We are back from our 1st trip to Russia. It was wonderful to see the children and to get to know them. Egor (Matthew) was very friendly and happy. Maria (Anne Marie) was a little shy and harder to approach. She warmed up to us as the days went by. Anne Marie was in the hospital and was brought back to the orphanage to see us then taken back to the hospital. She has asthma and got very worn out during our visits. They are very close to each other and did not like to be separated. We flew to Moscow and from there flew 4 hours on to Novosibirsk Siberia. The orphanage was located 2 hours outside of Novosibirsk in a small village called Tuguchin. The village was very small and most people lived in small log style houses with no running water-they used a community well to draw water-and no indoor plumbing. The road was just barely passable and very uncomfortable. We actually had an accident while on the way to the orphanage. The rear tire blew out on the car we were in and by the grace of God hit a guard rail which stopped us from going down an embankment when our driver lost control of the vehicle and spun out of control.The car was out of commission so we had no idea how we were to continue on to Tuguchin. This was to be our last visit with the children and we did not want to miss it. Our coordinator sent someone to take us on to the orphanage and it was so worth it.
We are expecting to return in about 6 or 8 weeks for our court date.Sarah is very excited that she will be going with us on the next trip.
We are so thankful for all of your prayers. We hope you enjoy the pictures.