Back to reality

Homecoming is an interesting thing.

I was SO ready to see the Rick and the kids.
I was SO ready for a shower and my own bed.
I was SO ready to wear clean clothes.... and catch up on sleep, and reinsert myself back into family life.

Yet, there are kids I've left behind who weigh heavily on my heart. Mareks... Kolya... Rita... Igor... Sasha... Tolik... Nastia... Raivis... Yuri... Peter... Albert... Oksana...
Good kids.
Kids- some adoptable, some not, who need someone to love them... someone to want them... to choose them.
Kids who, for whatever reason, have been placed in a foster family or orphanage- either by the government or their own parents.
Kids who, in spite of their circumstances, were bright... funny... sweet... personable... affectionate... trusting... brave...
Kids who, in some cases, are treated differently because they're orphans. Like they're somehow "less" than their peers.
Kids who, if not hosted and/or adopted have a better chance of becoming a statistic than a functioning member of society.


Rick, Joe and Kyle met me at the airport, and it was a sweet reunion. Hugs... kisses... hand holding... smiles... and a card from Joe that said "Dear Mom, I had a great time while you were gone."
HA HA
Their good behavior, so glad that I was home, lasted until we were pulling out of the airport parking garage. In their defense, my flight out of JFK was delayed, and didn't get in till about 11pm.... which means we didn't get home with everyone to bed until nearly 1am.
I had 2 crying babies on my international flight home (between Helsinki and JFK) and the girl sitting in the neat next to me had a HORRIBLE head cold, so all she did was blow her nose and cough. The gentleman in front of me... as soon as he was able, reclined his seat to the absolute farthest position, and it stayed there the entire flight. By the time we got home, I'd been up for more than 24 hours, preceded by 2 nights of "late nights and early mornings." Needless to day, I was EXHAUSTED!

But with motherhood, there's usually no rest for the weary. So yesterday (my 1st full day home) consisted of a soccer game, laundry, going through the mail, unpacking, referee-ing and redirecting, going through school papers, meal preparation, bill paying, errands, searching for library books, checking through email, haircuts for the men in the house and showers for Joe and Kyle.
I managed to stay awake until 9:30 last night, but as I'm still adjusting to the 7 hour time difference, I was awake at 4:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep.

So, here I am at my blog, trying to decide where to start.

I don't know how many miles (kilometers) we covered, and I lost track of how many kids we met.
That sounds terrible, I know-- "losing track" of the kids. There are a few that stood out for me... for a variety of reasons. But the rest, honestly, it's a bit of a blur.

If you've followed the international news at all, you might know that much of Eastern Europe was in the middle of a winter that was shattering temperature records. We had some days that got down to 25-30 BELOW zero. (fahrenheit). Yeah, it was cold.
Luckily, we had a great heater in the rental van.... oh... wait... that's not right.
The heat didn't work in the 2nd or 3rd rows- which of course, is where we were sitting.
While we were driving, every now and then, I'd take a credit card and scrape the ice off the inside of the window so I could see outside.

I'd continue, but quite frankly, I'm falling asleep at the keyboard.

I'll post more later, as my children allow :-)