Well, we made it safe and sound to Moscow. The trip was really uneventful- just a bit to make you smile- the tail winds were amazing- we were projected to land up to an hour early several times on the flight. We ended up landing at about 9:30 instead of 10:10am. Tim and I laughed and enjoyed the prayers of the saints- praying for our trip to go quickly....... It really worked!
I'm sure many of you wonder about Monday. It was such a difficult day, in so many ways. Tim went from work in the morning to get our last paper apostilled, so he didn't get home until a little later in the am than usual. I had prayed and prayed that God would show me that it was time for Penny to be put to sleep so I wouldn't always wonder. He left no doubt in my mind that this was the case on Monday morning. She appeared to lose control of everything that day. I ended up doing 6 loads of laundry- just from her, and she was only in the house a few hours. She had gotten so bad, I think she drank over a gallon of water. I had planned to spend the morning finishing up all we had to do- packing paying the last of the bills- preparing the house. All I ended up doing before we took her to the vet was cleaning up all manner of nastiness from my poor dog.
So, even though I cried and cried and could still cry if I think too much about it, God confirmed in my heart that Penny was indeed weary of this world, in a lot of pain and ready to rest. Farewell, sweet friend. I will often think of you and the sweet times we had.
OK, back to the present.....
Do you ever realize that you are stereotyping people? When we were waiting for our first flight in Columbus there was a young man who was obviously Muslim. His clothing and hair style were very typical. I wouldn't have noticed him, but he was very, very nervous. He had a whole bag of sunflower seeds he was eating and spitting the shells onto his robe across his lap. That made me very nervous. I prayed a lot for him. Hoping he was nervous because he doesn't like to fly, and not that he was nervous because he was soon to take down the plane and die. I really prayed for all of us. Of course, Tim wasn't nervous at all- wouldn't even look as I continued to point this poor guy out. Appears he was just nervous to fly :)
Arrived in Moscow, went through the lines at the airport- of course, met another couple here to adopt. Vladimir met us at the airport again. It was nice to see a familiar face. He brought us to the Renaissance Hotel. It is VERY nice!! We have such a posh room. A great view. Very comfortable. Feather pillows. Glasses and mugs, a hot pot for hot water. Most of the staff speak English, which is nice.
One doesn't realize what it means to be in a foreign land with an unknown language until one is there. Tim and I went out for a walk today for a few hours. We did a bit better than last time- actually went to the market. We bought water, bananas and bread. Just a few of the few Russian words I've learned. Hopefully I'll be able to do better once we arrive in Krasnoyarsk and we buy more groceries.
Dinner last night was very interesting. We went to the German restaurant in the hotel. There were 3 families in there with 3 little ones. 2 families stayed for a little while after we arrived. I heard one talking about the exchange rate. We had seen 20:1 in the airport. This means 20 Roubles per American dollar. When we were here in October it was just under 25. That is a huge difference. He told us 24. A lot better :)
The one family is from just outside Pittsburgh. The other family, you are not going to believe this, is from West Greene- yes folks, that's right, from my own Greene County, PA- just a hop, skip and a jump from where I grew up. How amazing is that? I run into a family that I never met when growing up, possibly 30 minutes away, but I meet them here in Moscow, almost 4,000 miles away from home. How amazing is that? The lady that grew up there actually knows several people that I know. Her sister's roommate in college was Stacey Parson- a great friend of ours we went to church with as we were growing up. What a small world.
We're joining these other families for dinner in a bit. Looking forward to seeing how they interact with their children and how they handle meals.
Update- had a great dinner- enjoyed eating with 3 other families who are in the last few days of their process. They're going to the Russian Embassy tomorrow. The other couple from our agency and their son joined us just as we finished, so we went over and joined them while they ate.
Tomorrow at 2:30pm we leave for the Clinic and have our physicals done- by 8 Russian Dr's- one of them a Russian Psychiatrist. Praying God will put the words in our mouths we need to complete these physicals with no problems.
Well, I'm sure this post is long enough- will try to post this soon, as well as updates on our physicals and the rest of our journey here in Moscow.
I'm sure many of you wonder about Monday. It was such a difficult day, in so many ways. Tim went from work in the morning to get our last paper apostilled, so he didn't get home until a little later in the am than usual. I had prayed and prayed that God would show me that it was time for Penny to be put to sleep so I wouldn't always wonder. He left no doubt in my mind that this was the case on Monday morning. She appeared to lose control of everything that day. I ended up doing 6 loads of laundry- just from her, and she was only in the house a few hours. She had gotten so bad, I think she drank over a gallon of water. I had planned to spend the morning finishing up all we had to do- packing paying the last of the bills- preparing the house. All I ended up doing before we took her to the vet was cleaning up all manner of nastiness from my poor dog.
So, even though I cried and cried and could still cry if I think too much about it, God confirmed in my heart that Penny was indeed weary of this world, in a lot of pain and ready to rest. Farewell, sweet friend. I will often think of you and the sweet times we had.
OK, back to the present.....
Do you ever realize that you are stereotyping people? When we were waiting for our first flight in Columbus there was a young man who was obviously Muslim. His clothing and hair style were very typical. I wouldn't have noticed him, but he was very, very nervous. He had a whole bag of sunflower seeds he was eating and spitting the shells onto his robe across his lap. That made me very nervous. I prayed a lot for him. Hoping he was nervous because he doesn't like to fly, and not that he was nervous because he was soon to take down the plane and die. I really prayed for all of us. Of course, Tim wasn't nervous at all- wouldn't even look as I continued to point this poor guy out. Appears he was just nervous to fly :)
Arrived in Moscow, went through the lines at the airport- of course, met another couple here to adopt. Vladimir met us at the airport again. It was nice to see a familiar face. He brought us to the Renaissance Hotel. It is VERY nice!! We have such a posh room. A great view. Very comfortable. Feather pillows. Glasses and mugs, a hot pot for hot water. Most of the staff speak English, which is nice.
One doesn't realize what it means to be in a foreign land with an unknown language until one is there. Tim and I went out for a walk today for a few hours. We did a bit better than last time- actually went to the market. We bought water, bananas and bread. Just a few of the few Russian words I've learned. Hopefully I'll be able to do better once we arrive in Krasnoyarsk and we buy more groceries.
Dinner last night was very interesting. We went to the German restaurant in the hotel. There were 3 families in there with 3 little ones. 2 families stayed for a little while after we arrived. I heard one talking about the exchange rate. We had seen 20:1 in the airport. This means 20 Roubles per American dollar. When we were here in October it was just under 25. That is a huge difference. He told us 24. A lot better :)
The one family is from just outside Pittsburgh. The other family, you are not going to believe this, is from West Greene- yes folks, that's right, from my own Greene County, PA- just a hop, skip and a jump from where I grew up. How amazing is that? I run into a family that I never met when growing up, possibly 30 minutes away, but I meet them here in Moscow, almost 4,000 miles away from home. How amazing is that? The lady that grew up there actually knows several people that I know. Her sister's roommate in college was Stacey Parson- a great friend of ours we went to church with as we were growing up. What a small world.
We're joining these other families for dinner in a bit. Looking forward to seeing how they interact with their children and how they handle meals.
Update- had a great dinner- enjoyed eating with 3 other families who are in the last few days of their process. They're going to the Russian Embassy tomorrow. The other couple from our agency and their son joined us just as we finished, so we went over and joined them while they ate.
Tomorrow at 2:30pm we leave for the Clinic and have our physicals done- by 8 Russian Dr's- one of them a Russian Psychiatrist. Praying God will put the words in our mouths we need to complete these physicals with no problems.
Well, I'm sure this post is long enough- will try to post this soon, as well as updates on our physicals and the rest of our journey here in Moscow.
2 comments:
So good to hear from you. Prayers are being answered, praise God for safe arrival. Hoping physicals go as well. Love you, Bernadine
So glad everything is going smoothly...waiting with baited breath for your next post...so far you are doing well at feeding my nosey nature...tell Tim I appreciate him not sticking to the promised "one/week" update. Lifting you up...Lori
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