A Little More Detail

I also want to remember as much as possible about this trip. For the girls, and for myself. We are feeling really good here and hoping that the feeling continues.

We spent most of Saturday in New York. Drew typed most of what happened in New York, I'll let him add that in later. I'll just say that I slept half of the bus tour in New York, I was so tired.

We made it to Ukraine, I was thrilled to hit ground. I kept getting the butterflies every time we completed the next step, getting us closer to our goal. I got butterflies when we got back to the New York airport (just glad we hadn't gotten mugged on the Subway system). Then again after we made it through security and were waiting for our flight to board. Then the butterflies again after we took off. (We sat on the runway for an hour and a half before the plane took flight.) Then the worst of butterflies when we landed in Ukraine.

Last night, I woke up wide awake and had the worst advenaline rush. It was pitch black outside, but I felt like I had slept all night long. I thought for sure it was near time to get up, but Drew convinced me to try and go back to sleep. I did, then woke up, I think a couple hours later, and it was starting to get light out. I thought for sure it was near time to be getting up and probably close to 6 am. Nope, it was 3:30 in the morning!!! I never get up that early! I love to sleep and I do it really well, so was amazed that it was still so early. I guess I should have taken that sleeping pill after all. I did fall back asleep and woke up again at about 4:45 and decided that was it for the night. I'm going to go blog (and here I am :)). But Lori was already on the computer. She couldn't sleep either. I'm so glad we have them here, it is a true blessing to have another American family with us. It is one of those small miracles that I'm truly thankful for.

Well, anyway, back to Ukraine. I think most of my adrenaline rush came from my excitement for the SDA appointment. I couldn't stop thinking about it. Every new step we complete makes it feel more and more real. This whole process has felt surreal to me and like it couldn't really be happening. This is really happening and I am so happy and excited, I can hardly stand it. We're hoping that with the SDA appointment, we will be able to help the SDA see our point of view in regards to bringing Masha home this trip. We've been praying that thier hearts will be softened. We will see how it goes in just a couple of hours.

Let me back up one more time to the airport. We landed at about 11:30 in the morning Ukraine time. We exited the plane down the stairs to the ground and were shuttled to the customs area. We stood in that line for an hour before we got through. It was the funniest thing (now that I look back on it), but there was this older lady in line with us in customs. We were only a few people from the front of the line and all of a sudden this lady comes walking up between the lines and parks herself right in front of us. She was acting like she was just reading the signs and like she was a little confused. I see she has a United States passport in her hand. I thought for sure, she knows English, so I tapped her on the shoulder to see if she needed some help. She says no, she doesn't need help. I told her, the line is back there, we have been waiting here for a while. She just waves her hands in the air (like she doesn't know what I was saying), shakes her head no and doesn't budge. That old lady cut in front of us in an hour long line! Oh, the nerve! I got over it pretty quick and just had to laugh.

We got through everything else at the airport pretty quickly after that. We found both of our big suitcases and exited the customs area. Irina was waiting for us from Adoption Way with a sign that said "BENSON, Drew and Jennifer." It was so nice to see a smiling face. She hugged us and asked if we were with the Lawrence's. Uh, no...they should have been here two hours before us. Apparently, their flight had been delayed three hours. Irina had already been waiting outside of customs for two hours because she didn't know until she got to the airport that the Lawrence's flight was so behind. When we took off at the New York airport, I was able to look down the line at the planes waiting to get on the runway and counted 18 planes! I bet the Lawrences was one of them. We waited for two more hours with Irina for the Lawrences to come through customs. It was great to see them once they were finally able to get through their airport fiasco. Poor Lawrence's, I feel badly for Lori, who still doesn't have her suitcase, which contains all of her clothes to wear to the SDA appointment. She is still really bummed. I only brought one dress, or she could wear some of what I have. I've offered, but it looks as though she will wear her jeans to the appointment and explain that her luggage has been lost. I hope we hear from the airport soon, for her sake. She is pretty nervous about it, as I know I would be too. I couldn't imagine three weeks here without my things.

After Lawrence's made it through we went out to the big van that Vicile (sp?) was driving for us. They brought us to the apartment in Kiev and that is where we are now patiently waiting. They also helped us to a market to buy some groceries. We were able to exchange some cash at the market for grivna (Ukraine currency) to use for our food. We bought some spaghetti sauce for Drew's gluten-free noodles that we brought with us. Eggs, sausage (or what looked like it could be sausage...we'll see), yogurt, chicken legs, nectarines, rice, bottled water, sour dough bread (that is soooo good) and a few other things. We walked back to the apartment with our groceries and Irian promptly left us. I think she wanted to get back home after her long wait at the airport for us.

After we got back in the apartment, we all started calling every number we had, with every phone we were given, to get through to the airport about the Lawrence's lost bags. It didn't seem any of the phones were working. After a while of trying, Drew and I left to go for a walk around the area.

We found a way over to the river that runs through Kiev (I can't remember the name) and sat on a park bench for a while. It was very pleasant. It was interesting though, it seemed almost every person we saw here, either had a bottle or a cigarette in their hand. There were a lot more smokers in New York, than there are in Utah, but there are far more here in Ukraine than even in New York. I find it strange that we as American's know of how smoking affects our lungs and bodies and more people steer clear of smoking. Here, it doesn't seem as though anyone steers clear. It makes me want to come back here on a Humanitarian mission to spread the word about smoking research and see if I could make a difference! It probably wouldn't change anything because I know how hard it is for people to quit once they have been smoking for a long time. They don't have the programs here that the States do for those that choose to quit. Anyway, just an observation...

After our walk through the area we headed back to the aparment and just hung for a couple hours before heading to bed. I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow. I actually woke up very early on dreaming about my dad, thinking that he was the man sleeping next to me (I was really out of it!!!!). I nudged Drew to make sure he was my husband. Whew, he was! Why I thought it would be someone else, I'm not sure, but that tells you how tired and out of it I was! LOL!

Alright, that updates all of you faithful bloggers! Hope you are doing well. We are. It is time to get ready for our SDA appointment.