Unexpected hotel wifi and the 2010 team adventures!

A huge thank you to everyone who has been praying so far, because we barely made our flight to Moscow. Our flight to New York had a problem with the pilot's seat which made a 3 hr layover melt into nothing. The pilot actually referred to it as his 'Cadillac' seat, which made us wonder if he was a drama king or if the chair really mattered that much. We were saved by Lindsay Evans who ran ahead while the over head speaker announced our names and FINAL BOARDING call twice! Definitely one of the closest calls our teams have had in a long time!

We dropped our luggage off at the train station, and spent the afternoon in Moscow. Everyone experienced the Moscow rites of passage being in traffic and on the subway at rush hour. All of us were packed in like sardines while Lindsay got a seat because a woman thought she looked pregnant (but it was just her camera under her coat). We saw the changing of the guard at the Kremlin and checked out Christ the Savior cathedral, before heading back to the train station for our overnight train. Nick fell asleep immediately while the rest of us made it to...wait for it...8:30! Most of us slept like babies on the train, but Marca Quinn's head almost got taken off by a water bottle flying down from the upper bunk. Every where we go with luggage is a procession of one American after another...backpack on back, wheeling 2 suitcases, sometimes one with a wheel.

We hadn't planned on blogging, but we were very suprised to that there is now wifi in our Kirov hotel this year! Thanks to an iTouch and the unexpected wifi, we are going to be able to keep people up to date on our Russia adventures this year!
Meeting our translators was great! We are already impressed with Misha who had impeccable English, and was very patient with our curiosity questions. We shopped for the rest of the supplies we need at the orphanage, and had a phenomenal lunch at past teams' favorite cafe. There is no snow on the ground and about 45 degrees, so we took the opportunity to walk along the river Vyatka afterwards. It was windy and cold, but it was really amazing to see that part of Kirov instead of the streets from the inside of the bus.

We are very excited to see the kids tomorrow...whether we have met them in the past or will meet them for the first time! Please continue to pray for our relationships with each other and the kids. We are laughing a ton and cannot wait to share that with the kids! Thank God for giving us such a fantastic team who are all looking forward to loving on the kids and being a little bit of Jesus in Velikoretskoye!

From your 2010 Russia team: Melanie Adams, Marca Quinn, Wally Hammond, Sheila Hammond, Nick Starke, Pat Starke, Lindsay Evans, Kathy Carter and Stephanie Mutert.