Let me first convey to everyone how sorry I am for taking so long to write an update. I think I am the world's worst blogger! That along with a touch of depression from leaving my baby behind has made it somewhat of a challenge getting this out. But, I owe it Dmitri and everyone asking me for an update to get something out there! So our first journey to see our Dimitri goes like this...
If any of you know me...you know that I have amazing bad luck. The kind of luck that would make someone on the outside looking in say "someone has got to give this girl a break". It runs in my family and I am a firm believer that like hair color or the color of your eyes...bad luck is genetic. Therefore, I was a little nervous about starting this trip. But seriously, I was not expecting something to go wrong right from the ticket counter while checking in! Thankfully, it was just a small misunderstanding that was straightened out after my short bout of acid reflux and the triggering of what I'm pretty sure was a very minor heart attack. We were in the air and off by 6:30 the evening of the 13th leaving Haiden and Noah behind with my savior of a sister for 5 days.
We arrived safely at the airport extremely exhausted but so overwhelmed that we hardly noticed! We found our driver who thankfully spoke some English because we were so out of our element. We have both traveled to foreign countries many, many times so I'm not quite sure why it felt so different this time. I think the anxiety of meeting Dmitri was getting to us. Also, we were getting ready to crash in on a family that had never met us before, but was amazing enough to take us in during our stay. Amazingly enough our stay with you guys (Brian and Kristina) was wonderful and we will never be able to repay you or tell you how incredibly grateful we are and will forever be. This wonderful family took us in as a favor to a friend (gotta love the military community and how they look out for and take care of each other). They had a number of family members visiting from out of town already and still allowed us to take up a room in their home. They also fed us wonderful home cooked meals every single day! The amount of money we saved because of their generosity has enabled us to put money towards plane tickets and the endless amount of fees that are piling up around us. We also got to meet their 2 unbelievably cute boys who I hope that we get to see again in the not too distant future! Thank you guys from the bottom of our hearts!
The next morning we were picked up by our coordinator bright and early. Thankfully the excitement of the day that lay ahead over shadowed the jet lag that we were already feeling. I will be completely honest when I say that really don't remember what took place on this day up until we met our Little D. Everything is kind of a blur. By the time we got to the orphanage...I was a big ball of nerves. I was terrified because we were told that they didn't even want us there in the first place. We were told they were too busy. I was also scared because we were told that this institution had never adopted out a child before. I was hopeful since we had made it as far as the front door without being turned away. I do remember pulling up the the building and getting out of the van and pretty much everything after that. We had to first go check in. This took place in a tiny little building just inside the big gates containing the institution and all it's inhabitants. I wish that I was able to get pictures because I'm pretty sure I won't be able to describe this little place. Even if I could describe it, I would never be able to describe the smell. Thankfully we weren't there that long. I was also relieved beyond all belief once I figured out that the check in building was not a building where any of the children were living. For some reason, an image that I can't get out of my head was the dinner that belonged to the cat that apparently lived there. I looked down at my feet to see 2 wings, a head, a torso, and a beak shredded. That image paired with the smell will haunt me forever. That was obviously before I made it further through the day.
We left that building to meet a few other people in another building to take care of paperwork and more paperwork before meeting with the head doctor. I couldn't help but notice that this building smelled much better and it appeared that there were quite a bit of repairs taking place along with painting of the facility going on. I felt a little hopeful seeing this. Maybe there was progress being made around us. We were led to a small sterile looking room to wait for the doctor. This woman was so intimidating! No smiling, no chit chat, just business. After about 30 minutes of a Q&A round she led us off to meet our little boy. We had to go in and out of a series of different buildings up stairs, and through halls. I couldn't help but notice there were no kids out and about. I also couldn't help but notice that if doors happened to be opened, they were closed before we had the chance to see inside them. Actually, not a surprise considering all my reading on the orphanages that I had done up to this point. Everything seemed right on track with all the books.
We made it up to a little common area that contained a couch and some plants scattered throughout the room. I noticed a child on the couch with a caregiver and Charlie and I looked at each other both thinking "oh my gosh, look at that little baby"! All of a sudden everyone leading us to Dimitri stopped and looked at us with an expectant gaze. I was a little confused until our coordinator leaned over and told us that the little baby was in fact Dmitri. I walked over and picked him up and searched his little face for resemblance of the picture that I had been looking at every day over the past months. At first I thought no way...this is a mistake...they are trying to give us a different child. Our child is going to be 5 in July. This little boy can't be more than a year old! But he looked back and me and tilted his head back in just a way that looked just like the picture I had of him from more than 3 years ago...and I new it was him! My reaction was no where near what I thought it was going to be. I played out a different scenario in my head nearly every day since we committed to him. I always thought that I would cry. Surprisingly I didn't! Neither of us did. I was afraid of scaring him off! After a couple minutes of keeping our distance I scooped him up and put him on my lap. He felt just like he was supposed to be there!
We pulled out the family photo album I had made for him so show him pictures. He seemed more interested in the pictures of Charlie and me than the pictures of the kids which surprised us. We took pictures and video of him which he seemed to love. He had a smile all ready for the camera as soon as I pulled it out. It's so funny how he knew how to work it in front of the camera! The care workers around seemed to warm up to us along with the doctor. We were very fortunate to meet the social worker who was unbelievably nice! Unfortunately, we arrived at an inconvenient time...right before lunch and nap. We were only there 20 minutes before they told us that it was time for us to go. We all exchanged hugs and kisses before our little man waved goodbye to us and was on his way to eat. We would see him again the next afternoon, but leaving him was heartbreaking!
