Hotel Lokosphinx

Arriving late in St. Petersburg...thank you Andre our wonderful
driver who was so nice and helpful.



Rest for the weary traveler...the Hotel Lokosphinx was a much better fit for our family of 4. We were sad to only have one night in this amazing replica of Russian history. The hotel makes you feel you have stepped back in time...almost like staying at Catherine's palace which we visited on our stay. Although, internet was still a challenge we were able to check and send email from the second floor large common room...much better than having to sit in a smokey lobby. The smoking issue seems to be better in this hotel as well...poor Emily has been a trooper but her delicate sinus's have suffered much this trip. We are all very worn out physically and emotionally.

The room where we could get internet.

Beautiful stairway to our room

Looking up the stairs from the lobby.

Main room inside our suite



Our bedroom (we didn't think to take pictures
until we were leaving so beds were not
made...Oh, well glad to have the pictures)

I love that I can open the window's to our room and see the beautiful canal...this looks like what I grew up dreaming that Russia would be like. There is a corner market that we frequented that we were able to get water and snacks from. We also felt very comfortable walking out on the street and even saw what we thought was one of the St. Petersburg city orphanages nearby but couldn't be for sure. Lots of military presence on the streets as well. Our short stay was jam packed as we toured Catherine's Palace, and the 900 day siege monument and museum all in one day.

Can't Sleep

Well it is 2am here and I am wide awake. I am not sure if I am adjusting better or worse. I was up last night at 4am and never went back to sleep. D and the kids are sound to sleep and have done well adjusting to the time change. It was rough yesterday afternoon because we had a tour of the city but I was so tired I could not keep my eyes open. A beautiful city with so much rich history and our guide, Alex, is very knowledgeable of Saint Petersburg so it was a really good tour. Thankfully, E videoed most of it so maybe I will be able to catch the highlights I missed when I dosed off.

We received quite a bit of snow fall here over night and throughout the day...J has been itching for a snowball fight ever since. It is cold here but not as cold as I would have thought. They keep the buildings and cars so warm that we find ourselves leaving the window open because it gets too hot. Wearing layers is a life saver!

The hotel we are staying in is very clean and nice. The Brothers Karamazo, it is a restored old building made to look like the Russian hotels of the early 1900's. We had breakfast and dinner at the restaurant. Both meals were very good and authentic Russian cuisine. E and I split something that resembled Beef Stroganoff and the boys had steak and potatoes with this gravy sauce that J absolutely loved!

We will be doing more touring today before our flight leaves for Archangelsk. I am already getting "butterflies" in my stomach about meeting the children. I still cannot believe we are actually here in Russia and in less than 48hrs will have laid eyes on our children for the first time in person. I am going to try to get some sleep now, good night!

Leaving the Airport

Here's our ride from the airport in St. Petersburg Saturday night when we arrived. Fortunately, our guide, Alex, speaks good English, and she knows the city very well.

The Last Minute Rush

Our same FedEx man came back with another package for us today. An international phone! Thank you, Russ, this will be huge for us in Russia I am sure.

Packing is in full swing...J being my point man for stretch wrapping. He has been a real good helper...he would have stretch wrapped the dogs into his suitcase but, Mom has to draw the line some where on what can go. :) We will have to save Chase and Charlie introductions for after coming home.

Emily is feeling much better and none too soon as she is our technical wizard! She has been loading every one's mp3's to the max to listen to on the trip as well as loading important files from the main computer to the laptop. Thank you, Thank you Emily!

Daddy has been diligently tying up loose ends with travel/hotel accommodations while trying to sell boxes. Thank you, Babe you have done an amazing job pulling all of this together this week!

It has not been easy but with the prayers and help of many friends this is really coming together. Okay, got to run because I think I was suppose to be getting something else off the computer instead of posting to the blog...oops! :)

Okay....so we went a little crazy

Today was met with an early wake up call from New York needing copies of the kids birth certificates for our visas to be processed. Thankfully, a faxed copy was all that was needed and we knew that all had arrived on time. So, we will be looking for those visas to arrive on Wed.

Our itinerary has changed by one day as Russia has a holiday next Mon. (Feb. 25th). We decided to still leave on Fri. and take the extra day in St. Petersburg to recover from the long flight and time change. PTL, He knows we will need that extra time. So, we will be in the orphanages Tues, Wed and Thurs. of next week. We are still firming up our flight schedule but did confirm that our lay over is in Frankfurt, Germany. David will finally get the chance to use that German he took in college! :) HaHa

Our afternoon was filled with the divide and conquer strategy so Dad and J. took off for Academy to gather up some winter closeout deals while E and I headed for the Dollar store and Walgreens to pick up photos, photo albums, toys for the kids and travel sized everything (under 3 oz.s).

Okay, so we went a little crazy with the toy buying. It was so fun though to think about buying for them. I have not allowed myself this pleasure...I have stayed reserved but today what started as a small leak in the dam became a gully washer in a hurry. The picture above testifies to our fun and has added another aspect of realness to this journey. Soon, they will be holding these very items and for 3mos. they will represent this brief time we have with them until we return.

My favorite of these items are the photo books we put together. This was so fun, we laid out all of the pictures we had printed (80, doubles for 2 albums) then all four of us gathered and picked our favorites....it was tough in under 20 pictures to depict to our children who we are and where they are going to be living. Especially, as we are thinking about their tiny hands turning these pages over and over in the coming months until we return. Saying good bye is getting harder each day and we haven't even had the chance to say hello yet. Truly, it is only by the Lord's grace that we are able to press on and walk through this time. It is precious time though, to draw so near to the Lord and receive His peace.