St. Petersburg Saturday, June 28

What a gorgeous day in St. Pete. It must have been 80 degrees today, just beautiful! Anyway, we slept in and then went to the Hermitage around 11 AM. One site you will see all over St. Petersburg is stray cats. They are everywhere. In Moscow, we noticed MANY stray dogs, but in St. Pete, it seems to be the cats. I counted five in one alley today, and there must be at least that many hanging out just outside our hotel (they fight all night, but I haven't heard them, Brian told me.)

We were met in the line to the Hermitage by a lady who offered to take us in through the tour group entrance and we could skip the one hour line to get inside. So we said yes, we went in with her and paid her about $12 more than a general admission ticket would have cost.

Inside the Hermitage is amazing. There are over 1,000,000 pieces of art in there. Sculptures and paintings by Michel Angelo, works from Raphael and several other French and Italian masters you would recognize. It's hard to believe that the Russian Tsars actually called this place home. You wouldn't believe the ornate details in every room. It was very interesting to me because I had read a book about Alexandra and Nicholas II, the last Tsar family. It was amazing and I am so glad we made time to do it.

We left the Hermitage at around 2 for lunch and I actually ordered in Russian. I was so proud of myself. I learned alot of Russian before our first trip here in 2000. I have been to Russia six times now and can honestly say I have not said more than "Wvi gavarichi pangleski" to anyone. Oh sure, the occasional dah, nyet, pazhalasta, etc., but I haven't actually tried to converse because I have stage fright. Anyway, today, we got the only guy at KFC who DIDN'T speak English, so I told Brian I could handle it. I am a total nerd for being this excited about ordering two chicken dinners in Russian, but hey, it's a new experience.

At 3 we headed to the baby home. What can I say, MM was NOT glad to see us. The only positive thing I can tell you is that she definitely recognized us. :) She started to cry the minute she saw us. After a few minutes, she settled down and tolerated us for the better part of an hour. Then her group came outside to play and that was all she wrote. The caregiver said something to the effect of "You're going to America" and she started howling. Mind you, she didn't know exactly what the caregiver meant, but she knew that she was talking to her and that she wanted to be with her and not with us. So, we ended up playing with all the kiddos again today. We had a ton of fun. Actually, what happened was that Brian played with a truck, making all kinds of noises for the boys. I sat near MM as she was sitting on the swing with one of the caregivers. I just sat close to her and tried to make eye contact as much as possible while playing with several of the other kids and talking softly to several of the little girls who were sitting near us. Then the group was going to take a walk, so she was not having any part of holding my hand. So, Brian took the hands of one little girl and two boys. I took two boys. Our translator took a little girl, and the two caregivers took the rest, including MM, and we walked all the way around the building in this odd little parade. I tried to get some photos of her looking all happy and stuff, but the minute I got out the camera, she started crying again! :) We are visiting her twice tomorrow, so she should have a very fine miserable day. But that will be the last time we get to see her this trip, if the ten days aren't waived, so we want to make the most of our time. I think she is going to completely freak out when I walk out of that orphanage with her. Today we were walking around the building and I wanted to go up close to the gate, she got to a certain point and wouldn't budge further. She knew the rule was she was not to go close to that gate and she was not having it. It will be quite interesting to see her reaction to a car and many other things. I think it will be fine once she realizes that I am the one she knows the most in the outside world, and I am the source of food and comfort. It will all work out so I don't want you all to be worried about me. But you can keep your prayers coming, we need those!

After the visit, we came to a restaurant with the translator and had some Russian pies (in Russia, pies aren't necessarily desert, they are filled with everything from cabbage to meat, potatoes or traditional fruits.) It was yummy. She went over all the court preparation with us. Boy, is that intimidating. I think we will be happy to have that over with. Our court is at 12 noon on Monday, which is 3:00 AM at home, so if you wake up in the middle of the night Sunday, don't forget to say a little prayer for us. They said court could last from one hour to five hours!!!! Can you imagine?

Hebrews 11:6

"Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that He exists andn that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him."