Journey to bring Kyanne Berline Cormier Home!: Haiti

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Coming Home!

This morning, there was no rush to get ready. The driver was picking us up around 10 in the morning. We still didn’t know if we were going home. I prayed God that evening to make sure we would get on that plane. We had breakfast, packed and went on the balcony for a bit to relax. It was fun to spend time with Nikki. I wish she lived down home. I am going to miss all of them. Now that we are bringing Kyanne home, I’m not sure when we will see them again.

When the driver picked us up, the first thing I asked him was if he had talked to Therriot. The answer was no. He said he would call us on the way to the airport. As we were driving, every time his cell rang, we all looked at each other thinking... is it Therriot calling to say he has the paperwork??? But no it was James calling Nicole LOL! James had gone to school that morning and he was going to meet us to say goodbye. I had Kyanne sitting on me all the way to IBESR office. I was praying that we were going to make it on that plane and bring Kyanne home. We parked on the side of the street, facing the IBESR sign. How long were we going to wait??? I guess God did answer my pray. Therriot walked out of the office with a folder in his hands. He had a big smile on his face. Victor rolled down the window and he handed the documents to us. We were all screaming of joy! This journey had to end in suspense. It seems that there was always something trying to get in the way. I guess I showed them that I was the boss and there was nothing stopping me from bringing my baby girl home. I think Victor started breathing again after Therriot left LOL! James came by after to see Nicole. He’s such a great guy. I hope he gets to come and visit us someday in Canada.

When we got to the airport, Angela, a girl from Alberta, Canada met us to say hi and bye I guess. Nicole and I had met her last year when we were at GLA for volunteer work. She is back and wanted to come see us before we left with Kyanne. I was happy to see her. When we first entered, we got stopped at the entrance by a guard. He wanted to see all my adoption paper work. He questioned why Kyanne’s passport was signed and she was a minor. He asked if I knew Therriot, because he signed the passport. I said he works at GLA and he’s the one doing the adoption paperwork. I was relieved that he started being nice because he had a straight face at first. He took a long time to check everything but he finally let us go. After we got our boarding passes, I had to show our adoption papers to the immigration officer. He just had a quick glance at them and let us through. When we passed the second security, we got stopped again for our adoption paper work. This is where I got asked for the IBESR paperwork. Thank god I had spoken to Brandon on that Sunday evening, because if we would of gone this far and got stopped at this point and not have that document with us... I don’t think it would have finished well. I think my husband or I would have lost it!!! But thankfully everything worked out for us and we are brining Kyanne home to Canada. I just can’t wait to get on that plane.

Kyanne was fine at the beginning, but of course, the flight was delayed a bit so she got board. I got her in the sling for the first time and she was fine. I was walking with her and got to see the planes through the glass window and got her to say bye bye Haiti. She looked at me, turned to the window and waved bye bye and gave a kiss with her hand. She was saying good bye to her native Country. I will bring her back and make sure she knows where she was born.

The most wonderful feeling of all was when I was walking up the stairs of that Air Canada Plane! I had tears running down my cheeks. I’ve waited so long for this moment. Victor and the girls were so happy seeing me walk up the stairs. She had adopted a few years ago as well and had her girl with her on the plane. She was happy to see that we were the first from GLA to bring home a child after the earthquake.

The flight went well. Kyanne loved the tv screen. We put on some cartoons and she was screaming and banging on the screen. I think it was the first time she saw a tv. She got restless a few times, but nothing mommy could not handle. I walked her down the aisle till she got sleepy and then daddy would take her in his arms and she would sleep. We had quite the system LOL!

We passed Immigration in Montreal fairly quickly. When we got her paperwork, I was some relieved. My baby girl is in Canada and we can now begin our lives together. We got to the hotel and she went straight to bed. We had her all bundled up the covers and were all staring at her. We all made our phone calls to our family to let them know we were in Canada. I then called Liette to let her know we had made it! I could not wait to talk to her.

The next morning, we got up quickly to catch our flight. We left her in her pyjamas. She was so sleepy. We got to the airport and because of the snow; the flight was delayed for several hours. We had a 2 ½ hour wait in Ottawa so I was not worried. When we got on the plane, we had to wait our turn to de-ice the plane. I asked the flight attendant if they could call to see if we would make our flight to Moncton ornot. She said they could not do that but at the end, she came to see me and said the pilot had called. I just wanted to get home. When we landed in Ottawa, there was a guy waiting at the gate and said ‘are you going to Moncton’? We said yes! He said the plane is waiting for you so run. I could not believe this... we were going to make it!!! We got to the gate, the lady, said go they are waiting for you guys. We ran and when we got to the end of the ramp, there was no plane... We got to the gate and told the lady there that there was no plane to get on. She said yes, it’s there! They are waiting for you guys. She went to look for herself and ... there was no plane. She was some mad. She make some calls and then came to tell us that there was miss communication and the pilot never got the message and left. So what did that mean for us... we got on another plane back to Montreal, were we started at and then we would take another plane to Moncton. Kyanne was so good through all of this. She was having fun. She slept on most of the flights. When we got back to Montreal, we got enough time to get her dress in a cute outfit, grab a bit to eat for the plane.

While we were in the air, heading for Moncton, the pilot made an announcement that we might not be able to land... There was a snow storm. He said they had confirmed half hour ago that it was ok to land, but they had requested another test to make sure. At this point, I just wanted to get home, but what can you do when Mother Nature gets in the way!!! We did land at the end. We got out of the plane and there was about 40 people waiting for Kyanne. I could not believe it. People made their way in the snow storm to come see her. Victor, Nicole and Renée all asked me how I wanted to process when we walked in the airport. I wanted Kyanne in my arms! There was no question about i. I left her in the sling for a few minutes and then got her out and Nicole and Renée took her to see everyone. We are so blessed to have such a great family and friends. They supported me all through this journey and they all came to meet us home as a family.

We came home Haitian style. We tried to put Kyanne in the car seat in the storm but it did not work. I sat in the backseat with her in my arms facing my chest. I put the seatbelt on and we drove home. At this point, I was not going to traumatize her the first hour she got to Canada. We got home and the dogs were so happy to see us. I did not know what to expect from the meet and greet with Kyanne and the dogs, but it went great. They were calm and gave her a few kisses. She did not get scared. It took her a few minutes and then she started pointing the finger at speaking some words we did not understand LOL! For some reason, they listened to her and they sat down and obeyed her commands haha.