We're Packing our Suitcases!

We received the exciting news yesterday that we need to be in St. Petersburg, Russia on May 13th in order to sign for the official referral on May 15th. We will have to leave on May 12th (it will probably be about 20 hours of travel and there is a 7 hour time difference). We will get to see Anya on May 15th and are planning to stay until the morning of May 19th in order to spend some time with her each day for 4 days. Already, I think the days will go by so fast... only 4 days to spend with her after traveling that far!

We were at the Homeland Security office having our fingerprints made (or as they say "capturing our biometrics") when the adoption agency left a message on my phone. On the ride home from Atlanta, I began calling people to tell them the good news and calling our travel agent to let her know we finally had a date & could actually check on flights. Please pray for our travel situation! The least expensive flights are over $1,200 and the adoption staff does not want us transferring in Moscow (the least expensive route). So, we finally found an itinerary that would take us from Atlanta to D.C. to Frankfurt to St. Petersburg for "only" $1,300. This is more than we wanted to spend on tickets, especially on the first trip. We know on the second trip we will have to spend more because it will be the peak of travel season and we will most likely have to make changes to our return trip and either pay change fees or buy a flexible ticket at a more expensive rate. We will also be purchasing a one-way ticket for Anya on that trip (that will be the most exciting money we ever spend!). Please pray that we either find a less expensive flight for this first trip or that we find other ways to save money while we are there (either hotel or meals). We are trying to do things at as little cost as possible, but it seems everything is expensive. The cheapest hotel we can find where we need to stay is about $140 per night. I had no idea it would cost that much to stay in a hotel in Russia... that's more than staying in Atlanta! I know God is in control and we are trusting that He will provide. As I enter our known expenses and project the unknown, seeing that it all totals more than $40,000 reminds me that God will be the only one who receives the glory in all of this because without Him it would truly be impossible!