We're Here

We finally arrived today after many hours of exhausting difficult travel. The "Russian Travel Marathon" began on Tuesday morning. We went, for the third time, to Santa Fe for apostilles on our documents. It was about 10:00am when we left for Santa Fe and arrived back home around 8:00pm. I wanted a bath in my own tub, after which we drove two more hours, to get to Amarillo. By the time we arrived and checked into our hotel Tuesday evening it was around midnight. Around 4:00am on Wednesday, we got up and flew to Houston. There, we had to wait in Bush International for seven hours.

Once aboard the flight to Frankfurt, Germany we endured ten and a half hours of flight. Fortunately, we only had a couple of hours between flights and took off for Moscow on another four hour flight. I encountered a very horrible knee injury. As I was returning to my seat, we hit turbulence, and a huge man flung into me. To keep from falling in the isle, I sharply pivoted allowing him to fall on a sitting passenger!!! SORRY!!!! My leg bone partially popped out of joint. I was in so much pain (I should have taken that pain medication with me Kisty tried to give me).

I asked the flight attendant for ice and she acted like I had insulted her and must be out of my mind. She ask me three or four times if I wanted "just" a cup of ice??? The seat belt sign was on and when Duane tried to stand up to get my bag (they insisted on putting over-head to begin with) they made him sit back down. So the attendant brought the bouncing cup of ice as I sweat bullets with this leg and I had no baggie to put it in. So what did I do??? You know that little plastic bag that all that airplane information is held in??? Yep...you got it....I took the plastic bag and filled it with ice. The pain was excruciating!!! No words can describe how painful it was combined with extreme travel exhaustion.

I limped through the airport and finally made it through passport control to find out that we had a three hour taxi ride to our hotel. Once in the taxi, I laid in the back seat, and rolled around in pain while the driver weaved at 140 kilometers per hour through heavy traffic. I did not even bother to buckle!!! When we arrived at the hotel, I got into a very hot bath tub. After soaking it for a while, I forced myself to straighten my leg. I literally screamed as it snapped painfully back into place. Thanks be to God as it immediately stopped hurting and seems normal (although weak) today. I was even able to walk to a restaurant this evening on shear ice streets. All I could think about was...DON'T FALL!!! I clung to Duane's strong and steady arm for support in case I should slip. Murmansk is still frozen solid and seems colder now than when we were here in February.

Oh yes...also we were informed by the Moscow translator, that since the Russian Supreme Court has ruled that all regions will uphold the ten-day wait, we will likely not have it waived. Unfortunately, there are two Russian Holidays which will fall in the ten day wait. During this time, the government will be closed and we can not process Katie Aunna's paperwork. She will also not be allowed to leave with us until the waiting period is over. We will be stuck in the region during this time. I cried so hard with our agency on the phone, though sympathetic, they have no control over this issue or I'm sure we would be home as we had hoped. It will be in God's hands and so it is even more important to pray for our release from the ten day wait. Our court hearing will be on Monday afternoon, which will be Sunday in America.

When I got off the phone with our agency, I remembered something my adult daughter said to me a while back when I was stressing over dossier paper work. Kisty said; "Mom, the boogeyman loves to make us think that an impending disaster is about to occur just before God gives us a huge miracle!" It was at this point in my thinking that I realized that this is an uncontrollable part of this journey and best of all Katie Aunna will shortly be coming home. We do not want to leave Russia without her. So I am now rejoicing (plus feeling well and much more rested) in this fact.

We are also here with another couple we have been communicating with through the Internet. I have to tell this hilarious story. We all happily boarded this ancient Russian airplane. It is literally a miracle we did not crash, as it was in very poor condition, proving miracles do happen. Well, the couple we are traveling with (God bless them...they are wonderful people) sat in front of us and when the plane landed in Murmansk we were all very excited to get off. Only, Nate's seat belt would NOT unbuckle. He hopelessly struggled to get free of this vicious seat belt in a wretched plane.

Naturally, the only thing we could all do was laugh hysterically as he struggled. He said, in the car to our hotel, that he was very thankful we did not have a fire on board as he would have been burnt toast. Isn't that just absurd that his "safety" belt would not release!!! He ended up slipping out of it and standing up in the seat. I noticed several Russian passengers were watching him and shaking their heads (without cracking even a smile) as he struggled. They acted like...."what's he doing that he does not know how to unbuckle". I could see they were not even blaming it on the dilapidated airplane which was in such poor condition.

Now in close, I want to tell you, that it is 11:00pm here and still DAYLIGHT!!!! We have Polar night here. No JOKE....it's dim daylight outside. An odd type of dim light...not like dusk at all, but, more like an overcast sky.

Please, be in prayer regarding our court date Monday, because if it is not waived we will not be able to bring our daughter home to her family until the 17th of May. Kisty is taking care of our six children at home, plus her own two precious girls. She also needs your prayers for strength to have stamina in this great responsibility. Plus, she is missing work to do this labor of love for her family. I LOVE YOU, KISTY!!!! Mom and Dad are trying to come home to you soon. Hope the blog was enjoyed today. Tomorrow we will visit with Katie Aunna. The orphanage told her that Mama and Papa have come for her and she will see us in the morning. I am so excited to finally walk up that long sidewalk and will post some pictures. Kids....don't forget to get into your prayer circle and pray for us to return soon. You are powerful prayer warriors in this way!!!!

Oh yes...and Casey I flunked computer lab for today. You taught me how to change to their wireless Internet. Guess what...it's dial up. I fiddled with it for a while and then gave up. I had to call the Hotel manager to come get me going;-(. But, I really wanted to write to the blog and check emails. Love you guys and will write about tomorrow!!!