Moscow, Day 1 and 2

We made it to Moscow, after a 10 hour flight from ATL. We arrived around 10:30am local time, which was around 2:30am Cincinnati time. I slept quite a bit on the plane, however, Steve did not sleep at all. We enjoyed some fine Delta food, and watched a man get detained in Moscow for removing his seat belt and leaving his seat prior to the plane stopping at the gate...they mean business. We waited a while in customs to have our passports checked, but then made our way to find our translator/driver. He was wearing an Indianapolis Colts hat...made us chuckle.

Driving in this city is at your own risk, as is crossing the street. Think NYC, but much worse. Since we came over a few days early, I used my accumulated hotel points to stay at the Hilton in Moscow. Interesting bit, it was actually one of 7 skyscrapers built by Lenin. It's newly renovated, and fabulous. By far the best Hilton I've stayed in.

Most of Sunday was spent sleeping. After checking in, we both checked out for a few hours...just like our typical Sunday afternoon nap. We got up in time to have the free drinks and appetizers (one of the perks I also get at Hiltons), and then right back to bed. Surprisingly, we've adjusted to the 8 hour time difference quite well.

Monday (today) brought big adventure. We navigated the metro (subway) system by ourselves. All the signs are only in the Russian Cyrillic spelling, so we needed to identify the station by the spelling, and the number of stops from start to finish. Fortunately, there was a stop across the street from the hotel, and across the street from Red Square.

I wish I could upload pictures to show the real beauty of the square, but that will have to wait for another time. Most people around the Kremlin and in the square spoke enough English that we could manage. 30% on the signs were in both Russian and English around the Kremlin, so we were able to understand a bit of what we were looking at...the rest we nodded and smiled.

Overall, Moscow is pretty awesome, very Eastern European, and with a mix of old Russia and modern style. Tomorrow (Tuesday) we leave for Novokuznetsk. Our flight leaves at 10:30pm, and we arrive early Wednesday morning. Novokuznetsk is 4 hours ahead of Moscow, and 12 hours ahead of Cincinnati. Our internet access will be much less once we get there.

Love to all!

Monday Night Shoutouts!

We are down to t-minus 5 days until we leave for Russia. Everything has been arranged, paid for, and planned, but not yet packed (that's what Friday night is for). In preparation, some shoutouts.

First - to all of you readers. Thanks for stopping by and giving the page a read. I hope that in the coming weeks there will be much more to share.

Second - to all the folks who donated. THANK YOU!!!!! This would not be possible without your generosity and kind hearts.

Third - to those who have prayed, are praying and will be praying. Prayers are being answered, and it is awesome! There are 4 things we have really been asking for prayer for...continued financial support, continued smooth sailing until the boys come home, safe travels, and strength to be able to leave the boys behind until be return. Of course, feel free to add your own prayers too.

So...to all of you...SHOUTOUT!

visas

Our passports returned from the Russian Embassy today, complete with the official stamp from that allows us to get in and out of the country. The best part is that is have the Russian spelling of our names is on the visa. Did you know Myers in Russian is spelled MAQN(backwards)ES?

Two weeks from now we will be somewhere over the Atlantic.

traveling coming soon

For now, we play the waiting game. There won't be much to update until we get back from Russia.

We officially have our travel booked. We leave on April 25th for Moscow. We are going to stay there and be tourist for a couple days, or just sleep inside the hotel. Tickets were way cheaper to fly in a couple days earlier...$550 buck a piece, round trip to Moscow, out of CVG!

We arrive in Novokuznetsk on April 29th, and will leave early on the morning of May 1st. We don't know exactly how much time we will spend with the boys, but we do know we have to meet with the orphanage director and doctor, and go to the local courts to file our official petition to adopt the boys.

We arrive back in Cincinnati on the evening of May 2nd. Then the countdown begins until the boys come home.

There have been 2 blessings in our travel planning. First, all of our travel for the first trip has been paid. I accumulated enough frequent flier miles and hotel points to pay for the flights to Moscow and the hotel. Our flights from Moscow to Novokuznetsk have also been paid. The second blessing is that another couple will be traveling with us. While they don't speak Russian, it will at least be nice to have someone else around who also speaks English.

boldly asking

I was recently at an event, and I'm going to use a line that was used during that event.

I am boldly asking people for a lot of money.

I'll sell it to you straight. We are $7,000 short of the total payment required prior to our departure for Russia at the end of April. We need $7,000 by April 17th.

You are probably asking what this money is paying for, which is a good question. Here is what is covered in these fees - all ground transportation while in Russia, the services of a translator while in Russia, adoption consultation, translation and processing of our first set of paperwork (from English to Russian), and a donation to the orphanage. None of this money is used to pay bribes to the Russian officials.

Through clever budgeting and the generosity of friends and readers alike, we have raised just over $11, 000 thus far, over half of what is needed by April 17th. All air travel and hotel arrangements have been paid for the trip at the end of April.

Unfortunately, this is not all that is needed. Once we have court dates set, approximately 3-4 months from the end of April, we will have to make a second payment of nearly $15,000, which will include mostly the same things as the first trip, in addition to medical exams for Steve and I, as well as the boys, and visas/passports/birth certificates for the boys. We will also have to pay for our travel the second time, which we anticipate will be close to $12,000 (most of this is due to Russia having a 10 day waiting period before we can leave the region. If it is waived, we can leave sooner, but need to make arrangement that offer flexibility).

So, I'm boldly asking you for a large amount of money.

I want to put forth a challenge. Several folks have donated part or all of their tax return. Some of them have even challenged other to do the same, and so I challenge you, the reader of this blog, to donate part or all of your tax return to bring these boys home.

If you have children, I challenge you to donate $10.00 for their combined ages. I challenge you to donate $100.00 per child you have.

I am boldly asking you to donate a large amount of money.

I get it, economically, times are tough. Steve and I are asking you to invest in something that will far outlast any investment in any financial market. And the best part, you will be able to see the gains on your investment, over and over again.

I ask you to prayerfully consider donating. To those who have, a shout of thanks, from the bottom of our heart.

Back in the USSR

My AMAZING friend Laura hosted a benefit concert for us this past Saturday. She titled it Back in the USSR (clever), and local bands played Beatles cover songs. The music was great, the atmoshpere was fantastic, and I think a good time was had by all! Thanks again to those who came out on Saturday night to catch some great local musicians for a great cause. For those who weren't able to make it, here are some of my favs from the evening.

The Ministry of Education in Russia has invited us to travel to meet the boys.

We will meet them on April 29th. We will spend 2 days at the orphanage with the boys.

While this is a month later, it actually works out better. I almost have enough frequent flyer miles to get both of us there and back for this trip. We also have about another month to fundraise.

This story only gets better...stay tuned...and don't forget about the benefit concert on the 14th. BE THERE!