So far so good!

Day 1 of the trip (Friday, May 9):

I’m writing this as we sit in the New York airport waiting for our flight to Moscow. Amazingly, there is no wireless internet, so I’m typing this and planning to post it when we get to Russia (so if you’re reading this now, it means we made it!) So far in this airport we’ve found two pigeons and a mouse who make their homes here. It is really something. The flight here was on time and we were glad we had come down to Orlando the night before (thanks Nate!) so that we had no worries of getting to the airport on time in the morning (had to be there by 5:30).

While we have been here in the NY airport, I have read the section of the “Lonely Planet” guide to Russia that covers the area where we are going (a 4-5 hour drive from Moscow) and it looks like a really interesting place to visit. Lots of old churches and stuff. Our hotel – which was organized by our agency – is listed as the premier business hotel in that area! So we know they have wireless, and thus that we will be able to post this eventually.

We are trying not to get too nervous about meeting our referral on Monday. We know that God is in control and that things will go the way they are supposed to go. It may be wonderful, it may be awkward, it may be both, but we are doing our best to stay calm. We have been praying for the baby boy we will meet and asking God to let things go smoothly for all of us. After meeting him on Monday we will send some additional medical info to a U.S. international adoption doctor who has already examined the photo and medical info we have been given – he can then let us know if there are any serious medical issues that we wouldn’t be prepared to handle. If all is well, we will likely be asked to confirm – on Tuesday – our desire to adopt him.
Of course, we will keep you updated!

We will post pictures only when we’re certain that everything is going well, so please be patient. I know the future grandparents are dying here – hang in there!

Day 2 (Saturday, May 10):

We made it to Russia! Our plane arrived in Moscow a little late (less than an hour late though) and the flight was dull but not too bad. Basically, we got on the plane at 4:30pm Friday, ate dinner on the plane probably around 6:30, and then they fed us breakfast around 9:30 a.m. Moscow time…but the time between dinner and breakfast was only about 7 hours (we’re 8 hours ahead here). Basically, the middle of our night was taken from us in the time change! We slept some on the flight (I more than Rob, since it’s harder for him to get comfortable in those tight spots). We were extremely blessed to have a 3-seat section (middle of the plane) where no one showed up for the third seat, so we could spread out a bit.

After we got off the plane in Moscow and went through immigration and customs (blessedly uneventful) we saw the driver holding up our name! I don’t think I’ve even been cool enough to have a driver holding up my name before! Anyway, he is very nice and he helped us exchange some money and we stopped for bottled water/pop on the way out of town. (By the way, it will probably be Monday before we get the special SIM card that will work in the cell phone we brought, so the blog will have to be sufficient for now.) The drive took about 4 hours and here we are at our fancy hotel! We are going to receive a call from our translator tonight to arrange the plans for Monday morning when we will go to the Baby Home (that’s what they call the orphanage – I think it’s a nicer name too). We basically have all day tomorrow to explore and adjust from our jetlag. So far we have only gone a few blocks from our hotel – just far enough to see a sign that looked like an Italian restaurant, and did in fact turn out to be a pizza place! Try to picture a nice restaurant – with slightly dimmed lights, nice tablecloths – combined with a line for ordering food that resembled Sbarro. It was great – we just pointed and used our few words, like “one” “two” “please” and “thank you”  That was our dinner tonight. We also got some kind of stuffed pastry thing that was delicious! We plan to go to a real Russian restaurant tomorrow when we have more time and are less tired and gross. For now, it’s time for showers and some sleep!

I’ll try to post again on Monday night if possible. Until then, we are doing great and appreciate your continuing prayers on our behalf!

(And by the way, a late Happy Birthday to Becky and also Happy Anniversary to Laura and Mike!)