Waiting for the SAMOLET (airplane)!
We were at the airport at 4:30 a.m.
John and I were on 2 1/2 hours of sleep.
Ellie sat next to Daddy and was well behaved.
So for the long flight, 9 hours, we switched. John had Zephan and Andrew. I had Ellie.
It did not go well.
I felt very sick as always, only this time, I had a little girl next to me who wouldn't sleep.
I couldn't relax.
I felt ill and wanted to drift off to sleep.
And every 5 minutes (I am NOT exaggerating), Ellie would put her hand on my arm and bug me.
For a long time, it was that she wanted to watch something else. She would not watch any movie at all.
Then it was her earphones. So we tried our own ear buds to stay in better. She kept taking them out, then wanting them back in.
Then she wanted to do games on the screen. SAME stinkin' deal, she wanted it changed constantly and would get the games jammed up.
She wanted "pishka" (to go potty), over and OVER, AND OVER! and over. I so wish that I had diapers for her, I would have told her, "NO!", but I kept thinking, "What if she does have to go, and I say no..then yuck...I better take her." She went many of the times she asked to go, but her main desire was to flush the airplane toilet and wash her hands in the little sink. Again, I very much wish I had a diaper on her. It was ridiculous. By the way, Ellie can't walk. I lugged her 45 pounds of "dead" weight down the narrow aisle way, all those times. I finally asked John to start taking her. Apparently he didn't realize how frustrating it all was until he joined in on the "nice" walks to the bathroom.
Then Ellie went on an "Obechum Te" spiel.
Normally a parent would be overjoyed to hear their new daughter tell them "Obechum Te", which means "I Love You". But having my arm grabbed and hearing it every 5 minutes for the last three hours of my flight was making me want to vomit. I was getting so motion sick and so exhausted with a kid who would not stop moving, talking, and bugging me.
And what did Zephan do? He slept the first two hours on the flight, then played and snacked quietly for 7 hours!
John and Andrew took no sleep on the flight.
Andrew watched more movies than he gets at home in about a year.
When we landed in our country, we were all exhausted.
I felt sick, but was so eager to get home. We had one more flight to get home, 2 hours!
Then we learned the terrible news that our flight was cancelled.
And I "lost it". I cried, "We've been gone for two weeks. Our children miss us so much, I have a son who won't even play any more!!!!!!"
I'll apologize right here to all you adoptive mothers who wrote that you cried in the airport on your way home. I have read many, many adoption stories. And when the mama breaks down and cries, I was thinking, "What was she crying about? She is in her home country, she is nearly home. Come on. She is so close, keep it together."
Well, now I know. Now I have compassion for you. In absolute exhaustion, we can not keep it together. Being away from our other children for so long and spending so much intensive time getting to know the children we knew from photos and from a distorted trip one , takes us to an emotional level we can hardly cope with. One last "straw" does indeed, send us crying.
The earliest they could get us on a flight would be 6:30 the next morning, putting us home at about 10 a.m. John and I were like, "We can beat that time!"
So we rented a car.
On the bus to get to the car rental place,
We were shocked to be greeted so sweetly by the bus driver!
Several people were discouraged that their flights were cancelled.
And with more exuberance than I had heard in two weeks,
We hear,
"I'm sorry ya'all are having a bad day, but you're going to have a GREAT bus ride, I'll make sure of that!" She went on and on encouraging everyone, no request was too great. This woman bus driver was high energy and full of joy. WOW, truly a delight.
At the same time, Ellie began chanting "Amer-li-ca". She knew we touched down in her new home country, and was very excited. So many people were charmed, and with Ellie's deep accent, could assume she had just been adopted!
We got situated in our SUV rental and Zephan threw up 10 minutes after driving off.
We cleaned him up in the Walmart parking lot and continued on.
John and I drove 10 hours straight, only stopping once for a restroom break.
John did all except about one hour of the drive, on the 2 1/2 hours of sleep he had in Bulgaria. By the time we arrived home, it was 32 hours with no sleep, starting on little sleep to begin with.
I drifted to sleep a couple of times, but was so afraid of John falling asleep, my "drifts" were brief.
Andrew, Zephan, and Ellie slept about 9 1/2 of the 10 hour drive.
And we did "beat that time". We arrived home at 3 a.m! rather then the 10 a.m. it would have been taking a plane. We didn't even care that we had to drive. We were getting home!
And we arrived home to this sweet "Congratulations" from our dear friends.
This was such a blessing to us, words don't even describe.
We are loved!
Here, we had gifts and gift cards and an entire meal all ready to eat. 
Next post is siblings all together and the first days at home.
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