First Trip Comes to an End

Our hotel in Moscow was charging $50/hr to use the internet, so we waited to post 'til we returned to the U.S. Everything went great!

Thursday we had a brief pre-court hearing in the afternoon with one of the judges. We had prayed with one of the other couples beforehand that everything would go well, as the judge that everyone has had this last week has asked some tough questions. Our hearing went well. He wants us to bring him our letters of recommendation, including an additional one from our pastor, and more pictures of our home, and the additional paperwork required before court. We were given a court date of September 8th!!! That was much sooner than we had expected, so we are ecstatic. Alexei was representing us while in court, so we think he had a lot to do with getting us a quick court date.

Friday morning we left to Moscow, and arrived around noon. The first thing we noticed from the outskirts of the city was the many older, run-down apartment buildings, but there is a lot of new construction happening. There are many old and beautiful buildings in the city, with the Moscow River running through it. Moscow somewhat reminds me of Paris, but the roads and sidewalks are in poor condition. The subway, however, is great. It's very easy to navigate, with several beautiful characteristics in many of the stations, including marble walls, paintings, carvings, mosaics and chandeliers - some of them look like small art galleries.

Many people dress to impress, and the younger women walk everywhere in 3-inch stilettos and short skirts. It makes their legs look longer. Maybe I'll try that, I've always wanted longer legs, ha ha. Many people smoke. Most of the tourists seem to be French, which could likely be the reason for there being as many smokers as there are in Moscow!
Red Square, including The Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral, and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior are impressive and stunning. There is also a large monument to Peter the Great in the Moscow River. Arbat Street represents the shopping district, and many restaurants are also located there, including the Hard Rock Cafe. There is so much we didn't see that we can't wait to come back. The food has also been great. I had such great borsch that I hope to squirrel the recipe from the chef on our next trip.

All in all, the best part of the trip was obviously meeting our little girl, and the worst was leaving her there. We saw the best of Russia, as a tourist, but it's easy to realize that what was unseen is a sad situation. While our stay was comfortable, our visit to the orphanage reminds us how many children around the world are starving for love and comfort, even in the U.S., and it's heartbreaking not to be able to make that happen for each one of them. It also reminds us that while it's okay to take vacations (ie. Enjoy life), it's also important to make a difference for someone else, and for us, that someone else will soon be our daughter!