Snapshot of Day 1

We've arrived! Our plane landed at the Krasnoyarsk Airport at about 5:45AM Wednesday morning. The airport does not have terminals that the planes pull up to and you walk down a sky walk inside. No, we got the experience of walking down a flight of stairs like some kind of president into some of the coldest air I've ever felt and then taking a ride inside a frozen shuttle bus to the baggage claim. We got to our hotel and had enough time to shower and eat breakfast before we were to be picked up to go to MOE. Breakfast at the Hotel Krasnoyarsk was not only delicious but very filling. Can't wait to venture there again!

The driving is absolutely crazy around here. I'd heard stories, but you have to experience it for yourself to truly appreciate it. Thankfully our orphanage is not outside the city so car time is minimal. I'll blog more about that and our experience in the Moscow airport later. Stick around for that--it'll be worth it! LOL

Our appointment with the Ministry of Education went well. We were asked a few questions and granted to permission to visit our little guy. We then headed to the legal department to obtain information on his mother and father. Doug loves our coordinator. She told us not to take our coats off because we don't have time to waste. She's a "let's gitter done!" kinda of lady. I'm frantically taking notes and then we're off to the orphanage as quickly as possible so we can have as much time as possible before he has to take a nap.

We drive to our baby's orphanage. It's clean but very old. As soon as we put on our little blue booties over our shoes (Doug's tore and had to ask for another one. The comment our coordinator said was, "Made in China!") a care taker brought him to me. We walked up a flight of stairs to a play room and had about 40 minutes to play with him. I'll blog more about that visit as well. I'm just trying to get an update before my Advil PM kicks in. It's 1:00AM here as I'm typing. The doctor came in and went over his medicals.

After our visit, our translator and coordinator dropped us off at Moma Roma's for lunch. We were given directions on how to get to our hotel from there and we were on our own. We got lost. Well sort of, we just didn't walk far enough. It was freezing, absolutely freezing, but everyone walks around here. High spikey heeled boots--it's amazing!! I was the only one without head gear. (I hate "hat head".) However, after my experience walking 4 blocks, I will not make that mistake twice and I will have something on my ears. I emailed Dr. Davies some questions and more photos and we're waiting to hear back from him. I tried to stay awake yesterday afternoon until dark, but I only made it until 3:00. Doug made it only to 2:00. We crashed and burned in our clothes on top of the bed. We're now awake, but I have big plans to go back to bed in a few minutes.

Thank you for all your prayers.