Good morning!

Jason and I are still reeling from yesterday! God pulled a fast one on us! I'm not sure why we're so surprised. He is God and we all know what a huge sense of humor he has!

I've been up for about two hours looking at hotels for Moscow. I think I found a good one called Peter the 1st. It's close to Red Square, has an indoor pool and includes breakfast for about $250 a night which is amazing in Moscow. For my friends who have been here before you know hotels are usually closer to $500 a night there. And Peter the 1st seems to be very 4 starish. We'll book it later tonight or tomorrow so email me if you know anything bad about the hotel or great about another hotel in Moscow.

We booked our air home yesterday and American does not fly out of Moscow on Thursday's so we will be coming home on Friday, March 13!! I can NOT wait! We should arrive at around 8:30pm into DFW. I can not wait to see Gabi and JR! And for all of you to meet little Lex.

We should be getting Lex this Friday (my bday) or Saturday and we can not wait. I keep thinking about when he told the kids in his group that he would be leaving "tomorrow". I thought at the time,"poor kid, its going to be a couple of weeks". I really believe God had been whispering in his ears that he would be leaving this week and preparing his heart to leave long before we even knew. I have heard many of you pray for God to prepare his heart and it has been my prayer also... I just am again amazed at how literal and real God is! He loves us so much and cares about all of our small intimate details.

Today we will be bringing gifts to the judge, because she deserves a "thank you" and some other paperwork to get Lex's passport. He will be getting a Russian passport and will not be an American until he reaches America. I thought that was interesting!

I have learned a lot about what it means to be an American, especailly a Christian American while we have been here. We really do enjoy such great previledge!! Last night Jason and I went to get a piece of pizza down the street at YES Pizza. When we were ordering a young Russian boy/man started talking loud to the counter girl and then said to us in English "you should speak Russian when your in Russia. I was in your country last year and spoke English you should speak Russian when your in my country". Jason and I agreed with him and said we were trying and have tried to speak it since being here. He was fine and walked away but I did notice sat with his face looking out over the tables just incase he spotted him. We talked about how we agreed with the guy and how we want to make other people feel comfortable and not uncomfortable when they are in unusual circumstances.

Anyway, we have a lot of places to go to today and we are going to head down to breakfast now.

Love you all,
Stephenie and Jason