Home

We made it home on March 9th.  It's extremely exhausting traveling all the way from Uganda to Alaska.  It takes three flights of 8 hours, 10.5 hours, and 3.5 hours- plus lay overs.  Justine was excited, but of course she didn't fully comprehend what it entailed to make it home.  Luckily, the first and last flight we all slept.  It's the LONG, middle flight that gets the best of us.  Let's just say she doesn't quite have a personal bubble.  She sat with a man on her left and me on her right.  Dustin sat next to me.  I thought about putting her between us, but then thought she would give the stranger more room and also I wouldn't have to sit next to some guy for 10.5 hours. Poor guy...  She would lay her head on my lap and put her feet on her seat, but I was constantly reaching over to pull her feet away from his leg.  When she was awake, she watched "Frozen" for about 30 minutes on the screen that was on the headrest in front of her.  Then she decided she would play with the touch screen... which at first was fine.  BUT, I had to make sure she didn't constantly call the flight attendants and turn the light above her off and on (since those are touch screen selections).  Then, she randomly put on a mature movie that I had to turn off.  So eventually I went into the "game selections" for her and she didn't know how to exit out of them.  I refused to exit out of them for her...  not a happy camper.  And then there's the seat belt issue.  Wearing a seat belt is not really required in Uganda, so she never wore one.  When I buckled her up the first time she immediately tried yanking it apart.  I loosened it enough so she could lay down, but it was a battle much of the flight.  Let's just say, we survived.  Now that long flight is history!  She is adjusting very well to Alaska and her new family.  She about had a heart attack when she met her furry family members, but now she loves them.  I have color coated dishes for each of us and she quickly learned that hers are dark purple.  She has slept through each night in her room without a problem.  Right now she is under the coffee table with her blanket and she just said, "Mommy, good night!"  Her English is picking up very quickly.  Yesterday she said, "Chace, c'mon!"  The kids are on spring break until Monday, so that is a huge blessing.  What perfect timing.  I will slowly introduce her to school when they go back and within the first few weeks, she will be in Chace's class.  It's a Waldorf school, so there is absolutely no curriculum for kindergartners.  It'll be great for her since she thrives around other children.  More updates to come on the school transition.  So for now...   I'm sure we are in for some rough times but, so far, so good.

Yay!

So Wednesday we had our filing appointment at the embassy.  We took in a large stack of paperwork for them to go through.  It contained things like the court order, investigation, birth certificate, immigration paperwork... all sorts of not exciting stuff.  Everything looked good so we left to eat lunch and returned two and a half hours later for the interview.  We had a moment of stress when we had finished our end of the interview and her relatives hadn't shown up for their turn.  Luckily, the man interviewing us was very friendly and let us go make some phone calls.  Come to find out, they were almost there and Justine's caretaker had been in the hospital so it was a challenge for Mark to find her.  Poor lady- she is so weak and frail.  Mark told her "We need you ONE more time.  This is it and you will be done." Their interviews must have went well because when they were done, we were called back in so the guy could tell us to return Friday for the visa.  He also said not to make travel plans yet just in case, but it's too late for that!

Fast forward to today...

We have the visa!  We will be home in just THREE short-ish days.  Jumping for joy today and praying our friends will be able to leave with their three little girls VERY soon.  It's looking like next weekend for them.

Today we also went to the craft market to buy some goodies to bring home.  We found Justine an original, black and white painting of two lions.  It is too big to fit in our suitcase so they had to remove the canvas from its wooden frame so it could be rolled up.  I'm very excited to display it in her bedroom which is mostly black, white, and purple.  We also grabbed a couple small drums, more paper beaded necklaces and an African print dress for Justine.  The moment the women in the shop knew we were going to buy her a dress, she was swarmed with women and dresses of all patterns, styles, and colors.  It was very overwhelming!  She just kept saying YES!  No... no... Yes!  Yes!  No..... on and on.  Finally, when I was pleased with her choice of a pretty blue print dress, she changed her mind and chose a not so pretty black and greenish- mustardy looking one.  I guess if she will wear it and like it, that is what matters.  She will have to wear it with a sweater at home anyway!