First Trip to Russia - April 13 - 21, 2007

If you just started reading our blog, we are reliving the memories of adopting Jachin & Josiah. 
Someone asked us why we are talking about Russia again instead of Ethiopia right now.  The answer to that question is that we will be talking about Ethiopia as the adoption moves along, however, there is not much, except for waiting, going on right now.  So, talking about the memories of the boy's adoption is a wonderful way for us to remember the faithfulness of God in our lives, as we continue on with another adoption. 
Three years ago, we went to Russia to meet and spend time with our future sons.  This is our account of that trip. 
On April 13, 2007, we left JFK airport for Moscow, Russia.  We stayed at a very nice hotel, The Courtyard Marriott, not too far from Red Square.  So, since we had a little time the next day, we decided to walk to Red Square.  I had never been out of the USA, so I was just taking in Everything and staying very close to Greg's side :).  One thing that stands out in my mind is that when we were walking around Red Square, a tour guide came up to us and asked us in English if he could give us a tour.  We said "No", and kept walking.  But then it dawned on me, and I asked Greg, "How did he know that we speak English?"  Neither of us had said anything to each other for a while.  Well, everywhere that we went the Russians could tell that we were Americans, without us saying one word.  Perhaps our shoes gave it away, ha, ha.  The women in Moscow wore very high heeled, pointed shoes, and many of the men wore shoes with a point as well.  I had very comfortable Clarks on, and Greg's shoes were quite square.  Anyway, it is just something that I found interesting.
Here are just 3 pictures from our time at Red Square.  We had an actual tour of Moscow at the end of the first week, and I'll most more pictures later.  It was a really neat experience.

                                                         St. Basil's Cathedral

Red Square

Demonstration at Red Square of those wanting communism back.

We met Anya, from the Children's Hope, Moscow office on April 15th, and then traveled that night to Astrkahan.  We got to our hotel, The Azimut, at 1:30 am.  We went to our hotel room; I looked around and started crying.  I guess I was experiencing a little culture shock, mixed in with exhaustion.  I think we had the worst hotel room at the Azimut that week.  For those of you who have been there, we were on the 8th floor the first week.  It was freezing, because the the Russian gov't turns off the heat in April, but it was still chilly, especially at night.  We laid down in the bed, and the curtains were blowing towards us.  The windows were not air tight in the least.  I turned on the water, and got brown, rusty water.  Anyway, I did better as the week went on, but I have a new appreciation for cross-cultural missionaries after my 7 weeks in Russia. 

Moving along.....

On Monday, the 16th, we got up at 6am to go to the Ministry of Education for our 8am appt.  We met with Svetlana, and pretended that we had never seen pictures of the boys.  At that time, Russia was primarily only giving blind referrals.  This means that parents must travel to get any information about their referral.  Because our boys had been turned down by other families, we were permitted to receive some information and pictures.  I guess they were considered special needs children, because of their premature birth and very low weight and delays.  So, Svetlana knew that we had seen pictures and had gotten information, and we, of course, knew.  However, we both had to pretend that this was all new information for us.  After we received the information, we went to meet the boys.  We were excited and very nervous.

Tomorrow I will highlight our first meeting with the boys, and mention some special things about our first trip.
And I will post pictures of our first trip as well.