It's Time To Go...

It's time to go.
Can you believe it?
It's time to go.
Can it be true?
It's time to go.
Are we ready?
It's time to go.
It's all coming true.

We are on our way... almost. We drove to Alabama yesterday to spend the Holiday with Lisa's parents. They will also watch Beth and Luke while we are in Russia. We fly out tomorrow from Atlanta. Our flight to Moscow is direct and will take 11 hours. Then we have a 9 hour layover in Moscow before our flight to Stavropol. During the layover, we will be changing airports. Moscow has 5 airports and the domestic and international flights are at different ones. Fortunately, we have an agent in Moscow who will meet us at the first airport and take us to the second. Our flight from Moscow to Stavropol will be around 2 hours. Adding up our drive to the airport, our check-in, flight, layover, and flight, we'll be traveling around 27 hours... not including the drive from the airport to the hotel in Stavropol. I think it's going to be a long trip.

Beth and Luke are struggling a little today. Luke has been a little distant and Beth has been on edge. Luke finally told us that he's afraid we're going to Russia to get a new boy to replace him. His private insecurity tore at my soul. We spent a long time today explaining that we're not adopting because we think he needs to be replaced... just the opposite. We're adopting because we have a family that we want to share. I can't wait to give Luke as a brother to a child who needs a family. Beth is feeling frightened that something will happen to us while we are away. She doesn't know what she'll do without us. You see, a small plane crashed in Stavropol recently and she's afraid about our Russian flight. We had to explain that the crash was a small private plane, not a commercial one.

It's already been a long trip... and I haven't even discussed losing 2 hours in traffic in Cincinnati or how Lisa put my wallet through the washing machine yesterday morning before we left.

... more to come (assuming I can get an internet connection in Stavropol).