We have been blessed with two special daughters and two sons from Eastern Europe. We welcome you to follow our journey as a family of five, waiting to travel and pick up #6, with the ins and outs of family, education, farm life, and love!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Last Day (day 21)


It must be time to head home.....

Doug finished off the Jif peanut butter we brought this morning! Perfect timing!

We folded laundry and packed it neatly into our suitcases. It is amazing how much "stuff" one brings when traveling for an adoption. We came with 3 loaded suitcases. On our trip home, the smallest suitcase is inside the largest one.

Tonight Vlado came over to the apartment to go over final travel plans for tomorrow morning. He will pick us up here at the apartment tomorrow morning at 4:20am. It will take us 25-30 minutes to get to the airport, and we'll have plenty of time to get checked in and settled for our first leg of the trip home, which departs Belgrade at 6:45am. We land in Munich at 8:15am, then have a layover before leaving at 11:40am for Washington DC. We arrive in DC tomorrow at 2:45pm. Once we arrive in DC, we will have to go through immigration with Mila. We have a sealed packet to hand over to immigration control, then head on to our next flight, which leaves DC at 5:05, headed for Home--O-HI-O! We arrive in Columbus at 6:30pm.

We are very ready to travel home and begin our life as a family of four, yet there is a bit of me that is sad. I am taking my new daughter from the land of her heritage and all the sights and sounds she has known for 3 years. This country is beautiful, full of history, and many kind people. I hope one day to bring both our daughters back to their birth country to show each of them where their lives began.

As soon as Doug returns from the police station (he is de-registering--something you need to do in the country upon exiting), I think we are headed to bed. It is still quite early, but I doubt any of us will get much sleep on the flight tomorrow, so better get some tonight!

Please pray that Mila does well on the plane tomorrow, that our flights are smooth and uneventful, and that we get through immigration control easily and quickly in order to make our next flight. We thank you for all your prayers, comments, and well wishes during our trip to our daughter. We feel blessed that each of you chose to follow us on our journey, finding that things may not always be easy, but sometimes, "That's the way LOVE goes......"

Doug had a good time today giving Mila an 80's look!

4 comments:

And patiently waiting... said...

Yea!! God is good!! It will be neat to see pictures of Mila with Hannah.

Our Story: Continued said...

Praying for safe travels!!

Caroline said...

Thanks so much for letting us follow along and pray for you during this time. What a difference this adoption seems from your Ukraine adoption! God bless you as you three travel home to become FOUR!! :-D

**CONGRATULATIONS** on your sweet, beautiful new daughter!!

Unknown said...

Hello Layne Family..
I just wanted to say Welcome Home and send a big hug your way! So glad you are all together as a family of four. Enjoy this holiday weekend, and your time together! Love ya!
Erin