Ah, the long wait before the final chapter in the adoption story! We have done so much! What a trip home. The 2 1/2 hour flight from Kiev to Frankfurt went pretty well, after the meltdown over the seat belt! Lizzy had no idea what it was and it really scared her to be strapped in; and they can't take off until everyone is buckled in. The 5 hour layover in Frankfurt was spent play riding in one of the security / escort carts parked near our terminal, eating a little snack, and playing with another little girl who was also waiting for her family's flight. The 11 hour flight from Frankfurt to Atlanta was long, but thankfully the movies and TV shows kept Lizzy pretty entertained while she was awake, and fortunately she slept a good part of the flight. She was a little scared of the toilet but mama helped her through it. Atlanta was under some stormy weather, so we had to circle a bit before our landing due to other flights being backed up. The descent was pretty rough coming down through the clouds. Candace, vomit bag in hand, managed to keep it down, while Lizzy giggled and laughed with joy! Looks like papa will have a roller coaster partner in a few years! Customs and immigration went pretty smooth. A big thank you to Rheannon and Jackie for meeting us at the airport and taking us home! We had never been so happy to walk through our front door, after a month long journey and now finally as a family! As tired as we all were, as much as we had done, Lizzy was all smiles when she saw her new home! Her eyes lit up when she saw her new room! A big thanks to Steph, Rick, and Rheannon for decorating Lizzy's room and stocking it with clothes! She loves it!
Lizzy has been adjusting so well to her new home, culture, time zone, environment. On the third night she slept through the night, no crying, and woke up happy ready to go! She loves the zabochkas (dogs)! And going for a ride in the car (especially if we are going to eat). Every time we go somewhere, on the way home she starts saying "za-boch-kas ... za-boch-kas !", it is adorable! We think the dogs have really helped her to feel her home is safe and special. Bath time has been a challenge, we're sure it is very different from how things were at the orphanage. We tried shower, bath, bubble bath (especially scary!), mom shows how to take a bath, cold water like the orphanage, warm water like we like, bring in the baby doll for a bath, but nothing worked. Another big thank you to Rick, who brought some bath toys and then made bath time fun! Tonight for the first time she is letting mama read a book to her before she goes to sleep, no arguments.
So far here are some things in America lizzy likes to eat: tomatoes, tofu, eggs, bread, PASTA (anything with pasta, including macaroni with nutritional yeast, flax and tofu!), rice, broccoli & carrots (if they have some stir fry sauce on it), boca burgers, pizza (if she's hungry enough, with tomatoes and banana peppers too), yogurt, applesauce, bananas, apples, grapes, and suckers (she was a big hit at the bank), and of course anything sweet! The other night I showed Lizzy a picture of the recipe we were about to fix and told her we were going to have that for dinner and she got so excited she ran to me, did a little skip in the air, then planted a huge kiss on me. She's quite the foodie! Also, Lizzy has never met a stranger (this can be for the good, bad, and ugly!) Lizzy loves playing outside, especially when papa throws her in the air and spins her around. She really likes her baby doll and stroller, shopping, cute shoes, pink clothes, and anything fashionable! Mama will definitely have a shopping partner!
We want to thank everyone who has supported us in so many ways. So closes our long, hard, and infinitely rewarding adoption journey and begins anew our life as a family.

Since we have had Lizzy with us full time, there has not been time to write a blog! She has been wonderful. Even though she did not sleep on the train ride, she was a happy girl all day on Saturday. I think Mama was way more tired and grumpy than Lizzy. She is having a little trouble adjusting to the new food. She hasn't eaten much because it does not look like the food she ate at the orphanage. We figure she'll eat once we are home and can cook kid friendly meals for her. She went to her first mall on Sunday. She just took in everything. We went to the toy store and she wanted every doll that was there. Mama and Papa bought her her first Barbie and it hasn't left her side since. I have never seen a child so excited about a doll. We also bought her some more clothes. Everyday we put on a new outfit, she jumps up and down with excitement.
The first shower we gave her started off horrible. She screamed bloody murder because she was scared. Once she was in for a few minutes, she loved it! Now she wants to take a shower all the time. We let her play in the shower a little today. She had so much fun. I wish we had a tub so that we could give her a bubble bath. She has been really good at laying down at night when she is tired and going to sleep. However, last night was hard for Paul and I. Sometimes she rocks back and forth before she goes to sleep. Our facilitator told us that some orphans do that to comfort themselves. This means that she was not rocked to sleep when she was scared or going to sleep. When she started doing this last night, Paul picked her up and rocked her. It broke both our hearts to think about her not being rocked when she was little. Maybe sometimes, but not regularly. We also have found that she has a love/hate relationship with dogs. She loves them and wants to look at them. She has even gotten kind of close to them. However, once she gets too close she gets scared and runs away. We'll see how she and the dogs get along :) She is also a ham and LOVES her picture taken. She likes to do silly things and have us take her picture. We have definitely been entertained lately. Tomorrow we do our business at the Embassy. It sounds like it is an all day event :( Wednesday we take it easy and pack. Our flight leaves Kiev Thursday morning (our time) at 5:35 am. That means we have to be at the airport at 3:30 am!!! We have a two hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany. Then we have a 5 hour layover. Finally, we have our 10 hour flight to Atlanta. All of this with a 5 year old who doesn't like to sit still. Sounds like fun! However, we will be so excited to get home and back to some normalcy. It will be great to eat healthy again, and get back into our routine. I think Lizzy will like her new home.

Love,
Candace and Paul

We wanted to let everyone know that we arrived in Kiev safely at 6:00 am. Lizzy did OK. When it was time to go to sleep she got really scared and cried for a while about every two hours. I think she only slept about 2 hours the whole night. I thought she would be grouchy this morning, but she is a happy little girl. She has been great at entertaining herself with my sunglasses and balloons. Not sure what we are going to do in the apartment for three days, but I guess we will manage. Hopefully, she won't get too bored. We are really hoping we can get a flight home Thursday. We'll see.

Love,
Candace and Paul

So thanks to our awesome facilitator and some good luck, we are leaving on the train for Kiev tonight!! We are picking Miss Lizzy up at the orphanage and the train leaves at 7:30. We will arrive in Kiev early tomorrow morning. We will be in Kiev over the weekend and on Monday because it is a holiday because of Easter. So on Tuesday and Wednesday we will do our business at the Embassy. As long as we can get a flight, we will leave Ukraine on Thursday!!! We are so excited. Hopefully, we will be in America again soon. Also, our friends got their Interpol today and had court also today. Now we can leave and not feel guilty. We are so happy for them. See you in Kiev!!

Love,
Candace and Paul