in Conclusion of Thurs

We have passed "hump day" we are on the downhill side of our wait period and heading right for Gotcha Day. Braxton is still doing good, no more fever showing up so that is great news. Dr Natalia seems to be ok with giving us the boys on Monday after their nap and snack. We plan to go to the Grand Canyon mall here tomorrow, and then on Sat we have the circus and Sunday we have special meeting privilages here and the evening train back to Pskov. Before we leave I will get pics of this apt we have called home for the last week and of Tamara so you all can see our wonderful hostess. I have soooo much video footage of the people of russia, the cathedrals and other places we have seen. Perhaps we can share that footage in person as it isn't easily uploaded onto the web due to its length. We have sure seen some amazing things. I hope Brayden will be able to retain some memories of this trip, but if he doesn't I have it in pics, video and blog. At this point I am itching to get back to Pskov and hold our baby again. Thanks for following along, sharing with us, watching with us and praying for us. It keeps us encouraged in so many ways. We had special time with Dale Benjamin today, was wonderful to sit and listen to the russian language bantered back and forth so freely. I have video of that as well as hymns being sung in both russian and english at the same time. Makes for interesting listening. Best be off to bed, I have made it to 10 p.m. this is offically the latest I have been up at night here yet!!! GEtting closer to home schedule all the time, just in time to change it back ya know!! Good night and have a good day at home! OH it is still -12 degrees here today, tonight all 24 hrs of every day!

more thurs

The first one here is the Hermitage again, then Roger and Brayden in front of a statue given to Peter the Great by the Dutch, the next are the statues of Atlas holding up this balcony behind the Hermitage, Peter the Great with St Isaac's behind, and Brayden and I going down the steps from the Cathedral dome.

300 steps to the top of the dome

We walked the 300 steps to the top, I was quite glad to sit down once up there, it was neat to see the city from there. Brayden and Roger at the top of the exit steps, then we went down those and I took the pic looking back up them, then we had these very narrow metal steps and then the spiral staircase, every 10 steps were marked what how many were left.

St Isaac's Cathedral

St Isaac's model and a cross section of the dome, also the exit door was quite elaborate.

more thurs misc

These are some misc, got them uploaded in the wrong order, but don't want to take the time to redo it, so the first pic here is the statue pillar in the palace square outside the military command building, the next one is the back gate on the Hermitage Museum, Brayden and I in front of the Christmas tree in the courtyard of the Hermitage, the next is a mosaic inside the St Isaac's, the last one is the main alter inside St Isaac's

Thursday

The first pic here was taken at 9:00 a.m., just for perspective, the rest of these were taken about noon and the sun was already far far down in the sky. The first one is out the window here from the kitchen. Today we made the bus trip to St Isaac's Cathedral. It was simply amazing. Will let the pics speak for me. The big red pillars on all sides of this church were made out of single pieces of granite, each pillar out of a single piece, each pillar weighs over 80 tons. The walkway all around the outside, sidewalks etc were out of red granite as well.

Wednesday

Today, we made it a much slower pace day. We did go out after lunch, but just to go to the outdoor market and shop a bit. Brayden was coming apart at the seams so we returned to the apt and put him down for a nap. THats the first nap he has had since we left home, thats why coming apart at the seams was understood. After his nap we played some go fish and concentration games and he watched Thomas the Train. We had ravioli for lunch and then fried turkey and veggies for supper. Her cooking never fails to impress me. tomorrow perhaps we will go to the Grand Canyon mall, have to see how Brayden holds up and if we can get out in the morning instead of afternoon. Tamara is not a morning person, so don't know how that will work. So nothing exciting, just didn't want anyone to wonder where we went.