The Adventure Ends

Alex and Scott arrived home yesterday evening safe and sound. It is great to be reunited with "Momma" for both of us. Alex remembered Lara and immediately called her "Momma". Scott felt that "Momma" was a sight for sore eyes. When we pulled into the driveway, Alex said "dome" (Russian for "home") recognizing the house that we had shown him in the photo album throughout the time we spent with him in the Ukraine.

Alex did really well at home last night. We had a late dinner, he explored the house, played with the dogs, and slept through the night. We woke up to snow in the morning. He seems to be right back on schedule today. It feels great to have him in the house! We find ourselves just staring at him as he tools around playing and talking. We can't believe he is actually here with us. It has been soooooo long coming.

Alex was a trooper on the flight from Amsterdam. He slept half the way and spent the other half eating, watching movies and doing puzzles. The logistics of checking in for the flight and getting through passport control in Kyiv was an adventure not worth reviewing at this point. It is enough to say it is good to be home.

So, was it all worth it? We have contemplated this question over the last two months. With focus on the end game of meeting and adopting Alex, the answer to this question is ABSOLUTELY. We are very fortunate that we were able to persevere through the unknown in order to find him. We are doubly blessed that he is in such good health and normal in every way. A friend reminded us that there is a reason that everything happens. There is a reason Russia shut down their adoptions to the U.S. during our adoption process and we had to redirect our efforts to the Ukraine. There is a reason we were not exposed to all the information about the process in Ukraine prior to leaving. There is a reason there were obstacles and difficulties throughout the process right to the end. There were reasons for our first two appointments. Yes, we feel extremely fortunate. We were on the razors edge of coming home empty handed. An hour here or an hour there and the outcome of our process could have become very different. Alex was visited by a Ukrainian couple the week prior to us learning about him, but they turned him down for adoption. Their decision made him available for international adoption and available for us to meet. We know of four other couples that had appointments and in Kyiv at the same time that returned to the U.S. without a child. It feels like we were handed the winning lottery ticket.

A better question to ponder is: "Would you do it all again the same way?". If we knew we would get Alex, ABSOLUTELY. When we were at the Baby House with Alex , we saw many wonderful young children. At the time, the Baby House had 128 children 0-4 years of age. It remains difficult for us to comprehend these numbers when we know some couples leave the Ukraine without a child and others wait for months to simply receive an invitation. We understand adopting in the Ukraine is not a guarantee after traveling there and leaves an awful lot to chance. For those who may be reading this and considering adoption in the Ukraine, we wish you a happy ending such as ours and hope our blog may provide some additional insight. It is a difficult process and people should fully weigh the risks and rewards of attempting the Ukrainian adoption process, there are many young children with no major/minor medical issues in their baby houses where their only issue is they don't have a family. We strongly hope the bureaucracy continues to advance and streamline in the best interest of all orphaned children.

In the end, we are now in a very happy place. This blog was not meant to carry on forever, so this is the final entry. We want to thank everyone who helped us and supported us to get to the Ukraine, took care of our home front while we were gone, and everyone who followed our story and provided us with so much moral support. You can not know how much all of the messages of support kept us going and kept us hoping while in the Ukraine. Family, friends, the companies for which we work, and our physicians (including Clarke and Sarah). You all pitched in and were as much a part of bringing Alex to us as any individual effort that Lara and I did as a couple. A collective group can move mountains, while individuals can only move mounds. It took a team to get all of this done, and you were all a part of the greater team effort. One team member that we have not mentioned by name is our coordinator and translator in the Ukraine, Era. Era took care of us while in Ukraine in every way and facilitated our process. We can not imagine being in Ukraine without her. She did not simply translate. She managed all of the legal and bureaucratic processes we faced. Most importantly, we always felt that we had someone there in the country that cared about us, ensuring our needs were taken care of and working extremely hard to help fulfil our dreams. We became friends, having spent two months together sharing our difficulties, dreams, philosophies and cultures. Saying goodbye at the airport was very difficult. Hopefully it will be more of a farewell and our paths will cross again (next time, Scott will make the Borscht).

So with that, this concludes the blog. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed creating it. We are happy to say that while this is the end of this adventure, it is the beginning of the next!