Tuesday, July 16, 2013

We're Here!


This past Saturday we boarded a 9 hour flight from Atlanta to Frankfurt which began our trip to L@tiv@. Our check in at the new International Terminal in Atlanta was super simple - no lines and we passed right through security with ease. We had a quick bite to eat at the Food Court - Devin and Ava Mae chose The Varsity as their last meal in the US.

We had a short wait at the gate, which was good, as nerves began to kick in. When they called us to board (love being able to board first with children) Devin began to get sick - nerves had gotten the best of him. Thankfully, once we were on board and settled he was fine.

Our 8 1/2 hours in the air was less than eventful ... dinner was good and the kids enjoyed all the Disney shows and the movie "The Croods" on their seat back entertainment systems. I can't say enough about the Lufthansa flight attendants - some of the absolute best service I have ever received on a flight.

While some of us dozed on and off during the flights - Ava Mae slept almost the whole time and my husband got absolutely no sleep. Thankfully, we landed in Frankfurt right on time - with just 1 hour to make our connecting flight we were worried but, no problems! (Thank you to everyone who specifically prayed for us to make that connection.) We got to our gate in Frankfurt with time to spare and then boarded our last leg of the journey to Riga. It was a quick flight - just 1 hour and 45 minutes.

I will admit I had a slight panic attack after landing in Riga ... here we were and all I could think of was "what are we doing ... are we crazy?". It was hard but, I just went on auto-pilot. We picked up our luggage and stopped off at the taxi desk to get a mini-van to our apartment.

Our apartment is perfect with two bedrooms and two bathrooms ... plenty of space and a very convenient location. We are just minutes to a small market and just 10 - 15 minutes to Old Town and a larger market.

We have already met up with friends for lunch and a playdate yesterday in a nearby park. We are settling in ... grocery shopping was a little interesting. A large market here is nothing compared to our supermarkets. We could probably fit 4 of the store we went into yesterday inside our Publix. Also, found that most things like bread and milk here have no preservatives so everything expires quite quickly.

Lots more pictures soon ... today we head to court and get our girl!!

Thank you to everyone for your prayers - we appreciate them so much!!

2 comments:

Marsha said...

So glad your trip over was uneventful and praying that the rest of your journey is smooth as well.

Unknown said...

I absolutely LOVE flying with Lufthansa. We flew with them last October to Estonia, and enjoyed the best service ever.

I had to chuckle about your mini break-down in Riga. All I could think was, "I sooooo understand her!" Glad auto-pilot kicked in. When God takes us out of our comfort zones (and adoption is way out there), God gives us the wherewithal to get through.

Love following your journey.