US Population: 312,434,554 + 1

We are home! What an adventure.  36 hours after leaving Anna's apartment in Moscow, a ten hour flight, a 2 hour flight, and a 2 hour car ride. Malia was put to bed here in her new home. Our worries of missing our flight in DC were so not needed.  Our flight from Moscow left 30 minutes early, I didnt even know that ever happened any more. Malia was amazing on the flight.  We were prepared for worst case scenario with her. She could not have been better.  She passed back and forth between me and Wendy and played with everything in the seat pockets.  She tore up the emergency instruction card and later I threw her up in the air and just had a big time.  She talked to everyone around us.  I would stand her up on my lap and she would see all the other people behind us.  She thought it was her audience.  She would smile really big and make faces.  On a 10 hour flight she slept maybe 2 and we slept none.  I thought we were in for it though when she started waking up because she was not interested in doing so.  Wendy fed her some apple sauce and that got her going again.  When we landed at Dulles she officially became a US citizen. We along with another family bringing home a baby girl cheered for our newest Americans! It made me smile to see the Washington Monument and the dome of capital off in the distance as we landed. We got off the plane and headed to customs.  Where I thought we would most certainly be prevented from catching our flight to Nashville. This massive room that was crammed full with people in a rope line the past two trips we returned home had only 3 loops full out of probably 20.  Wendy and I got up there and before we knew it there was a line out the back of the room.  We had just beaten several other international flights. We handed over Malia's sealed envelope to the customs agent and she greeted Malia and said, "now, I hold your life in my hands little girl.", it was funny.  That took maybe 10 minutes, which shocked us.  Next we head to security again which was where we got hung up for 30 plus minutes the past  two times because of the mass of people.  We made it to the line and there was no one there, we walked right up to the table to put our stuff through the x-ray and went right on through.  We were stunned!  We hauled it down to the shuttle to another terminal and got to our gate an hour before our flight!!!!!   I had probably prayed more specifically for this part of this entire trip than anything else.  I just wanted to get us all home and start our lives together here and not spend any more time in an apartment in Moscow and certainly not any more time in the airport. We made our flight to Nashville.

We were hoping that Malia would be able to keep it together on this final flight as it was a smaller plane and she was bordering on exhaustion.  I mean 2 hours of sleep our of 34 for a 2 year old? Come on! We were running out of seat pocket contents and there were fewer people for her to entertain. But it went by pretty quickly and we finally landed and we all started to get excited about meeting everyone.  We were finally let off of the plane and headed up the gateway.  Malia was singing and screaming happy all the way in momma's arms. We came out to meet Wendy's parents who flew to meet us waited at the gate.  They headed out after a few pics and meeting Malia. Then it was just the three of us. Finally making the long walk down the concourse to show Malia all of her friends and family excited to meet her!  When we saw everyone they had on shirts that said Next Stop...Home with POCNN (Russia in Russian) crossed out and Heavrin Party of 3 on the back. We were worried she may draw up and become overwhelmed by the people and attention but instead she pretty much fed off of it! It was all so great!  She met her new friends that were right around her age as well as our friends and family.  Wendy and I were honored and overwhelmed to see so many there to greet us.  We fed Malia there and changed into some more comfortable clothes for the ride home.  We strapped her into her car seat and she passed out before we made it to I24.

This past week more than any other during this process, Wendy and I were able to see and feel the tangible effects of many people's prayers for us, specifically this week.  God was definitely faithful.  Wendy and I have prayed together and on our own throughout this process for God to open and close doors for us during this process because there is more than we could comprehend involved in getting this pulled off successfully. He indeed was there for us.  I'm humbled now as a Daddy to rely on prayer and the wisdom of scripture to lay the foundation of faith for this little girl.

"There's one less broken heart in the world tonight." -Matthew West


-Poppy


Here are a few pics from the ride home: