Day 18 - The Longest Day

Baby House Wall of Fame - Pictures of Adopted Children from Karakastek

At the end of an uplifting Day 17, we are dropped off at our apartment to finish packing. We kiss Nina and get out of the car. Adil will drive Nurse Cholepan and Nina and return them to the orphanage. Monte cries but is ok. Nina is returning to what she knows. She is safe and we will return for her as soon as the system allows.

Earlier in the day, Monte donated 13 baby outfits and 3 packages of diapers to the baby house. The nurses really appreciate our donation. We also brought chocolates and cookies as a gift and to honor their tradition as they prepare for a holiday celebration the next day. Since everything at the baby house is shared, the outfits and diapers will be used on all the kids. They will be a well-dressed group I think. We end on a high note with the nurses and hope some of this goodwill carries over and Nina gets a little extra care while we are away.

We also had a chance to see Nina's room. 9 babies. Nina occupies crib #4; Baby Cholepan crib #9. Here is a brief video of where these little ones live.

Back in the apartment, Monte and I pack up and get ready to head out. The country manager Marina stops in to say goodbye. She and Monte are like best friends. Then our interpreter Anna comes by with her son to finalize our application letter. This is Anna and her son Gleb.

We were not able to secure a great itinerary on Thanksgiving weekend. But it is time to go and time to suck it up. The trip home starts at 1:00 a.m. on Day 18. Adil picks us up and takes us to the airport. There is no English anywhere, but we figure it out. After 3 security checks, we have our bags checked and are ready to board. At 4:00 a.m., the flight departs on schedule. We are relieved to be through customs and on our way to Frankfurt. So far, so good. But we have 7 hours (!!!) to kill in the Frankfurt airport. We have not slept for so long and only dosed on the plane - we need a new travel agent.

We survive Frankfurt and are on our way again. Our connecting flight is not through some northeastern city. We have to go through Houston, 10 hours from Frankfurt. 8 hours into the flight I see the flight map as we fly directly over St. Louis.

On to Houston, we have 45 minutes to get through customs, re-check our bags, get from the international to the domestic terminal. and go through security. If we miss the flight, there are no more flights to STL until the morning. We make it with time to spare.

Jomama and Darwin meet us outside of security in STL. We are so happy to be home and get a big hug from Jomama. We arrive home at 10:30 p.m., 33 1/2 hours after we left our apartment in Almaty. We hadn't seen a bed in 50 hours.

Nick and Natalie have a welcome home sign for us but are in Nashville with Monte's parents until tomorrow. We cannot wait to see them. Until then, we will unwind and rest. Happy to be home.

Our timetable going forward is as follows:

- Bonding period ends - November 26

- Paperwork goes to government agencies - week of November 30

- Paperwork goes to regional courts - week of December 7

- Judge gets assigned and sets a court date

- 2nd trip best guess - week of December 28 or January 11

- 3rd trip to bring her home - 3-4 weeks after second trip

The court is by no means a formality. There is some risk the judge may reject our application to adopt Nina. The process is political and exporting babies, especially Kazakh babies, can be a sensitive issue. It works to our advantage that Nina is a minority Kurd. We will go a few days in advance to prepare for court and trust that God keeps His hand on the process.

In the meantime, we will enjoy Nick and Natalie and dream about bringing Nina home early next year.