We have made it to Russia!  It was a small adventure getting here, starting in Charlotte.  Our flight from Charlotte to Atlanta was delayed and almost cancelled due to a maintenance issue.  We had already boarded when we were told of the problem.  Of course, if we missed our connecting flight in Atlanta to Moscow, there wasn't exactly another flight to Moscow that would take off later in the day.  I explained our situation to the flight attendant who secretly took us off the plane so we could get to the ticket counter in case the flight was cancelled.  The ticket agent was looking at putting us on an alternate flight that would take us from Charlotte to Cincinnati to JFK in NYC to Paris to Moscow.  It would also get us there much later (if you couldn't tell by all the connecting flights).  Fortunately, we were notified that our plane was fixed and we could continue on with our original flight plans. We were quite grateful to the attendant who snuck us off the plane - she smiled and said that in return we could name our child Delta. I smiled and didn't know what to say in response. I think I just laughed a bit nervously and said maybe the name will have a "d" in it.

When we arrived in Atlanta we met another family with our agency that was also traveling to Moscow.  They are adopting their third child.  We then boarded our 10 hour flight to Moscow.  We had some interesting movie choices.  The flight was uneventful.  We landed and went through customs which was equally uneventful.  Then our driver and translator, K and A, picked us up and took us to get some money exchanged and to the grocery store.  Of course, we stocked up on our coca cola light (i.e. diet coke).  It is about 3:00 in the afternoon now and we might try to venture out for a bit.  Vernon is taking a quick nap and I might follow his lead.

Tomorrow we leave at 10:00 for the CSS offices where we meet with S.  Then we go to the Ministry of Education where we will receive information on the baby that has been referred to us.  Then we travel to the orphanage and visit for a while.  I have been told that Monday is a long day and we will probably eat lunch in the car.  

So, that is it for now.  I will catch you all up to date later!

Christa and Vernon

P.S.  I really cannot recommend the movie "Walk Hard, the Dewey Cox Story".  It was one of the movies on our flight.  I had bigger hopes for that movie...

P.P.S.  The picture is of our cat Sebastian who has a 6th sense and knows when we are about to travel.  He wants to make sure we have enough fur on our suitcase.  We don't have to tie a ribbon around our luggage.  We just look for the one with fur on it.