Saturday, February 19, 2011

We're home!

Yipppeeee! We touched down in Charlotte yesterday around 3:30 and at approximately 4:00 Charlie became a citizen of the USA! Woo-hoooo!
He did absolutely wonderfully on the plane- only cried for about 5 minutes about 15 minutes before we touched down in Charlotte. Mainly because he hated the seat belt and didn't understand it's purpose other than keeping him tethered to his seat. And honestly, I wanted to cry too- 15 hours in the air is a long time! But we were shocked at how well he did since we had a false start the day before which required our leaving the hotel at 3:00am and then the day we actually left (on Friday) another early morning, having to be at the airport at 4:00am. With our lay-over in Munich we were traveling for a total of 23 hours! But, Charlie is such a trooper. We just can't get over how well he is adjusting to everything.
We got home around 7:30pm and the dogs are shut into the room (for those of you who don't know we have a 30 pound lab/westie mix and a 150 pound great dane) Since Charlie slept about an hour home from Charlotte, we took some time to get him out of the car. Our "little" dog Alex came running out to greet us and jumped into the car. Charlie had a small freak out, we don't think he's ever seen a dog before, and definitely not this up close and personal. After a little while he was getting comfortable with Alex, we hopped him up on the kitchen counter and released Annie. Charlie looked at her with this wild look in his eyes and said an entire sentence in panicked Russian. We are fairly certain if he knew any Russian cuss words they came out. His eyes were huge! We put the "Sabokas" in their room for our bedtime. Charlie slept in the co-sleeper in our room and once again, did great. We slept for about 12 hours today on US time, so that really did well as far as us getting adjusted to this time zone.
This morning, Charlie did GREAT with the dogs, well at least with Alex. He's still not so sure about Annie. I guess I would be a little slow to warm up to a dog that towers over my head too....He fed half of his breakfast to Alex (Alex is REALLY loving the newest Deetz) and seems to be warming up quite nicely. We give him Annie in small doses and as long as he is with Mama and Papa, seems to be doing pretty well given we haven't been home for 24 hours yet.
Right now, Papa is trying to get him down for a nap in the robot bed, or at least to wind down a little bit...he had a play date at the park with two sets of the Dada's and Baba's (Grandparents White and Womers) and ran until he literally could barely walk, his legs were so shaky. Laughing, running, and absolutely filthy! ALL BOY!
God has blessed us so much- not with the big things (a well adjusted, perfect little boy, safe, smooth travels)- but with the little things as well...the weather here is perfectly spring, about 70 degrees! What a lovely change! We really enjoyed the park today.....Charlie was mesmerized by all the kids running and playing as well as all the new things to do.
So far, so good! Thank you for all of your prayers. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful people surrounding us with prayers and thinking about us daily. We can't thank you enough for what a huge part you've taken in this incredible journey that I have a feeling is just getting started!

11 comments:

  1. Yipee!! So, so happy for you all!!! I had been checking your blog daily to see if you were headed back and then we were back in Russia this last week for our court when you posted your "secret"! Oh you must just be over the moon!

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  2. I'm so excited for you guys! Let the Mommy and Daddy adventure begin. How thrilling Charlie did so well on the plane. My girls lose patience on the 'short' flight across THIS country. Yeah for Charlie- already a world traveler. ;) Welcome home, Deetz Family!!

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  3. Yeah! Congrats on your little US citizen! I have been checking constantly to make sure y'all were home safe & sound. Soooooooo happy for you 3!!! Sounds like Charlie is doing just amazing! I am still shocked at the resilience of these kids! :)

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  4. Absolute tears of joy for you all. God bless! Enjoy and just enjoy!! We dealt with the dog thing too. . .Aidan is a full fledged member of the pack at this point. . .

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  5. I am so happy your finally home and with Charlie....looking forward to all the pics and family adventures. Your gonna love being a mom it's the best feeling in the world.

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  6. At last!! Now comes the fun part..enjoy every minute. Looking forward to seeing more pics! Congratulations mommy and daddy!

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  7. CONGRATULATIONS! You must be close to me...if you landed in Charlotte - unless you connected.

    Cannot wait to see photos of C!

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  8. Sounds awesome!! Sending hugs from far away:)

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  9. Crying happy tears! Oh how long you have waited and prayed! Truly the verse "For this child I have prayed" must ring loud and clear in your mind! It literally made my WEEK to read your "secret" post the other day! YEAH!!!

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  10. So happy that you made it home safely. It sounds like Charlie is adjusting just fine. Our little John dis not like his picture taken either. As a matter of fact, a year later he still doesn't like it when someone other than us takes his picture but at least he is getting better. Glad that Charlie likes the dogs. Ours took to the dogs quickly too! Can't wait to continue to read about your new family adventures!

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  11. So very happy to hear that you all made it home safely and Charlie is adjusting so well! Glad to hear he is starting to like the dogs and enjoying the beautiful weather! He is a handsome boy for sure! Can't wait to have some time to go back and read all of your previous posts!

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