Jet Lagged But Happy!

Hi everyone! We have successfully traveled halfway around the world. :) We got in to Omsk at 6:30 this morning with a grand total of 2 hours of sleep for the night on the plane and 5 hours of restless sleep on the plane the night before. We were very tired, but so very happy to be here.

Yesterday we got into Moscow at about 10 in the morning and didn't have to leave till 11 at night so we had our adoption facilitator there drive us into the city for lunch at a Russian restaurant, and had a tour guide take us around Red Square and inside the Kremlin. We got to see their "Diamond Fund." It was all very high security as it was huge amounts of gold and silver and jewels, including their royal crowns, diamond scepter and jewelery from coronations and state occasions. As we were leaving they stopped all the traffic so that 6 black BMWs and Mercedes could leave. Our tour guide made the comment that they do this for their President, Prime Minister or other important government officials. He thought it was silly that they needed so many cars for 1 person. We had dinner at a mall that had an ice skating rink in the middle. We wandered around the IKEA there and tried to restrain ourselves from jumping into the beds and taking a nap right there. We were very tired at this point.

At any rate after navigating our way through the check-in process at Moscow's domestic airport terminal, we realized that Russians have a very different theory when it comes to waiting in line. If you can squeeze in front of someone, or go around the line and cut in at front, do it! We have also had plenty of opportunity to try out our new Russian. Unfortunately, our 20 phrases or so restricts things a bit. :)

We were met this morning in Omsk by our facilitators here who are very nice. We got back to the hotel, took an awesome hot shower, had a half hour nap, and went to the hotel's buffet breakfast. They had omelets that had nothing on them, crepes that they call pancakes with nothing in them, porridge made from rice, buckwheat porridge (which I wasn't quite brave enough to try), hard-boiled eggs, fresh fruit, ham, sausage, some Russian cold salads, pastries and yogurt that you drink like milk. They had boiled cold milk and boiled hot milk. I'm guessing they boil it to make it safe to drink. As soon as I drank it, it took me back to the hostels we stayed at in Europe. It has a very different taste than our milk, but it is still good. Then we tried to blog, but the Internet wasn't working.

Before we left Michigan we had found the contact info for the local Mormon church congregation in Omsk and found out that church was at 11. Our adoption facilitators thought we were crazy to go when we were so tired, but we were excited to see what it was like here. There are 3 branches in Omsk and the one we found had a whopping 40 members there, including us! A couple of the missionaries there were American and they translated the services for us. Everyone was so excited that we were there. They were happy that we were "helping Russian" and giving one of their daughters a chance for "motherly love." One lady even had a picture taken with us for their Branch history. The Branch President and his wife invited us to their home on Tuesday night as well, so we are excited for that. There was an amazing Spirit there. These people have so many challenges to face as the church has only been allowed in the country for 15 years now and they are still subject to many government limitations. They are truly pioneers of faith in Christ for their country.

Tomorrow we will go to the Ministery of Education to officially receive the referral and then it is on to the orphanage! We are very excited for this day to be here finally. Please keep us in your prayers. We send love to all of you.