We made it to Moscow!

"Does the road wind uphill all the way? Yes, to the very end. Will the journey take the whole long day? From morn to night, my friend." - Christina Georgina Rosetti

We're here, but don't ask me what day and what time it is, because I have no idea. I am having a harder time keeping up with that this go around.

A few of you know we were worried Friday night. After reviewing all our paperwork, we discovered our agency had not sent us some papers we were required to have for court in Siberia. We called the agency director at midnight and she was trying to think of a way she could get them to us when our first flight landed in Houston...or if nothing else, she would have them Fed-Exed to us in Moscow. She spent hours working on this and then we got a call shortly before we were to board the plane - after more digging, it turns out the court would not require us to have those documents. We are fine.

We flew Singapore Air from Houston to Moscow. It was a 10 1/2 hour flight. We had EXIT ROW seats! Yea for exit row seats!

We arrived to Moscow 5am on Sunday morning (Dallas time). It was 2pm Sunday afternoon in Moscow. Our driver, Val, was ready and waiting for us when we arrived. The weather was a cool 57 degrees! We hopped in Val's station wagon and headed for our hotel. Carl asked me if I wanted the front seat (knowing how prone I am to car sickness) and in a moment of disillusionment I said, "No, I'll be fine in the back." Well, you know where this is going. First, the drive that should have taken an hour, ended up taking two. And I forgot about the driving over here. So it was - go, stop, swerve into this lane, stop, go, go faster, go faster, slam on brakes, go, brake, go, brake, go, go, swerve into that lane, slam on brakes.... Within 20 minutes I might as well have been on the teacup ride at Disney World. I put my head in my hand and tried some breathing exercises. We were within two streets of the hotel when I thought I was going to lose it - and you know what I mean when I say, lose it. I just started swallowing over and over again. I made it. Only Carl, my parents, grandparents and siblings know what a huge accomplishment it was for me to get through that car ride without incident...

We are in the same hotel as before. It's nice to be familiar with the place. Our sleep is off, which is to be expected. We went to bed at 4pm (moscow time) yesterday. Got up at 8pm for supper. Went back to bed. I slept for an hour and then was awake the rest of the evening. Carl managed to sleep. I spent most of my time standing at the window watching the people coming out of the bars and coffee shop across the street. At 4am Carl woke up. We watched a National Geographic show about two American men searching for the ruins of World War II submarines. Then we went to sleep at 5am and woke at 9am for b'fast. It's 11:35 and Carl is back to sleep and as soon as I finish writing, that's where I'll be...if we can get our sleep on schedule, we'll be much better off in Siberia.

We heard there is a toy store around here so we're going looking for it some time today. Thought we might buy Danil a couple of Russian toys - I'm looking for one in particular that was in the very first photo we ever saw of Danil.

Carl will have to work this afternoon. I'll try my best to stay awake and keep him company.

Tomorrow is our 3 hour medical and yet another psychological evaluation in Moscow. Our flight to Siberia is 11pm.

I'll leave you with another Gary Henry article that I have brought with me to read for encouragement...

"How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?" Proverbs 6:9

Our English word "stupid" is a word worth doing some serious thinking about. It comes from the Latin stupere, which meant "to be stunned." Usually we think of "stupidity" as extreme foolishness or a lack of intelligence, but in its most literal sense, "stupid" means dazed or stunned. The stupid person is in a "stupor," and what he needs is not to increase in intelligence but to wake up and pay attention. Stupidity is simply the state of being inactive and insensible when we ought to be alert.

Spiritually speaking, we need to shake off our stupidity, don't we? Too much of the time, we are lethargic and apathetic. Although there is work to do and dangers to watch out for, we doze off into such a state of insensibility that even God can't get our serious attention. Like Peter, James, and John, who fell asleep while Jesus was enduring His agony in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46), we are drowsy. Our desire, it would seem, is for God to leave us alone and let us sleep just a little while longer.

Usually, it takes some huge, life-altering crisis to bring us to our senses. But the closer we get to the end of our lives in this world, the more most of us will wish that we'd waked up sooner. We don't really have to wait for tragedy to turn us upside down. If we make the choice, we can wake up on our own - and we can do so right now. We can shake ourselves into sobriety and determine that our minds will be wide awake from now on.

One good reason to wake up is so that we can be better stewards of the gifts God has given us. Our Father has endowed us with great capabilities, and these are to be used to further His purposes. We need to be more keenly aware of our abilities and our opportunities so that we can use them more fully. When we allow the devil to discourage us, we fall into a stupid, insensible daze - a sleepiness from which nothing comes that is truly worthwhile. There is so much more to the life of godliness than we've experienced and so much more to God Himself than we've ever known. Too long have we been stupid! Too long have we slept!

"Compared to what we ought to be, we are only half awake" -William James