There and Back Again

Sorry this blog has been radio silent for awhile. Our temporary visas were expiring so we packed our bags, hopped in a company van at about 10 PM Saturday night, July 28th and headed out.

 



Visiting the horses while we waited for the van to pick us up



The girls love feeding the horses wheat



Rain's turn





Mesa's turn for a ride

 

Echo had two turns, of course





We drove all night, dozing whenever we could, being slammed out of our seats, or into our seat belts for those who had them, periodically throughout the drive as we navigated normal Russian traffic.



Mesa all curled up and ready for the van ride to Moscow



We actually made great time driving at night and arrived at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow only 7 hours later. We checked our bags, went through security, grabbed some breakfast, and boarded our Aeroflot flight to New York. We sat on the tarmac for about an hour, apparently waiting on the food? Echo slept for the delay, but awoke right in time for takeoff. Joy.



Luckily Echo was right on the borderline weight acceptance for the stowaway cribs the airplane provides, and I was thankfully positioned on the coveted row 11, which allowed for crib use. This provided amazing relief to my arms and sit-bones by having a couple hours break from holding her for the almost-9-hour-flight.



Echo in her airplane crib. Yay for a break!



We only had about a 3.5 hour layover in NY before we boarded our next flight to SLC. And after the hour delay from the last flight we were cutting it close. Aeroflot notified the airport of our delay and those with immediate connecting flights were allowed off the plane first and sped through Customs, Check-in, Security, and on to our next flight gate. We arrived at our gate just in time for them to start boarding our next plane.









All the girls at the window



Rain in SVO airport waiting for our plane to get to the gate



Whenever we have a luggage cart, this is Echo's preferred seat. The times we don't have a luggage cart, and she sees one, she still tries to go sit on it and get a ride.



Even though we were rushing to catch our connecting flight from JFK to SLC, I still did not miss the incredible feeling I had from the time New York harbor came into view until we were processed through Customs. I had an overwhelming feeling that I belonged here, and that I am so blessed to live in such a special country. I am even more stirred to protect our freedoms which are in such jeopardy. God Bless America!



We boarded our flight and also had another delay at the gate for at least another 45 minutes. But then we were airborne, and 5 hours later, we landed in Salt Lake City at about 10 PM. It is always quite an experience to travel for so many hours, and still arrive the same day that we left. 

Rain's face just about sums up our energy level after landing in Salt Lake



We were going to head out that evening in a rental car to stay with family in Dayton, ID, but 2 pieces of our luggage had been sent out on the next flight and wouldn't be arriving for a couple of hours.  Delta said they would deliver them to Dayton for us, which astounded me, but we thought it was a good excuse to stay the night and get a good night's sleep before driving again. It was by far a smarter decision. We were beat and I don't think the kiddos would have appreciated being confined for even 10 more minutes, let alone a couple hours.



The next morning we were well-rested, had a good meal in our tummies, and were ready to head out. It was fun to visit family and enjoy some good American food--namely hamburgers. After going 2 months without beef, I was really craving a good, juicy hamburger with all the fixins'. Unfortunately, my body rebelled and was so bloated after eating a couple hamburgers throughout the next couple days, that I switched back to chicken sandwiches, salads, and such. I think there might be something to eating meat sparingly.



The girls and I hitched a ride home with my younger brother on Thursday night, while Shane stuck around with the rental car and for another ride home since he didn't fit in the car with us. He also took our Birth Certificates and Marriage Certificate to the State Capitol so they could get some special notary seal called an Apostille. Not sure how it's critical, but Miratorg needed it, "so let it be written, so let it be done."



Shane had his invitation letter in hand for his work visa which will last for the remainder of our time here. But the girls and I still needed to apply for temporary visas again. We had a lot of delays in our visas this time around, not any of which was our fault. The company has a policy that if you unnecessarily extend your stay in the US while renewing visas, they will stop paying you until you return. Well, this happened to us, even though the visa company was mostly to blame. Not to mention the fact that the invitation letter that was sent with Shane is written entirely in Russian, without any instructions about which line to copy to which line in the visa application. But I wrote up a nice timeline showing the delays, the promptness in which we responded to each delay, and how we had done all we could to speed up the process. They acknowledged it was not our fault and paid us. Sigh of relief, because outfitting the entire family in winter apparel, and traveling in general is expensive. We received our paycheck (Thank you Julia!), only 2 days before flying back to Russia.

 

There are lots of adventures (and pictures) to post of our 6 weeks in the States which will have to wait until a later post. It was so good to be home among family and friends.



On the reverse, it is strange to lose a day in traveling. We flew out late Sunday night, September 16th, caught our connecting flight in NY, arrived in Moscow, waited an hour for our company drivers, and then had an extra long 9 hour drive back to the farms. We went to bed and woke up to Wednesday, September 19th. So strange. 



Echo entertaining herself while we waited for airport food on our trip back to Russia



The Kid Playground at Las Vegas Airport



Love this little face!



 

The girls playing on Dad during our 8-hour layover at JFK

 

Dad-Approved Entertainment

Waiting some more at JFK



Landing in Moscow at Sheremetyevo Airport



The two things that greeted us when we first walked back into our house was the smell and the flies. We had forgotten some dirty dishes in the sink when we left 6 weeks ago that we knew were going to be bad, but even after scrubbing those, the smell was inextinguishable. After a little sleuthing, we found the real culprits to be the pea trap and other such plastic drain tubes and pipes under the sink. The smell is slowly improving with each load of dishes I wash.



The second item was the flies. They were everywhere. Hoards of them were along the ceiling corners and doorways, but even more of them were dead - EVERYWHERE. All the floors were littered with their little black carcasses. And the remaining population must have mutated in our absence, because now they have become a horrid little biting army. Normal little house flies that bite! Hard. They leave bite marks that swell and itch. Even Shane, who is typically unbothered by mosquitoes, horse flies, and other large pests, has been plagued with fly bites.

Flies camped out all over the house

 

Notice all the black spots on the floor.

 

A quick sweep of the floor in one room

Mesa and Echo must have both picked up a bug before we left because they both started to get sick on Thursday. I think it might be croup. Mesa has a more severe case. Between hot shower/sauna treatments and what medicine we have on hand, we will see if we can beat this, because basically we are on our own medically. It really is a blessing how much confidence the Gospel gives us. There is no way I would have attempted this adventure without having the Priesthood with us. I'm so thankful that Shane is a worthy holder of the Priesthood and that the Lord blesses us so much with its power.



Now we are finishing unpacking and settling back into the routine here. Shane has jumped right back in and has been busy every day with preg-checking and moving cows in and out to pasture. The girls and I have been fighting jet lag and illness, as well as jumping right in to our next challenge: Homeschooling.



But that's enough for now. We are alive and well.