But anyone who saw their faces on the morning of Dec. 24 knew they received the best gift of their lives--a family.

For the first time since 1999, when their parents died, Irina, 11, and Andrei, 10, spent Christmas somewhere other than separate Russian orphanages.

Their new parents are David and Susan Blackwood of Falmouth, who met the children this summer as a host family for Kidsave International.

"We hadn't originally planned to adopt them," Susan Blackwood said, as Irina sat shyly beside her. "We planned to host them and help them find another family. I've tried to explain to people what happens when you have these children in your home, and they're calling you mama and papa. It just happens. You just become a family."

Each year, Kidsave sends orphans between the ages of 5 and 14 from Russia and Kazakhstan, to America, in hopes of finding them adoptive families.

This past summer, 13 orphans were in Virginia, and all of them found homes.

The children have to return to their home countries after the summer, while their American families complete paperwork and await a court date in Russia or Kazakhstan to make the adoptions final.

Irina and Andrei were the first of the children from this summer to return to the area.

The Blackwoods worked hard to reunite their family in time for Christmas.

Susan sent letters out to churches all over the country, with a picture of the children, asking people to pray that they would be home for the holiday.

And when they got a Dec. 17 court date, the Blackwoods thought they had it made.

But there were more hurdles they had to overcome before they could fly to Russia and bring the children back with them on Sunday.

Russian officials misplaced Irina's citizenship papers--papers it typically takes at least a month to replace. The documents were replaced within 24 hours.

And a medical exam revealed a spot on her lung doctors initially thought might be tuberculosis. It turned out only to be scar tissue.

Susan Blackwood said her family, and many people back home, prayed every night that the roadblocks to spending Christmas together in America would be removed.

When they finally boarded a plane, Andrei looked out the window, waved, and said "Bye-bye."