Monday, March 11, 2013

Thursday, March 7th–Gotcha Day (Part I)

I’m writing this as if it was really March 7th, k? Play along. I’ve been busy. We’ll get to that next…

So, last night Brent and I packed up a ton of stuff for the boys, put it in the van, and drove over to my mom’s house. We brought the boys and all of their belongings in the house, and then we had an awesome homemade supper (awesome because it was my mom’s mashed potatoes and meatloaf, and awesome because I didn’t have to make it). We hugged and kissed the boys over and over (and over and over). We talked about what the next couple weeks would look like. They were so excited to be staying at Grandma’s house, and they were so excited that we were leaving to go get our baby girl.

We cried as we left my mom’s yard, knowing that we wouldn’t see the boys for at least two weeks. That, without a doubt, is the hardest part about this all. We’re so thankful for family that will take care of our boys for us.

We got home from Mom’s house at about 10:00 that night. We finished packing our stuff, got the van ready to go, and then Brent headed to bed. I thought it was more important to finish making a red headband for our baby girl to wear with a special little outfit I had for her. By the time I climbed into bed it was about 11:30pm.

At 2:00 AM our alarms started going off. We hopped out of bed with smiles on our faces climbed out of bed trying not to be grouchy. At 3:00 AM we climbed in the van and backed out of the garage. We were officially on our way to get our baby girl.

We made it to Sioux Falls at about 4:30. We checked our bags, made it through security and sat down at Gate 7. We were scheduled to board the plane at 5:30 and take off at 6:00. We patiently waited, and then boarded when our group number was called. We got seated and situated. I opened my book and started reading. And then…

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve just been told that there is a mechanical issue with this airplane. There seems to be a leak in the break line. Please take any items that you carried on to the plane, and we will de-board the plane at this time. Thank you for your patience.”

Ugh! Exactly 8 hours later (give or take a few minutes) we re-boarded the same airplane. Yep, we spent an entire day in the upstairs of the Sioux Falls airport (we didn’t feel like going through security again). Some people were EXTREMELY cranky about the situation. Me personally, I’d rather ride on a airplane that will get me safely from Point A (Sioux Falls) to Point B (Chicago).

We arrived in Chicago and had 30 minutes to go across the airport. We pretty much ran the entire way, and we made it with 3 minutes to spare. We boarded the next plane and we were on our way to Charlotte. I couldn’t believe it. We were almost there.

Originally we were supposed to be in Charlotte, NC, by 1:45 PM. Then we were supposed to head directly to the agency for placement yet that afternoon. When we heard that we wouldn’t land in Charlotte until 7:30 PM, we assumed they would tell us to just check-in to the hotel, and we would have placement Friday AM. I called Doris, the head of the agency, at some point while in Sioux Falls. She said that she was actually flying out Friday morning, so we would need to do placement yet that night.

On the flight to Charlotte, emotions started hitting. As we started to descend, the tears started falling. With every mile that we got closer to Charlotte, we got closer to our baby girl.

And then… we touched ground.

We were in Charlotte… We’re coming, baby girl! Mommy and Daddy are coming!

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