Business Hotel-Kostroma

Our last day in Ivanovo was actually spent mostly in Vasilevskoe, making our second visit to Elena. She was more reserved on the second day--I think probably because it had sunk in that we wanted to adopt her. Dad had already asked her a couple times if she wanted to go to America to live. She told us about a time when her sponsors came from Arizona and all the kids made quilt blocks with wishes on them. Her wish was to have a family, so if ...

... to play with all of the kids. We'd brought tons of toys and everyone decided that they had to help blow up the ginormous blue excercise ball that Dad unpacked. Took forever. Everyone had blue tongues, because we'd brought blue raspberry Blow Pops and this insanely cute boy, Dennis, followed me around a lot. When he wasn't following me around, he would look around to make sure he knew where I was. You have to ...

... yet...thank goodness!). Somehow, after showing us several photos, my parents must have felt God speak to them, because everyone settled on a good candidate to adopt. With all of that stress over with, we were able to relax and sightsee. If sightseeing means going back to the mall and shopping. I think I only bought a few books that day, but it was fun. We stopped at the ...

... else instead. We headed back to the hotel, said goodnight to Irina and Natasha (and Vladimir, who didn't say a word to us the whole time...I don't think he talks much in general) and went to the buffet at the mall. When we got back to the hotel, Mom and Dad went to their room and I went to my couch. I know they didn't sleep much. I spent the rest of my waking time praying that God would give them wisdom and work the whole situation out for His glory.

... down how it wouldn't happen that way. A lot of that was just Russia being Russia--none of her horror stories came to pass. We got Natasha's telephone number (home number, although I believe she has a mobile too) and bid them goodnight. Walked down to the mall and bought some groceries for the next few days--a lot of bread and cookies ...

... 12.30 pm early lunch today which confused a few. We also need to pay cash for drinks instead of TAB so that also confused the masses. After Lunch information on our Optional Tours for St Petersburg this will end up costing us a few pennies. Should be well worth it though. Left to mull that over and check our budgets. We should have enough cash. Guides accept pounds so it was lucky we brought some with us ...

... ashes. I even stumbled over a johny. Moving on, passed St Jacob Monastery I realized I could buy 1000 Russian dolls, scarfs or pots, but no water. Asia would be right on that one! Just as I returned to the hotel the sky's opened. Timing is everything. Taking an early night, I was soon disturbed by some banging and screaming from a room close by. This got me thinking of how long I've been out of action since leaving Oz. How I've got to get used to the ...

Day 117. A City on Wheels, Yaroslavl 9/8/08 Returning to the bus station in the morning I was not expecting a hug from the ticket officier. But a ticket would have been nice. Nope, waved to one side. Deciding that it was a long distance bus ride where a ticket was purchased from the driver I left her alone. So when it came to catching the bus I held out 200Rup (~10USD) to the driver. No ...

We have been sailing for several days and it is very difficult to tell if we are sailing on a river, canal or reservoir as it seems to be a continuous mass of water connected by locks. Sometimes it is very narrow and seems like a river or a canal and then other times there is water to the horizon with no land in sight, so must be a lake or a reservoir. During the night we have sailed through the Rybinsk reservoir into the Volga River to go to ...

... of Lenin are everywhere in Russia too. We didn't see that in Moscow. I heard that people in Moscow hate him so much that they have removed all of his statues after the communism collapsed. Hopefully, it will be Mao Zetong's turn very soon.... Of course, we had more souvenir shopping afterwards. Nothing special to buy, though. We have seen a lot amber, nested dolls, and fur hats on sale, but the ...