The Long Journey Home - by McP

(Photo: Emil's car, just before we filled it with fifteen bags. Note the unusual sticker, showing the chalk outilne of a little girl on the highway. The text translates to say something to the effect of "I'm doing my part to drive safely, are you?" He proudly gave me one as well. A bit graphic, I must admit, but who knows? That may be how to best get the message across in that culture!)

Emil arrived first, and as usual right on time. We began the somewhat difficult process of moving the extremely heavy luggage down three floors of stairs and into his Subaru. The last forty feet were on the sidewalk and through our little last minute snowstorm, with quite slippery footing.

(Photo: In the falling snow we bid farewell to our little illuminated apartment. The falling snow was significant, in that Mac and Alina so wanted to see snow... and I wanted to outlast the mosquitos - which we did! I would like to think each falling snowflake I saw represented another one going down! I BEAT THEM!!!)

Alison was letting Cal sleep up to the last minute. Mac and Alina were up and ready to go! Gulnara's car finally came, and we left Almaty just as we had arrived on October 8th, all crammed in Gulnara's BMW with Emil's car packed to the roof with bags.

We opted to pay for something called "VIP Service" at the Almaty Airport. I know several people contemplating going to Kazakhstan are reading this blog. Let me HIGHLY recommend this service. Alison and I used it six years ago, at the old airport building, but had been told that it wasn't really necessary in the modern terminal. It is expensive, but it tends to smooth out all the potential problems and calms the nerves.

When taking Liza to the airport back on October 30th, I noted with dread how everyone with their bags in tow formed a haphazard que at a chokepoint before customs and passport control, then rushed to be first at the next line, and so on. There was also some concern in that we had not yet had seats assigned, and if you have never traveled with a baby you must know the importance of this. Bulkhead seats are the ones at the front of the economy section - where you are facing a wall and your seat arms do not raise to allow you to stretch out. Why would you want this, you ask? Because the folks in the airline have a fancy little contraption that allows a bassinet to be hung on the wall (and they provide the bassinet).

Getting the VIP Service allowed us to access a Lufthansa desk hours before other passengers, thereby confirming that we would have these very important seats! Also, the waiting room was a beautiful area with wall murals of scenes from Almaty. Alina and Mac noted that we had seen or experienced each scene depicted! But there is an even more important reason for using this service. Everything involving your luggage is done in a well-lit and supervised area that gives one peace of mind to avoid fraudulent overcharges or attempts to extort payment for handling your bags. I am certain that more than one of our bags was overweight, and Alison and I were mentally prepared to reshuffle items to redistribute the weight. I credit the VIP Service for sparing us the trouble. The bags were all tagged and cleared, even the two antique rugs I had purchased (after much discusion and looking over my certificate from the Ministry of Culture allowing me to remove them from the country).

Individually, Alison and I went back to bid farewell to Emil and Gulnara. Saying goodbye to Emil brought tears to Alison's eyes. He had truly become part of our family. I gave him a hug and promised that we would send letters and updates on the children's progress in life.

When we got onto the plane, it was about 2:45 a.m., Almaty time. Cal did not like the situation at first, and let everyone on the plane know it. I wondered if the entire flight was going to be like this. On the way to Kazakhstan, from Atlanta to Frankfurt, we had been about four rows back from the designated screaming baby. Did we have the designated screaming baby for this flight?

Alison soon calmed Cal, and when we were aloft the bassinet was installed and he got to stretch out in a perfect little caccoon which Alison had covered entirely with a blanket.

Alina and Mac were instructed to recline and sleep, and even they got a few hours of rest in the seven hour flight.

At Frankfurt, we were delighted to be in an entirely new section of the airport than we had experienced seven weeks before. THEY HAD A McDONALDS!!! WITH A PLAYGROUND!!!

If you go, don't spend too much time enjoying this place, because in the age of terrorism any flights to the USA are going to be (thankfully) scrutinized very carefully, so there was a very long security line to get to the gate of the USA-bound flight. We all had to take our shoes and coats off, and did that dance of removing them while taking out our laptops and pocket change and hoping that we did not do anything to cause more delay. Even Cal was thoroughly searched, even under his hat!

(Photo: Having cleared the final security area at Frankfurt, we await our last flight to Atlanta.)

The flight from Frankfurt to Atlanta is just shy of ten hours. Thankfully, we had bulkhead seats all the way home. Cal, with one flight under his belt, was now an old pro at this. Once the flight got underway, he got into the bassinet and snoozed comfortably.

We broke out the Gameboys for Alina and Mac, although our daughter is more into checking out all the other amenities of the modern traveler. Every emergency guide, magazine and catalog was studied, with many questions asked about the life vests under the seats and the oxygen masks and why adults should put theirs on first before the children.

While the children got pretty good rest, Alison and I were restless. It seemed that just as soon as the older two were napping, a round lump would rise in the blanket-covered bassinet. Alison would calmly put a hand on it, and gently push Cal's head or bottom or whatever was making it down for another period of peace. But in a ten hour flight, there were long periods of being up as well! Again the bulkhead saved us, as Cal could cruise along our section of Row 29 (Photo below).




Finally, we arrived in Atlanta! Under the new laws that the Clinton Administration passed, Cal became a U.S. Citizen as soon as he arrived! Mac and Alina were very excited about this magic change of status with their little brother.

Let me warn you not to have your loving families waiting at the airport for you, thinking that you will go directly from the plane into their arms! We had to go to Customs, then Immigration, then an unusual exit where we again had to take off shoes and coats and remove laptops and were subjected to more security checks. It was two more hours of processing.

Finally, we emerged to find Alison's mother, sister, brother and niece waiting patiently for us to take us to Ringgold. At our home, I had a couple of my sisters and my mother and father who were waiting to see us, and to meet Cal.



On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, we were in no shape to go visiting! Instead, we have opened our home to anyone who wants to come visit us, and it has been a wonderful homecoming indeed.

As I started writing this post, about 3:45 a.m. on Friday morning, I am wide awake. Mac and Alina woke me up at 3:15 a.m., telling me it was time to get up. I pointed out to them that it wasn't even morning in Kazakhstan, so who knows where our body clocks are set for?

Meanwhile, Cal is slowly adjusting to a world where there is so much love directed to him - a fact that he is nevertheless quite suspicious of. We think he fears that there is going to be another change of custody, as he clings to either Alison or me and waives "bye-bye" to anyone wanting to hold him. But we are already seeing him relax and even smile a bit more at our friends and the members of our HUGE extended family - all who love him so much and missed Alina and Mac for so long.






Thank you for following along our journey to bring Cal into our family. Again, if any of the readers are considering adoption (especially internationally or specifically from Kazakhstan), please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you may have. And if your question is about what it is like to be a parent by adoption, I can tell you with absolute assurance that it just feels like everything in the world is right that Alison and I are the parents of these three wonderful children.

And now... the journey continues! - McP