First passport phase complete

January 19: I woke up about 9:00am and got ready to go to the passport office and meet Valery and the boys. Since Tamara told me that she had not been able to sleep from 2:00 -7:00 am, I quietly left the room so that she could rest. The boys and the orphanage lawyer arrived a few minutes after I did and then Valery got there about ten minutes later. The passports were ready as promised but it took about two hours for the boys to complete some other forms that were required. Finally, everything was finished and Valery, the boys and I went to a shop to get some copies made of the new passports and our passports before the boys went back to the orphanage and we returned to the hotel.


Tamara was still resting so I went downstairs to eat breakfast/lunch and to bring something back to the room. After staying in the room for a couple of hours, Valery called and told me that Galina would be leaving in about thirty minutes and that I needed to come and talk with her about several things. I left immediately and spent some time discussing the status of Dima, Ella, Brooke, and Baylee’s little brother, Sasha and their birth-mom. We then talked about the boys’ money and their wishes to give a donation for repairs to the orphanage. We were very touched by the generosity and unselfishness of Vitya and Sasha. Due to the death of their Mother when they were younger, they have always received a small check from the Government. They have somehow managed to save several thousand dollars each. Today, they went to the bank and withdrew $2,000 each and presented $4,000 to Galina to use for Orphanage repairs and replacements. We were pretty blown away that they did this! We told them we had just sent a huge shipment for Berdyansk and we knew of many groups who were blessing and helping the school. Nothing could sway them from the burden they had and they were determined to give the donation. They said they knew of some specific needs the orphanage has, such as windows that needs replacing, and they wanted to provide the funds for this. We have to praise GOD for these boys and for their hearts to care for those children who being left behind. Thank you, God, for their unselfish hearts which is a huge blessing for us!


After this we went on a tour for me to take pictures of improvements that had recently been made using gifts from American sponsors (including the water purification system that our small group at church had sent). By the time we finished the photo tour, it was time for the boys’ party. Valery and I stayed for the first part of the party which began with toasts made with peach soda and Pepsi. I took pictures of their friends and teachers enjoying the cakes and tangerines. Viktor and Sasha made a goody bag for their Mom that included cake, candy and tangerines before we left for the hotel. After writing this blog, we went down to eat supper and then checked email and uploaded blogs.

God is in control

Jan. 18: (By Tammy) We met Valery at the Notary’s office and had to have the boys’ Passport applications notarized. After this, we went to some indoor shops across the street, (a mini mall) and found some rolling suitcases for Zhenya and Sasha suitable enough to be considered carry on size. We then made our way back to the hotel. Valery was off again to the bank for some business and to exchange some money for us. The school will be giving Viktor and Sasha a party/dance in their honor tonight, so we’ll also provide some fruit and tortes (cakes) for this event. Curtis braved the outdoor market to purchase some very large boxes of tangerines. The children rarely have fresh fruit to eat in the orphanages and usually are not given any citrus fruit in the winter. So, we thought it would be nice to bless them at the party with some fresh fruit.

We’re a little concerned that because of all the paperwork having to be done in Berdyansk and Zaporozhe that we haven’t even seen Zhenya yet. We’ll see him tomorrow when we have to go back to Zaporozhe for the Foreign Passport photos and then back to Takmak, because all three boys have to be present for this. We’ll also be spending time with him in Kiev before we leave. We hope this will be ok for him and we won’t feel like total strangers when we leave for the U.S. We have to admit we’re disappointed about Viktor not being able to go with us and know he is too. We’re trying to have good attitudes and trust God there is a reason he has to be delayed. We know we’ll all be together in Alabama soon.

As I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night for several hours, I’ve been turning to God’s Word to calm my heart and strengthen my trust in Him. Psalm 146 was especially encouraging to me last night, that He cares for the cause of the orphan and obviously cares for those involved in pleading their case. A portion of it reads, “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God: who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in it, who knows truth forever: who executes judgment for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets free the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind, the Lord raises them that are bowed down, and the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord preserves the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and the widow; but the way of the wicked he turns upside down. The Lord shall reign forever, even your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord.” So, I know that God is actively involved in the process of caring for orphans and He surely sees our situation right now.

(By Curtis) Tamara wasn’t feeling well so only Valery and I went to the orphanage about 4:00pm to take the cakes and tangerines and to talk with Galina about a few things. When we arrived, we could tell that there was something was very wrong by the sound of Galina’s voice on the phone. One of her assistants sent for the boys and the three of us went out in the hall to talk while Galina finished her conversation. Much to our surprise, Viktor told us that the party would not be held tonight because all of the children had to attend a performance by the small children in downtown Berdyansk and they would have to leave at 5:00pm. They were very happy about the cakes and tangerines and also told us that the party would now be on Saturday night. We asked permission to store the cakes and tangerines in the cafeteria refrigerator and I walked there with the boys. The cafeteria at the orphanage is spacious and very clean and has artwork hanging on the walls of the dining area. Sasha pointed out a beautiful painting of a flower arrangement that Viktor had done. We went back to Galina’s office and she told us that she was upset because a father had taken his son and daughter for a couple of days to visit and had not returned them when he promised. The police had checked his home and no one was there so Galina was worried about where they were (fortunately we found out the next day that the children had been returned and were unharmed). Because of this situation, we told Galina that we would wait until Saturday to talk with her and we returned to the hotel while Viktor and Sasha went to the concert.

When I got back to the room, Tamara was feeling better so we decided to go downstairs and get something to eat. There had been a birthday party for a little girl and we were the only guests being served beside what remained of the adults from the party. After we ordered the special for the night, chicken steak and mashed potatoes, we were surprised to find out that the people from the party sent over another dish for us to try. It was like a pastry with ground beef inside and it tasted delicious. I guess they thought that these two Americans would never order this dish on their own. I smiled at them and gave them the “thumbs up” sign to thank them for their kindness. After dinner, there were no free computers to check email so we just went back upstairs and watched and American movie on TV so we could follow what was happening enough to understand the plot. After talking to Baylee for a few minutes, we went to sleep.

Trying to get back on schedule

January 17: We woke up in the middle of the night thinking that it was really 5:30 am when it was 2:30 am instead and when we finally went back to sleep, we didn’t wake up until 9:00 am. After talking to Valery about today’s schedule, I got ready and went downstairs for breakfast. Since Tamara was still resting, I had them bring her breakfast to the room. We then wrote some blogs and emails on my laptop before getting ready to go eat lunch with Valery. After lunch, we bought a few snacks and went back to the hotel. At 3:00 we walked to the passport office with Valery where we met Viktor, Sasha and the school lawyer. It only took about 15 minutes for the final paperwork to be submitted. We were told that they would be ready at 10:00 am on Saturday morning. Valery left for Takmak to do the same process for Zhenya (hopefully his passport will be ready on Saturday morning as well). We walked to the corner with the boys and after Viktor told his Momma that she needed to go buy a warm coat, they went to catch a bus and we returned to the hotel.

After a nap, we went down to eat dinner and spent quite a while at the internet cafe updating blogs. Valery called us to tell us that everything went well in Takmak and that Zhenya’s passport would also be ready on Saturday morning so that all three boys could go to Zaporozhe to apply for their new international passports and get police clearances. Karen Springs also called us from Kiev and we updated her on the latest news about our progress.

Visiting with Viktor and Sasha

January 16: Valery was at the court as soon as they opened to get the corrections made to the Decree. I decided to call Lillia at the US Embassy in Kiev to ask for her help concerning Viktor’s passport process. We met Valery in the cafe for breakfast and then rode with him to get the new copies from the court. Afterwards, the taxi dropped us off at the orphanage to visit with Galina and the boys while Valery returned to Zaporozhe. Galina was very glad to see us and greeted Tamara with an embrace. We had been given a package by another American adoptive family, The Spanglers, to give to Galina so we presented it to her. She was overjoyed to see the letters and pictures. Since Valery wasn’t with us, we were all happy to see Viktor and Sasha enter the office because this meant that we would have some help communicating with each other. Sasha and Tamara roughly translated the Spangler’s letter for Galina before we went with the boys to the library to spend some time with them.

We had a good time talking with each other and were amazed at how well they understood us. Viktor had obviously learned a new phrase since we had been gone because he told us “one moment” when he wanted us to wait for him. We were impressed. Sasha was still ahead of him in speaking and understanding but Viktor had obviously progressed a lot over the past couple of weeks. Tamara decided to teach the boys something crucial to survival in the Deep South. She explained to them about the definition of “ya’ll” and how to pronounce it. This can be confusing to people who have never heard it, and in Alabama it’s a word that is sprinkled into every day conversation liberally, but you won’t find it on Rosetta Stone. Tamara also felt that we needed to explain the details of the long trip home and tell them how many planes they would be taking. She wanted to prepare them for travel on an airplane, and we gave some descriptions of what that is like. When we adopted Brooke, she threw up on every plane, so we felt a little preparation wouldn’t hurt. We also discussed the possibility of Viktor’s delay. Viktor was disappointed to learn that he would probably have to wait a few more weeks but he agreed that it would be best for his brothers to go on before him and get started in school. After over three hours of visiting with each other, it was time for us to take a taxi back to the hotel and then to Takmak to meet Valery and obtain the new birth certificates.

Lillia called me back with what initially seemed like good news about Viktor but after she talked with Valery, we learned that the delay is caused because he is registered with the military and needs to be taken off the draft list since he will be immigrating to America. We continued to pray that God would make this process as short as possible. After about 1 ½ hours, we arrived in Takmak and began searching for the birth certificate office. Finally, we were able to meet Valery’s taxi and he joined us. He told us that we had an hour before the certificates would be ready so we decided to get something to eat. After eating a delicious and overdue meal, we drove through a maze of small roads on a hospital complex to the office. The two ladies were very cordial to us even though they both had to work overtime to complete the certificates. Valery had told them about these three boys giving us a total of seven children adopted from Ukraine so they told us that we should have some kind of monument erected in our honor. We told them that God had blessed us by what he had led us to do and they wished us His continued blessings. This was the only point so far that gave Tamara tears in her eyes, when they handed us the boys’ birth certificates. After driving back to Berdyansk, I checked email and updated our expenses on my laptop before going to bed.

A Disappointing Day

January 15: After Valery went to the court to get copies of the Court Decree, he and I met for breakfast and then headed for Zaporozhe while Tamara rested. It is a long, somewhat boring 2 ½ hour drive from Berdyansk to Zaporozhe (the city which wins the prize for the most correct ways to spell it and still be correct, I have chosen to use the shortest version). The most exciting thing to do along the way is count the number of chickens, geese, and turkeys that you see. On certain stretches, you can also gaze in wonder at how thousands of plastic bags had been strewn along the side of the road and across the beautiful fields (it looked like an entire garbage truck filled with plastic bags exploded and the wind spread them for about a mile in each direction). The main check points on the drive are reaching Takmak which is about the halfway point and then reaching the intersection of the road to Melitopol which means you are only about 50 km away.

After searching for the street and then the address for about 20 minutes, we finally located the birth certificate office. Since we were late, the woman helping us asked us to go on to the passport office and she would prepare the paperwork that we needed. After asking for directions about five times, we finally found the familiar street and building where we had been on both of our other two adoptions (it was interesting that I seemed to know my way around Zaporozhe better than Valery and our driver, but, after all, I had been there several times before). I sat in the taxi as Valery went in to check on the boys’ passport process. After about 30 minutes, Valery returned with some news that I didn’t really want to hear. The man in charge of reissuing the passports had told him that Viktor’s process could take up to 30 DAYS! This was due to the fact that he was already 18 and considered to be an adult (even though he is just a kid and has been living in an orphanage for the past 9 yrs.) so he would have to abide by the normal process that any adult that is immigrating to a foreign country has to follow.

I was still recovering from this news as we drove back to pick up the birth certificate paperwork. When Valery came out of the office, I could tell that something else was wrong because he had a downcast look on his face. When I asked if he had gotten what we needed, he reluctantly told me that the woman had found a couple of errors in the Court Decree document and that we would have to get them corrected and then bring it back to her the next day. This was the second blow in the gut in less than 30 minutes but I had to catch myself and focus on trusting that God knew all about this before we did and that He was able to take care of these obstacles. It was dark as we left Zaporozhe on the way back to Berdyansk and we were hungry and tired so we made one stop at the roadside market to get a few snacks at one of the kiosks. After we got back to the hotel, Tamara and I went down to the cafe and had dinner while I told her about everything that had happened. I was tired so I went to bed and Tamara wrote the blog about our time at home between trips and our return journey.

Back Home in Alabama

December 30-January 14:
Tammy: We woke up feeling very weary from the journey. Somehow, Curtis managed to go to church with all the kids. I wondered at the time where he got the strength. I decided that I better stay home and try to recover before we had to go and greet family and friends at the funeral home for the visitation at 5:00 pm. I received a call from our longtime friend, Beverly Fuqua. She was calling to tell us that she had prepared lunch for our family and she and Jack would be delivering it in a couple of hours. It was a welcome call. She said in her sweet, southern voice, “I started to send flowers and I felt God speaking to me to make lunch for ya’ll instead.” God was speaking indeed. Beverly listened. The kids had managed to consume all the groceries while we were gone and hadn’t had a chance to restock. They all took turns staying at the hospital with Mimi, along with some of Mimi’s friends, and some family, Aunt Cyndy, (Tammy’s sister) Marmee, (Tammy’s Mother) and Eric, (Ginger’s fiancé). Ginger and Dima had both continued to work through all of it. We told them we wanted them to go on with Christmas while we were gone and also open presents on Christmas morning. The Sunday before Christmas, the Hornsby family had their party at Uncle Brad’s, (Tammy’s brother’s house) and then our kids, plus Eric, ate Dinner on Christmas day at Aunt Cyndy’s. Aunt Cyndy had a houseful. We felt it was good for the kids to get to be with some of the family in our absence. We’re so thankful for our family and friends for their support during the past few months.

We managed to get through the visitation later that afternoon and the tearful, but encouraging service the next day. Pastor Ron Higey, Mimi’s Pastor at Vestavia Alliance, officiated and offered words of comfort from the Bible and shared of the hope that we have in Heaven. Rev. Ivan Lay, a retired Missionary from Indonesia and a friend of our family, also read scripture and prayed from his heart. Sharon Roberts, a friend for many years from Westside Alliance, sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness". We were so thankful to Sharon for her willingness to sing in spite of some serious physical difficulties. Sharon was always Mimi’s favorite. Another blessing was Judy Gaskin, an active Missionary in Indonesia, in the states on a speaking tour, was able to attend both days. Judy gave a testimony during the service of Mimi’s friendship and support to her as a Missionary for many years. Pastor Blake Lindsey and his family, the campus Pastor at the Riverchase service where we attend, along with Pastor Layne Schranz, came to offer their support. I wondered before the service, because it was New Year’s Eve and so many people were still out of town and traveling home from Christmas, if many people would be able to attend. We were amazed that 150 friends and family made a special effort to attend the visitation and funeral service. We can’t say enough to thank everyone for the acts of kindness, the food, cards, emails from around the world, phone calls, flowers, and donations given to the Great Commission Fund in Mimi’s honor. She requested this in lieu of flowers because the ministry of Missions was always so important to her. We’re thankful for the families who helped us by having our kids over to spend the night or the day, so we could take care of many overwhelming details. The support of others has carried us through a very sad and difficult time.

The saddest part to me was driving back to the grave site later, to check on the gravestone. It had been accidentally bumped at some point and slightly damaged. All the people were now gone. The flowers were piled in a heap on Mimi’s grave. It was done. It was over. It seemed so final. She was in heaven now with her Sweetheart, Grandaddy. As I’m recalling this, I’m reminded this is an adoption journal, as we’re recording our account of something very happy and exciting in our lives. Only God knows why He would weave into this bright, joyful experience some dark threads of grief and sorrow. We can’t see the tapestry He is making. The only perspective of the tapestry we can see is a mess. He sees the perfect, beautiful picture He is creating. Someday we’ll know why He does what He does, in the timing that He does it. For now, we must simply trust Him. He is a Great, Awesome, Mighty, Loving God. And Mimi is with Him, enjoying His presence and the presence of Angels. She couldn’t even walk before she died. Now she is strong and well again. And I think, just like a friend, Mike Hanscom wrote in an email, that she is dancing with her Frank on streets of gold right now. That’s our comfort. That’s our peace. We’ll see her again. Pastor Layne told Curtis that after he left the funeral, he had to go to the hospital to visit a couple who had just had a baby. So, he was honoring one life on earth that just ended, and one life that was just beginning, meeting her parents and new family. As Curtis shared this with me, I was actually reminded that Mimi’s life is also just beginning, but in a new place, in heaven. So, in many ways she is like that newborn baby, starting all over and being re united with her parents and other family after so many years of separation.

The days that followed were filled with visits to lawyers, banks, back again to the funeral home several times, and other post funeral business. We also were frantically trying to get our flights back to Ukraine and weren’t being given much hope for all five us getting a return flight together.
Finally, Curtis was able to arrange our flights there and back. We packed and prepared our home to leave once again. The kids were not excited to say goodbye to us again. They knew it would be about ten days. We weren’t exactly looking forward to being away from them again or enduring the long, tiring flight. Still we had to press on and finish the course set before us. God called us to a task of going back for these boys, and that was the only joyful part in this scenario. We were excited at the thought of bringing them home.

Curtis woke up on Friday, January 11th very excited because he knew the time was drawing near. Our adrenaline began to flow and we managed to get all the last minute details in order. There is always so much to do, from finishing up bills, getting the kids’ school issues taken care of, restocking groceries, packing, arranging transportation to dental appointments while we’re gone, the list goes on. I think if we were still there, we would still be getting ready. J

Jan. 12th, was the day we chose to celebrate my birthday. Curtis made a reservation at Macaroni Grill at the Summit. He made it early for 5:30 pm so we could come home and finish packing. It was just our family of seven and Eric joined us. I enjoyed the food and the opera singer’s version of the birthday song in Italian. The waitress brought me a dark chocolate birthday cake with a candle. It looked scrumptious. It had dark chocolate sauce drizzled on top with dollops of whipped cream all around the plate. I had been fasting dessert and bread and was going to allow myself this one treat. I couldn’t wait to try it. We passed it around the table and I served myself a piece. I took one bite. Hhmmm. It tasted different from what I was expecting. I took another bite. I wondered why it tasted so odd. The waitress returned a few minutes later smiling, and asked me if I liked the cake. I honestly admitted, “Well, it’s not great.” She looked surprised at my honesty. “Really?” she asked. “What is it about it that you don’t like?” I told her it was the cake, not the chocolate drizzled or the whipped cream. She said, “Well, the reason I’m asking, is I don’t like it either. It has mayonnaise in it.” We all responded with, “Mayonnaise!!?” I had heard of putting mayonnaise in cake and biscuits, but I sure wasn’t expecting it to be in this yummy looking cake. This sparked a little memory from our first adoption trip to Berdyansk and I had a flash back as the waitress was still talking. We went to what was supposed to be an authentic Italian Restaurant in Berdyansk that served pizza. Curtis and Ginger and I were so happy to be getting pizza after weeks of eating Ukrainian food. However, one bite into the pizza told me someone had their facts wrong. We were very surprised to find there must have been a whole jar of mayonnaise hidden on top of the pizza under a smooth layer of cheese. Curtis hates mayonnaise and I can’t say I like it on pizza. Mayonnaise to Curtis is like a disease. He immediately pushed his chocolate cake away. I flashed back to the look on Curtis’ face when I told him the pizza had mayonnaise on it. Then I flashed back to Macaroni Grill and the waitress was still going on about how she doesn’t like the cake, “but hey, it’s free.” she said. It’s the day before we leave again for an adoption trip to Berdyansk and we’re in a truly authentic Italian restaurant. However, just like the Italian restaurant in Berdyansk and the pizza, we have a surprise with our cake… mayonnaise. God has a sense of humor for sure. Maybe, it’s a good sign.

Curtis woke up on Sun. Jan. 13th like a kid on Christmas morning. He was so energized he decided to drive Ginger to work at her downtown office at 7:00 am, and then go by Mimi’s house to get her mail. The purpose for this was so we could then meet Ginger back at her office later and she could drive us to the airport. He woke me up bouncing and happy. I was a little irritated by his energy so early in the morning, but was also excited.

We took the kids to attend the early service at the Riverchase campus, at Curtis’ prompting. Then, we drove to Ginger’s office and she took us the rest of the way to the airport. Baylee had spent the night at the Garrett’s the night before, Ella decided to stay home. Dima was meeting his Teacher, Jim Barnes for lunch after church. Only Brooke went along for the ride. As we hugged them both good bye at the airport, I couldn’t help but wonder how our story would turn out in the days that followed. I tossled Ginger’s reddish, blonde curls, and smoothed Brooke’s straight dark hair. Would we arrive back at that same location with three new brothers for them? I gave them one more tight hug, a kiss on the cheek and we were on our way. First flew to Cincinnati, then Frankfurt, and then Kiev. (You can tell Tammy is writing this, because she completely skipped over the flight details.) Valery greeted us in Kiev with a smile. It was good to see him and we chatted excitedly as we immediately made our way to the parking lot and taxi to drive to the Kiev airport. We asked about Yulia, and knew Karen would be arriving back in Kiev on the 16th, so we were just missing her. We had a smooth flight to Mariupol. We cautiously stepped off the plane into gentle gusts of icy wind. I had to be careful, because I had slipped on an icy patch in Frankfurt. Our driver, Sasha was waiting for us to take us to Berdyansk, back to our nice, warm rooms at the Hotel Berdyansk. We had only slept a few minutes here and there over the past 24 hours. Still, we made it.

Now….part 2 of our adoption journey begins.

Heading Home

December 28: We had to get up at 4:00am for the drive to Mariupol. We got ready and left for the airport about 4:30am and made it there in about an hour and fifteen minutes. We sat in the cold, dark terminal for a few minutes as the workers and other passengers trickled in. About 6:30am, we checked our luggage and went through security and fifteen minutes later we all boarded the bus to the plane. The flight left even a few minutes ahead of time and was an enjoyable, comfortable experience with soft drinks, hot tea and candy bars being served to each of us. We arrived at Kiev at about 9:00am, retrieved our luggage and found our taxi driver waiting for us. When Valery called about our apartment, he found out that the one Yulia was planning for us to use would not be ready until 12:00 so he called someone about another apartment near where he lives that would be less money and closer to the airport. Since it would be ready at 11:00am, we decided to take it.

In the meantime, we decided to go to the CBN office and check our email. When we arrived, Valery took us to Steve Weber’s staff conference room. The secretary brought us some hot tea and a couple of minutes later, Steve came in to talk with us. We really enjoyed talking to Steve about our families, our experiences, the children adopted from Berdyansk, the last few days with the boys and several other topics. The most interesting one that he shared was that Valery had done some undercover work in Kherson after a judge had demanded a $1000 bride to complete a family’s adoption process. He was approached by the authorities to go back to the judge equipped with all the 007 gadgets (hidden camera and microphone) in order to get the evidence needed to convict the judge. It was good to hear that something that was an acceptable part of the adoption process six years ago when we came for our first adoption, was now not only frowned upon but was being prosecuted in an attempt to eliminate it completely. We not ready to leave but Valery reminded us that someone was waiting to let us in the apartment so Steve quickly gathered up three Bibles, three New Testaments, two C.S. Lewis books and a couple of copies of a Creationist newspaper for the boys to have. Hopefully, we will be able to have more time with Steve and his family on our next trip through Kiev.

We drove to the apartment, took in our luggage and then walked to a nearby outdoor market area to eat and look for some DVDs for Dima and the boys. We enjoyed our dishes from a small cafeteria and then started the DVD search. We ended up buying five DVDs containing over 30 movies for about $26. (Later, we realized the movies weren’t great quality, so not such a great bargain.) We then rode a bus to a grocery store near our apt. for some snacks.

After we got back to the apartment, Valery and I balance our books for the process so far to be sure that we didn’t owe him money. After he went home, Tamara and I watched parts of the Russian versions of Nacho Libre, Mr. Bean’s Holiday and a few parts of some other movies before realizing that it had gotten cold in the apartment. First we both put our jackets on and then we covered up with the comforter before I was able to figure out how to adjust the radiator. Since it was now dark outside and we didn’t really want to go out to eat, I decided to find an ATM and go back to the grocery store for some real food. I was able to buy some bread, cheese, cabbage and carrot salad, either bologna or something similar to it, pelmeny and some potato chips all for a little over $8. After we ate, we watched part of the World’s Strongest Man competition with the sound turned off before I came in the kitchen to write this blog. I am trying to stay up late enough to sleep until about 9:00am since we won’t be leaving for our flight until 10:00am. I don’t want to wake up in the the night and stare at the ceiling for two or three hours.

December 29: Tamara woke up earlier than I did and was almost ready to go before I even got out of bed. I got up, ate as much of the leftover food as possible and took a shower before getting ready. We had all of our bags packed when Valery arrived a little after 9:30am. The landlady arrived a few minutes later and we talked with Valery about our return trip plans while we waited on the taxi. Although it was Saturday, Valery told us that it was still a work day for most people in Kiev because of the upcoming holiday week. The traffic wasn’t very bad at all so we arrived at the airport at about 10:30am. Valery walked us into the terminal and we said our goodbyes before proceeding to the Delta check-in for our flight. The line was short at the passport control windows and we had no problems. The Delta agent had some difficulty printing my boarding passes but the issue was resolved in plenty of time for us to drink a Coca-Cola Light as we waited for our flight to board.

Finally, it was time to board our flight to New York – JFK. This was the first time that we had flown directly from Kiev to the United States so we were excited to see what it would be like to not have some kind of European connection. After getting settled in for our ten and a half hour flight, we departed Kiev on schedule. We had a good flight with two meals and an ice cream snack, three movies, some TV shows and no sleep. The highlight of the flight was the view that we had of ice drifts and glaciers as our flight path took us close to the Arctic Circle. It was a beautiful sight and we took several pictures from the window. Although we had pretty strong headwinds, the flight arrived in New York pretty much on time. When we got to customs, there was a fairly long line that didn’t move very fast but we were able to endure the wait and made our way to the Delta domestic flight check-in and our gate for the flight to Atlanta. The flight boarded on time and I was amazed how quickly we taxied to the runway and took off. The 757 was equipped with satellite TV and since we had and empty seat between us, I watched the Mississippi State and UCF game at the same time as the New England and New York Giants game while an exhausted Tamara finally got some sleep. We arrived in Atlanta about 30 minutes early but unfortunately our perfect trip so far was about to be derailed. First, there was a gate change for our flight to Birmingham and then about and hour and a half delay due to the plane being late and then needing two new tires. Finally, we boarded and taxied off as the last plane out of Atlanta after Midnight for the 25 minute flight to Birmingham. I commented to the stewardess that this was the first time that I had ever arrived at my destination a day before I left since it would still be about 11:45pm CST when we arrived. We were really dragging as we looked for our daughter Ginger who was supposed to be waiting for us. Since she and her fiancé, Eric, had come in her Volvo C70 and one of her friends had come along in her car, I had to drive her car back home. This was not pleasant for either of us since all we wanted to do was fall into our bed and pass out. We made it home about 12:30am…….

Tammy: When we arrived home it was after midnight and the house was dark and strangely quiet. The kids were obviously all asleep. I felt a twinge of sadness as I entered the back door and noticed a small pile of “stuff” strewn on the floor in the sunroom. It was Mimi’s belongings from the hospital….some Gospel music cd’s, her bag of clothes, cards and plants from friends who were praying for her. It was comforting to see the Christmas tree. I smiled when I saw the evidence of Christmas morning and opened presents here and there. Our presents were still wrapped and arranged neatly under the tree in a semi circle. Baylee probably did this. She was our official present arranger. I knew it had been hard for them for us to be away, not just because of Christmas, but because of all that was happening with Mimi. Ella woke up to give both of us a hug. Dima heard us and came upstairs looking pitiful because he needed some cold medicine. They seemed happy and relieved we were home. I climbed into bed and slid under our wonderful comforter. To sleep in our own bed was a gift, like we had been given a priceless treasure. I knew we had left unfinished business in Ukraine. I thought of the boys and their smiling faces. At the next moment, however, our mattress felt like a cloud and within minutes I gently drifted off to another land.