Our Journey of Love: We are home!!

Emily welcomed home by family at Indianapolis International Airport

It has been a while since I last posted to this blog. In additon to being really busy, I have had to deal with computer issues that prevented me from posting. I will update what has happened since the last post now.

Emily and I had a wonderful time during our four days in Kiev. We walked around the downtown area and saw areas of significance such as Indepence Square. We also did some shopping as Emily picked out some gifts for her family at home.

On Monday, Oct. 31, we went to the US Embassy and received Emily's visa giving her permission to travel to the United States. This was the last document we needed to go home. Emily's excitement about flying home on Tuesday was very evident while we were at the Embassy. She charmed all the embassy staff members who met her.

After the embassy appointment, we returned to our apartment. Upon returning to our apartment, Victor said goodbye and wished us a life of happiness with our new daughter. I thanked him and assured him we will be happy and love Emily with all our hearts.

We were less than 12 hours away from our flight home to the United States. I wanted to take Emily out for dinner on her last night in Ukraine. Emily had cooked dinner for me the two previous nights so she was eager to eat out.(I tried to do the cooking those two nights but she insisted on doing it herself.) I thought we would go to a local restaurant and eat traditional Ukrainian food. I asked Emily where she wanted to eat and she said TGI Fridays. So, that is where we ate dinner on our last night in Ukraine.

It was October 31 and TGI Fridays was celebrating Halloween. All the employees were wearing Halloween costumes. Emily found this very funny and amusing. At one point, I nearly choked on my food while laughing at Emily's response to one of the employees costumes. We had a lot of fun and it made for some good memories.

When we returned to the apartment, Emily's excitement picked increased even more. I told her that our flight was leaving at 5:35am and that the taxi would pick us up at 3:00am. Emily started packing our bag. After completing that task, she took a shower and was ready to leave. This was at about 11:00pm. She watched TV and asked me repeatedly how much longer until we leave for the airport. At about 2:00am, a taxi parked outside our apartment. Emily pulled me out onto the balcony to show me. She asked if it was our taxi and I said no. She returned to watching TV while I took a shower, got dressed, and did the final preparations for us to leave.

At about 2:50am, our taxi arrived. Emily's excitement was beyond description. She was ready to leave the apartment before our driver appeared at our door. We loaded our bags into the trunk and sat together in the back seat for the ride to the airport. We arrived for our flight about 2 hours before departure. Our bag was slightly overweight but the Lufthansa employee didn't charge me for it. I got a little nervous at customs. The customs agent appeared to have some issue with my documents for Emily. She left with the documents for about 5 minutes. When she returned, she stamped our passports and handed back all of my documents. I felt a tremendous amount of relief at this point.

Our flights went very smoothly. Emily didn't sleep at all Monday night. She made up for some of that lost sleep on our flights. She slept about an hour on our flight from Kiev to Frankfurt. Then, she slept about an hour in the Frankfurt airport. On the flight from Frankfurt to Chicago, Emily slept for about five hours.

The flight from Frankfurt to Chicago flew over Greenland and northern Canada. The view of these two places out the window as amazing. I was looking forward to this part of the flight and it didn't disappoint. Emily was so tired, I let her continue sleeping. Emily woke up just before approached the Great Lakes. Emily asked if that was the ocean. I told her no and explained it was one of the Great Lakes. Emily must have been familiar with the Great Lakes because she smiled when I told her this.

After a short period of time flying over water, land appeared. I felt my excitement level increase. After 5 1/2 weeks in Ukraine, I saw the United States again. It was the state of Michigan. It wasn't long after this that our plane landed in Chicago. Everything went smoothly through Customs and Immigrations. When Emily's passport was stamped for entry into the United States, she became a United States citizen. While waiting for our flight to Indianapolis, Emily and I called Laura. Emily was so excited to hear her mom's voice again. She had a smile from ear to ear. We also called her sisters and my sister.

Our flight from Chicago to Indianapolis was very short. It only took about 30 minutes to fly to Indianapolis from Chicago. This was a good thing because Emily could barely contain her excitement. When our plane parked at the jetway at Indianapolis International Airport, Emily immediately grabbed our bags from the overhead compartment and said, "Papa, lets go." After getting off the plane, I was able to get her to stop long enough for me to take a picture of her. Then, she was walking as quickly as she could to see her mom and sisters. She had no idea that Laura had brought many of our family members to the airport to welcome her home.

Just as we exited the secure area of the terminal, everyone was there to welcome her. Emily had the biggest smile on her face when she saw everyone. Rachel and Megan immediately ran up to us and hugged us while everyone else took pictures. There were so many tears and smiles at the same time. Everyone took turns welcoming Emily home. Then, we went to our car to head home.

Before going home, we went to eat dinner. There were so many restaurants that I missed while in Ukraine. The first place we went was to Jimmy John's. It was so good. We had a lot of fun at dinner talking and catching up. I saw Emily hugging her mom and sisters several times during dinner. It brings me so much joy to see Emily this happy. She fits in so well with our family. We will give her the love and affection she deserves.

We went straight home after eating dinner. Emily was so happy to be home again. She asked for vases for her flowers and decorated her room. Then, she walked around the house to get herself familiar with everything again.

On Wednesday, I took Emily to the Social Security office to apply for a social security card. Then, we stopped by my work to put her on my medical and dental insurance. We also stopped by Laura's work to give them a copy of our court decree as proof for Laura's FMLA. While in downtown Indianapolis, Emily and I ate lunch at Circle Center Mall.

On Thursday, Emily had a doctor's appointment. Dr. Pinkerton was immediately charmed by Emily. I exchanged as much information with Dr. Pinkerton as I knew. I also provided her with Emily's vaccination records. Dr. Pinkerton informed me that Emily would need three shots. Emily had two of them in one arm and one in the other arm.

On Friday, I enrolled Emily in school. I talked to the principal. He assured me the staff would make sure that Emily would feel comfortable at school during her transition. He also gave me the option to come up to the school to spend some time with her.

Today, we are having a welcome home party for Emily. We will have a house full of family. We hope this will make Emily feel like a full member of our family and to let her know she has a large family who loves her dearly.