Heading Home

We head back to Moscow today. We will then catch a flight back to Denver on Saturday. We will be glad to get back home and see Adam. All the paperwork is filed and we will return in a few months to get this guy!

Pictures

We had fun playing with Alex!

Here is the hotel ............

On to the Orphanage

We headed out on Wednesday morning for a four hour van ride. The road was very bumpy and there no restaurants on the way. Very few toilets either!!!Scott got to experience a Russian out house!!!!Too funny...Two boards on either side and a hole in the middle.....He got a whole new impression of Russia. It is cold and flat. There is not much to the landscape but snow and birch trees. The Russian people are not real tolerant of Americans....although you find some really nice ones that are really helpful and a lot of fun. The area of Kuibyshev is very depressed. Most people walk around town.....A few restaurants....very different from America.
We met our little guy Alex and what an adventure that was! He was very unsure of the situation until Scott offered him a ball. It only took him minutes to warm up to us and he would go from lap to lap. It was incredible! Leaving was the hardest part. In just two short visits he got that we were there to see him. He did not want us to leave and his eyes were sad when we were picking up! We just want to come back and take him home!

Ministry of Education in Novosibirsk

Hello!
What an exciting day! We got in here at 6:00am and it was 29 degrees below zero. It seems so weird to be in Siberia and 1/2 way around the world. We only got about 4 hours of sleep and had to go to the Ministry of Education to ask for permission to see Alex.....The incredible ting was that we found out his name is. We were so excited ! Also we found that his birthday. We will have access to all his information when we meet him. We drive 4 hours tomorrow and We can't wait to see him. We saw an updated picture and it was so cool to see him a year older!!!!!He is adorable. I can't wait to post pictures. I am not sure when I will be able to put them on here.... The area doesn't have Internet....but there is coverage here. I am actually in our room and sending this blog. I am finishing getting ready to go tomorrow..Celeste and I are packing all our things to take to the orphanage.What a fun trip!!!!!
It is hard to believe I am still awake. My mind will not let my body sleep....it has too much to take in and too much to think about.

Novosibirsk

So we are here....Really small plane and they speak mostly Russian....Even to get Water was a battle....We didn't even attempt the meal! We flew all night and got here at 6:00 am this morning. We are now thirteen hours ahead of home. We had breakfast and now have to try to get some sleep. The further you get out of Moscow....the less people speak English.....T.V. stations are all in Russian....It is -22C this morning.....Frigid and blasted cold!!!!It is hard to believe we may get to meet Alex tomorrow!!!!We may have to wait till Thursday....but either way we will drive another 4 hours NW of here to Kuibyshev.....The ends of the earth.......Crazy.........But exciting! Novo has good Internet!!!!!Gotta go sleep ...I'll post more pics later!

On the Way to Novo

Tonight we leave for Novo and have a 10:45pm flight and arrive there at 6:30am......should be beat at that point....but we get to drive another 4 hours the next day to get to Alex......so we'll see how cold it is and how nice the accommodations are.....We'll let you know.....It is freezing here!!!!!!!!!

On to Novosibirsk

We are in Moscow for another day and we fly to Novosibirsk tonight. We are touring around Moscow today and will meet the translator and the coordinator. We ate a very nice french restaurant last night...and we met the other couple we are traveling with to Kuibyshev. They are hoping to adopt a 21/2 year old little girl. They are very nice and their names are Chris and Celeste.They are from Michigan! We are staying at the courtyard by Marriott and it is very nice. We are told the accommodations are not as nice and the weather is much colder where we are headed in the next two days. The weather he was around 10 degrees.....but the wind chills to the bone!!!!!!

Our First day in Moscow!

Here are some of the sights of Moscow!!!!!

At Last!!!!!!!!! [Photo]We left Saturday morning after a crazy time getting ready. So on the way out I forgot the I pod and my phone......Oh well!!! We made it to Atlanta and ran through the airport and made our plane!!!!!!Thanks to our exit row seats, we had plenty of room!!!!!!!!!!We are in Moscow.....We took some pictures, and had a great walk!!!We were looking for hats at this big market and soon realized it was a honey fair!!!!!Their big Holiday tomorrow is the start of pancake week. (Maslenitsa) It celebrates the start of spring and lent......We found out very quickly why everyone wears Hats!!!!!If not your ears freeze off!!!So here are some starting pictures of Moscow.....Really fun to be here....Just can't beleive it!!!!!

Two weeks of craziness!!!!!!!!

So we head out in the morning. We are excited and crazy all at the same time! I am still packing but I wanted to at least get some things on here. We leave for Moscow at 11:00 and will arrive at 11:10 Sunday morning. We are getting everything ready! We will write more as we get there....I am just waiting for the next shoe to drop.....after the loss of our passports by our agency....I am about to go crazy thinking.....what else can happen? Pray for us.....and Adam that all goes smoothly....We will keep you posted when we can...The time difference will be a challenge!!!!Wish us luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!