And we are off to the airport! We will update when we get to Moscow. I think it will take about 24 hours to get there and get settled.

Please keep Kristofer in your prayers. He is very stressed about us leaving.

We got to book our flights today!!!

Kristofer and I were out picking blueberries today (www.bryantsblueberries.com) and Lisa from Enroute Travel called and said she had the ok to book our flights for Saturday.

This evening we worked on booking our Moscow apartment through peace travel. (www.go-russia.com) I thought we could just book online, but it is a little more of a process than that. You reserve it through email, but it is not really reserved until you fill out Peace Travel’s form, make a copy of your credit card and fax it to them. I called the Highlander Point UPS Store to see if they were still open (at 7pm when they were closing) and they were so nice and stayed open until I could get there.

I am excited to go back to Rostov to see our boys!

A colleague of Kelly’s is traveling in Russia right now and I had to post his YouTube video of a “Nyet” Song he and is friend came up with. Nyet means "no" in Russian. If you have traveled to Russia I’m sure you can relate. If you are waiting to travel this will sum it up for you. Hope you get a good grin out of it.

We drove up to Indianapolis Friday and hit the outlet mall for gifts to take with us to Russia. All I can say is, “SCORE!” I was having a hard time finding anything around here that was nice, but did not cost an arm and a leg. The cosmetic store had great little gift packs under $20, the perfume store had great perfume under $20 and the Tote store had purses and gloves for $9.99. Nothing like getting a great deal!

On Saturday we attended the KidsFirst Reunion picnic in Noblesville. We have attended the past 4 or 5 years and I think this was the year for the least to attend. Normally the playground is a mass of children and this year it was quite spars. I don’t know if the cost of fuel was keeping everyone away or the threat of possible rain. It was a great day and the rain held off for us.

It was wonderful to be able to get together with the families and share our adoption experiences.
Here are a few pictures of Kristofer and his “Ekat Cousins” who were adopted by the” H’s” and the “A’s” who traveled to Ekaterinburg the same time as us in 2004. We survived our adoptions together!

Our 3 families minus Mr. "H". Inna is in the middle and she is the one who makes our adoptions possible.

Here are our little ones in 2004.

Here they are now with "A's" big sister too.

Inna called us yesterday afternoon to let us know we will not be traveling on Saturday. This phone call came while I was on my way back from Frankfurt KY. I had to get the pediatrician letter, which helps get some of our 10 day waiting period waived, aposilled at the Secretary of State’s office. Since our court date has changed I’ll probably have to redo it…Again! It’s only money right? sigh

Here are some pictures of Kristofer and I at the KY capitol building. I took these pictures because I didn’t think we would be coming back to get anything else apostilled. Boy was I wrong.

Kristofer got to watch movies on the drive to and from Frankfort KY

We told Kristofer today that we would not be leaving on Saturday to go to Russia and he said with a sigh, “When Sasha and Igor going to be here?” It was sweet and cute. I think he is just ready for it all to be over with.

Our consolation prize for bumped travel dates is to be able to attend the KidsFirst Annual Reunion Picnic on Saturday. It is always fun to hang out people we have adopted with, chat with others from the region we are adopting/have adopted from and be able to put a face with someone we have exchanged emails with.

Our new possible travel dates are on June 28^th with us returning on July 4^th. Stay tuned…

We have “possible” travel dates for trip two!!!

Inna called today and said we could reserve (not book) our tickets and hotels. I called Enroute travel and the prices of the hotels in Moscow are CRAZY right now. With an adoption discount they are still $900 per night! This is not something we had planned in our adoption budget.

Our travel agent suggested using Peace Travel (www.go-russia.com) and renting an apartment. For 3 nights we will be spending under $600. Now that is more in my price range! We are hoping, when we are able to book, something will be available for us. God knows our need and he will provide. If we do stay in the apartment we will be (I think) the first family using KidsFirst Adoption to stay in the apartment. However, about %60 percent of Frank Adoption (who KidsFirst uses) stay in apartments with no problems so I am excited. Nothing like experiencing full on Russia!

I was on the phone or email all day today trying to coordinate last minute documents and travel plans. Kristofer was such a trooper once again and played all day by himself and was soooo good! He should really get the “good son” award! He is great!

If all goes well we will be flying out on Saturday. I will know for sure on Thursday. Stay tuned!!!

So Kelly and I were talking about our boys last night and he shared a very cool and touching moment with me.

When our plane was heading to the runway, leaving Rostov Russia, Kelly was praying for our boys. Praying for God to keep them safe and for the caregivers to give them the love and attention they need. As Kelly put it, “Before I was done praying some lady (me) pipes up. Hey look; there is a rainbow out the window.” Kelly’s immediate thought was, “Of course there is!” It was our sign and promise that our boys will be taken care of while we are gone.

God is so good to us. If we are still and listen he will give us signs and speak to us. You may not hear an audible voice, but he is talking. Are you listening?

Update:
According to Inna we will probably travel for trip two at the end of June or beginning of July.

Hey everyone, we have made it home safe, sound and in one piece. We are just missing one piece of luggage that hopefully United/Lufthansa will be able to return to us. Not sure how they managed to lose it when we checked in about 2 hours early to our flight. We got in to Louisville around 11:30pm on Saturday.

Sunday we managed to make it to the 11:00 service at church and then drove to Indianapolis to pick up Kristofer from Kelly’s parents. He was so cute. I picked him up and started hugging him and he was touching my hair and face and telling me how he missed me while I was in Russia. We ate lunch at McDonald’s and the whole time he was plastered to my side and rubbing on my arm in some way, either his face or his hand. Our son is definitely 100% attached and bonded to us. I pray the other two will bond to us the same, not to long after we bring them home.