We are home!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay - so we have been home a few days now but I have to tell you, the hardest part of my trip so far has been recovering from the jet lag. It is something I greatly underestimated. I have traveled to Europe several times but always recovered in a couple of days. This time about wiped me out. :-)

Let me see if I can catch you all up a bit. Our last day in Almaty was pretty busy. It snowed all day long (which made for the most beautiful exit to Kazakhstan early the next morning!). Vitalii took Abby and me shopping! Had to get as much to remember Kazakhstan as I possibly could. He took us to the most wonderful little shop where everything was handmade. This lady carried everything from art to clothes. I loaded up!! Vitalii was very hot in her store, so he and Abby went out in the snow (where she promptly fell asleep!) The lady knew just enough English, and me just enough Russian to make our transaction. :-)

We then went to the Tsum store which is like a 3 floor bazaar - though fancier. I can't really describe it very well but it is made up of many small, almost booths and I think you could buy anything there. I bought some adorable slippers for Abby and some stacking dolls (had to get those!). Vitalii was also impressed that I went back in by myself later and found the first store where I had forgotten to buy a shirt. By then it was definitely snowing harder so we went back to the apartment to eat lunch and let Abby take a nap. I was able to get a good bit of packing done while she slept - thank goodness!!

That afternoon Abby and I were to go to the U.S. Embassy to get her passport and visa stuff. There were several families there with us (some from WPA and some not). Let me tell you that Abby was the biggest baby! The others were roughly her age but she had them all beat in size. Makes a mom so proud! :-) The Embassy was quite strict about their protocol. No photos inside or out and we had to leave our driver's licenses at the front and then were escorted up the elevator. From here it was easy. They called our names one at a time. When they called the Green family, I went to a window that looked like a bank teller where they gave me a large packet for Abby and I had to raise my hand and take an oath. This packet was to remain sealed until we got to the U.S. where it was only to be opened by BCIS. Her picture was on the visa form on the outside and was absolutely adorable. Sadly I was not allowed to keep any of that.

Next we walked a block or so to Gulbanu's office. It was nice talking with the other families and we discovered we would all be on the same flight from Almaty to Frankfurt later that night. My meeting with Gulbanu was good. She is an incredible lady and I am eternally grateful to her for all she has done for Abby and me. We did discover one small glitch. I did not have actual airline tickets for Abby. I had booked them and requested them but never received the tickets. Since I did not buy her a seat I didn't think anything about not receiving them. Well, Gulbanu had Vitalii take me to the Lufthansa office so I could work it all out. The Lufthansa office is located in an extremely nice hotel. It took about an hour or so to get everything straightened out but it all ended fine.

I had one last thing I really wanted to buy before leaving Kazakhstan - a CD with the awesome music I had been listening to for the last month. So, one last trip to the Ramstore! My boy Vitalii got me hooked up and I bought a CD. While I was there, I also changed my tenge back to dollars. By this time it was dinner time so back to the apartment one last time.

I fed Abby and got her to bed and then it was time for some major organizing and packing. Vitalii was picking us up at 1:30am. I decided to pack, take a shower, and take a short 1 hour nap before he arrived and the timing worked out just right for this. I should mention that Abby had just started catching a cold. And teething. A little foreshadowing for you there. :-)

Vitalii picked us up exactly at 1:30. He was so wonderful to take all my heavy bags to the car. Abby woke up as I got her snowsuit on and we headed out to the most beautiful winter wonderland ever. With all the lights of Almaty, the scene was surreal. I wish I had my camera out but everything was packed so tight so I will have to remember it in my mind. Vitalii had a special CD for our drive to the airport (about 30 minute drive). It was a lovely exit.

The airport. Oh my. We exited through the VIP service which was so much nicer than just regular airport boarding. But it was still the airport. And it was 2:00am. And we all had awake tired babies/children. :-) I did feed Abby and changed her but the wait was long. No way around that. One funny thing happened there though - all of a sudden I noticed about 15 tv cameras filming all of us waiting. We had no idea what was going on. The tv people were escorted out but we later found out that there was some criminal on our flight who was being kicked out of Kazakhstan. Not sure why he was being sent to Germany or what the whole story was but whoever the person was certainly warranted a lot of attention.

The flight to Frankfurt was about 7.5 hours. Abby and I were seated in the bulkhead and they had a bassinet for her. The man sitting next to me was not exactly thrilled with this notion. :-) He was an extremely large man and the bassinet baby combination was more than he wanted to deal with. I can certainly understand that. There were plenty of open seats though so I was surprised he didn't move somewhere else. Abby did sleep a couple of hours but then the sleeping part of our trip was over for awhile. Fortunately on this flight there were many babies and we all wound up congregating in the back of the plane for most of the flight. At the risk of being too graphic, I must share that she had one diaper incident that might make some kind of world record. And if you have never changed a diaper in the bathroom of an airplane with an busy 10 month old, well, you truly have not lived. :-) Imagine arms, legs, diapers, and wipes going every which way. It was really funny.

Next up - Frankfurt! We finally landed and I parted ways with the families I had met as we are all going different directions at this point. We had a 4 hour layover here. Our gate was pretty far away and had not even opened yet so I found a table and fed Abby. We walked around a good bit too. Finally they opened the section for U.S. flights. Wow. Talk about security. We had to go through again (though we were still in the gate area). And let me say, they checked for things in places - well - you get the idea. They even patted down Abby (including her diaper). Ok - that part was funny to me.

We were still a good 2 hours early at our gate but Abby shortly fell asleep. I don't know what it is about me and the Frankfurt airport. Something always happens to me there. This day was no exception. There were about 10 other people sitting near me - all together. They kept saying "Atlanta, GA" over and over again. I should say at this point that they were all fully dressed. I don't normally add this as a way to describe people, but in this case, that is an important piece of information. I was sitting between them and the bathroom. Even though Abby was asleep, I was completely entertained for the next hour by these people. The first one to go to the bathroom, returned without his pants. He still had on his shirt and had on a towel, but no pants. The next one walked by me brushing her teeth with no toothbrush but just toothpaste on her finger. The next one came by with pants, no shirt, and no shoes. They were parading by me at a rapid rate too. Every one had on different amounts of various clothing. This little show lasted quite awhile and I only had to turn my head in modesty once so I guess it was all just fine. I just don't know - people are funny. :-)

The flight to Atlanta was one best described as "Some things are best not dwelt on". Poor Abby was exhausted (as was I) but she fought sleep solidly and very successfully for 3 hours. The flight attendants at one point asked if they could do something. They offered me hot water but I didn't think scalding my child would make things better. I knew once she fell asleep she would be out for the count (and this was precisely what happened). I finally got her to sleep and she slept for a good 7 hours until we were about to land in Atlanta. I, however, did not sleep since she was on the seat next to me and Abby tends to roll when she is asleep.

But, we finally landed!!! Woo hoo!! It took us 2.5 hours to get to my family and friends who were patiently waiting on us. We had to go through Customs, of course, but also had to let BCIS go through her visa stuff and proclaim her an official U.S. citizen!!! If you have not traveled internationally, it is not like getting off a domestic flight, as you have to claim your baggage and then go back through security before leaving the international area.

And, so we are home. I can tell you with absolute happiness that every second of my journey to and from Kazakhstan is something I will treasure always. Yes, parts were difficult. But it was all worth it as Abby is the best thing that ever happened to me. She is this incredible, joyous child. I love watching her learn new things and experience new things. I can no longer imagine my life without her.

I have decided to keep posting here (though every day probably won't happen) so those of you who are interested, please check in. In some ways our journey has ended but in so many others it has just begun and I want to capture as much as possible.

I plan to post pictures of my little pumpkin later today and will include a link here.

Finally, 2 of my dear friends are having a "Meet Abby" party this Saturday (Feb. 7) from 2-4pm at my house. If you are in the neighborhood, we would love for you to come by!! E-mail me or Ginger (anotherginger@yahoo.com) if you need directions. NO GIFTS!!!

Bye for now! :-)