28-hour Travel Day

Woke up not feeling rested but afraid to miss the alarm clock at 2:00. First look at the clock seemed to show 2:55. Oh no! and where is Oleksandr? Second look showed 12:55, so I still had an hour to rest. At 2:00 John quickly showered. After I dressed decided I needed to wash my hair or I would hate it all day, but just leaned over the tub and used the hand held shower head.. Oleksandr arrived 5 minutes early (2:25) and had to sit for those few minutes while we threw the last few things together and I put sleeping Daniel’s vest, coat and shoes on. Not too much traffic on the way to the airport, but more than I expected. We arrived just after 3 AM and Daniel woke up in the airport. We had to wait more than an hour before they started checking in for our flight. It gave us some last visiting time with Oleksandr. Daniel was restless and I walked around a lot. Just before we parted I saw Oleksandr crouch down to bless Daniel. I was very touched.
Checking in: we were toward the back of our line, so that took awhile but once we got up there the Lufthansa rep assured us I could go sit down with Daniel (who had again tired of his stroller). Our baggage was likely overweight, and they likely overlooked it. She noted the stroller and volunteered the tag for plane-side check. Curiously, they gave John and Daniel seats ten rows apart on the flight from O’Hare to Moline (Quad Cities) and were unable to give a boarding pass to me.
We had no problems going through security, everyone was patient with our three carry-on pieces, the two computers and folding up the stroller. The lady officer on the far side was especially friendly to Daniel. Passage through passport control also went smoothly. We had time for coffee and a banana and trips to the bathroom before boarding. Everyone queued up at the same time and we were toward the back, but suddenly the airline person who had checked us in was at our side leading us through the crowd right on to the plane.
Just inside the doors the flight attendants immediately found a soft book with crinkly covers in their children’s gift tray and another attendant, as we sat down, offered us two pillows to help Daniel sit up. Very thoughtful. In fact, all along the way our encounters with Lufthansa were so excellent John thought maybe our tickets had been coded to give us extra helpful attention because of the ticket fiasco(our higher-priced changeable tickets weren’t nearly changeable enough to get me home a week later without paying an additional $1000 plus the expected $250 fee, or John to Quad cities instead of Appleton). Daniel reached for a newspaper on our way in, John grabbed a couple others, and they exchanged reading material multiple times before Daniel fell asleep against John’s arm.
He stayed asleep for about an hour. I’ll just write now that for the next 24 hours pretty much all Daniel ate was the dark, dense bread we brought with us and bananas we picked up along the way. He did drink one full juice box from his cup, and otherwise water. We certainly offered him many other foods. And as far as his behavior: he was such a good little trooper. All told he had maybe four crying fits, half for having to wear the seat belt, and none lasted more than 10 minutes - usually solved by John taking a walk with him, or by feeding him another banana.
In Frankfurt, passport control was at the top of the stairs to leave the plane. Everyone else had to stop but they waved us by. Inside it was again pleasant not to have cigarette smoke permeating the entire complex. Transparent smoking ‘boxes’, each sponsored by a different cigarette company were located in various places. I did feel bad for the worker cleaning the inside of the doors, though.
We went through security only once in Germany (we are used to twice there). They spent a long time looking at Daniel’s passport, didn’t seem to even glance at our others. Daniel and I always went through first. I triggered something and had to let one woman hold Daniel until John came through while another did a more thorough check of me and sent my boots through the x-ray machine (they always said “no” when I offered to take them off in advance). But everyone was pleasant and we were never rushed, so no big deal. Another round of coffee and banana, but Euro pricing this time.
We were able to board in the first group because of traveling with a small child. I asked for an extra pillow for Daniel as we walked back and received it quickly. The plane over the Atlantic had 2 - 4 - 2 seating in the economy section. We were in the middle section, of course and the fourth person in our row was a gentleman headed for the auto show in Chicago, arriving Saturday night and returning Monday night. We really didn’t talk much until the end of the flight but early on I did explain that we had just adopted Daniel, and this was only his second flight, that he didn’t understand much English but we would try to keep him happy (and quiet). The man didn’t seem apprehensive at all. Our seats each had a video screen with on-demand movies or certain television episodes. Daniel fell asleep before long (right on time for the orphanage afternoon nap) and slept in my arms for nearly four hours. John watched “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and “New Moon”, both for the first time. I watched “Where the Wild Things Are” for the first time, and started “New Moon” for the second time. It was very convenient to be able to start, pause and rewind as needed once Daniel woke up. They served lunch just after he fell asleep. We held his for a long time, but finally gave it back, except for the “sweet”, which was frosting in a small cone (he devoured it). Prior to landing they had a hot snack , we chose the sausage in a pretzel. They didn't have a child's option, so we went with the same for him and assured them it was no problem. He liked it well enough. The attendants, however, seemed to feel very badly about not having what we had requested when purchasing the tickets, so they scrounged up some baby food that they themselves found quite tasty and filling, as well as a banana I wouldn't be surprised came from one of their own lunches. That, of course, he devoured.
We arrived on time in Chicago. We had booked the flight to Moline for 5:11 and fantasized about catching the flight nearly three hours earlier. “Hello, Brian, Christine? Yeah, we didn’t make our 5:11 flight out of Chicago. We are already in Moline!” It was quite the fantasy.
Passport control first, they always ask where you came from and why you were there. I was so excited and could hardly wait to say “adoption”. The woman congratulated us and initially mistook Daniel for a girl (note: haircut Monday, perhaps Saturday night). She put our information, including the packet from the Embassy which we were strictly instructed should not be opened by anyone except Immigration in Chicago, our customs form and Daniel’s passport into a pink folder with directions to pick up our luggage, and then turn in the folder at Immigration - DO NOT forget and take packet home with you! John entrusted me with the folder and said I only had two things to watch - the folder and Daniel. He took care of finding the luggage, loading the cart, etc. Last time in the Immigration roped-off area they had us take a seat and the process took about an hour. This time (once we tracked down Daniel’s passport, which I had DROPPED) we stood up at the desk and finished in about five minutes. It was great when he assured us we were all done (meaning Daniel is now a US citizen as well as a Ukrainian citizen) but almost anticlimactic. Our luggage was all x-rayed (did not make us take Daniel out of the stroller). We headed over to the United recheck luggage area. The handlers over to one side asked if we were headed for Moline and put our bags right on the belt - no long line to stand in. We probably could have taken care of my boarding pass there, but even after saying we still needed a boarding pass the handler gave us directions up to the terminal for the flight and we headed off, still hoping to catch the earlier flight. We did try to go to the gait, but you can’t go through security without a boarding pass and United no longer mans its counters in Terminal 2 (where we had been told to go). Over to Terminal 1 and a line that didn’t look toooooo bad. Looks can be deceiving as we all know.
We saw that the earlier flight had been cancelled. We stood in the “not so long” line for well over an hour. We tried to use the self-check machines, and learned that our flight had been cancelled as well, and we could only be put on stand-by for the later, 8:20 flight. It was 2:00 when we started this. Crazy to wait 6 hours for a 3-hour drive. We called the Engebrechts as well as the Behmlanders (in Cedar Rapids), and in the end booked a 5 PM flight to Cedar Rapids, IA. After clearing security once last time it was Starbucks for this round of coffee and banana. For some reason, after I changed a dirty diaper, Daddy became the preferred parent for the rest of the trip. Around midnight Ukraine time, Daniel fell asleep in John’s arms as they walked. First time any of the three boys fell asleep while John held, so it was an especially enjoyed moment. The flight was progressively delayed to 7:20 and we were completely exhausted, but we finally got out of Chicago.
Daniel stayed asleep in my arms, the attendants never even suggested he should be in a seat by himself.
Becky (John’s sister), Chris and Regina Behmlander were waiting eagerly with camera and video poised. They even had “Congratulations” and “It’s a Boy” banners up on the wall. Becky and Regina each got a turn holding our sweet, sleeping newest son. As arranged, Chris and Regina drove us to the Engebrechts - after filling out forms for our missing baggage. They had found an appropriate car seat for our little guy. He woke up in the van, and I thought he hated the car seat, but it was really the dark that freaked him out. Once Chris turned on a light to find his water, he passed out again and we had a great visit for the next hour.

At the Engebrechts a large, hand-made banner was hung across the porch railing and the door was immediately for us. “Hellos” to them, “good-byes” to the Behmlanders, a new diaper for Daniel, hugs and kisses as promised for Nick and Dennis, and we went to bed!!! Daniel woke and screamed, and turning on the light worked like magic again. John was up once at 4:17 and Daniel woke briefly then, but otherwise we had a great night of sleeping.