Weddings, airports, and snow days....oh my!

Life has been "interesting" here since Christmas.  A couple of months ago my dad proposed to his girlfriend.  I love her so this was very exciting news!  They set the wedding date for January 4 and asked if we might be able to come.  I just didn't see how that would happen.  At this point the only person who can watch my kids overnight is my mom and she lives in another state.  We considered that maybe I would go and Larry would stay home.  In the end we just asked mom to extend her Christmas stay and watch the kids so we could both go.  We also decided to surprise my dad rather than telling him we were coming :).

The tickets were purchased and we counted down the days.  Before we left my mom seemed pretty concerned about Anya.  Anya is a very busy rascal and to be quite honest she was driving my mom a bit insane.  :)  As we were leaving there was a forecast of a major snow storm at home the day we were supposed to get home.  We were all worried.....especially my mom.  Oksana expects things to be just like they should and when that doesn't happen, look out.  We left on Friday and we were to come home on Sunday.

We were able to give my dad the shock of his life and had a very fun weekend but the cloud of worry hung over us the whole time.  We watched weather report after weather report hoping to find better news.  Oksana was having some struggles but we held onto hope that we would make it home.  On Sunday morning we saw that the snow had started later than anticipated and we were hopeful that we might get in before the snow piled up too much.  As we all waited at the gate for our 11:25 flight there was an announcement that our plane was coming and we would be boarding soon.  The relief was huge but then nothing was happening.  A short time later they came back and said the flight was cancelled.  We rushed to get on another flight and got the last 2 tickets on the next flight out at 6pm.  I called my mom and she seemed very concerned.  Things were not going well at home at all.  The behaviors that Oksana was exhibiting were almost exactly what I went through this summer with her.  Unfortunately at this point there was nothing we could do but pray.

We hunkered down for a long day at the airport and prayed for this next flight.  By 3:00 it was cancelled.  We again got the last 2 tickets on the next flight out at 8:00.  I didn't want to tell my mom until we had a better idea of whether or not this would happen.  This was the last flight out.  If this flight cancelled we would be spending the night there.  As it got closer to 8 we heard that the airport we were flying into was open so I called to let her know.  She was pretty much beaten down at that point.  She told me that she could not take one more day watching Oksana and told me she will not be doing this again.  We HAD to get home.

The flight was delayed and delayed but around 9:45 my behind was sitting on a plane waiting to take off!  We arrived home and had a very slow and snowy drive home.  At 1am we arrived home to find that we needed to shovel the mound of snow blocking our driveway to get in!!! 

Monday morning Oksana had no idea we were home.  She came busting out of her bedroom with an attitude, screaming at the person that she thought was my mom.  When she saw me she stopped dead in her tracks.  We promptly removed some privileges for her behavior.  It wasn't a great day.

Of course we knew Monday would be a snow day and that was perfect since we got home so late.  Walking in the door and then sending them to school might not have gone well.  The problem is that then school called off Tuesday, and Wednesday, and today.  DONE doesn't begin to describe all of us at this point.  I just found out on the district website that school is in session tomorrow.  Did you hear my sigh of relief through the computer?!

Now as soon as life gets back on schedule I have to start the process of finding a caregiver for Oksana.  Never leaving her is not an option, and I just lost the one person we had who was really good with her and willing to put up with her.  That is an incredibly daunting task to me at this point.

That's all for now but after the weekend I will get some posts up about our respite options as well as some pictures of our sensory room!