God Provides...

• Sometimes it is in the form of money (thanks to those who contributed in the cause)
• Sometimes it is in the form of clothes (thanks Peter & Wes)
• Sometimes it is in the form of a bucket of chips ahoa and a good magazine (thanks Louann)
• Sometimes it is in the form of chocolate on your birthday (thanks Sveta)
• Sometimes it is in the form of making all your flights (thank God we left Moscow on time)
• Sometimes it is in the form of snowpants (thanks Wes)
• Sometimes it is in the form of a Danenhauer (Thanks Danehauers!).....

Maybe I should explain that one. My friends Brian and Julie Danenhauer just happened to be on the same flight from Atlanta to Des Monies. After 11 hours on a plane with a 3 & 5 year old, granny and I were a little spent. Julie and Brian were well rested and played with the kids for 2 hours in the airport. Then granny and I were having problems getting seats on the plane. Julie and Brian voluntarily gave up their seats, so our family could go home!!!

We are all home, safe and sound. There was a bombing yesterday in Moscow at one of the airports. It was not the airport we traveled through on this trip but thankfully it was not an issue since God brought us home on schedule.

We are "adjusting". There's some screaming, crying, laughing and curious stares....the kids have done all of that too.

I posted a link on the left to some pictures. Alik Stefan McIlravy is 5. Mikhail (AKA Misha) Garrett McIlravy is 3. If you see a pic with a bruise on his nose, some little girl in his home wacked him over the head with a toy....he had to learn sometime to watch out for girls.

The doc in Moscow said the only thing we have to worry about for Alik is when the girls discover him. And for Misha, he is the next drama king. His exact words "George Clooney watch out".

Thanks again for all of you who have lifted us up in prayer. It is greatly appreciated.

They're almost home....

I'll get you all up to date a little bit.....
Marisa and Alina went to the US Embassy to drop off paperwork and get an interview set up. You have to be there between 10 and 11 am to set up the interview(hopefully for the next day.) Traffic is Moscow is somewhat unpredictable and generally quite busy. The normal 90 minute drive took 3 hours. They went as far as they could by car, then got out and ran to the train station, then ran from the train station to the Embassy and they were.... Late. She said the wonerful lady let them schedule the appt anyway for Friday morning at 11:30 am.

Marisa said the US Embassy Interview on Friday has been the easiest part of the process thus far. To quote Marisa.
"Pay this lady, hand the receipt to another lady. Dude says raise your right hand, is all this stuff acurate to your knowledge. Yep. k. sign here. Sign here. read the doctor's note. Do you understand. yep. k. can we change the medical to yes since there's a doctor's note. Sure. K. here's your visas. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE OPEN THE ENVELOPE!
Done"
Marisa will probably want to kill me for for posting that, but those of you who know her well will appreciate it and know it sound's exactly like her.
Everyone will head for the airport at 8:45 am Moscow time(roughly 12am Iowa time) and arrive in Des Moines about 11pm Iowa time. A friend from college works at the airport and offered to take me in to the gate to meet them when they got off the plane. I had no idea that was still possible.
We're excited to be closing out one part of our journey and getting started on a new part of it.
We know that we'll have many more adventures as we move forward as a family. This process has certainly helped prepare us for whatever trials lie ahead. Thank you for all who have been praying for us through this process.
As soon as they're in Atlanta, I can post a few pics(if I remember how.....)

What Day Is It......

Seriously, I'm so messed up on my days. I was awake at 4:30 this morning. The boys were sounds asleep. I'm not sure how long granny slept either.

The boys have been good. We've had a few meltdowns (the boys not granny and I) but that is to be expected. So much is changing in their little worlds and boundaries are being tested. We'll get through it.

Yesterday was all play time. Today Granny and the boys played in the bounce area at city mall while I had the joy of doing paperwork. That's ok. Granny is a rock star with them and enjoys spending time with them.

I get more paperwork tonight while they are in the bath, which they love to be. Granny might get a little soaked but she'll survive.

Any who, the natives are getting restless so I think it's time to go outside.

Thanks to all those that are praying for our journey.
Thank you God for putting the right random english speaking people in our path at the airport. not sure how we would have found out where we were supposed to be when.

Later everybody!

Mom and Granny made it to Sakalin

After a looooooooong trip, the girls made it to Sakalin. I dont' know exactly what time they got in, but it was roughly 50 hours from the drop off at the Des Moines airport until they got into Yuzno-Sakalin.
I haven't heard the exact details, but apherently they were within about 5 minute of landing when they veered off and went to Khabarovsk because ground conditions were too bad to land in Yuzno. Khabarovsk is about 30 miles from China, in part of Mongolia. So now they've been to both Mongolia and Siberia in this trek.
The boys were already asleep when they got in so Svetlana kept them overnight. They were able to get a good nights rest and a shower.
The rest of the trip lays out kind of like this. Monday and Tuesday, getting some paperwork in Yuzno and filling out the rest of the documents needed in Moscow.
Wednesday midday they'll go to Moscow. The boys will have medical exams on Wednesday evening. Thursday morning they'll drop off paperwork and get an appointment at the US embassy. Then Friday hopefully should be the interview at the embassy. Saturday they shoudl head for home.
They'll arrive late Saturday night.

Russia bound

I dropped Marisa and Twilla off ot the airport Friday morning. They go Des Moines to Atlanta to Moscow to Sakalin. It's Saturday morning and I just got a note from Marisa that they made it to Moscow. They were a little late b/c of mechanical problems in Atlanta, but they had a 7 hr layover in Moscow anyway. They're trying to catch a little shuteye before heading on to Sakalin.

Praise

So we are always posting prayer requests. Thought maybe it was time to post some praise and kuddos to those that have helped us along the way.
1. First and foremost, God for taking care of us through this whole process.
2. All those out there that have prayed for us.
3. The marvelous lady at the Air Canada desk that got us to Chicago on the way home.
4. Our drivers in Moscow (Kate and Alexsandra), we have no idea how you ladies do it and appreciate your skills.
5. Aaron for the phone call on Christms day. It was great to hear a friendly voice.
6. Wes for driving us to the airport.
7. The gate agent in Chicago who said we got MEAL and hotel vouchers...this was after 48 hours of barely eating anything.
8. The Judge saying YES!
9. Our host and interpreter in Russia. She is fabulous and really cares for the kids and the families she is helping.
10. The nice airline guy in the Moscow airport, that WOULD answer our questions.
11. The awesome co-worker who gave us 7 garbage bags of clothes!!!
12. Julie for all the research and advice on toys, carseats, booster seats and everything else kid related.
13. Chris the snowplow man for taking care of the driveway.

Thanks everyone for your support and help. We appreciate it all!