Our journey home - an incredible story

Here is an email I sent to our family upon our return:

"Want to send a quick email to let you know that Lera and I made it home. About 17 hours later than planned (which is tough on a 24-hour itinerary!), but home nonetheless! Brief recap of the trip -

The first part (Almaty to Frankfurt, 6 hour layover, Frankfurt to Washington Dulles) went fine. Other than a few short meltdowns, Lera was good and slept a lot. (Doctor suggested Benadryl, which worked like a charm!) We enjoyed being with my travel partner (and now friend!) Heather and her baby Sylvia up until Frankfurt.

Sleepy girls at the airportTouching down in the US - when Lera became a US citizen (she wasn't as excited as I)

But on leg #3 - Wash Dulles to Cinti - it got ugly. Lines in immigration and customs were slow, I had a LONG walk to my gate, and there were no baggage carts. I could not move quickly enough and missed our flight home. The plane was sitting there with the jetway still on, but they said the flight had just closed and would not let me on. As we watched the plane push back, I must admit, I cried. After another hike to customer service (this time with a high-jacked wheelchair for Lera and my duffle!), we got booked on another flight a few hours later.

Waiting for that flight, I met a man, who asked me if Lera was adopted (I think he'd heard me say something to her in Russian). I mentioned that she had just become a US citizen a few hours before (when the plane touched down). He said he works for the US Government (at a military base near home), was travelling on business with 2 co-workers - then jokingly gave Lera an "official welcome to the US" on behalf of the Government.

Look who I met at Washington Dulles Airport!

This next part is incredible to me. A short while later, United announced that the flight was cancelled! Of course, I was shocked and upset. But right away, the man came over and said, "Don't worry, we will help you and your baby get home." Long story short - instead of spending the night and next day at the airport trying to go stand-by on a series of 1-stop flights (which is what United was suggesting) - he convinced them to book his group, Lera and me on another airline's early morning, direct flight out of Washington National airport. They then: gave us a ride in their rental car to a hotel, stopped at a store to buy Lera some milk, gave me one of their hotel rooms for free (2 of them shared a room), gave us a ride to the airport the next morning, carrying my bags the whole time - all the way to baggage claim in Columbus, where Russ and the kids met us.

They stayed for a few minutes to see Lera & Russ reunite, and Lera meet the kids - and said that seeing that, was all the thanks they needed!

So - we made it home, and are off to a good start as a family of five."

Meeting "brat" Aidan and "syestra" Kristin - didn't take long to warm up!