The Wooden Village

Our first real outing with the kids. We went to see the Wooden Village; Arkhangelsk is known for this. It was built in the 1600's as best we could tell-all the signs were in Russian. It was truly beautiful and amazing craftsmanship. It was really not far from the orphanage where Andrew came from. We were traveling in two cars and the boys were in the second car. I was hoping that Andrew wasn't nervous or worried that we were going back. I asked David later and he said he did not seem the least bit concerned, but enjoyed taking in all of the scenery. Kathlena slept the whole way there but was ready to go when we arrived.

It was very cold today...it even snowed on us a little at the Village. We did lots of walking...J.Michael and Andrew hand in hand the whole time. J.Michael is really loving being a big brother. Emily, our faithful historian, took pictures and video for us. The children, especially Andrew really enjoy watching the videos and seeing themselves with us...it is so sweet. Kathlena walked some but took in the view from 6ft up on Daddy's shoulders. She is starting to really warm up to Daddy. I do not think she has ever really been around men, especially tall, deep voiced men. :) The kids took a ride on this rope swing (pictured below) it was really fun. Just as they had a few turns they were overrun by a group of school children on a field trip. One of the girls looked at J.Michael and said "Hello, I am from Russia" in very good English. She was about his age. I wonder where she learned her English?

After a couple of hours of touring we decided we were freezing and hungry so we headed for the hotel. Kathlena did not sleep on the way back and about half way to the hotel she tells me " ho-chesh pee-sat" which means I need to pee. Nothing I could do so I asked her to hold it then remembered she has the pull up on so no problem. I placed her in my lap to see out the window and take her mind off of it. Well, she really needed to go and her pull up was apparently already full. So, I was quickly reminded what life is like with a toddler as I now sat looking like I am the one who needed to "Pee-sat". I shrugged to myself and thought well this is one of the joys of toddler motherhood. Soon we were nearing the hotel so I began to bundle up Kathlena to get ready to get out. We had to wait in line for a little while to get into the parking lot. Kathlena was a little fidgety, but I figured her soaked pull up, tights and pants were probably getting uncomfortable. Wrong! She began to throw up all over herself and down my jacket and pants. Not once but two times before I could convey to the driver (who only speaks Russian-but some things like a kid vomiting transcend the language barrier) we needed out. I fling open the door but by then she had finished throwing up. I am not sure if it was car sickness or if we simply fed her too much for breakfast then the excitement of the trip and all.

We got her back to the hotel and gave her another bath. She seemed just fine. She ate a little lunch then we put her down for her nap and she is still sleeping even now. I am not even sure that she has ridden in a car much before we took her to the hotel. I can only imagine what all is going through her little mind as her world is so rapidly changing.

What's Russian for "locksmith"?

We have papers

We received papers from Helen last night, so we are officially able to leave the hotel! Whew!! Just in time. Although, we have found many (boy) uses for an air mattress--a punching bag, trampoline and wrestling mat. Andrew is quit the gymnast. He can do a head stand and hold it for a long time while still talking to us...he is very strong! Taking baths and showers has also proved to be a great way to pass the time. Their first bath was so fun. We gave them cups to pour water on themselves. Kathlena reminded me of Emily when she was this age. She did not like water on her face or poured on her head; she would stiffen. Kathlena is the same...all girl. Andrew and Kathlena both love the water though...so I think they will really love Houston summers with sprinklers and pools. These children are just amazing...I keep saying it over and over. There little laughs and sweet smiles just melt your heart...loving them is so easy. Adoption is no different than bio kids...you just love them where they are at and pray for the grace to handle what will come.

Paw Paw, I have to retract my comment from yesterday. As soon as I got back to the room from posting Emily had already figured out a way to to teach Andrew how to distinguish between Paw-Paw and Papa(pop-uh). He has got it now. He goes around saying to himself Dedushka-DoDad, Babushka-Nana and Dedushka-PawPaw(very drawn out with Emily's southern drawl) and Babushka-Grandmommie. It is so cute...I can only imagine what is going on in his mind to think of having two sets of grandparents when just a short time ago he had no parents or siblings. He is still looking through his picture book at the faces of grandparents he cannot wait to meet.

We have one more night here at the Dvina Hotel. It has been a wonderful experience to stay here. We were so concerned about noone speaking English. Pointing and picture books take you a long way and the people are so gracious with us. David went down stairs to make copies of our adoption certificates and birth certificates to take with us to the Wooden Village in case we were asked any questions. When David returned from the business center to pay for the copies the lady at the front in English said "no payment for you, a small gift from us" They knew we were adopting and were very happy for us and the kids. It is one of the things I was not sure how people here would react to. Would they be glad? So far yes! I think they are happy for the children as they must know there are so many in this town that need homes.

I would definitely stay in this hotel again. Once we figured out the Internet situation it has been great. We have two points of access. We are on the 4th floor and wireless Internet is on the 5th floor lobby with an Internet access card purchased. So, I go and connect, open the post window, then come back to the room, type, then go back to the 5th floor and post. For video and pictures David has to go to the 1st floor lobby to the business center, get the key, then he is able to access blog and upload pics and video. It is a great set up now that we figured it out. Another big bonus of this hotel is the market next door. We have made all of our meals in our room which is great with 4 kids. David makes his daily run for milk, lunch meat, cereal, pastries (kolaches, strudel) and water (8 liter bottles at a time). The market has a great a bakery that we smell every morning and wait patiently for it to open at 9am (which seems like a long time when you are up at 5am everyday). It also has a deli that has wonderful sausage sliced...great since we do not have knives!

Sleep schedules are pretty good...we are all very ready for bed at 8pm and the kids are usually up around 6-7am. It is so bizarre here, as it is daylight until 1am and the sun is up again at 4am. So at 8pm you look out and it is like 3 in the afternoon and at 6am it is like 10 in the morning. I can only imagine the other end of this in the winter time when it is so dark. I think I would hibernate like a bear. It has been really good staying here...I will miss this little hotel on the Dvina and our sweet beginnings with Andrew and Kathlena. I will always remember this quaint little hotel.

Video from Monday - first time to see Andrew again

Happy Anniversary...the first 24hrs with Andrew and Kathlena

Today is David and I's 14th wedding anniversary. I guarantee you that neither of us thought 14yrs ago that we would be spending this anniversary in Russia with two new children added to our family through adoption. The Lord's grace and mercy abounds in our lives. My sweet hubby came home from the market with an anniversary present....a European plugged curling iron. I am ecstatic!!! From the "razyetka" (plug) kablooie that happened on day 2 in Ark I have not been able to use my curling iron because our adapter got fried. I could not be happier with a curling iron especially in this arid climate...my hair is supercharged! ( I think that David posted about this but if not the story is we were trying to hook up the power strip to the European plug and adapter. Well this was working well until the adapter fell and arced blowing a fuse in our suite. David then had to go and try to explain to the no English speaking hotel staff the problem. It was quite comical but my resourceful husband with pointing to plugs and using our First Thousand Words in Russian children's book was able to communicate. A technician was sent to our floor and fixed the problem...thankfully it was only a fuse!

The children have done so well. Better than I could have imagined. They slept without a peep all night. Kathlena awoke with some amazing bed hair...I think David is posting some pictures soon of this. Nana get out your hair tools ready...she has more hair than we thought. Emily and J.Michael both, along with Mom and Dad have been working with them on their English. It is amazing how quickly they are picking it up. They are like little parrots but some words are really sticking...they are understanding it.

Andrew is so sweet...he really loves to be hugged and held, but is shy about it. I think he is so overwhelmed with the "dream" of having a family really being true. His big smile, eagerness to learn, and be loved is an answer to many years of prayer for him--our God is so faithful. We know there is much to be done and worked on with these children, but truly we see that the Lord in his mercy and grace for his children has gone before us and prepared them for this change. Andrew is parroting everything including whole phrases of English. I was sitting with him working with the First 1000 Words in Russian book and I would say "what is this?" he would say "what is this?" then I said "no you tell me what is this?" and he repeated that whole phrase to me we all laughed as I realized he will just repeat whatever I say...understanding will come though. He is so smart.

Kathlena too is eager to learn and so smart. I was playing a counting game with her with rubles and she would repeat every number I said up to 8, well that was all the ruble coins we had so she might have counted more but truly it is amazing how a little one on one attention and they are picking up so much. I had been told numerous times that the language really would not be an issue but for me 'seeing was believing" and I can tell you language is not an issue even with older children. Their desire to have a family and assimilate into that family is so much greater. Kathlena is all girl. She goes around the hotel room "tidying" up. She picks up lint off the floor and puts it in the trash. She is always busy, working and really is fascinated with the commode flushing. I am not too concerned with potty training. I am glad we brought pull ups though, because she did go potty in the pull up during the night, but during the day she will tell me "potty" also learned in the last 24hrs. She lets me feed her and when she wants more she says "ahhh" which I said to her to get her to open her mouth more. Now she thinks this means more. She sucks her thumb when she is laying down to nap or sleep at night.

Grandparents will be glad to know that Andrew can already say your names to your pictures. He says"Dedushka-DoDad" and Babushka-Nana and Babushka-Grandmommie" Now PawPaw we are still working on yours he knows you are dedushka(Grandpa) but PawPaw is a little confusing with Papa that he calls David, but we are still working on it. Kathlena is taking it all in and smiles when she sees your pictures...it will be neat to see what they do when they meet you. I was so impressed at both orphanages with the caretakers diligence to go over the photo albums we left for them. When we took Andrew to go get Kathlena we got to see Kathlena's group one more time. When we entered the room one of the caretakers began talking to Andrew. She talked to him about his airplane bed that she had seen in the picture book...obviously she had gone over it many times.

Well today has been a challenging, good day. We have had to stay in our hotel room mostly for today, as we do not have Andrew and Kathlena's papers yet, so we have been advised not to leave the hotel. Our Russian is not good and if someone were to speak to the children we would not know what they are saying. To be on the safe side we are staying put. Sad because it is a beautiful day today...the sun is actually out. David and the boys just went to run stairs to burn off some energy...the room is getting smaller by the hour! Fortunately, the hotel has 12 floors so they had a good climb. We get papers at 6pm from Helen so we will be able to get out tomorrow. Hopefully, the weather will hold as we hope to go tour the Wooden Village. It is one of the only attractions in Arkhangelsk. This town is know for wood crafting...how appropriate for our children to come from this town as David loves to work with wood as a hobby.

Back from the orphanages

Emily and I snuck down the hall to check blog and post...Daddy is on nighttime duty. He has already hit the ground running on training Kathlena...she is definitely 3yrs old and apparently all of those three years she has never been told "no". She is responding well and I am so proud of David...he is really doing well with her. She does not like to be held seated so we are training her to like it. The first time she screamed and threw a fit for 10mins or so before calming down, but she is showing improvement already. Andrew is stuck to J.Michael like glue. His three favorite words are J.Michael, Papa, and Chicken noodle. I am amazed at how it already seems normal to have Andrew and Kathlena with us.

Leaving the orphanage was bittersweet. The people really love these kids and they are so happy to have them go to a family but they are attached to them also. Dina at Andrew's orphanage asked if I would continue to send pictures by email. We did find out that Andrew received every email we sent...Dina even mentioned it to the judge in court. She said that Andrew was asking her all the time "how much longer? how much longer? it is taking too long". In court the Director of his orphanage told the judge that Andrew used to ask her all the time why a family had never come for him...she tried to console him that a family would probably come some day. She (Dina) said he has always wanted a family, so when we came the first time, he was so eager to go with us, and being in a family has been all that he has talked about since. The little photo album of us we gave him was the only possession he brought with him...his other gifts from us he gave to his other friends left behind. We also brought candy for the other kids which Andrew eagerly gave out to his friends. They all seemed so happy for him. He was still so proud of his photo album and looked at it over and over in the cab ride to Kathlena's orphanage. It has seen much wear and tear in the last 3 months. We are absolutely amazed at how smart he is...we are not sure if he will still be speaking Russian by the time we hit American soil. He repeats everything he hears, especially from J.Michael and Emily.

When we arrived at Kathlena's we were given some of her art work and a special little book that the orphanage made for her to take with her about her time in the orphanage. We even received a few young photos of her at 13 months and 19 months. She really liked her new clothes...she is all girl. She is very curious and active...I will be busy! We went back to Kathlena's group for her to say her good-byes. It was very hard on one of the caregivers...she made me cry. Some communication trancends language. It was very comforting to know that Kathlena was loved so much by the ladies that cared for her. She was ready to go, though! We made our rounds to all of the staff-the neurologist, director, social workers, etc. They were all very kind. We are so blessed. Will try to post pics soon of us bringing them from the orphanage.

We're legal now!

Arkhangelsk Regional Court




































Celebrating on the steps of the courthouse. (From left to right) Sergei, Daddy, Mommy, J. Michael, Helen, Dina (Andrew's orphanage director) and Anna (court appointed translator).

We we very impressed with Sergei, both in our meetings yesterday and also today in court. Keep in mind he is a Russian government official (Director of the Regional Ministry of Education). He is a very kind man who seemed very eager to see these children become members of our family. He even "thanked" us for doing this! He even made a point today to greet Emily and J. Michael, and he shook J. Michael's hand.

Dina has also blessed us. She had very kind things to say to the judge today about our family. She personally appeared in court, which often is not done by an orphanage director. She is a very sweet lady who is very happy to see Andrew getting a home.

More details from Court

We met with Helen and have to wait until 3:30 to head over to Andrew's orphanage to pick him up. We then go to the Civil magistrates office to file birth certificates and start passport processing. We have an appointment at 5:30 then we head to Kathlena's orphanage to pick her up and deliver gifts. I brought gifts for Andrew's orphanage and David and I are about to head to the market for Kathlena's orphanage. We are buying cakes for the staff and diapers for the kids. Helen graciously helped us with translating thank you notes. She has been so helpful and we are so grateful for the Russian staff that works with our agency. I am not sure how we would navigate this otherwise. They really work hard to accommodate and help us with everything.
Funny moments from court. Well, mostly court was the solemn occasion it should be but, then we are Shiflet's and it is hard to stay completely serious for 1hr and a half. Actually, this was purely accidental but I nearly cracked up...fortunately I kept my wits about me. In court the judge asks you a series of questions of which our translator has given us specific answers to some we simply say "yes" or "no" where appropriate and others have a more lengthy explanation. On one of the answers David responded "si" which is spanish for yes. He had been answering with yes or "Da" or no or "neight" but for some reason "si" came out. We all laughed til we cried when we got back to the hotel. Fortunately, our translator said "Da" and kept on going. I don't think the judge ever noticed he had said anything different. Well, it will be one of those funny stories to go along with the special day today is.
Well I have got to run David and I are off to the market to get cakes and diapers. Will try to write more as time permits and post pictures but with 4 kids in a hotel room time will suddenly be limited for posting. Das Va Danya--Goodbye!

"Labor" of Court...."Birth" of Adoption

It is official...30minutes ago (11:30am) we became the proud legal parents of Andrew David and Kathlena Hope Shiflet. Thanks for praying for Emily and J. Michael. They were able to stay right outside the court room the whole time--they could even hear much of the testimony. Court was long but uneventful...David did very well on his speech and I had to give a small speech and then was given a series of questions from the judge (my favorite-talking off the cuff!). I made it though... the Lord was gracious. We also had two social workers from each orphange recommend us to the court, as well as Sergei from the Ministry of Education. Then the inspector of children's rights spoke (this department has oversight of the orphanages) followed by the prosecutor. All spoke very highly of us and especially of Emily and J.Michael. The officials in the court really seemed to be concerned about our bio children accepting Andrew and Kathlena, and those that had the opportunity to observe them together(since we brought them with us) were very impressed. After having gone through this, I am even more convinced of the importance of bringing Emily and J.Michael, not only for their sake, but also the testimony they have had in this process of their love for their new brother and sister.

We're back at the hotel for lunch and a quick break. Our translator, Helen, will meet us at 1pm to go over our schedule. The court promised to have the birth certificates and other documents (with new names) ready by this afternoon. With these documents we can apply for passports and get out of here!

We should be able to pick up Andrew and Kathlena later today and have them with us beginning tonight. It's very exciting to see this stage of our journey coming to an end. It will take a couple of days to get the passports; we're tentatively scheduled to leave Ark on Friday for Moscow. This will be a welcomed change, because we will have a 3 room apartment with a kitchen (!!!) in Moscow instead of a hotel room with four kids. We feel like were camping four stories up. At least there is a market just outside the hotel.

Urgent Prayer Request

Please pray for Emily and J.Michael. We previously thought we had worked out for a representative from our agency to be with the kids during court, as they are not allowed in the court room. Well, there will not be someone (lost in translation I suppose). Anyway they will be in the building with us just outside the room in a waiting area, but without an english speaking adult for the duration of the court proceeding. Please pray for protection over them and for our minds to be at ease that they are safe; court is stressful enough without worry over the children we already have.

More pics from our pre-court visit.

We met with Sergei at the Department of Education today after he observed us with the children at the orphanage. He's a very nice man who genuinely seems excited to see children adopted. Having Emily and J. Michael here with us was a blessing again, as Sergei really wanted to be convinced that Emily and J. Michael are OK with a new brother and sister so that he could testify in court on our behalf. Well, he didn't need much time to observe the 4 of them playing together to be convinced. He later mentioned specifically in our meeting that he was impressed that Emily and J. Michael are so eager.

We also met with our court-appointed translator, Anna, to review the schedule and what to expect in the court proceedings. We leave for court at 9:30 am tomorrow. By the time most of you wake up at home tomorrow , we should have legal custody of Andrew and Kathlena!


Just wait 'til they can race outside!


Now picture this in green Houston grass with two big dogs joining in!


I'm a biased dad, but you gotta admit that's a good looking boy!

Finally seeing Andrew and Kathlena again!

A good big brother.


Daddy's newest delight. (Sergei from the Ministry of Education, and our translator, Helen, in background.)


Here comes trouble.


Mommy's newest angel.


You should hear her laugh!

Pictures of Arkhangelsk

Here we are arriving finally in Arkhangelsk. Emily as our undercover photographer snapped this picture before we disembarked the plane.


The airport with snow melting...


Out on a walk down from our hotel.


Just clowning around.
We will be heading to the orphanage in about an hour to visit with Andrew and Kathlena. So glad we have figured out how to post the pictures. We will have a long day ahead of us as we will visit both orphanages and then meet with the Ministry of Education, Sergei then with our translator for court preparation for tomorrow. Our court hearing is at 10:00 am.

Moscow apartment pics.....FINALLY!

We finally figured out how to post pics by transferring files directly to the business center computer, uploading, then deleting.


Leaving the apartment early morning in the rain...


Our wordsmith at work.....


J. Michael in the living room....


Bags must go up three floors...


Entrance to the apartment building....

No pics so far...internet adventure continues

With the help of our translator, we were able to connect tonight to WiFi internet one floor up from our room at the hotel. You have to pay in advance for a card that provides 50MB of usage. How long that lasts for blog posts we have no idea.

Tomorrow we leave for Andrew's orphanage at 10:40, and then will go to Kathlena's orphanage. "Sergei" from the Department of Education will be there at Kathlena's orphanage to observe us with the children. Tomorrow at 2pm, we go to Sergei's office to prepare my speech for court at 10am Tuesday; Gina is thankful that I have to speak on behalf of the family in court. She will only have to say she agrees with me--maybe I should ask for a copy of the transcript to have that on record:-)

OK, so I just tried to upload some compressed pictures, and the bandwidth won't support even one small picture at a time-definately no video will be coming in the next few days. I'll try again in the business center to post some pictures. Apparently 200 rubles wasn't enough!

From Emily: Saturday 5/17

Five years ago, my parents decided to adopt. I was eight then and was thrilled at the prospect of another sibling, but did not share my parent’s sentiments concerning Russia. Fast forward 5yrs to when we went on our first trip to Russia and met Andrew and Kathlena. While we were in St. Petersburg we did a lot of touring, and really got a chance to get to know Russia, and it’s people, I gradually began to fall in love with this country, it’s bitter cold artic wind, it’s beautiful old buildings, it’s history, and it’s rather melancholy way of life.

Then upon returning home we went into a three-month in-depth study of Russian history. We read The House by the Dvina –an autobiography of a survivor of the time of the Russian revolutions and the Soviet era. In addition to this I did a great deal of complementary online research. It was through this time I truly began to love Russia, despite its flaws. I learned to love this country as I do my own, and this love reached an augmenting climax on the flight to Moscow.

After nine and a half hours of flying over the Atlantic Ocean, Greenland, Sweden and various other countries, we slowly began to descend as we neared the capital of Russia. I switched seats with J.Michael and began taking pictures of the scenery out the window. As the little quilt patches began to take shape we suddenly went into a colossal cloud. At times, the ever-present airplane wing-several rows in front of us-would vanish in the dense fog, only to reappear for but a moment.

We were in the cloud for several minutes when unpredictably we burst out of the cloud and had an unobstructed view of the land below us. My breath caught in my throat as I beheld the immense beauty that was before me. Beautiful crystal blue rivers woven through green meadows, diminutive villages, and fields of minute yellow flowers. The setting sun shone favorably upon this immaculate scene, sending it’s warm and inviting rays of pink, purple, and golden yellow out to embrace the glorious scene.

I was finished. Like it or not I was in love with Russia, for better of worse.

5/17/o8

We are now on a plane to Arkhangel’sk, the time is drawing nearer. We have been waiting five years for this day to come; yet it seems so surreal. We have been talking about the day “when there are six of us” for some time now, but it always was a distant, far-off event. A dream, that is always before us, never with us, much less behind us.

Yet here I am, on a Russian plane, which is even now descending upon my brother and sister’s homeland. In a matter of days we will appear in Russian court and Andrew and Kathlena will be adopted into our family “once and for all”.

from Gina: Sunday morning

We arrived in Arkhangelsk finally after a three-hour delay due to snowstorms in Arkhangelsk. Our plane was to take off at 10:00am and we had been at the airport since 7:30 to go through security and check luggage. At around 9:00am we were sent to check in and once through security we waited at the gate to check our luggage, but no one was there. As we waited two young men and a young woman approached us and asked if we were flying to Arkhangelsk…they were on our same flight. When we could not understand them they realized we spoke English; they then told us of our flight delay. We explained that we were Americans here to complete our adoption of two children. All three, Ivan, Olga and Yurdic, were very nice and helpful and we spent most of the next three hours visiting with them. All three of them spoke very good English, and it was again a display of God’s traveling mercies on us to have met them. It is only when we are at the airport for intra country flights that we do not have translators from our agency with us.

When we boarded the plane the Lord providentially placed our new friends in seats that were right behind us, so we continued to visit with them until we arrived in Arkhangelsk around 3:30pm.

On our first trip we really began to have a love for the Russian people; now after having had the opportunity to visit and get to know Ivan, Olga, and Yurdic the Lord has knit us closer to this country and it’s young people.

As soon as we disembarked the plane we saw a familiar face, Vladimir, the man who was our driver on our first trip. Helen does not arrive until tomorrow so we had another translator, Irina to help us get settled in at the hotel. The Hotel Dvina is quite nice and we are in a two-room suite. The best part is that we are right next to a huge market/mall so we are able to go and buy food—part of our international camping is preparing meals with only an electric teakettle and a refrigerator! I love the challenge. The coffee toddy is brewing…decided this time to take no chances and just brought the coffee toddy maker with us and of course our Starbucks coffee.

Tonight, 8pm we meet with Helen to begin preparations for court and set up our itinerary for the next few days. We will be seeing the children tomorrow, and they will then know we are taking them home to live with us.

from David, Saturday night.

As I’m writing this, it’s Saturday at 9:30pm (just after noon Saturday back home), and Gina and the kids are down for the night I think. I can’t get connected to the internet, so this post will not be “live” when it goes up. We have finally arrived in Arkhangelsk and are very near now to Andrew and Kathlena—nearness measured by geography, time and emotion. I can hardly believe my new son and daughter are only a few miles away from me right now. We will see them Monday.

It’s still light outside, and probably will be all night long. It will be “dusk” from around 11pm until 3 or 4 am, and then it will get brighter. Definitely not what we’re used to, but even the brightness is not familiar. How ironic that a place where the sun doesn’t set can be so dark; in fact I had forgotten that the darkness here has little to do with the cold, gray skies. It is a darkness felt more than seen.

It’s been a wearisome couple of days, but our Lord has been very kind to us. Many of you have been praying for us, specifically for “traveling mercy”. I reminded my troops this morning that we have experienced precisely that. We had a wonderful apartment in Moscow last night, and although we had been up for almost 35 hours (excepting unproductive airplane naps), four + hours sleep last night was able to refresh us all tremendously, and we were delighted over a simple breakfast this morning and by the excitement of traveling still closer to the moment of liberation. I’m reminded of Psalm 3:5 and 4:7-8. It’s worth looking up these verses. Amen.

Then today our flight was delayed due to heavy snow storms in Arkhangelsk, leaving us at the Moscow airport for almost five hours waiting on our aircraft. But even then, we had a serendipitous meeting with three late-twenties travelers (two young men and a young woman) on their way to Ark for the weekend. We met them in line checking in for our flight. One of them asked us a question in Russian that we clearly could not answer. Rather than the usual indignation this type of thing causes, one of them asked where we are from, and they all laughed at the one who thought we might be British. We began to talk, and they explained all the Russian airport announcements to us and helped us navigate our way through the multiple delays. We had the opportunity to speak with them about our adoption story, about Russia, about America, and a little about the Lord. They were all very friendly, and very helpful. Thank you Ivan, Yari (hope I’m spelling correctly) and Olga. The Lord used three strangers to make our path smooth and learn more about Andrew and Kathlena’s country at the same time.

Tomorrow is the Lord’s Day, and we hope to rest. We need his refreshment not only for our bodies, but also for our minds and our souls as we prepare to face a socialist judge and negotiate the ransom terms. Thank you for your prayers—we have been embraced by the hand of our Father and by His people.

Mission Impossible?

Internet access has proven to be an elusive creature. We arrived at the Dvina Hotel in Arkhangelsk almost 24 hours ago, but I just now got connected in the business center (3pm local time, 9am back home). I think I'm paying a small fortune for this brief access, but English is more rare than internet, so I can't be certain until our guide, Helen, arrives tonight at 8pm.

I did manage to blow a breaker in our hotel room with our voltage converter, and somehow successfully communicated to the front desk (with a children's translation picture book) that we had no power. J. Michael suggested pointing to the picture and saying "ka-BLOO-ee!!!" Thanks son, that's why Mommy sends me to go to the front desk. The maintainance man flipped the breaker and we're back in business. Too bad our picture book was written in 1983 and isn't any help with internet-related issues.

Gina, Emily and I all wrote some things to post, but I can't upload documents or pics to the hotel computer, and laptops will not connect. So maybe we'll get to add those later. Let's just say getting here was an adventure. Heavy snow storms in late May?? We must be in Russia! For now, I want to thank our new Russian friends Ivan, Olga, and Yari (hope I spelled correctly). You were a blessing to us yesterday!

God is good; we are all safe and well, and we get to see Andrew and Kathlena tomorrow!

Heading to Ark

The streets of Moscow.

Emily is very excited as we are able to see some of the "White Nights". The sun went down last night at 10pm and it was daylight by 5am. We all had a restful night even amidst the sounds of the city. Us country folks are not use to hearing the all night sounds of a bustling city...especially on a Fri. night. We truly feel that we are experiencing what others are praying for us...traveling mercies. Thank you faithful friends for lifting us up.
It is raining here in Moscow today but it is a beautiful city. I am trying to soak up all the sights, sounds, and smells so that years from now when I am telling this story over and over to my children and one day grandchildren. I will remember every aspect of this foreign land that has now been grafted into our heritage.

Breakfast in our apartment. Yummy Russian pastries and kefir/yogurt.