I cannot tell you what a good feeling it is to be on American soil! Since Zack talks to everyone, I was afraid of what he might be telling the Russians: "These are NOT my parents", "We live in a 12 x 15 house called a HOTEL", "These two won't give me any candy!" It made me very nervous!
The plane ride home was disastrous. For eleven hours, Zack constantly kicked the seat of the woman in front of him, constantly messed with the tray table, window shade, and seat back which annoyed everyone around him. He even pressed the button to summon the flight attendant several times, and she scolded him. When we told her he doesn't speak English, she tried to use body language to scold him! He got an hour of sleep in the morning, and then cried for an hour with no sleep toward the end of the flight. His eyes were so red, and he was so tired, but he just would not sleep - everything was so new to him and he was so excited. He refused to hold our hands in the airport and several times nearly got away. He wanted to carry all the luggage and threw a temper tantrum when he was not allowed to (I can just see the Russian security, which is everywhere, stopping us to ask why the youngest member of our family is carrying all our luggage).
From Atlanta to Dallas he slept hard, but that was only another hour. It was hard to wake him up and he was very grouchy. We were delayed in Dallas because we had to wait for all the luggage to come through and then go fill out the paperwork for our missing bag.
In the car from Dallas to Jacksonville, what should have been about a 2 1/2 hour drive, took four hours. We stopped for a quick meal and he threw a fit because he wanted french fries and he wanted them now - no waiting for them to be cooked. In the car, Zack immediately learned to push the button to roll the window up, down, up, down. That scared us because we were afraid he would fall out. So Dave figured out how to use the child lock control (a feature of my car we've never had to use before) but Zack continued to try it anyway the whole trip home. That button will be worn out in no time. What's worse, he kept opening the door and taking off his seat belt! Scared us to death! Dave pulled over several times and scolded him for that. We thought about putting him in the middle, but I'm sure he would have fussed about being so close to Nick. He was hot, he was cold, he was hungry, he had to go to the bathroom. He would repeat his complaints over and over again in Russian. We thought if we ignored him and just got on home he would finally fall asleep, but he just kept on complaining! He was SO TIRED. Both boys did finally fall asleep the last hour.
So, in the 29 hours between the time we left the hotel for the airport to when we arrived at home, he got a total of three hours' sleep.
When we got home it was midnight, but Zack was like a kid in a candy store. We felt so fortunate when we discovered that Dave's sister thought to bring in some groceries for us! And the boys enjoyed opening the gifts she had left for them. Zack did not like the dogs who were so excited to see us. When he saw his room, he just kept saying, "Thank you, Mama! Thank you, Papa!" He just loved it. He even slept in his own bed without any problems because he was so tired and so in love with it.
Today is Saturday and we are just going to relax and catch up on sleep. I'm going to head out soon and pick up the kitty from the vet (without makeup, as it's in the bag that didn't make it). Then I'm going to do some laundry. I can't wait to do laundry, as all our clothes smell like cigarette smoke (in Russia, you just can't avoid cigarette smoke). My throat is rough and dry from all the cigarette smoke! I think Zack will have a better day now that he is finally home and I look forward to spending it with him.
We're supposed to go to California to visit my relatives the end of May, but now I'm not sure I can handle him in another plane. Delta has probably blacklisted us, anyway!
To all of you who prayed for our safety (and our sanity), and left messages for us on this blog and on our personal e-mail account, thank you so very much! It's such a comfort to be covered in prayer, especially during such a scary time! Please keep praying, as this boy will need a lot of patience from his parents. And to all of you who may be thinking of international adoption, I have just one piece of advice:
Go to China!
Nick and Zack playing a video game
UPDATE: Zack had a great first day in America. He was up early and dressed himself, made his bed, and put away his pajamas as always. He and Nick headed outside to explore our 54 acres. What a time they had! Zack was still a little bit leery of the dogs, but he got better. The boys were outside all day long, playing basketball, riding bikes, and playing soccer. He got to play with his new Grandma, aunt, and three cousins. He does NOT like the cat! When I put him down for a nap and then went to my own room for a nap, a few minutes later I heard a blood-curdling scream. The cat had jumped up on his bed! He came to be OK with our two big dogs and Aunt Sandra's four little dogs, but he just won't accept that cat! But it appears he's really going to love living out in the country in the good ole USA!