Then and Now

One year ago today, Chris and I were stuck in a hotel room in Washington, DC instead of flying over the Atlantic on our way to meet Katie.  We had missed our first flight because of weather issues in another city.  Really?  Our first flight?  We couldn't even get out of Nashville!  The international adoption process is so full of emotional highs and lows, it was nearly impossible for me to not feel like missing our first flight was in some way prophetic of how the rest of the trip would be.  Thankfully, as I type this now in our Tennessee kitchen with my sweet Russian snuggled in her cozy, warm big girl bed upstairs, I know that the bumps in the road on our way to meet her were merely that; bumps in the road - and tiny ones at that.  

Who could forget this woman?!  She tried so hard to get us on a flight that would allow us to connect to anywhere in Europe that day.  My crying and showing her Katie's picture may or may not have helped that cause..

I can only compare the feelings I had (and I think Chris, although he's much less open about his feelings) on the first few days of that trip last year to the feelings I had in the last couple of days before giving birth to the boys.  I was anxious, excited, nervous, scared, happy, and apprehensive.  We were so, so excited to meet Katie who, at that point, was merely a year old photograph of a smiling chubby girl.  We had absolutely no idea what sort of conditions she was living in, the status of her health, the seriousness of her delays . . . we had literally no idea what we would find when we got to Russia.  I cannot believe, in retrospect, how trusting we were through the whole process and how much we just were going with the flow.  Thinking about it now, I completely understand why people looked at me with a sort of crazy look when I would explain the process to them.  There is a whole lot of unknown that you just need to roll with!

Or this woman?!  I'm pretty sure she hated me.
A'int nobody got time for Russian orphans.

We were so unbelievably disappointed last year that we were still in the United States, and not almost to Russia.  There was much uncertainty in that twenty-four hour period:  if we would even get to meet Katie on that trip, if we were wasting about $6,000 by even making the trip, if we should scrap it and reschedule for another time - all combined with the general anxiety and emotions about meeting Katie for the first time!  I'm not sure why we just didn't check into our hotel in DC and get drunk, but we we both shockingly really had good attitudes about the situation.

So instead of being on a plane, we spent our day looking at planes.  In a museum.  And it was OK.  Were we upset?  Yes.  Did we learn a little bit about patience?  I think so.  I hope so.  Did it make finally getting to Russia a little bit sweeter?  For sure.

The beginning might have been rough, but sticking around for the ending was worth it.