More Sightseeing....

Today has been dedicated to more sightseeing...or maybe I should say people-seeing. We started our day at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior(left). It is so grand, in beauty, in size in everything! It amazes us that the landmarks that the Russians are most proud of are their churches. We are told that most Russians are of the Russian/Greek Orthodox faith. You certainly don't get the feeling that Russia is an atheist country...probably never was, just the political machine was.

Below is a Russian family about to go into the cathedral. All females must cover their heads when entering a Russian Orthodox church.

We spent the rest of our day on Arbat street. It is a pedestrian only street known from the 15th century. It is a very eclectic street made up of antique, jewelry and souvenir shops along with several cafes and restaurants. There were also street performers, artist and folk arts and craft vendors. We saw the group pictured below and Mike has signed them on to join Family Tab's Praise and Worship Team. Butch knows we needed an accordian player!!!

Ok, it is less than 19 hours now until we see "you-know-who", but who's counting, right? =)

We leave tomorrow at 6am to drive to Vladimir. Once there, we will go and file papers with the Ministry of Education indicating our desire to adopt "Olga". From there we will drive on to the city of Murom to visit the Murom Baby Home. The day would be absolutely perfect if only Brannon and Logan could be here with us. We sure miss you guys!

The Kremlin, St. Basil's and the McTasty...not so much!

We began our sightseeing at the Kremlin. To the left is a picture of the main entrance.

St. Basil's Cathedral was built in 1555 and is probably the most recognizable of the Russian sights. When Sam and I were working on houseplans, Brannon drew what he called his dream house. Oddly enough, it looked very similar to this!

In the spirit of "when in Rome..." , we have tried eating at a couple authentic Russian restaurants. We very much liked borsch, which is a cabbage, potato and tomato soup. We also tried their meat dumplings...uh...didn't really care for those. For breakfast, we ate Russian pastries that must have had 4 times the calories of a good old Krispy Kreme. Too rich! So finally for lunch, in an effort to find the familiar, we found a McDonald's. Antonio told us that the McTasty was quite "tasty"....uh, well...not so much!

22 Hours! Whew!

Well, it is 10:40 Moscow time and we are finally in for the night. The "Road to Riley" got a bit bumpy today. After our 5 hour layover in Washington, yesterday, we finally got back in the air for Moscow at 5 pm. Two hours into that flight, when we were over Canada, the captain announces that we have a hydraulic leak and that we are going to return to Dulles!!! So back to Washington we go!

As we started our decent to Dulles, the captain tells us that there will be emergency personel standing by...just as a precaution! Now, keep in mind that I'm sitting next to Mr. Happy. As we are about to land I notice that Mike is very quiet. He proceeds to tell me that he is listening to see if the landing gear is going to engage! We then feel the wheels touch down, and just as I stop holding my breath Mike then says..."Now, I hope the breaks work." Ha! That's my "the glass is half empy!" guy. By the way, kudos to our pilot, Captain Beck, who landed the plane flawlessly!

We finally leave Dulles again at 10 pm and land in Moscow at 4pm (which would be 8 am EST). That is 22 hours after we left Charlotte.

Our first impressions of Moscow are that Russians are not as cold and unfeeling as we had been told. There was a really nice couple that helped us out at the airport. (The wife is an adoption coordinater for Moscow, how ironic!) Our driver, Antonio, was like a Russian cultural expert and made our almost two hour drive from the airport, in horrible traffic, a pleasure. The hotel staff has been great and Michael, our Moscow adoption liason was quite nice and informative.

Now we are going to bed...we are exhausted! Sightseeing tomorrow...hope to have great pics.

On Our Way...

It's 3:25 and we are sitting here in Dulles airport, Washington DC, eating Starburst and waiting for our 4:50 flight to Moscow. It's been a 5 1/2 hour layover!! We just got a text from Brannon telling us that Logan just scored the first touchdown for the Shady Grove Bulldogs' Red team!!! We are hating we missed that! Way to go Logan!!!!

Pre-Trip Thoughts

As I sit here this evening, I'm just overwhelmed with emotion. Not only am I filled with excitement about finally meeting our little girl , feeling a bit apprehensive about traveling in a foreign country and leaving the boys for an entire week; I'm also feeling so blessed by the love and concern we have felt from our friends. Our church, Family Tab Church, has been so wonderful to us during this roller coaster ride. Our church family has embraced this adoption as its own. I cannot express how much love and support we have felt from you guys! Mike and I feel completely covered by your prayers! We love you all so much!!

We also have amazing friends that have cried with us, laughed with us, prayed with us and for almost two years waited patiently with us! You know who you are! God put you in our lives, and for that we will be forever grateful! I must also tell those extra special friends that began our journey with us but were called away (to Memphis!!), you really are still with us. Thanks for the phone calls and your efforts to stay plugged in. Distance means nothing in the family of God!

I guess I better get to finishing my 10 page instruction manual for our heaven sent "boysitter", Krystal and stop being so emotional. As my father used to tell me...Dry up, now! =)

The Last of the "Catching Up"

Brannon and Casey building Riley's bookshelf.
This is what dating is to a prospective brother.

Finally, after waiting for 18 months, we get to see Riley for the first time. There are no words to describe how we felt when we opened that email!!!

More Pictures of Riley's Room Preparation

Our wonderful friend, Angela, working on Riley's room. She and I taught together in the Fine Arts Department at Davie High. We painted many, many show sets together but this room is our masterpiece!

Riley's big brother's putting her bed together.

This is our final product!