The Fun has Begun

Here we are. In the land of our children's birth. Oh yes. It's all as remembered. The smell of vehicle fumes is so thick you could munch on it. The stop-n-go driving causes you to wish that you had a bucket packed in your luggage. The food has a distinct Russian flavor. The motel room we're in has five people and one full sized bed. And one recliner. Yep. It's all the same.

Our journey here was thankfully uneventful. We left the airport at 3:50PM Saturday. Got to Chicago 43 minutes later. Hung around the Chicago airport for NINE long hours. Just a note for anyone planning to hang out there....Terminal 2 has a very nice play area for children. Flight out to Seoul left at 1:00AM. Tired doesn't even begin to explain how we were all feeling til then. Thirteen hours and 43 minutes (I think) our plane touched down in Seoul. What a welcome bump that was when the wheels touched down. There were four hours to waste in Seoul. Part of that time was spent changing clothes and freshening up a tad. Nearly 15 hours in an airplane and nine hours hanging in an airport tends to make for some disgusting folks. Our flight out left at 9:25AM. Two hours and ten minutes later, we landed on Russian soil....when all the sights and sounds and smells were ever so familiar. By 3:30PM (Russia time) (Monday) we were through customs and off to find our driver...who was a man that we thankfully recognized! He loaded us in his van and we zipped off to the Department of Education to officially receive the referral of Nikolay. That appointment only took about 10 minutes and we were back on the road wishing for buckets.

Now? We're tired. Tired currently has a whole new meaning. We got back to our motel and crashed in our lovely one bed room. Crashed has a different meaning for adults and children though. The adults sprawled and the children bounced. And rolled. And tumbled. And wore themselves out even more than they were before. Supper was had in the White Rabbit room. Nachos and chicken strips....though not many of the nachos were eaten due to them tasting how they smelled. Not appetizing. After nearly falling asleep in our food, we opted to head back to our room to shower and head to bed/floor. It's now 8:25. The children are showered and snuggled down in their floor beds, Jason is heading for the shower, Ivan is lounging in the recliner, and I am trying to stay awake long enough to type this and finish the laundry that's down in the dryer.

Tomorrow morning Oksana is picking us up at 6:30. You've got to be kidding me. 6:30. That is entirely too early....but we should get to visit Mr. Jack about 10:00!!! Our first visit will be from 10:00 to noon and the second one (yes, two in one day) will be from 2:00-4:00. We get to do that Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday we get to see him from 10:00 to noon and then we will say good-bye and head back to the city. Who knows when we will see him again....

I really should go. I. am. so. tired. Bed has never looked so good. Though who actually ends up in the bed is anyone's guess!

I don't know if we will have internet service in the next city or not. If so, I'll try to send an update after seeing Jack tomorrow. If not, it'll be Thursday til you hear anything.

Blessings on your day!


Oh yes. Thank you all so much for the prayers. Addie has been extremely calm...though when we ventured into the airport here in Russia we started to wonder what in the world we were doing. She started talking like a baby. Acting like a baby. Giggling. She was so nervous. We carried her and talked and talked and she finally calmed down enough to fall asleep while enduring the stop-n-go ride into the city. Seeing Oksana for the first time didn't seem to phase her..but we'll see how it goes tomorrow when she'll see her all day. Prayers would still be greatly appreciated!