We made it!

Just wanted to let you all know we made it safely here to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. It was a looong, sometimes bumpy, trip on the plane. But everything happened pretty much on schedule. Our suitcases and everything arrived, but unfortunately not without some external damage (sorry Janet and Christina). I don't know if they dragged them behind the plane for a while or what. We will make amends, we promise.

It's a bit rainy here this morning...warmer than back home, though. The drive from the airport to the hotel was fairly quick and gave us a chance to see some of the countryside as well as the city. It is a nice country--I'm looking forward to seeing more and learning more about it. The hotel we're staying at is beautiful! Very nice and clean and modern. Amanda and I just grabbed a bite of breakfast--very good, as well. She went back to the room to try to get a quick nap in before we get picked up in a few hours to go to the orphanage and meet Anara. We are both very much looking forward to that. We will take her with us from there and never give her back. Our hotel room had a baby crib set up in it when we arrived. Very cute and just one of those moments that made all of this seem more for real.

Oh, we had a chance to celebrate Easter yesterday in Heathrow Airport. We kept hearing announcements being made of a 'holy communion celebration' being held for all Christian denominations and decided to attend. It was in a tiny little prayer room, and was presided over by a minister from the Church of England and some of the airport chaplains. We sang some hymns, heard scripture and took communion, and there were people from all nationalities present. Anyway, we were glad we got to do something to remember and observe our Lord's resurrection, and it will be a nice memory for us someday.

Well, I'm still running on a bit of adrenalin, but I can feel it starting to fade. Thanks for all of your prayers and we will send another update as soon as we can!