNOW, thanks to the glorious God who guides us, that Russian adoption is the path we are meant to take at this time. We KNOW we're meant to be parents. We KNOW our children are waiting for us. However, I haven't let myself settle in with the idea that I'm going to be a mother in several months. It feels so very real, yet still so uncertain.


And perhaps that's because there are still many uncertainties. We still have an uphill journey ahead of us, complete with Russian judges, immigration documents, additional medical exams, travel expenses and other legalities. So much can happen.


Nevertheless, I have faith in God. I have faith in His plan for our lives. I have faith that He is faithful. So, while it may not have completely "sunk in" yet, I'm still excited to be collecting Fisher Price toys, shopping cart covers, creepy stuffed caterpillars, musical instruments and the like. It's all in preparation for what's to come, whether I fully comprehend that or not.


On a final note, I am so VERY thankful to our friends who are loaning us these items! I'm sure it will end up saving us a small fortune. We are beyond blessed to have such amazing friends in our lives who truly care about us and are almost as anxious as we are to bring our kiddos home! I love you!