He's here!!!

After a 12 hour train ride and a 12 hour flight, Sergey made it to Atlanta on Friday, June 25. We met him at the airport, and we were so anxious for the group to clear customs and come up the elevator. I made a sign in Russian that said, "Welcome to America Sergey" (I know -- how original) and we picked up a few mylar balloons from the dollar store. We ordered the shirts that the kids would be wearing so we could have common ground and assumed others would do the same. We were the only family wearing the shirt and looked like we were going to a family reunion or something. We must have really looked official, because people passing by our group would always ask us what our group was doing at the airport.

Sergey was the first kid off the escalator, and he was searching the crowd trying to find us. We were kind of stuck in the back, so it took us a minute to connect, but when we did it was big hugs from Sergey. He was so excited to be here. Bad idea to write the sign in Russian, because he immediately started talking to us a mile a minute and we just stood there shaking our heads. With the help of a 10 year old, we learned he ate on the plane and wasn't hungry and he was ready to leave. He asked, "What are they waiting for. Let's go!!" Big thanks to the guy that took the blurry picture above, complete with his thumb.

Communicating was a little tough, but we had a picture Russian/English dictionary and a lot of hand gestures. When we got to our house his eyes lit up and he said, "Whooaa." He was so excited when he saw our 50" plasma and he almost fell over when he went downstairs and saw the 63". We saved the best for last with his room. EJ and I had spent a lot of time decorating it and getting it ready for a teenage boy. We had a Jabulani soccer ball waiting on his bed. I've never seen anyone so happy. He ran over and gave me a big hug and kiss on the cheek.

We spent the first night playing soccer and pool and eating pizza. Sergey loves to tease and joke around. He doesn't have many male figures in his life. His father passed away and all of the teachers at the orphanage are female. He has become EJ's shadow. And they are two peas in a pod, even without the same language. We also learned Sergey loves to take pictures...of everything! Seriously, everything. He also loves cars and can name most makes and models. Here are some pictures from the first night.