Never in our lives have we been so happy to be home!!! When our plane touched down on U.S. soil in Atlanta late Thursday afternoon you would have thought that we won the lottery!!! We were praising the Lord for bringing us home safely and we were so thankful for being able to bring Alyssa home. The flight from Moscow to Atlanta took approx. 11 hours. In total we had been up and traveling for approx. 23 hours from the time we got up in Moscow until we got home in Morristown. For the most part our trip went pretty smoothly except for extreme fatigue!!! Alyssa once again kept us on our toes on both flights. She had me hold her the entire way. Once we made it to Atlanta we had to go through immigration with Alyssa, and at that moment she automatically became a U.S. citizen!!! A bittersweet time though being that we had to say goodbye to our close friends, the Smith family and their adopted son. They are from Michigan and we had to part ways in Atlanta. They will always be a part of our family. Spending 30 days with them and going through this amazing journey with them brings tears to my eyes.
When our flight arrived in Knoxville we had many, many people there to greet us!!! Alyssa's aunts, uncle, grandma, grandpa, and a close family friend were all there with cameras in hand watching us come down the gate. This day will be forever etched in my heart and mind. Alyssa did not quite know what to make from all of the attention. Usually she is the life of the party. She always wants to be the center of attention. She had most of the people on the flight to Atlanta waving and saying goodbye to her when we got off the plane. She is definitely a sociable girl!!!
Well, we are so happy to report that we are home this Friday and trying to get somewhat settled back in to home life. Alyssa is trying to take a nap and we are reading our 2 piles of mail from the past month along with unpacking. Please keep updated on our blog. We will be entering posts continually so that you may follow the story of little Alyssa as she discovers this great big world here in East Tennessee!!
Love,
Julie, Wade & Alyssa
3 comments:
Yea, I know you are so glad to be home. Things will begin to settle down now. Get lots of rest and we can't wait to see you all.
Theona
Congratulations! It brings tears to my eyes thinking of the wonderful families we bonded with during our adoption journey, too. I know you have had the best Thanksgiving so far. Best wishes and blessings to your family.
Jana Terry
We can now relate to your flight experience! We survived flight one but Colin alternated between sleeping and crying. Lots of praying during the flight. Now he is super hyper so Daddy is having special time with Colin so Mama can rest a little (I held him non-stop because that is what he prefers too).
I love all your sweet photos of Alyssa!
heather
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