ST. LOUIS - A little orphan boy from Ukraine flew 30 hours and 5,400 miles to a new a life in St. Louis.

He walked down the airport hallway at Lambert, straight into the arms of his two sisters and mother. All three siblings lived in an orphanage in Ukraine. J.D. Huitt and his wife adopted the girls two years ago, but they did not know about Alyosha until they were about to leave the country.

They began the process of trying to adopt Alyosha, but it was a near impossible task. They were told it would never happen. The reason? Alyosha's father was different than his sisters.

"They didn't think they could get dad's parental rights terminated," said Viola Huitt, J.D.'s mother.

The Huitts went through days of heartache. They jumped through every hoop imaginable. Last month, J.D. Huitt went to try to get Alyosha. He was able to get the boy's passport in the midst of Ukrainian riots against a Russian bailout.

Things came together and J.D. and his son flew back to St. Louis on Christmas Day. His sisters couldn't hug him or kiss him enough.

They showed him no amount of time or distance was too great to keep kindred spirits from each other on a day designed for love, peace and joy.

Huitt, a history teacher, is documenting his journey to adopt Alyosha online. You can read it here: http://huittshub.tumblr.com/