This is a long story, but one I want to remember details from since it was such a wild ride. So, this is a long post...and one mainly for my memory...but if you have some time and want to do some reading...here's the story! :)
Tulsa, Oklahoma
And finally back to
Fayetteville, Arkansas...all in 10 days!
Our trip to Ukraine ended up being a trip around the world. Literally. Before we left I blogged about the travel aspect of the trip and how far we would go from home. Well, we definitely surpassed my expectations!
Our trip started out nicely in the sense that the airlines allowed all of our baggage to be checked with minimal fees and allowed us to gate check 6 walkers! It was SO exciting! We knew how much the children would benefit from the walkers, and had been praying hard regarding them and our suitcases making it to Ukraine! (All 6 walkers and 17 suitcases nade it without a problem!)
We then headed to our gate and realized that there was an error with the time of our first flight that put us missing every single flight we were booked on from that point on. YIKES. After an hour of trying to figure this out, we ended up being re-booking to fly into Kiev and then on a regional Ukrainian carrier to the Donetsk region. The reason this was such a major problem is that there are limited numbers of days and flights that go into the place we needed to be. We ended up arriving only 9 hours later that we were suppose to! It was our first travel miracle!
Walkers on the gate checked rack
Chicago airport!
This portion of our trip took us from Fayetteville, AR to Chicago, IL to Frankfurt, Germany to Kiev, Ukraine to Donetsk, Ukraine! WOW! We then had about an hour car ride to our final destination. We were able to unpack our bags and get stuff sorted out to take to our first orphanage that next morning, and we even got 2 hours of sleep! I felt really good on that first morning, and I was so excited and anxious to start seeing kids even with the limited sleep.
Fun fact: In Ukraine when your airplane lands everyone claps. This was a little alarming to me at first, but after the first flight...I started joining the fun! :)
We spent Monday-Thursday working around the same area and early Friday morning (around 3:00am) we piled into a van for a fun filled ride to the Kharkov area to work at one last orphanage. This also coincided with the news of the Iceland Volcano. We got a text from a friend Thursday while at dinner asking if the volcano would effect our travel plans. We were like, "what volcano?!" Little did we know how much that it would effect our travel! I had a feeling the minute I heard the word volcano we were going to be stuck for a bit.
Vova's car...yes all 8 of us rode in this on several occasions...
One of the buses we rode on....
After our day of working on Friday in Kharkov we rode into yet another van to the train station and took a 9 hour train ride to Kiev. The train ride was great, I was exhausted and it provided 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Train Station in Kharkov
The train ride!
I seriously felt like a new person when we got off the train in Kiev. We then went to an apartment and began trying to get a plan together to get home! We did enjoy Saturday sight seeing in Kiev and just taking in the city.
our serious faces!
We were originally suppose to fly out Sunday morning, so we started calling the airlines on Saturday trying to find out about our flight statuses. The "ash plumes" were covering Germany at that point and we knew it would be a slim chance that we were able to fly out.....but we were hopeful. Hopeful until we began to hear news of the volcano continuing to erupt and that it was the biggest disturbance in air traffic since 9/11. I think our stress came in waves. We finally got an answer from the airlines that we had been rescheduled to fly out 6 days later on the following Friday.
We discussed so many ways of getting home. They involved ferry's to Turkey, trains to Spain, transatlantic cruises, driving to Rome and catching a flight. The more we looked into other options, the more stressed we became. It seemed like the ash kept getting closer to Spain and areas previously not effected...so we were scared we would do all that traveling and then be stuck somewhere else. We checked on flights through Moscow and Japan, and finally went to bed Saturday night thinking we would be staying in Ukraine for another 6 days.
In the middle of the night Saturday, our "Ukrainian cell phone" started ringing. I kept hearing it in my sleep...and ignoring it. I finally jumped up and ran to the living room and answered it. It was one of the girls husbands telling us he had found a way to get us home, going through Dubai and Australia. Enter major stomach pains.......
So, we woke everyone up and had a big meeting at 3:30am to discuss this option. We wanted to make all the travel decisions as a group. It was an expensive option, but we were also looking at each of us missing another week of pay and paying for food and lodging in Kiev. So we weighed our options and decided to try and book the flight through Dubai and Australia. And we were also told that only half of us would be able to go straight from Australia to the US, and the other half of us would have to fly to South Korea. Bleck! The travel agent tried to book the flights, but it was unable to be booked online. So with wet hair and clothing, Kati, Amanda and I jumped into a cab and headed to the airport to try and buy 8 tickets home while everyone else started packing suitcases! We went to bed thinking we would be in Ukraine for awhile, so nothing was packed and everyone's clothing was wet because we had a washing machine but no dryer! Packing up everything and getting ready was craziness!
I will also say that our cab driver smoked cigarettes with the windows rolled up. It was around a 45 minute ride to the airport. I could hardly breathe during the entire ride there.
the craziness that was Borispol Airport in Kiev.
Once we arrived at the Kiev airport we waited in some seriously long lines because the majority of flights were cancelled and were sent to three different windows before we found someone that could sell us the tickets. We then had to try and convert the prices into US dollars and find enough methods of payments to actually buy the tickets. It was around 2 hours at the window trying to find enough credit cards and cash to pay for the tickets. The total for 8 tickets home from Ukraine, via Australia was something like $35,000. They were cheaper online when we were originally quoted the price, but once we got to the window the price was quite a bit more...but we were already in the process of buying them when we figured this out. Also, since the volanco did not appear to be stopping...we thought this might be our only chance to get home for weeks. Everyone who had a credit card had to call and authorize it. I didn't even have a credit card with me (advice had been that credit cards didn't really work in Ukraine....so what was the point of taking one?). We all called home and tried to get additional credit cards numbers to pay with...but they would not accept credit card numbers without the actual card not to mention it was the middle of the night at home. We literally left Ukraine with pretty much NO money. We also found out that everyone could fly from Sydney to LA, and we could skip the South Korea portion of the trip. We were SO thankful that there were 8 seats open on all of these flights! Our group did not want to separate...but knew it was a possibility.
So we stood and the window and "nickel and dimed" our payments. We managed to buy 5 people tickets all the way home, and 3 people tickets to Sydney. Home base could book the other 3 peoples tickets from Sydney on. We literally boarded the plane to Dubai at the last possible second. There was only two or three flights leaving from Kiev that day, and all were headed either East or South. Just about every flight to Western Europe was cancelled.
After all that work we were so nervous about missing the flight..and we nearly did. I can't explain the stress I was feeling this day, however I knew that God was in control of our travels.....I reminded myself that repeatedly during this travel fiasco. I prayed repeatedly "If this route home is Your will, I know it will work out. If it isnt' what we are suppose to do, I will be fine with that.....but Dear Lord I really want to go home." :)
Oh, yay...we're on another airplane!
So once we got in the air toward Dubai I started processing what we had just set in motion....and that I was headed to Dubia and Australia. I couldn't believe it, so much so that I had to just go to sleep so I didn't have a little mini freak out. There were lots of interesting people on this flight, so watching them was of course entertaining. I slept off and on that flight and woke up long enough to see the really tall building in Dubai and all the sand when we landed. It was very hazy when we got there and late evening, so it was hard to see. I also have no idea how long it took to fly from Ukraine to UAE or even where I was once I got there other than it was in the Middle East.
Dubai had an amazing airport, FREE WI-FI, clean bathrooms, helpful workers everywhere, they even took care of our visa's we needed for Australia and was overall a great experience. Not to mention when we left there we flew on Emirates Airline...it is the BEST way to travel! :) I was spoiled for those 14 hours! It was so nice, and I was secretly hoping that for some reason we were on Emirates from Australia to LA! No luck there though...back to United.
In Sydney we had almost 24 hours, and their airport closes...after a bunch of phone calls we found a hotel that would let us all come and shower and only pay for one room. We stayed up all night there and when the sun rose we walked down to the botanical gardens and the Opera House. It was very surreal!
When we went back to the airport in Sydney we checked in without any problems. Once we got to our gate they rescreened everyone through security to get onto our flight, which I thought was odd. And then our flight had mechanical problems and we sat on the runway for a couple of hours. I apparently fell asleep then too. But finally we took off and landed in LA. I was SOOOOO excited to be in the United States of America, I felt like LA was practically home. We missed our next two flights we were booked on, and then finally got booked to Tulsa via Denver. I didn't even care at this point, I was just so excited to be able to use my debit card and it actually work....and to be within the continental United States! I immediately bought a giant burrito and got chips and salsa at the LA airport....it was amazing! :)
Needless to say, I learned alot about myself this trip and definitely got to see parts of the world I didn't think I would be seeing on my way home from Ukraine. We flew for around 35 hours and traveled for 72 on the way home. One of the things I learned is that HE is in control of everything, and God's timing is perfect. So no matter where in this world you are and what all might be going on around you, God has you in his hands and the plan is already worked out....after all HE has every single second of every day already planned out! What an amazing thought. The other thing I learned is nothing else really matters as long as you have a toothbrush and clean underwear!
Even with all the travel hassles the trip was by far worth it, and these faces are why.....
Like my pink heart sticker? I'll give you one guess who put that on Aunt Ahmie. Apparently Bryan wasn't quite ready for the picture. 
Leslie, myself and Jeane at dinner!
My sis-in-law Liz and Hadleigh!
Hadleigh makes friends with Kati...and her iphone! :)
Liz, Had, and Joe before dinner
We did the "sky ride" in St. Thomas to Paradise Point, it was beautiful!
This is Bryan looking handsome and checking out the sunset one evening from the back of the boat.
Golf!
We toured the Bacardi place in San Juan, PR.
This is for all my friends and husband who "love" my toes. Here they are enjoying the sand...looking long as ever! :)
I really don't like the sun in my eyes...or being hot...so this is what I usually look like at the pool...just add a book in my hands! :)
Walkers on the gate checked rack
Chicago airport!
Vova's car...yes all 8 of us rode in this on several occasions...
One of the buses we rode on....
Train Station in Kharkov
The train ride!
our serious faces!
the craziness that was Borispol Airport in Kiev.
Oh, yay...we're on another airplane!
