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Sunday, June 8, 2008

He’s Finally Arrived!


Amy did a great job summarizing our ordeal with the airlines (see post below). Needless to say, my version of the story wouldn’t have been as ‘family friendly’, and she’s right that I might have used a few expletives to fully describe the incompetence of our friends at NW airlines. Ahh, but to the fun stuff…

We arrived at Hotel Almaty early this morning, still dazed from our travels. However, we were quickly awakened from our collective stupor after our driver mentioned that Nurshai’s flight was scheduled to arrive in Almaty at 11:00 am, and our son should be in our arms before noon. The day was certainly beginning to look brighter.

Fortunately, his estimates were right on, as we got the call from the lobby (‘you must come to the lobby’… in stoic Russian accent) around 11:45am, at which time we scrambled for the miniaturized elevators and made our way to finally welcome Griffin to our family. I think we were both surprised by how well he looked, as we both felt that he would probably regress a bit during the 5+ weeks since our last visit. Not so – other than a few lingering spots from a rash that we knew about when we left, he looked physically healthy. And he was active, playful, and most important of all; he smiled after a few minutes of seeing us. All is well now.

We enjoyed the rest of the day hanging out over a late lunch, getting in a good afternoon nap (which it took all of my strength to awaken from), and a casual dinner under the stars (outside dinning at the hotel… nothing fancy, but convenient). Tomorrow morning we head to the SOS clinic to get the final medical review and approval, and should have the rest of the day to ourselves. Assuming all goes well there, we are then scheduled to go to the US Embassy on Tuesday for our final interview and paperwork, and Wednesday will be a contingency day in case anything pops up. Then we are back to the airlines Thursday… and homeward bound.

He’s sleeping peacefully in his crib now. Any misery associated with our travels seems pretty insignificant. Goodnight all.

7 comments:

Jamie Voisard said...

Welcome, Griffin! It's so nice to have you in the family. I so look forward to meeting you.

Anonymous said...

Your trip sounds like "giving birth".. bad at the moment..but priceless in the end..can't wait to meet my new great-nephew..

Give him a hug for me..
Love - Auntie Bev

Anonymous said...

Sending much love and many hugs to my beautiful new nephew. Welcome to the family baby, welcome home!

With a heart full of love from me to you,

Auntie Holly

Anonymous said...

Congratulation on little baby Griffin. He is very cute. I look forward to seeing him.

Cousin Drew

Unknown said...

aweeeeee! hes soooo cute! :) I can't wait to meet him!

love,
Cousin Tessa :)

Unknown said...

welcome to the family. hope to see you soon.
cousin:Dustin

Bouman Family said...

Welcome Griffen!!!! We all can't wait to see you!!! Sunday we want to plan a cookout for you all.....can we do it or are you busy????????? (that means you don't have to cook on Father's Day Jesse)