We made it to Russia!

Whoa! are we tired. I could not sleep a wink on the flight from the US to Germany but our flight from Germany to Russia....all of us were sawing logs for most of the flight. Emily took some beautiful video footage from the plane of Germany and as we were arriving in Russia. I will try to post that when we get our batteries charged...the camera and us.

We got through the Russian airport mostly uneventful... we had some confusion on filling out "registration" forms here. We thought this was done at the hotel but apparently not...Oh! well we backed out of line in pure Shiflet fashion with all of our luggage and quickly filled out the forms before the last metal doors locked shut...literally. You cannot be a straggler in Russia because you will get left behind.

I wish that I could describe the feeling of coming into this country. It is a mixture of solemn reserve and distrust I suppose...no one smiles, even when you smile at them...just one person at a time hand them this, don't talk just move along. Entering Russia was the most nerve racking part of all of this trip so far.

All of our luggage arrived safe and sound, nothing lost PTL! Even all of our liquids traveled well...Mitzi, you might have noticed our coffee toddy in the pic above. Yes, we will have Starbucks in Russia!

Driving to the hotel though, it looks like most large cities with shopping centers, McDonald's, old run down buildings but with everything in Russian. I am always amazed (with my limited traveling experience) how every city seems so similar/familiar even...I guess that is the mark of our modern times though. I am sure it would be very different without a guide helping us...it is still an unpredictable place but beautiful. It is not quite as cold as we thought...surprisingly. It did begin to snow as we were unloading at the hotel. Big snowflakes! we even later heard what we believe to be thunder although, it sounded quit different than TX storms. Alex said it has been unusually warm this year and last. They really have not had as much snow as in years past but she assured us we would definitely see snow in Archangelsk.

We are going to do some sight seeing tomorrow afternoon with our driver and guide, Alex (she is a very nice young woman who speaks very good English) Alex is very friendly and helpful; we are so thankful for her help.

Our hotel is nice and the staff is friendly here. We have internet service in our room so we will try to post as often as we can and update photos. The above picture is of our room. It was already dark when we arrived so we will try to get more pictures tomorrow.

Please continue to pray for us as we take our last leg of the flight on Mon. to Archangelsk. E and J have done amazingly well for their first major international flying. It still doesn't seem real that we are actually here and just days from meeting our kids. We appreciate all of the prayers, thank you all for continuing to lift us up.