Bringing Dariya home: HOMECOMING INFORMATION

We are so grateful to everyone who has prayed for, donated, and helped us bring Dariya home.  We know we are loved and are happy to have you on this journey with us.

(The following excerpt is from an adjustment and attachment post by Tesney Davis, Kirill's mommy  it is so well written that I asked her if we could borrow some of it, to read the whole post click on the link)

We know some people are planning to meet us at the airport when we arrive home. That will be wonderful and touching for us to see familiar and supportive faces when we arrive.  We want you all to know that Aidan, Alayna and Dariya are our first priority when we arrive home. 

In Dariya's best interest we will not pass her around for anyone to hold at the airport and we will have to be mindful of overloading her with new things and people. We know you will want to hug, kiss, and help spoil Dariya, and trust us we want you to.   But, it is recommended that we be the only ones to do that at first to improve her chances of attaching strongly to us.  We know that it may feel disappointing to some of you because you have shared in our excitement of meeting Dariya.

As strange as it may seem, adopted children who act very outgoing and affectionate with strangers is not a healthy thing. It is called “indiscriminate affection” and can mean that they haven’t really attached to anyone. It would not be a good sign that Dariya is attached to us if during her first months home she will let just anyone take her and hold her without searching for us.   For example, when she walked up to a stranger on the streets of Kiev last night and grabbed his hand (not so good).

She will be adapting to a lot of new things…new parents (instead of many caregivers), new brother and sister, new home, new foods, new time zone.  Although we cannot predict how long it will take Dariya to adjust to our home, we feel confident that by implementing some specific parenting approaches it will happen more quickly than if we did not implement those approaches.


We appreciate your time and understanding in reading this.  Thank you again for your continued prayers, love, and encouragement.

We will be arriving Wednesday, July 13th at 6:20 pm on United flight 3670 and would love for you to welcome us home.  I know Sarah Marie is taking pictures for us, anyone else who would like we would love more pictures.  Also, if anyone is coming has a digital video camera we would love to have video of her homecoming.  Please email me and let me know if you are available to do this. Thanks!  See you Wednesday.

Breakfast of champions - Daddy's oatmeal to start the day!

How better to celebrate independence than dancing in the fountains of Independence Square, downtown Kiev



Saint Michaels church



She LOVES the sling Grandma, actually fell asleep in it on our walk back home