We Made It Home!

Together at last!

Sorry for the delay in making this post. Since we arrived home, it has been a whirlwind of activity. Two soccer games, a family birthday party in Lincoln, church, shopping, laundry, unpacking.... you get the picture.

We touched down in Omaha at 11:35 p.m. Friday night. What a day. We had to run to catch each flight on our trip home. Due to short notice, our travel agent pieced together flights from three different airlines in order to get us home by Friday night. AeroSvit (Ukrainian airline) from Kiev to JFK. Delta from JFK to Chicago. United from Chicago to Omaha.

Friday began smooth enough. We arrived early at Borispol airport in Kiev. However, a customs agent prevented us from boarding the flight. We had to present the original court documents givng us the right to adopt Yuri. We were not informed we needed to present these documents in order to board the plane and had them packed in a suitcase which was already checked. Long story short, all four of our bags were pulled off the plane. We retrieved the documents, had them stamped and ran through security and down the jet way to a plane full of passengers waiting our arrival. (They held the plane for us.) We had tight connnections in JFK (customs) and Chicago. In fact, in Chicago, United had already given our seats to "stand by" passengers and had to pull them from the plane.

Tip to future adoptive parents: keep all your original documents in your carry on bag. You will need to present them in order to leave the country. ;-)


Dad, Mom and Yuri on the flight from Kiev to New York City. A sigh of releif.


The Weddingtons: Sasha, Suzette and Katya. In additon to the Berger and Weddington families, there were two other families on the plane who had also adopted kids from different regions of Ukraine. One of those kids is, Christina, the girl sitting at Katya's left.


The welcome comittee at the airport. I apologize for the quality of this photo. I was a little tired and excited when I snapped it. Liz, Christina and Andrew are holding a sign in the center of the photo, surrounded by members of Paul's family. Grandma Rose and members of Renee's family are to the right. The people on the left are good friends from our church who have also adopted kids from Ukraine. There must have been about 25-30 people to provide a warm welcome home. It was pretty cool.



The kids constructed "Welcome Home" signs. The sign in the bottom photo was posted in our front yard.


Upon our return home, we presented the kids with souvenirs. Christina, Andrew and Yuri show off their new "Ukraine" soccer jerseys.


Andrew and Yuri play a little hoops on the drive way.


Cole Lennard and Yuri get reacquainted. Cole is Yuri's good friend from Internot #4. Cole has been in the US almost two years and lives near our home.