Surprised?...

So many people have told me they were surprised that we are here with our son. Well, there was reason for that. Here in Serbia there was a mess (to say the least) that needed to be fixed before adoption rules/laws could be followed correctly!!! We have adopted from Serbia twice before using the help of a woman, and have now learned and understand what happened with her dishonest and criminal heart. We loved her and thought her to be a friend, someone who I thought really cared about us and our children. How do I really know... maybe she just wanted money. I won't go into that right now... Let's just say, we once were very supportive of her...not anymore. And this is a decision we made on our own, and let me tell you it was a tough one to make!

Now, I am surprised myself that I was able to keep quiet about us returning! But we really didn't for sure know we were coming until ONE week before we got here. Up until the week before we were waiting to hear if we would even be allowed to adopt him! So, when we got the email with the date to come I was in shock!! I had almost lost hope...mourning a loss!!!! It is a hard feeling to describe! After those thoughts ran through my mind, then the email came!! Then we shifted into high gear!! I had made many lists and had him partially packed from so long ago, so that wasn't such a big deal. A list can help in many ways...until you loose it! :) But we didn't do to bad at packing. A few things we (I) forgot to pack...no biggie!

Two days before we were to leave I started to not feel well! Some what like flu like but not quite, but I sure felt AWFUL! The day before we left I really doubted we would be able to make it. I begged for God to help me get over my sickness...so I would pack a little, lay down for a bit, pack a little and so on. Thank goodness the kids were in school! My house was not quite in the way I wanted it...but oh well, my family can handle everything!

The flight into Chicago was almost every negative adjective you can think of!! Scary, bumpy, fearful, and so on. Hope you understand! We were supposed to have an hour layover. No biggie can handle getting to the gate. Well, after we almost slide off the runway with us literally getting a hard turn to the right...like swerving to hit a pot hole in the road. We arrived at the terminal with NO NO NO chance of catching our flight!!! Oh, how I begged God to help us...I thought our world was turning upside down! Our God is so good, so strong and so mighty! Ya wanna know what happened? Do ya? Well, our gate to catch our flight to Germany was THREE gates away!! We could see the number even ahead of us! Praise and thank you God!

Okay, so we were some of the last people on the plane! On a VERY crowded plane! And get this...we were not even sitting together for almost an eight hour flight! I died, but thanks to God there was one whole empty seat on the plane and you want to know where it was? Got a clue? Yep, right next to me!! And we sat next to a lovely couple who were expecting their second child from Bosnia. And she spoke English! So every couple of hours either she or I would count down the hours until we got to Germany! It was a good flight.

We got into Serbia and to our apartment that we rented close to the orphanage to be able to walk most places we wanted to go. Yay! Each time we have come we have stayed in different apartments. This one is the smallest and most sparse. But as they say, location location location! :) It will be a little snug with our new son...but cozy is in right?

Now I will crowd together our flight into Serbia and our first day. We went to our MO meeting at promptly 10:00am. It was a great meeting! Comfortable and felt very honest and we were able to ask any question. This was not like before, we were told to not ask questions and not say anything. Well, we had a couple of questions and we were also able to tell a little bit about our already adopted children and what we thought our family would be like. They were all very happy for us and were genuinely interested in us and asked many questions about the children after the meeting! It was wonderful! Then....we got to go to the orphanage!!! They told us he told them to hurry up the meeting and bring his mama and tata to him! How sweet!

So, here he is!!! A little distracted to look at the camera though!!! Who could blame him waiting so long for his mama and tata!!! So many people to see him! We had to put on those lovely coverings! :) And we played with bubbles, cars, balls, and even looked at letter books. We stayed with him for a little over three hours that day. What fun!

We walked home and we were pinching ourselves that we were here again!! After changing clothes we decided to take a walk and get a few groceries. After all of that I got one MAJOR blister that I am still trying to heal at this point! :) Then tata made grilled cheese sandwiches and we called home and saw the children. Jovan told me not to let anyone take me! I about died...my poor son is so afraid I will not come back that even one week and one day later he is still telling me to come home in two minutes! Can't wait to tell him we are coming home!

Then we crashed and woke up to day TWO.