48hrs to take off

Well today I am feeling the pressure of the clock ticking. It is all coming together though. We received part of our hotel/apartment accommodations itinerary today. We will have an apartment on the first leg of the trip in Moscow, the Begovaya. We are hoping to be staying here on Fri and Sat nights then leaving for Ark on Sunday. There just are not many options in Ark so we were unable to book an apartment there but will be staying at a different hotel than our first trip, The Hotel Dvina .

I have been given good reviews from a few other adoptive families who have stayed here. All accommodations for "large" families such as ours (this is actually just the 4 of us, I think with 6 of us we are considered a "huge" family LOL) are difficult so we are going to try a little international camping. We will pack our air mattresses and extra sheets...now this is really the way Shiflet's like to do things. I am already seeing little forts being built from couch cushions...Andrew and Kathlena will quickly find out that we love adventure and rarely stick to the beaten path. We are not sure yet on our accommodations once we leave Ark nor when we will leave Ark. We are hoping to be spending Memorial weekend in Moscow in an apartment if our agency's Russian staff can find one that is available. This would put us in Moscow from May 23-29th so the bulk of our two weeks would actually be in Moscow.

I have not officially started packing yet but we do have our "piles" laid out for inspection. Once it goes in the suitcase it stays there. We discovered today some things we really needed like a jacket for Andrew(hmm...how could we have missed this when it is 85 degrees outside here???) Well, thankfully once again a sweet family from our church has come to our rescue...thank you Bratton Family. Emily, J.Michael, and I headed out to pick up photos for the photo album we show to the court, pick up our raw bars from Jubilee(thanks, these are longs flights--tired of airline food, life savers!), jeans for Andrew, p.j.'s for both kids, small fans for the hotel in Ark(it is still in the 30's there and in the buildings they keep the heat cranked up so fans help it to be less stifling-Thank you Barb for this tip) and two tiny toothbrushes. I even bought children's tylenol to take but, only to use as a last resort. We had to stock up on all the reptile/amphibian food for all of the animals too! Thank you, Stephanie for your willingness to take care of our animals...especially after all of the fun you had with them on our first trip...you are a good neighbor and friend. Okay, well we should have those visas in hand tomorrow and start filling those suitcases. It is really coming together. Praise the Lord for giving us such a peace during this time.