We are finally Home!!!

Greetings to you all!
We are now home as many of you already know. We are doing very well. Sara is adjusting amazingly well. We hope she continues to do so. Before I let you know details on how she is doing at home I would like to tell you how things went just before we came home.
On Sat. April 29th we had our driver Nicolai come pick us up at around 10 am. We had called Sasha to arrange for a driver that could drive us around Kiev for some site-seeing. We wanted to see some of the beautiful churchs and take many pictures of Kiev. First we went to St. Andrew's square. St. Andrews Church was amazing to look at. There was cobble-stone everywhere. There was also a small outdoors market. All the booths had many many hand-made traditional Ukrainian items. This is the place to go if your looking to purchase authentic Ukrainian things for souvenirs and your little ones keep-sakes. Many of the vendors spoke english and were very friendly. We even bargained with a few. There were hundreds of Matrioshka dolls! They were are different sizes and one was always more beatiful then the next. We bought Sara one and she just loved it. She asked me acouple of times, "Etta moy?". (Is this mine?) I kept reassuring her that yes it was hers. She gave me the biggest smile! She carried it around in her own bag. We took a little walk around and there were also a few musicians playing their instruments and a donation container on the ground. My favourite was this guy who was dressed in the traditional Ukrainian outfit and playing the "bandolin". He was singing an old Ukrainian song. We stood there for awhile and listened and video taped him. We also saw the Dnipr river, the inside of St. Micheal's church and the Mosuleum. The Mosuleum was amazing. This was built in honour of the 200,000 Ukrainian people who starved to death many years ago. It was quite the place to see! It also had an excellent view of the city. At around 1pm we headed back to the apartment and had some lunch and we rested up before heading out again.
Afterwards at around 2-2:30 pm, we met with our friend & her sister in front of T.G.I. Friday's. We hugged each other as soon as we saw each other and congratulated each other on our children. They had adopted a 17 month old boy with the most beautiful dark long eyelashes I ever seen! We had a lovely day together chitchatting about how our journeys went. We walked down Main St. Kiev again as the street was blocked off from traffic. We also walked through a beautiful park that was nearby. The weather was fantastic! It was sunny and I saw many bright red tulips in bloom. I couldn't resist taking pictures. Sara was in her new stroller which she willingly got into. She was loving every minute of it. She was quite amused with the many people walking around.By the end of the afternoon we had walked back again and we said our goodbyes and wished each other a good trip home and good luck at home. As soon as we returned to the apartment Philip fell asleep and Sara fell asleep in the bedroom. I didn't feel like sleeping so I started to collect our things and start packing. First thing I made sure of were the adoption documents packed first with our passports & tickets in our carry-on. Afterwards Philip & I did all the packing. Sara was very excited to be packing suitcases. We didn't want to leave anything for the next morning so we could enjoy our last morning in the apartment. We didn't sleep very well because we were too excited. I gave Sara a bath which she just loves. She like a fish in the water. At 10:15am Nicolai and the landlady showed up. We paid the landlady and even gave her alittle bonus. She was very pleasant and we tried to converse alittle. We got to the airport at about 11am. We went to pick up Sara's ticket first and then we waited along time before we could get checked in. We were first in line but they made us wait for 2 hrs !! Everyone was so frustrated including Sara. She was so good considering the situation and her age. She got to the point where she couldn't stay in the stroller anymore. So many times I walked back up & down the hallway and 5 or 6 times up & down 2 flights of stairs. I was trying to get her tired so she would sleep on the plane. Thank God I had packed some cookies and pistachio nuts and water in her back-pack! We finally got checked in around 1-1:30 pm! The flight went very well. Sara was so amazed when she looked out the window and saw we were moving and then going up! All I heard was, wow! Soon after she started crying because she was so tired and all she wanted was Papa. Philip was getting alittle frustrated because he couldn't calm her down. I gave Philip a lolli-pop to give to her because her ears were probably bothering her. She had it in her mouth for 5 min and passed out. She slept most of the time and when she was awake she stood up and played with her toys or visited me accross the aisle. She loved the bathroom! I think because it was little. Before we new it we were in Toronto, Canada! What a great feeling! I was getting so nervous and anxious to see our kids. We got our luggage and went to see an immigration officer to sign papers for Sara and was told that we could apply for her Canadian passport right away. So then she will have 2 passports. We started walking and saw "our crowd" waving frantically at us from behind the glass! I was holding Sara and the look on her face was priceless!! She had this look saying,"Wow! everyone is waving at me?!!". Then we were out and our 3 other kids ran up to us and we were crying tears of joy in the middle of hugs and kisses! Sara recongnized her brothers and sisters right away. More hugs and kisses their too! Sara was just fine with everyone saying hello with her. She was being shy. she started to smile when my good friend Patricia gave her a pink bear and my sister-in-law gave her a doll. Then came the balloons! She loved those! Good choice Wanda! We were so exhausted but we were so happy to see everyone again. We appreciate and Thank everyone who came to the airport!! By this time it was about 10pm or so. On our way home Sara had a blast with our oldest son Anthony & the balloons. When we got home there was a beautiful welcome home sign that the kids made and another on Sara's & Marina's bedroom door reading,"This is your new bedroom!". As soon as we walked into the house Sara gave our little dog a big hug. She followed him everywhere. She just adores him. The kids had alot of fun together before heading off to bed in the wee hours of the morning! I was surprised that Sara insisted she sleep in her own bed with Marina. They share a bedroom with 2 single beds. She's been sleeping there ever since.
I will tell you more about how our home life is coming along on my next post!
BYE FOR NOW!!
Gina Fortini