Safe And Sound

We're here. Rostov on Don that is.

The kids all dropped us at the airport on Saturday morning, and since Taylor is only 11, Papa and Grandma came too. We were very sad to leave, and I think the kids were sad too. Even Noah seemed to know we were leaving him for longer than he's been without us since he came home almost 3 years ago. But Matvey is waiting, so we left with heavy, but excited hearts.

Our travel was largely uneventful through the night, and after stops in LA and Frankfurt, we landed safely in Vienna on Sunday. Hopefully Ally won't become too accustomed to flying nearly 7,000 miles for a romantic getaway. I think I avoided that when I reserved a room at an airport hotel. We did get to explore the "Interstadt" Vienna for a few hours in the evening and even in that short of time we were able to see that it is a beautiful city. We took the CAT, or City Apple Train from the airport into the heart of the city. Turned out it was the City Airport Train, but with the right accent, airport sounds like apple.

This morning, after a great night's sleep, we showed up at the airport, a little later than we would have liked. Upon check-in, we were told the flight was overbooked, and we were on stand-by. No seats were available, in economy or business class. They asked for volunteers, but got none to take a later flight to Rostov, via Istanbul. A documentary film crew considered, but in the end didn't volunteer. When it seemed like were left in Vienna until some later time or date, the gate attendant invited us to board the bus that would take us to the plane, and that she'd bumped us up to business class where they apparently had a couple of seats open up. God shows He is always good and always faithful, even in the little details. On to Rostov...

We arrived in Rostov late this afternoon and found out, that in spite being of parents to one Russian citizen, and waiting on another, we can't go through the Russian citizen's line at Passport Control. When we made it through, we were so thrilled to see Oleg and Olga. For those new to our story, Oleg is an attorney who serves a our facilitator and Olga is our translator. They both helped us immeasurably last time we were here and we felt very comfortable when we saw their smiles again. Turns out, we're the first family Oleg has helped in 2 years. We were shocked to find that out. Many children haven't had their chance and are still waiting to find their Mom and Dad.

Tomorrow, will be the first meeting for us with Matvey. God has led us to this point, at this time, and we pray that we get the privelege and blessing to be his parents. Please pray for a good first meeting, and for Matvey's heart to be open to us.

Our meeting time is tomorrow at 10:00 am (11:00 pm Monday night in CA). Oleg informed us that Matvey is bright and known to be a leader of his group at the baby home. From what we could decipher, a group may include around 20 children. Seems like this baby home may produce a high percentage of leaders. (Noah leans a little bit towards being a leader, too)

Taylor, Lauren, Makenna and Noah:
We love you and miss you bunches! We have your pictures and drawings ready to take to Matvey tomorrow, along with all the toys you sent. We'll hug him for you.
Mom and Dad

Thank you all for your prayers.
Ryan for Ally