First Visit

In about six hours, we will travel to see Andrey at the Baby Home. The coordinator and interpreter will pick us up at 6:30 a.m. to make the three hour drive. We are praying that we are able to spend about six hours with him. We are taking the clothes we bought so we will soon know his size. Pray that he responds positively to us. Once we return to Krasnoyarsk, we hope to go to dinner with the other couple from St. Louis. Only 30 hours until court. Please pray all goes well and quickly. We know of two families from our first trip who had issues that delayed them and our hearts have already been broken so many times with delays.

We hope to have pictures in the next 12 hours.

Red Square Pictures

Day 2 in Moscow

Russian breakfast is somewhat different than ours. They have salads, beans in tomato sauce, olives, and the usual pancakes, eggs, cereal, and fruit. Addie's favorite was the French Toast. She said it was crispy. Hannah enjoyed the best green apple ever, not being a breakfast person. Todd and Laura had to get physicals. They had to see ten different doctors to their surprise most were women. All went well. Before their physical we ran into another couple from St. Louis. Todd thought the guy looked familiar. So to a surprise he started talking to him. They are adopting from the same region as us. A little 2 year old boy from the orphanage an hour outside of the city. The even bigger surprise is he was a retired St. Louis Cardinal pitcher. We exchanged emails and hope to visit them when they arrive here. Then back on the plane again for us. It was a four hour and 1o min. plane ride. The Russian airlines are really nice. The tea in Russia is really great. It was also a safe trip to Krasnoyarsk. Now we are in our apartment relax and getting some sleep for the next days to await us.

Moscow

We landed in Moscow Thursday afternoon, we were all so tired we fell asleep untill 6 p.m. Then we walked to Mcdonalds. We mastered the point-and-order method. Feel brave we decided to take the sub-way to Red Square. Highlights were getting the tickets and reading the signs. However within mins. we arrived in Red Square. People kept looking at Addie's feet and pointing because of her colorful unmatching socks. Which we later found out that is a big no-no in Russia. While in Red Square admiring the beauty we wanted to go down by the river but couldn't because of a concert. We stopped in the three story underground mall to see the fashion choice in Russia. Which isn't much different than ours. We road the sub-way back to our Hotel safely. Watched a movie and went to bed. All-n-all a good day.

We are leaving today. We're all a little nervous and excited. Whenever we find a computer I guess we'll let everyone know what is going on more so. Have a great summer while we're gone.

Departure

The Ballard family will be leaving for Moscow Russia on Wednesday, May 27th. We will arrive in Moscow on Thursday, May 28th. We will be staying at the Holiday Inn,Lesnaya while in Moscow. Todd and Laura will have a little adoption business but we hope to spend time visiting Red Square. On Friday, May 29th we will leave Moscow and head for Krasnoyarsk. Once in Krasnoyarsk, we will be able to post updates. Please continue to pray for our June 2nd court dates. There is a lot of details that still frighten all of us.