Home at last!

Maury and Kol have been home for two days and it has been wonderful!!!!!!!!!


Maury said the flight went well. He said Kol toured the cockpit and really seemed to enjoy being away from the orphanage. All of the worrying and anticipation seemed to be for nothing. Hopefully, Maury will write more about his experience.

From my point of view, our friends and family gathered at the airport waiting for their arrival. My very good friend, Lynda, and her three boys braved the weather and ventured out at 8:30 on a Friday night. Along with their “K” “O” “L” signs, they joined all of the dive shop’s instructors and owners, Maury’s mom, my mother, sister, niece, aunt and grandmother (she is 94), my other great friend Melanie, Kyle and Karmon. We had a total of 18 people there to welcome Kol and Maury home. We also had red, white and blue balloons and signs. Lynda’s son Mitchell gave us the minute to minute count down to their arrival. Finally, after everyone else walked past us and ten minutes after they landed, Maury and Kol walked around the corner. I wanted to run as fast as I could to them but the security guard would not let me. Kol ran to me and I kissed and hugged him and introduced him to our family and friends. I think Maury was overwhelmed with the number of people there to welcome him home (he only expected me and his mom). After visiting for a few minutes, we left for home. We drove up to our house and in our front yard was a huge stork with (IT’S A BOY). Kol explored every inch his new home (doma). Kyle, Karmon, Maury, Kol and I visited until 12:30 at night. A flight attendant gave Maury a bottle of champagne – so we all toasted to our new addition in our family.

The first day in America had to be a great one… and it was!!! We woke up and got dressed for the Mardi Gras parade. Karmon was dressed in her crown and beautiful dress. I was dressed as a Star Trek person (pretty goofy looking). Poor kid, what could he have been thinking? We arrived at the float staging area (imagine floats, people in costumes, loud music) and went straight to Karmon’s float. He was able to get on our float and Karmon’s float. Several of our friends came up to meet Kol. Also, Monsignor Provenza stopped the blessing of the floats to say hello to Kol and acknowledge his new residency. Kyle, Kol, Maury and Adrienne (Kyle’s girlfriend) watched the parade and waited for Karmon and me to get off our floats. Before we made it back to the float staging area, Kol was sound a sleep. We all had an amazing, amazing day!!!!

Today, we were visited by both babushkas (grandmothers). Kyle and Karmon have to go back to school so they spent a lot of time with Kol trying to get to know him. We have already had several wonderful moments with Kol. A few of my favorites are watching him look at a Southern Living book and rubbing his tummy saying “yum, yum, yum”. Or this morning when he put on Maury’s aftershave, then hair gel, then lifted his underarm and ask Maury to put on deodorant. Or watching him enjoy and swim in his first bath. Or watching him at the grocery store amazed at all of the food. Or trying to eat the plastic apples that are decorations on my table. Or watching him kiss all of the cars on his sheets. I could go on and on and it has only been two days – two amazing days!

We will continue to keep the blog up-to-date for a while and post the updates on Kol’s new life. Thank you all for welcoming him home!