Well, I've got to say, I still cannot believe that we made it. Our flight out of Dayton took off a few minutes late because the plane needed to be de-iced, but it did take off and almost on time. We got to Dulles about 30 minutes before our flight to Moscow was scheduled to take off. We were unable to get our boarding passes for our flight to Moscow in Dayton, so we had absolutely no idea where we needed to go. Luckily we found the gate quickly and were able to get there just in time for boarding. The flight ended up taking off an hour late which put us in Moscow an hour late. By the time we got off the plane we had 10 minutes before our flight to Kiev was scheduled to take off. Talk about a rush! Unfortunately, when we arrived in Kiev, we learned that our checked luggage had not followed us there, so we are without most of our belongings. Thankfully, both my mom and I packed enough stuff to get by for a few days in our carryon bags, so we should be okay until we get back to Kiev to claim our bags on Tuesday or Wednesday. I am a bit bummed that the bag full of orphanage donations, gifts to the orphanage workers and various things I was carrying for people will not be going with me to Artemovsk, but (for those of your who I am carrying things for) I have been promised that it will make it to Masha so that she can distribute the various items. I am sad that I will not be there to give things out myself, but as long as everything makes it to where it needs to go, I will be happy.
We will be traveling by "luxury bus" (aka a tour bus) to Donetsk this evening and are scheduled to arrive early tomorrow morning. The bus was definitely not my first choice, but all of the train and plane tickets were booked and it came down to a bus or a car and the bus won out! I have been reassured by my facilitator that it will be a "comfortable ride" and that "we should be able to sleep," and I am really hoping that is the case because I am exhausted. Masha will pick us up at the bus station in the morning and then we will get to work on the decree, birth certificate and passport and hopefully pick Evan up tomorrow afternoon.
Thank you all for your prayers and support. It was definitely on the wings of prayer that we made it here as scheduled today, of that there is no doubt!
4 comments:
Reminds me of the movie 'Planes Trains and Automobiles'. I'm glad you made it. How disappointing about your luggage. Why does that happen so much anyway?! I'll make a note to pack some "essentials" in my carry-ons...just in case!
Oh, I'm so glad you made all your connections! Bummer about the luggage, but hopefully the gifts will make it to Artemovsk later.
Have a great bus trip and good luck with the rest of the paperwork on Monday!
Oh my dear Valerie and Liz, it made me out of breath just reading about your dashes through airport terminals. And I can imagine your disapointment about the baggage but otherwise things are going okay. I am concerned about your health, Val, and I hope that you can get some good sleep VERY soon, but I doubt on the bus. I know you'll be so happy to see Evan again, and I'll be interested to know how he reacts.
All my love,
Cynthia
Oh No! I hope all of the goodies get where they need to go!! GRR bad airlines. The bus does not sound like fun you get baby Evan and get back to Kyiv so you can get home to all your precious babies!!!
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