Three home two to go

Ok, where do I begin...

The good news. Joe, Lyda Oksana, and Mathew Dima are safe and sound in the U.S.A. We had a wonderful visit with them yesterday. Oksana is shy but warms up quickly and took immediately to Lindsay. She has a very pleasant demeanor and is very intelligent. With her English and a book for translating we were able to communicate pretty effectively. Mathew has a million dollar smile that makes you just want to hug on him. He and Madison immediately started coloring, working on puzzles, and eventually ended up outside playing tag. We had a very nice visit and are excited to have cousins that live so close.
Nothing in this process has been without incident and the trip home was no exception. Joe, Lyda, and Mathew missed the flight out of Kiev literally by 5 minutes because they needed the one piece of paperwork that they didn't have. By the time Ramon delivered it they had just closed the gate. They were able to get on a later flight out of Kiev and were told that they would still make their connection. Despite sprinting through the NY airport they missed the connection again by just 5 minutes. Turns out that Delta had actually closed the flight early so they put the Eastman's and 7 other travelers that also missed the flight up in a hotel for the night. At 5 a.m. they headed back to the airport to finish the journey home. They arrived safely at RDU on Sunday morning but no sign of the luggage. This led to the first of what I am sure will be many, trips to Wal-mart for necessities. I am confident in saying that Joe had probably never set foot in the junior girls department before, but he apparently navigated it like a pro. Oksana seemed to be very pleased with her purchases as we were admiring her new clothes during our visit. Joe said both children were troopers through the entire trip and that it was very cool to see them experience everything for the first time. Mathew was amazed at everything on the airplane right down to the tray table. Both Lyda and Mathew slept over 12 hours on Sunday night and the luggage arrived sometime in the wee hours Monday morning. All is well that ends well and we feel very blessed to have them home.

Now for Tonya and Jason Vitali,
This gets confusing but here are the facts as I understand them. My last update was that Jason had an infection that needed to be treated with penicillin. The physician at the department where the physical was conducted said that it should be 10 consecutive days of anitbiotics in the form of a shot. However, they don't administer the treatment there. Tonya and Joe tried a couple of different clinics last week that had been recommended but they were "private" clinics and wouldn't administer the treatment. Tonya had another appointment on Monday with a different physician who said that she would recommend one shot per week for three consecutive weeks but after retesting Jason to verify the diagnosis her test was negative and revealed no infection. So she contacted the physician who had done the original test and apparently after a 45 minute discussion he agreed to accept her negative result. However, he doesn't have the authority to release the records without agreement from the CDC in Atlanta. Meanwhile, we have been on a mission stateside to try and seek assistance from anyone that can possibly get the records released so that they can come home (State Department, Senators, CDC, etc....). Please pray that tomorrow will result in the release of his records. Tonya has now been in the Ukraine a really long time!!!! Imagine trying to entertain a 3 yr old in a hotel room in a foreign country where you arent' very familiar with the surroundings and you can't speak the language! On top of that, she was charging the blackberry through Joe's computer that he had to bring home with him so she doesn't even have the release that she previously had of communication through e-mail. Once again let me just say that I have nothing but the utmost respect for both Tonya and Joe. Parenting is full of sacrifices and they are truly being tested right out of the gate. We are all praying that the physician in the Ukraine will arrive to work tomorrow and see a fax from the CDC accepting the negative result and releasing the records. I will keep you posted. Never underestimate the power of prayer.