The 2nd meeting...

We got to spend the afternoon with Nastya again... amazing. She gripped our hearts. God knew how this needed to be done. We'll get to meet Viktoria tomorrow and He gave us today with Nastya. Ben got to bond with her this morning (instantly), I got to observe and now this afternoon, I got to bond. and bond we did. She is our daughter. She warmed to us quickly and we played games where she would go back and forth between Ben and I, we'd lift her, hug her, kiss her over and over. She couldn't get enough. Neither could we. It was like she always knew us, there was no fear. We got to spend two hours and by the end, it was hard to leave. She is very observant, very detailed and has an amazing attention span... and when given attention she laughs and smiles easily. Just a sweetheart. When we had to go Ben said, "Ok, time to put away you toys now". She looked at him and immediately walked over to the cabinet and put her toys away. She doesn't even know English! That's how it was, she just understood us and we understood her. When it was time to go, she knew it. Ben carried her back to the building and her face became very serious. I watched her and I knew she knew. The most incredible part was when I hugged her to leave, she just clung to me. The worker came and tried to take her away but she pulled away from her and came to me. I ended up bringing her in the classroom myself and slipped away. It was heart wrenching and I couldn't stop the tears. Thankfully, we have several more days before we need to leave for real but of course we can't help to think, "How will we leave them??". We always knew this would be part of the journey... still hard to imagine. I can't think about the long road ahead, only each new step. The week before I left Exodus 14:13-14 came up twice- through a devotion and the kid's Sunday school lesson. Its when the Isrealites were between the Egyptians and the Red Sea, they became very fearful but God spoke through Moses and said: "Don't be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord Himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.

The words, "The Lord Himself will fight for you. Just stay calm." keep running through my head. Isn't it awesome how the Lord gives us just enough, just what we need at the time we need it?? That is the only way we can do this.

I have many pictures to show of our tour through Moscow yesterday but for some reason I'm having a hard time posting pictures. I'll keep trying.. but it is an amazing experience to be immersed in this culture. The language, food, people- our impression is a very no nonsense, down to business kind of people, "I LOVE that" Ben says... :) We have been treated VERY well. We are staying in a decent hotel in the heart of a city where poverty is the norm. Yet the people take a lot of pride in how the look and how they come across. Women really dress up here... I've never seen so many 5 inch heels in my life, seriously! And our hotel though it only has a couple customers from what we can see, keeps a doorman standing at the door all day long... They are very courteous and acccomadating... eventhough they can't understand a word we say. Never wanted to speak Russian so bad in all my life...