Following Our Calling One Day at a Time: Homecoming

I loved my time in Armenia. Sure there were tough days where I wanted to (and sometimes did) barricade myself and the kids in our apartment all day to work on bonding, but I also really enjoyed walking around Yerevan. I loved much of the food (I really miss those croissants from Baguette and Co.) There was Gelatto or ice cream on most street corners. You could get a cone for just $1 US! I even got comfortable shopping in the grocery after several visits and even ventured to street vendors for fresh fruits and veggies. There were many people that stared at us but I don't think anyone was rude. There was a gentleman in the grocery who was following me around trying to say something about Aleks, I think it was because he looked so uncomfortable in his carrier, but otherwise people left us alone.

On the weekends in Yerevan there is a huge outdoor market called Vernissage. Hundreds of vendors come to sell their wares. There are many artists who do beautiful work from painting, sculpting, woodworking to jewelry and more. I came home with some lovely treasures to share. One such treasure came from a sweet older woman named Tamara. I met Tamara as I was admiring her cross stitch work. She commented on my children and how they were Angels. Tamara did not speak much English but there was another vendor close by who was able to translate for us. She showed me pictures of some Biblical scenes she had cross stitched in the past and I ordered a cross stitching of Milena's name in the Armenian alphabet done in bird letters. Basically each letter is a character (the Armenian alphabet) that is made to also look like a beautiful bird! I will post a picture of the finished piece below. While conversing Tamara gave Milena her ice water (it days I was in Armenia.) In our conversations she asked my name and we laughed about her comment about my children being Angels and my name being Angeline. Tamara was a sweet woman, easy to talk to and very talented. If you ever venture to Yerevan you won't want to miss Vernissage! Make sure to see Tamara and her artwork!

Milena's name in Armenian. Sorry the picture is vertical, I can't seem to get it to flip!

We had a few paperwork hiccups while in country but both our team in Armenia and stateside worked their tail ends of to get the children and I home. If there was a way to make things happen more quickly, they were on it and we are so grateful! Just as I was getting comfortable venturing out on my own it was time to come home.

We left our apartment at 1am Saturday morning on August 8th (Armenian time.) We flew from Yerevan to Vienna, from Vienna to JFK and JFK to our home airport. The children did remarkably well. Milena was nervous for the first take off but was fine after that. I was able to get Aleks to sleep for much of the trip and Milena watched movies. The Vienna airport had a nice area for the children to play which took some stress off from me. Milena and I dozed off and on throughout the trip home. We got home late Saturday night, still August 8th since we went back 8 hours. We had a lovely welcome committee of friends and family. The only issue we had was one lost bag which was delivered to our house the following day (an elderly man took it by mistake.) It was so nice to see so many of our supporters at the airport! We even got a few pictures of our first time as a family of 5!