Monday - I'm an American

We made it home to Indiana safely on Friday night as scheduled. I tried several times this weekend to post, but had trouble with the internet. This trip went very well and we were able to use our ticket that we booked several months ago, which was a guess at the time. We were able to reconnect with the Matthews and Rawleys in Kiev on Wednesday and Thursday, and that was really nice. The girls were really excited to see each other. Halle traveled very well, aside from getting sick twice on the long flight. She was a trooper, though, and was too excited to sleep. When we landed in Detroit, she had just fallen asleep (maybe 10 minutes). Her eyes flew open, she sat up, and asked "America?" When I replied "yes", she fell back in her seat and said "I'm an American!" It was great! She was exhausted when we got home. We had a great weekend, and she is doing well. She loves her brother Andrew and her dog, Obie. She tries to feed him all of the time. We will travel to Chicago next weekend, so her other brother, Nick, can meet her. He is looking forward to that. Well, this has been a very long journey, but we know it will be well worth it. We are looking forward to this new journey with Halle as our daughter. Thank you one more time for all of your prayers and encouragement. We love you all!
Laura

Tuesday - We Have a Daughter!

Today we spent most of the day in the car, getting paperwork done, starting with a drive to Halle's birthplace. It was interesting to see more of the countryside. Due to time, we thought we wouldn't be picking her up until tomorrow, but it turned out at the end of the day, we went to the orphanage, and ended up bringing her with us. She was really excited and so were we. We took her out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants so she could get french fries. When we got back to the hotel, we got out her new clothes to give her, which she loved. We will fly to Kiev in the morning, and start with our paperwork there. Things are going well, and we are still hoping to fly out on Friday. I can't believe that we have a daughter! God is good!

Laura

Monday - Hello Liverpool

After a full day of travel, we made it safely to Donetsk, and are nestled into our home away from home, The Liverpool Hotel. We requested the same room, because the internet doesn't work in all of them. We are prepared to hit the ground running tomorrow. We are anxious to see Halle, but don't know yet when that will be.

Laura

Back to Ukraine

Here we go again! We are at the airport getting ready to go on our journey back to the Ukraine to pick up our new daughter Halle! Although it is a long trip that we are not looking forward to, we are so excited about the result. We will arrive in Kiev on Monday afternoon, and will try to get a flight to Donetsk that evening. We will pick Halle up to be with us forever on Tuesday. From there, we will have a few days of running and paperwork in Donetsk and Kiev. We hope to arrive back home by next weekend. It was a great week at home, as we got to catch up with our boys, Nick and Andrew, and finish preparing Halle's room. I will post on days that I have internet available. Thanks again for your support and prayers!

Laura