From Russia With Love

February 20, 2007

Hello everyone!!

We want you to know we arrived safely, our flight arriving at 11:15, we made it through customs without incident, and found our driver, Misha without problem. He was a nice boy, our translator Katya's son, age 19. A very mature young man, skilled at weaving through Moscow rush hour, YIKES!! (It's everything you've heard about and more) No signalling, people cuting you aff with inches to spare, over the center line, no respect of pedestrains, a real video game!!

From the airport, we went to 8 doctor medical exams, in the suburbs, where our contact, Lena, had to argue for us to get us in, "they have and appt.", to a very gruff and Communist looking security guard. Overall, we survived the whole thing just fine. It was more "paperwork" than important or embarrassing exam or questions, and of course since it was a "rush" it was more expensive, surprise, surpise!!

Misha was our translator there, and did very well with the difficult medical words. The doctors refused to believe we did not smoke or drink, as everyone practically here does. So we resorted to saying we had tried smoking while in our teens. (Cover you ears, Mama!!) After payment, they invited us for a cup of tea with Lena, so we had tea to be social. It was a welcome boost. We had a good flight, just not much sleep in 24 hrs.

We proceeded to another bout of Moscow's version of the "Fast and the Furious" and arrived at Tatya's flat. She is a middle-aged woman, single in a three room flat. We had a delicious supper with her,showered, (can I have a Hallelujah) and then met Katya, and finally got rid of the fees (part). We were instructed about the train ride departing at 8:45 pm, and were surprised to find no one was travelling with us. We would be alone on the train!! YIKES! She gave us specific instructions, and our tickets, and we braved the traffic again. This time it took 1 1/2 hrs to go 10 miles with many close calls. Joe was sweating in the front!!

It was about 25 degrees yesterday in Moscow. We waited for 30 min. outside and boarded in a hurry. Everything is rush, rush, and I thought I walked fast, wow. We got on the train, and said goodbye, and then Nancy had to cry. Here we are, alone, with not much language skills. This is when we really felt the presence of the prayers of all of you! We prayed, too, and the peace of God was so real!! The train is very much a 1940's version of the Orient Express. Bathrooms however are extremely gross, and empties right out on the tracks. We went right to sleep after a lunch of salami, cheese,crackers, and water provided by Tatya.

This morning at 6:30, we steamed by Kanash, Matthew's town, and saw a school, possibly the orphanage. The most difficult part of the train ride was the arrival inCheboksary, as we had no one to help us with our luggage. We struggled and got off the train with the help of some Russian national who wanted to give us a taxi ride, but we told him "nyet". Then we looked around for Marina, only known by photos. It was a few long minutes of nerves,and Nancy was about to cry again, when we see Matthew with Marina, running Yelling "Mama!! Papa!!" It was like something out of a movie, really indescribable!! He is great, and so happy to see us. He told us he didn't sleep at all Mon. night.

We rode to our home stay, Luda and Peter's a huge and lovely flat, for Russian standards, as Peter works for the Parliment. They are feeding us quite well, blini and ham and cheese for breakfast, with coffee and tea. Then we went to see Isaac at the Cheboksary Childrens home. While something a little Dickensish from the outside, the inside was quite cheery, and they have made a real effort to have it be like home!! We met the Inspector, Valentina a jolly lady, and all of Isaac's caretakers, who are all very nice. When we saw him, he was down the hall, and he immediately ran and hugged and hugged us!1 He was embarrassed he has the chicken pox, so do many others. They didn't want us to touch him, but we told them we had chicken pox already!

We interviewed with several directors, and the mdeical hisotry of Isaac was presented. Matthew then had to sign a document satting he wants to be adopted. Lots of paperwork.
From there we had another meal in the flat, a strogonoff of some kind, and then off to exchange $, and get the boy's passport photos. They were excited for their American Name. They wanted to know right away, and pronounced them over and over. I guess "M"'s are difficult to say in Russian. [poor Matthew)

From there we had a nap, and then supper, exactly the same as breakfast, and then an intense meeting with Irene, the translator about court. We have male judge, and he is tough, 99% chance of additional days, they say, but God can do anything that's on HIS schedule!! Please pray for tomorrow, that we have clear and distinct words, that our appeal will be heard, and that we can come home early. Thanks you Mary, for trying to obtain the letter (just ask Maryann). We received the e-mail that you got ours.

We love you, and the boys are great, they are saying all the itme, "Let's go home, go swimming to the timber" They have asked about all of their siblings!! They say they miss you, so do we!!

We love you- keep praying!!

Joe and Nance