We arrived in Ivanovo on Friday afternoon.  We had been hoping to stay at a new hotel called the Soyuz Hotel but as it turns out we are at the Tourist Hotel that is the same one we stayed at before.  Overall, it is not a bad place to stay but it does limit our ability to access the Internet, so we may not be able to post to our blog as often as we had planned.  We will still try and post an update every couple of days if possible.

While we were back in the
U.S. I was part of a Yahoo group for people adopting from this region in Russia.  One family that posted to that group was a couple who runs a bookstore here in
Ivanovo, Alexi and Tanya.  I told them that we were here in Russia and last night we had the chance to sit down and visit with Alexi.  I was very interesting as we found out that they are pastors of a small home church here and each week go and work at an orphanage here in Ivanovo.  As we spoke it seemed like we had much in common.  They even have good friends who live in
Davison, Michigan which is a small town right next to where I grew up.  Today, Saturday, we are going to go with them to the orphanage they work with and then on Sunday we will join them in their home to be a part of their church. 

We have also met with our coordinators here and know that Tanya has been told that we are here to get her.  I can only imagine what must be going through her mind.  We were going to go and see her on Saturday but apparently there are some children at Holuy who have the flu.  When this is the case they keep the kids apart so that others do not get it and also do not let visitors come in.  Therefore we will have to wait until Monday to see her.  In some ways I think this may actually be better.  Since she knows we are here to get her it may be confusing for her if we come and see her and then leave for a couple of days and then come back and leave again before we can keep her with us.  This way we can go visit her and tell her that the next day people will bring her to us and then she will stay with us for good.  We only hope now that she is not one of the kids who is sick.

Today we also hope to meet up with our friends Tanya and Katya.  For those who do not know, they have been translators for us when we brought teams of people over from K2.  Every since the first trip to Holuy we have become friends with these two women.  I am hoping that we will be able to reach them today and that maybe they can come with us to church tomorrow.  If not I would love to introduce them to Alexi and Tanya as I think they would get along well.

Well we hope that all of you are doing well.  We miss you (most of all Kyle and Abbie) and look forward to being back home again but this time with our new daughter.

Eric and Paula

P.S. Doug and Kristy we know that people here are anticipating your trip in April so get ready you are up next!