The trip home

We left the hotel at 0500 Saturday morning to start the trip home. Annikah, of course, had NO IDEA what was going on. But, she was her usual happy self on the way to the airport.
Here she is sitting on the first plane of the day. Our first flight was from Sofia to Munich, Germany: 

Here’s Meredith explaining to her that it’s going to be a long day and she’s going to sleep most of it (HA!).

Our next flight was from Germany to Charlotte, North Carolina. This flight was almost 10 hours long. It arrived in the US right around 1530 EST, which was 2230 in Bulgaria(past Annikah’s bed time!).
Annikah was GREAT on the long flight to the US! This was the easiest international flight that I’ve ever been on (and I’ve been on close to 20).
Annikah played with toys:

She slept some (Praise the Lord, because that meant that Meredith and I also got some sleep!)
She spent lots of time talking on her phone:
This thing has been her favorite toy of all. I bought it in Sofia and it does the colors, shapes, numbers and says hello in both English and Bulgarian (you push the “hello” button in whichever language you want it to do).
She even watched some cartoons:

FINALLY, we landed in the good ole USA!

I will say that of all the airports that I’ve entered the US through, Charlotte’s immigration process is the WORST. I’ll be advising all future adopting families to avoid it at all cost!

Finally, it was time for the LAST flight. We had to say good-bye to Meredith at this point, since she was flying home to Orlando. I am SO VERY THANKFUL that Meredith was able to go with me on this trip. It was such a blessing to have her there with us for the past week!

Annikah and I boarded the flight to Alabama at 1815 EST Saturday night (which was 0115 Sunday morning in Bulgaria). The nice lady at the ticket counter moved us to the bulk head seats and checked my carry on bag so that all I had to do was gate check the stroller for the final flight. Annikah was still going strong when we boarded the flight, but as soon as the lights went out and it was dark, she CRASHED. She slept the whole hour long flight to Alabama.

We arrived in Alabama at 1815 CST(which was 0215 Sunday morning in Bulgaria). At this point, Annikah looked at me like I’d lost my mind when I woke her up. But, she got right up and as soon as we were off the plane, she was excited to see what was coming next. We got the stroller and I told her that she could walk while I pushed the stroller. I knew that her daddy(and all her brothers and sisters, her Nana, her Aunt Allie and her cousin, Makaila) were waiting at the end of the long hall.

Here she is on the final walk off the last airplane:

 
Here, she’s walking down the terminal hallway. At this point, I could see Robert and yes, I had to slow down and wipe my eyes because I was crying:

It was FINALLY time for her to meet her daddy and for me to see ALL of my kids standing together for the very first time.

Meeting daddy deserves a blog post of it’s very own, don’t ya think? …………………………………….