Okay, very tired, very stressed (not even approaching Deana’s stress though!), but alive!

Update on school:

• Research Project/Class – paper in, presentation done, class over. Woohoo!
• Art Appreciation – just now sent my six page paper on the belief system of Ancient Egyptians and an analysis of the Book of the Dead. Yeah, you heard me. Yes, I understand that seems like it has nothing to do with Art Appreciation! But it’s done and the class is over! Yeah!
• Sociology – I was able to finish and turn in all the work that I had over the next two weeks. There are two assignments that were given to me Monday night, but my teacher is very cool and said I could email them to her from Russia or bring them in when I get back. Sweet!
• Astronomy – my next online class, which starts Monday. No worries, I will have online access in Russia!

As for the trip, well, stress all around. But things are good and I downloaded Lost Season 2 onto my iPod for the trip so I am looking forward to having English TV when there! YES!

I will try to write more later! Please keep me and Deana in your prayers because we both get a little catty when stressed, so you can imagine how it’s been the last 24 hours!

Gina Out.

If you haven’t seen Deana’s post, check it out by clicking the link to the right. Basically, she has a conditional court date – 8/22. It is conditional because the official document showing Sophia is able to be adopted has not yet arrived. However, Deana has learned that the Russian courts do not usually set conditional dates unless the odds are very good that the date will be met. So I am happy!

The tentative info is something like this – we leave on 8/18, with the time difference we arrive in Russia 8/19. Based on the first trip, I would imagine we will be very tired and sleep the first day and then do a little site seeing (aka, “free day”). Because there were no flights later, we probably will have another free day 8/20. Then we see Deana’s kids on 8/21 (three hour drive one way, here we come!). Then the court date on 8/22, go back to get the kids, and take an overnight train to Moscow.

I really don’t know the details from that point on, but I know we are scheduled to be in Moscow through 4/1.

Remember, this is still conditional so things might change. Deana is very sensitive to questions right now, but feel free to ask me what you think is appropriate and I will do the best I can to keep you up-to-date. As you can imagine, this has been a trying time for Deana, who was told more than once that she would have the kids by the middle of February. But God is good and has gotten her this far!

Drew bought Steph or Deana a CD-Rom that teaches Russian. Deana also has the language CD. We have been frantically reviewing both in the hopes of being able to communicate with the kids. Deana is so much better at this than me! But I figured I can still have lots of fun getting them hyper and laughing, etc. LOL

I also have been successful in rescheduling or coordinating my school schedule. I will have to drop a class through my Biola program, but can make it up in June or July. Since I am scheduled to graduate in December anyway, this has not caused me any stress. I am very thankful that there is some flexibility there. In fact, when I shared my concerns with my counselor at Biola, she basically said “let me take care of the school stuff, YOU focus on helping Deana!” She also told me she would be praying for us – how cool is that????? God is so good to share these blessings in my life.

Steph is more than ready to take care of my kids when we are gone. She has done a FABULOUS job being Nanny McStephanie so far and I am so blessed by her help! The boys love her to death and she loves them…..in fact, now I have to argue with her as well as Deana, as they both claim the boys are THEIRS! (At this point, Josh would say, “You guys, you need to share.”)

That’s it for now! I pray that anyone who reads this has a blessed day!

Hello!

Sorry that I haven’t posted for several days! I can tell you that traveling 7,500 miles really takes it out of a person!

We had a mini trip in Frankfurt, Germany that was very nice. The hotel we stayed at was very modern and it was a relief to be so close to McDonald’s and other “American” food (still no ice in the sodas though!). It was bittersweet, however, because Deana didn’t have her kids so we would just look at each other and talk about them! LOL.

Some more details about Russia:

Although it seems to snow 24/7, the city we stayed in was extremely good at clearing the roads of snow, which seemed to never have any! Maybe they are so good at it since winter covers 5 months out of the year…..

The street lights in Russia are cool – they look just like ours, but when the red light is about to turn green, the yellow light appears (this is true for Germany, too). For the first few days, before I noticed this, I wondered how our drivers knew to take off right when the light turned.

Russians do not have a word for cousin – instead, they call these relatives brothers and sisters.

Personal space is very different in Europe, that’s for sure. But its especially close in Russia! We went to a SuperMarket (and this time it was very big, very packed, and a serious place to shop!). The carts were again 1/4 the size of American carts, and it was interesting to note that the back wheels were not fixed like ours, but instead swiveled just like the front ones. I soon learned why – it was so packed in the store you needed to be able to push the cart at angles, sideways, etc. Further, Russians don’t notice if you are on top of them! In fact, I totally ran over a person’s foot with my cart (hard too!) and they didn’t even turn around! Not as fun when YOU are the one being assaulted!

When you shop in Russia grocery stores, not only do you have to bag your own goods, but they charge you for the bags!

That’s all I can think of now, have to have another cup of coffee! The transition back to American time has been very difficult for us! We wake up feeling like its time to go to bed (like right now. It’s 9:30 pm in Russia and I so feel like going back to bed even though I just woke up!). And last night D and I kept saying we should really try to go to bed, but we were wide awake….until after 2:30! Yikes. Waking up for work tomorrow will be fun, I am sure!

Talk to you soon!

G

Deana just got done with the interview with the MOE and all went well. It wasn’t hard at all and it seems she freaked out for nothing! Yes! I was able to go into the office with her so that was cool. We are now driving in a van to the two orphanages where the children are – three hours away! Deana will not meet them together but they are in the same region. It is a bumpy road so a bit hard to type so I will just capture some thoughts:

Lanes are subject to driver interpretation, much like in Italy and France.

Seatbelts are not used in Russia, at least that we’ve seen.

Today it is snowing huge flakes and right now it is about 12 degrees F.

Toilet paper here I believe is a hold over of KGB torture devices! It might as well be sand paper.

Spiceyva (not sure of spelling) means Thank You in Russian.

It doesn’t matter how nice your car is here, it will be trashed by the weather.

I am dying for a regular cup of black coffee, PLEASE!!!!

Russians seem like “regular people”. Not that they ever weren’t regular people, but growing up during the Cold War it seems they were demonized for me at a certain level. I have known several Russians, including Irina, so it’s not like I thought badly of them per se. But being here I realize they are very much like Americans in their looks, etc. I have enjoyed being exposed to their culture.

I wonder what the keyboard on Russian laptops look like?

Deana is very excited to have accomplished the interview and ready to meet the kids. I think the 3 hour drive is gonna kill her.

I am currently sitting in the car as we stopped to get water for the trip. Please God, I pray that Deana is getting some junk food too. LOL (She didn’t, maybe I prayed too late?)

I just now saw the first Toyota since arriving! I am not sure what model – looks to be early to mid 90’s.

When we arrived at the airport in Russia, there was no tunnel to get off the plane. Instead, we walked down stairs from the plane – yes, in the snow – hopped on a tram about 10 feet away, and were driven about 30 feet to the terminal, which was very, very small.

Did I mention it is cold here? Thank God for fleece and Cuddle Duds!

Thanks to everyone who is praying for Deana, sending text messages, leaving comments on her blog and MySpace page.

Deana just bought a liter of water for 17 rubles which amounts to about 50 cents!

Please see Deana’s blog for the update on her kids! http://russiawithlove-deana.blogspot.com/