Last Day!

DD’s Input:

We finally made it to the last day in this place. Thank GOODNESS!! We have to meet our ride downstairs in the lobby at 4:30am (Saturday morning Moscow time), that would 7:30pm Friday night Alabama time. We have to travel through Paris with a couple of hour layover and then through Cincinnati with a 1 hour layover…Now this could be a problem b/c we have to go through Immigration and then we have to go to another area b/c Alex isn’t “officially” a US citizen until Immigration goes through all of his paperwork. They will go through all of the paperwork in Cincinnati when we land. This could take a while depending on the lines, so we will need lots of prayers that we catch our flight to Birmingham. The last thing we want is to be stuck in Ohio. If all goes smooth we will land in Birmingham at 5pm on Saturday evening, so if you add up all of those hours, it will be a total of 21.5 hours. That is A LOT of traveling for an adult, much less a 2 year old. We are very anxious about that long travel time, so please pray for us as you go soundly to sleep in your comfy bed on Friday night. We will be stuck in a seat that barely reclines for our “sleep”.

Brad’s Section:

Ok, what a journey this has been. I am so emotionally drained. This is the most glorious accomplishment of my life. I am so happy. What a blessing to have been deemed worthy for the honor of parenthood. It is hard to believe that this process started a little less than a year ago. The time flew by, and yet at times we never thought this day would get here.

We had mostly highs in this process and very few if any lows, mostly just inconveniences. This whole process has been a blessing from start to finish. I cannot use that word enough. Blessing just seems like the right word. God definitely put his hands on this process and our child. What a gift. I want to personally thank all of you for your prayers and well wishes over the last year. We could not have done it without you.

Most importantly our families have been so supportive during this whole process. I have got to say I have the best family, period. That is includes in-laws and extended family. Everyone has pitched in and helped, to have family over at our house painting, cleaning, organizing, taking care of my business, our dog, my car, the babies room and buy groceries. I don’t think you could ever ask for more. Thank you all again so much for everything you have done for me and Dee Dee, we love you all.

This is a wonderful story that I look forward to telling my beautiful son Alex. He is now Peter Alexander Duffy but he will always have a little piece of Russia in him. What a joy it will be to tell him how he was a gift to us from across the world. And what a support structure was behind us to make the whole thing happen. He really is the most precious little fellow I have ever seen. He has such personality and is so cute. I now know the feeling my father must have felt every morning when he came to wake me. Pure joy, to see those innocent eyes look at you and know that you are there to protect him and keep him safe. A look he as never been able to give anyone before, and I can now be proud to be the one to receive it. I must also say I have married the greatest partner on Earth. Dee Dee is so special to me and I love her so much. She will spill her love on Alex like he has never known. To see her holding him and loving on him is a pure joy for me. They are both so special and to have them in my life is incredible.

Thanks again for following the blog to this point. I plan to continue sharing the stories and our adventures so keep reading. I also will be posting pictures in the next couple of days once we get back so stay tuned from that. I will most likely have to get over my jet lag first. We love you and thanks again for everything. Keep us in your prayers as we travel the next day.

Brad