Adoption delayed by Ukrainian crisis finally complete
An Alabama family caught up in the turmoil in Ukraine as it adopted four children there has finally been reunited in the United States, reports WGCL, the CBS station in Atlanta.
Lisa Bundy and the last of the children to get approval to leave the country, Nastia, returned to the United States on Friday. After three weeks apart, the family met at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
"It is really great to get all of us together," said her husband, David, a photographer. "I can't express how happy I am now. I don't think it hit me yet."
The couple, of Montgomery, decided a year ago that they wanted to adopt the children, Nastia, Karina, Max and Alla. When they arrived in Kiev in November, they were not overly concerned by the protests in Independence Square, a half a mile from where they were staying.
But as situation grew violent, the newly formed family of six hunkered down inside their small apartment waiting for the paperwork to go through, Mike Paluska of WGCL reports.
"You could hear everything, the bombs, the Molotov cocktails, the gun fire," Lisa Bundy said. "We went out one time, and apparently there were snipers and we didn't know it until we got back to the apartment."
The family got the final documents approved for Karina, Max and Alla, all siblings, on Feb. 23. Lisa Bundy remained with Nastia when the others departed until the last child could leave too.
"With the things going on politically in Ukraine, now with Crimea and with Russia it is very worrisome, David Bundy said. "I didn't know if the government was going to be disrupted to the point where we wouldn't get the things we needed to get done to complete the adoption."
Said Lisa Bundy: "God bless America. I am happy to be a mom, finally."