New Living, Jet Lag and Lost Luggage

Well the lat 72 hours have been hectic.  We have managed to move from one house to another, close on a house, and somehow get on a plane to get to the Ukraine.  We have received a lot of great news, but timing is everything.  It is definitely hard enough to pack for a trip where you don’t know what the weather will be like or what else you will need, but packing suitcases from boxes that were moved from one house to the other is quite the experience.  I am sure we forgot plenty of things we will want, but we made sure we packed everything we need.  I believe I have slept 4-5 hours over the last few days and Debbie is not far behind me.  Our two boys, Carter and Stasik, share the excitement of a new home, but the anxiety of moving has placed a heavy toll on them as well.  Add that to the fact that we are leaving the country is a whole different ball game.  Our friend Anna took the boys before we boarded a plane so hopefully they will forget we are gone and will not get too upset about us being gone for a few days or weeks.  Last time we went to get Stasik, Carter did not take it well and that has been a concern every since we decided to adopt again.

So here we are landing on Eastern European soil with no idea what to expect.  Our media makes Kiev and other regions of the Ukraine seem dangerous and now we will get to see for ourselves.  The flights leaving from Dallas/Fort Worth seemed to be the shortest we have ever had, but this is probably because we are both sleep walking.  Neither of us have slept and now we have to try to stay awake in order to get on a schedule that is 8 hours ahead of ours at home. We had two layovers and I believe on one flight we had dinner and breakfast within 3 hours of each other in order to compensate for time change.  Needless to say when we arrived, we were not very hungry but extremely sleepy.  We thought we would get off the plane, get our luggage, and meet our driver that takes us to our apartment.  Instead, we were lucky enough to wait in line for 2 hours to report luggage that the airline lost.  No trip we take is ever smooth; there is always at least one thing that happens that is unexpected and I am sure this will not be the last. Debbie finally filled out the paperwork and off we went to good ol’ downtown Kiev.  Usually we go to the store and buy groceries before we get settled, but I fell asleep on the trip from the airport and I think we were both just ready to lie down. We were in our apartment at 4:00 pm slept until 9:00pm, we got up and went to the market for food and then back in bed again.  Tomorrow morning we go to our DAP appointment and find out more about our new little girl Georgina.  Jet lag and lost luggage has made it quite a day!!