Krasnoyarsk Day 1

Wow- The last two days have flown by faster than a shooting star.

We arrived at 5:30am in Krasnoyarsk, after an extremely cramped trip on our Aeroflot plane from Moscow. It was amazing trying to eat our little meal, with our little fork and spoon, on the little tray, with little room. My knees almost touched the seat in front of me- can't imagine how a tall person would feel. The engine was shut completely off when we landed- making for quite a sureal ending to our flight. It was earily quiet, no one talking loudly and very dark. We walked down the steps and followed the people off the tarmac, through a gate in the fence and around through the snow, past the parking area to baggage. Penny and I stood at the end of the room, waiting for the guys to bring the luggage.
After a few minutes, a very attractive woman came up to us and said, "Hello." It was such a welcome word! Tim later told me she came up behind them and said, "Hi, Guys!" They wanted to know how she knew who they were- and she said- easy! She took us out to the van to wait while the men collected the luggage. We began to pray earnestly when they didn't show up after quite a few minutes. Then we realized that our luggage was probably the first on the plane- thus the last off. Sergey and Yelena and the guys came out with all our luggage :O) and we headed on out for the Krasnoyarsk Hotel. When we arrived Yelena took our passports and checked us into the hotel. In Russia, one must be registered in the region they are staying in within 72 hours of arriving. Fortunately, the hotel takes care of this for us.

Our room is quite nice. We are on the 7th floor with a beautiful view of the Yeseny river and bridge and a little courtyard outside the ballet and opera theater. We have a king size bed, desk, closet, fridge and tv. And, for a small fee, internet service :)

We came to our rooms and knew we had our appointments with the MOE (Ministry of Education) at 2:00. Since our rooms come with a free breakfast, we headed on over there to grab a bite to eat. We came back to the room and took an all too brief nap.

I can't even explain how suddenly nervous I felt. I knew we needed to pray, and was so comforted when Tim and I quietly prayed in our room before going out to meet with the Goeppners. What an awesome presence it was that went before us!

We met in the lobby and prayed with the Goeppners and then headed on out, after Yelena got our passports back from the hotel clerk. We went to the MOE and were all ushered into a small office with 2 ladies, Galena and Tatiana, our interepreter Marina, whom we met in the van on the way to the office, and Yelena. The process was surprisingly painless. Galena spoke for a few minutes to make sure we understood what was about to happen, and then asked us a few questions. What made you choose Russia? What do you do? What is your family like? How long did it take you to complete your dossier? She was very friendly and engaging. When she was finished, Tatiana went through the information about the documents we were to sign to accept our referrals. She then showed us some additional pictures, gave us the actual birthdates and full names of our children. She explained that after we met the children we would go to the notary and formally accept our referrals.

Moscow airport

We have arrived...or should I say, we arrived around eight hours ago. For this posting it is 7:30 p.m. Moscow time, 12:30 p.m. EST. Depending on internet service, we will upload this to the blog then. DST Russia happened this morning at 2:00 a.m while we were somewhere over the North Atlantic Sea. Delta airlines was a little tight on the leg room, but the staff was very nice, maybe that should offset one another. Flight service included dinner last night and light breakfast this morning. That was a nice change in the "routine" during the 8.5 hr. flight.

We arrived in Moscow airport, and, with our new friends we met sitting in front of us who are returning for their court date, and our other couple from our adoption agency, we made our way off the plane into the airport. I must admit, I felt a high level of fear here. It took quite a few pep talks with God as we walked off the gangplank into the unknown. We wound around through the airport, following signs in russian, very glad this other couple had taken us under their wing. We came down the steps to a large room with the little custom booths at the far end.

The couple I mentioned earlier was with the 4 of us. The wife leaned over to me and said how nice this was. The last time she had been here it was dark and chaotic. They had put in a dropped ceiling and lighting and painted lines on the ground so everyone was standing in orderly lines, waiting their turn to enter the Motherland. We made it through without incident and followed the crowd to get our luggage.

We stepped outside the area where the luggage was, and there was a man holding a sign that said Swingle/Goeppner. It was Vladimir :) He speaks little English- but a whole lot more English than we speak Russian :) He loaded us up and we drove about 1 mile to the Novotel Hotel.

Wow- it was amazing! It had the large lobby that extends to the roof with the glass elevators to ride up to your room. It was very posh! Vladimir handed me his phone, motioning for me to talk. I said, "Hello?" and found I was talking to Phillip, the gentleman who made all our arrangments. He had items for us to take with us to Krasnoyarsk- paperwork and such, and he said when to meet Vladimir later that evening to go back to the airport for the next flight.

We had adjoining rooms with the Goeppners. We really enjoyed our time with them. We shared our photos of our sons and spoke back and forth between the rooms until we both settled in for some shut eye.

We enjoyed a nice Russian version of Don Pepe's mexicano at the Novotel hotel just before we checked out.

Currently, we are waiting in very smoke laden Moscow airport for AeroFlot flight #779 to Krasnoyarsk. The airport here is sort of confusing for us non-Russian speaking folks. Vladamir, our driver was a Huge blessing to make certain we are were we needed to be and standing in
the correct line.

We arrived around 10:00 a.m. this morning, checked into the Novotel hotel and crashed. Sleeping on the aircraft in totally over rated. Checked out of the non smoke filled hotel at 6:15 p.m., to wait in a hazy environment. We should arrive in Krasnoyarsk around 6:00 a.m.
Monday morning. Not sure if we will be able to stop at our hotel before the MOE appointment, so we are dressed for the occasion. Praying the next flight will be kind to the business attire.
The weather has been very overcast today. The temperature is about 30 degrees F. Forecast for Krasnoyarsk is calling for measurable snow during our three days visit. Chris and Penny Goeppner are excited about the snow, being from south Florida. We are tired, but on the flip side, very excited about seeing our son for the first time. The MOE meeting will be torture! God willing, it will be short and we will get to spend as much time as possible tomorrow with him.

In the Port Columbus Airport

I can't even begin to describe the beauty of the morning. We woke early and loaded everything in the car and headed out for the airport. The ride there was nothing short of amazing. There were dark grey storm clouds in the distance, with the brilliant morning fall sun setting all the trees on fire around us. What an amazing picture that made, blazened on my mind. It was so beautiful! What a gift to start us out on our journey with!

We stopped at the fire station in Whitehall where Tim works. One of his fellow employees was going to give us a ride to the airport, just 5 minutes up the road. We met a man there with his son who had been adopted from the same baby home our son is from a few years earlier. He let us borrow a few phrase books and sent some pictures with us for Yelena, the coordinator in Krasnoyarsk. It was very interesting to be able to talk to him about what he had experienced at the same place 3 or 4 years ago. His son was fascinated with the equipment, so Tim showed him around. He just turned 8. They live in Columbus now, we met them through the International Ohio Adoption yahoo chat group.

Well, we are sitting here in the airport- with about an hour before we board the plane. Whooo hoooo- we have Internet here and power- so, we're trying to see if we can get all our addresses and such sorted out before we go to make posting easier and quicker while in Russia. We
made it through the first check just fine- had breakfast, sipped some Latte, read some mail- I guess we didn't really need to be here so early after all.......But, hey, it's the first chance we've had to just sit and relax for the last 10 days since we found out about our son. So, hopefully this works, and we'll be able to keep in touch with everyone while we are halfway around the world. Until next blog.......

The "Hour of Power"

Amazing what a difference an hour can make, isn't it?

I came home from work this afternoon, hoping to make it to the Credit Union in time to withdrawal the cash we need to take with us. They had just received "new" money in, which we need for our journeys around the world.

So, as I am driving home, I am thinking about what we need to pack, what we need to do, what else needs to happen, etc. I know that Tim's mom has already rec'd the packet that has our passports and visas, so I stop there first. They are really neat looking-a sticker that takes up a whole page in our passports.

I head across the way to our house, and in the time it takes to park the car, put down the garage door and walk downstairs, the Fed Ex truck is parked in the driveway!! Now, mind you, I was planning on spending about 15 min at home- just to let the dogs out! And all this took place in less than half an hour!!!!

So, she hands me 2 packages- one containing our tickets for the flight from Moscow to Kras and back, and the second containing the adaptor and surge protector for our electronic equipment. I hadn't even shut the door yet when the phone rang- It was another friend and fellow adoptive mom- She got submitted to the same region we are in!!!! After some hooting and hollering and praising God we chatted for a bit and I drove into Columbus.

The credit union had all we needed, and more. We got a roll of Presidential Dollars to use for tipping. And the cashier was wonderful- she had many great stories to tell of adoption stories and God working in Russia.

And then, to top it all off, as if all this wasn't blessing enough, I stopped at the Fire Station and had dinner with Tim and had some time to talk to him at work.

God, I am so amazed by you. Thank you for calming my fears and answering my prayers so quickly and completely. Thank you for your guidance for the rest of our Journey of Faith.........

My view

Thought I would add a photo I found of a bridge over the Yenisey River in Krasnoyarsk.

Just ended a conference call with our coordinator Kristen from AWAA and another couple we will be traveling with when we leave JFK airport in New York. The count down clock is running. Soooooo many things to do, organize and verify. Currently, we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our airline tickets for international travel and in country travel on Aeroflot airlines. Our visas were suppose to arrive today...and haven't yet, though it is still early in California. Maybe tomorrow?
When one puts their schedule together for weeks and months ahead of time, one is never aware of the changes that are to be encountered in moments notice. Although, I know, that God supplies our every need. We are seeing every day how God has been preparing us for this "Little Man" to come into our lives. We go about our day to day tasks, sometimes not giving our full attention to what God is doing in our lives. Then all of a sudden, there He is, in your face, saying "Have you been listening?" Debbie and I are seeing things that He has put in motion for a decade.....A DECADE! Can you say WOW! And folks have the nerve to say "There is no GOD?" I think different.

Baby Boy Swingle

Hey, my sweet little guy,
I was getting stuff ready to meet you, and I realized- We've been waiting for you your whole life!! Even before you were born, we were getting ready for you. We can't wait to see you and hold you and look into your eyes for the first time.

See you soon!!!

Mom and Dad

Our updated visa pics

We had to update our photos for our visas- so I thought- hey, why not add them- I don't have enough photos on here. I can't wait to post pictures of our son (In the adoption process- this can't be done until he is home with us- so I'm really saying I can't wait to have him home :0D)

So, here we are- sans the smiles- since it is for our Russian visas ;0}