Trip to San Francisco, the Airport and the First Few Days
After weeks of training courses, a home study, a criminal background check, a child abuse clearance, multiple references, trouble with visas, and delayed flights it was time to go road tripping to pick up our friend!
The first day of the trip we stopped in Reno/Sparks and slept over. Then we headed to California. We hit every low spot in the road for diet Cokes and bathrooms. We ate tons of junk and stopped at Walmart at least twice. We are a family of blanket lovers.
So, of course we had to get Miss O. her own blanket! During one of our Walmart trips, Liesel managed to do this:
She is one crazy girl.. We laughed pretty hard, and her hair smelled amazing!!
We finally made it to San Francisco, ate dinner and got to the airport. Olga's plane was delayed. July 8th was the day that all United Airlines flights were grounded due to some computer glitch. I got a "breaking news" alert on my phone that am. I looked up her flight and sure enough: it was United. STRESS. Anyway, it was scheduled to arrive at 10:44pm. It came in somewhere around midnight and the kids got to us around 12:30. We were holding up a poster that had her name and picture on it. As I am watching all of the other kids find their families, I look down and see this tiny girl come up to us. I looked at her and said, "Are you Ol-ha?" she nodded yes. I asked her how she pronounced it, "Ol-ga or Ol-ha?". She replied, "Ola" so fast it was hard to hear, She was just so tiny!!
She looked absolutely terrified and unsure of herself. (WHY don't I speak Ukrainian??) I introduced myself as well as Liesel and Grandma Betty.
She just looked at us, unsure. I looked around to see what we should be doing. I asked if she spoke any English. She shook her head no. Then tiny tears started to leak out of the corners of her eyes. Poor girl! I rubbed her back and told her that it was going to be okay. Then the interpreter came over and asked if we needed help. Yes!
I asked the interpreter to introduce us, then I had her tell Ola the plan: sleep in a hotel, then drive all the way to Utah. She nodded her head and left the airport, headed back to the hotel with her summer family.
She was quiet as a mouse on the way to the hotel. Liesel helped her with her seat belt and she mostly looked out the window as we drove. At the hotel, I gave her her bag for the trip. I gestured to her, handed her the bag and said, "Ola's". She looked a little unsure, but she took it. I helped her unzip it and her eyes got big as she pulled out the new underwear, pajamas and clothes.
Liesel got her own pj's and nighttime things and took a shower. Meanwhile Ola checked out her bag, her gift (a stuffed elephant and some hair ponytail holders and barrettes) and her new blanket. She had several small smiles on her lips as she looked at everything.
She is be very good at following the lead of the group. After grandma finished in the shower, I took a turn. After my shower, she got up, took a shower and got ready for bed. She snuggled with her new blanket and we went to sleep.
By the next morning, we were ready to go. Ola followed me around like a baby duckling.
Liesel and I dragged my mom with us for moral and navigational support.
Just for fun, we stopped at the Donner Party State Park
The first day of the trip we stopped in Reno/Sparks and slept over. Then we headed to California. We hit every low spot in the road for diet Cokes and bathrooms. We ate tons of junk and stopped at Walmart at least twice. We are a family of blanket lovers.
So, of course we had to get Miss O. her own blanket! During one of our Walmart trips, Liesel managed to do this:
She is one crazy girl.. We laughed pretty hard, and her hair smelled amazing!!
We finally made it to San Francisco, ate dinner and got to the airport. Olga's plane was delayed. July 8th was the day that all United Airlines flights were grounded due to some computer glitch. I got a "breaking news" alert on my phone that am. I looked up her flight and sure enough: it was United. STRESS. Anyway, it was scheduled to arrive at 10:44pm. It came in somewhere around midnight and the kids got to us around 12:30. We were holding up a poster that had her name and picture on it. As I am watching all of the other kids find their families, I look down and see this tiny girl come up to us. I looked at her and said, "Are you Ol-ha?" she nodded yes. I asked her how she pronounced it, "Ol-ga or Ol-ha?". She replied, "Ola" so fast it was hard to hear, She was just so tiny!!
She looked absolutely terrified and unsure of herself. (WHY don't I speak Ukrainian??) I introduced myself as well as Liesel and Grandma Betty.
She just looked at us, unsure. I looked around to see what we should be doing. I asked if she spoke any English. She shook her head no. Then tiny tears started to leak out of the corners of her eyes. Poor girl! I rubbed her back and told her that it was going to be okay. Then the interpreter came over and asked if we needed help. Yes!
I asked the interpreter to introduce us, then I had her tell Ola the plan: sleep in a hotel, then drive all the way to Utah. She nodded her head and left the airport, headed back to the hotel with her summer family.
She was quiet as a mouse on the way to the hotel. Liesel helped her with her seat belt and she mostly looked out the window as we drove. At the hotel, I gave her her bag for the trip. I gestured to her, handed her the bag and said, "Ola's". She looked a little unsure, but she took it. I helped her unzip it and her eyes got big as she pulled out the new underwear, pajamas and clothes.
Liesel got her own pj's and nighttime things and took a shower. Meanwhile Ola checked out her bag, her gift (a stuffed elephant and some hair ponytail holders and barrettes) and her new blanket. She had several small smiles on her lips as she looked at everything.
She is be very good at following the lead of the group. After grandma finished in the shower, I took a turn. After my shower, she got up, took a shower and got ready for bed. She snuggled with her new blanket and we went to sleep.
By the next morning, we were ready to go. Ola followed me around like a baby duckling.
On the ride home, she mastered "Do you need to use the bathroom?" and "Are you hungry / do you want to eat?"
She acclimated quickly to our crazy.
More later on coming home to her own room and 4 brothers.
Comments
Post a Comment