A Day in the City!

This is Anya eating McDonald's.
This is Stephanie with Katya.
This is us at the aquarium.
This is us in front of the battleship "Aurora".We feel like today we finally have a feel for things and our internal clocks are a little better (funny how this happens about when it is time to go home). We will feel much more comfortable on our second and possibly third trips and will know better what to bring, where to stay and what to do when we are here. If any of you decide to take a vacation here, we can help you very much!
We were picked up again today at 9AM and headed out to the orphanage. Even Anya asked us how we could stand so much travel (6 hours in the car each day) and why we didn't stay somewhere in her town. We explained that we just have to do as we are told and we were told to stay in St. Petersburg (good question from her, though because I have wondered the same thing!). When we arrived at the orphanage, Anya and Nastya were out on the steps waiting for us (Jack is trying to get the pictures loaded... if he does, I'll put them on here). When Anya saw us, she ran inside and hid (trying to hide behind a wall and scare us when we came in). She was ready to go and wanted to know everything we would be doing. We had decided that today would be a good day to come into the city since most of the city people leave on Fridays and go to their "country houses" for the weekend. There was less traffic today. We went to the aquarium, ate at McDonald's, rode on a boat down the canals and along the Neva River (very good way to see the city!), went to a Russian Christian bookstore, went to the "flea market", ate Baskin Robbins, stopped to take pictures at a famous battle ship ("Aurora") and then went back to the orphanage. We had a really fun day and the weather was beautiful. We will have a lot of pictures (Anya had the camera) and hopefully most of them will be pretty good. She really enjoyed taking pictures of interesting things like the under sides of the bridges. So, we'll see how all the pictures turn out. Anya didn't seem to have any questions about the adoption and when we told her we wanted to buy a Russian Bible, some Russian books, and a set of nesting dolls (which she was very excited about) and that we were going to take them home with us to put in her room she said that would be good. Also, before leaving Zelenagorsk she took us to the Russian Orthodox church where the children at the orphanage sometimes go and asked if we would buy her a crucifix with Christ on the cross to wear around her neck. It's not exactly what I would want her to have, but we agreed knowing that we would not be able to explain things well enough if we said no and that it would be something to keep to remind her of her life here. We will be very excited for her to know the truth of the Gospel and the hope it brings! Even Katya was telling us today how she came to know Jesus. She now attends a church with over 1,200 people. She said it is not difficult to be "not Russian Orthodox" but it is difficult to be something else. It is viewed as a cult. Even the Muslim faith is accepted, but not protestant faiths. St. Petersburg recently issued an order that the old buildings like movie theatres could no longer be rented to "Christian churches". Just this year her church has been in 3 different buildings. Katya was a great help today in the Christian bookstore and I was able to buy a book for young people that answers questions about God, heaven, salvation, etc. in both English and Russian. That way, Anya can read the answers and we will also know what she has read. The books here are not expensive - that book was only about $2. We have laughed a lot today. Jack even mentioned to Katya that everyone on the street here just walks on top of each other. He said he really feels like a tourist if he doesn't plow people down in the crosswalk. Katya got a great laugh from that!
We will be picked up again tomorrow at 9AM. We will have Dima as a driver again and Katya as our interpreter. We plan to spend the entire day in Zelenagorsk (Anya's town) and will look at the shops (Anya wants us to go in a lot of Russian stores! - Jack says she is already very American... she wants to separate us from our money! haha!!!). Hopefully the amusement park there will be open and we can take her to ride a few little rides. We'd also like to get some more pictures at the orphanage. Anya has told us that she will be at summer camp all summer (all orphans here go for the entire summer), so we may not go back to the orphanage when we return and if we do, the other children and the care-givers will not be there.
We will miss being at church tomorrow! Can't wait to see everyone. We will be so excited to see Faith & Caleb and are grateful that they are with my mom and probably haven't missed us at all (Mom has probably missed us a lot, Jack says). We will leave our apartment here at 3AM on Monday. Please pray for a safe return and for God's protection over Anya while she is here. It will seem like a long wait for us, but even longer for her. Also, please pray for Nastya's surgery Monday. She is very excited about it and hopes it will help her in many ways.
We love you all! Thank you for your prayers!
Jack & Stephanie
p.s. Jack says he is looking forward to a salad!!!