Internet + Russia = Bliss

Adalynn at the airport in DC drinking a smoothie

(brr...it was cold)

Thank you for being patient with us as have waited a few days to get connected to the internet. I won't blame it on the fact that we have a MAC and not a PC...:) Haha! No, seriously though, we are so thankful to be connected with the internet and with YOU! We hope you enjoy the flow of pictures below that show snippets of our journey so far.
What have we been doing? Wow...there is a lot...all good though! We arrived about an hour late on Sunday morning (to us it was 3-4am) at 11am Russia time. All our bags arrived (Praise the Lord!). We had quite a time getting them on 2 carts plus Adalynn, but we managed. Just picture Philip trying to push to big carts with 3 bags on each plus carrying a backpack...me, pushing Adalynn in her stroller with a bag on the stroller, on my back, and pulling one. We made it through customs though! It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive back to Vladimir from the airport. We stopped at McDonalds (!) on the way. It was a LONG 3 1/2 hours. My legs were so antsy I could hardly stand it! Poor Adalynn threw up about 10 minutes into our drive...I think it was all the flying and food she had eaten. Poor thing. She ended up sleeping and doing GREAT for the rest of the trip.
Here are a few things we have been doing:

-orientation with our field directors each day for about 2 hours.
-trying to sleep off our jet lag---Praise the Lord, Adalynn slept through the night 2 nights in a row! Finally getting back to normal!
-went to the mall and bought Adalynn a sled, changing pad, and highchair!
-learned how to go grocery shopping
-had our first meeting with our TEAM! --they are a great team!
-made it on public transportation alone (Philip, Adalynn, and me)
-slipping on the ice/snow
-made dinner 2 times already!

Thanks for your prayers!
Blessings,

Philip, Kara, and Adalynn

Adalynn and her new sled

New highchair!

Adalynn's crib

kitchen

Bathroom

Living room

icicles!

The playground you can see from our kitchen window

New Home

(Our Kitchen)

We ARRIVED!!! The Lord has continually been answering prayers. Sorry this is quick, but we have not had our internet set up yet at home. We are in the city at a coffee shop to quickly check email and update our team! I will post more pictures and details of our trip later! Thank you for your prayers. We need them, so keep them coming! The Lord has been so gracious and loving toward us during this time of transition.

Specific prayers:
1. Help us with jet lag
2. Adalynn sleeping through the night
3. Life transitions

We love you!
Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and baby

Good-Bye

Adalynn couldn't find anywhere to read that wasn't cluttered with stuff...so she decided to read in her car seat!

We are ready for our early morning tomorrow! After a few bumps with luggage weight and excess luggage prices, we are finally ready to "pre" pack the cars for tomorrow morning! Thank you for your recent prayers, encouragement, and love through emails and facebook!
My family came to say bye this evening...tomorrow is more goodbyes and then we are off.
We will connect with you all in a few days to tell you of our arrival...until then please continue to pray for us!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, and Adalynn

Last Minute Happenings

While we are busy packing...

...Adalynn is busy catching up on the latest Wesleyan news...

We are 100% funded! We had some dear college friends respond to a facebook message I sent out last week regarding our need for one more person to make a $25 Faith Promise! We did it with the help of the Lord and YOU! Thank you for your prayers and for helping us reach this point in our ministry. We know there will be many more opportunities for you to lift us up in prayer...requests, coming soon:)!

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and baby

Sunglasses?!

Adalynn is apparently got the wrong seasons in mind when she thinks of Russia...she wants to bring her sunglasses! We are continuing to pack, pack, pack! Good news though...we only need one more faith promise for $25 a month! Just ONE!!!! Once we get that Faith Promise in we will be fully 100% funded! Praise Jesus!

1% Away

We are 99% funded! We need one person to make a Faith Promise of $25 a month and we are there!!!!

Here is the link if you want to be that person who puts us at 100%!!!!!

http://www.wesleyan.org/gp/makefaithpromise/WM04-0343/missionaries


Blessings,
Philip, Kara, and Adalynn

And So It Begins...

(Adalynn wanted to make sure she was going too, so she climbed into the duffel bag)

We hope you all had a wonderful and special Christmas this year! I can't believe that it has come and gone already. We have 20 more days until we leave for Russia...and 20 more days to do 20,000 more things! We have a lot of packing in front of us! Since Christmas is over, we can now focus more fully on packing, what to pack, and how to pack! We are really excited to be leaving!
Here are some questions we have been getting that we thought you might be wondering too!

Where will you live once you are there? We will be living in an apartment in the ministry center for the few months we are there. Once we return after the baby is born, we will find a more permanent apartment in a different part of the city.

Will you be alone? No, Global Partners already has a team there in the city. There are 2 families with young children and a single woman.

What will you be doing? First, we will be trying to adjust to time change and life in another culture. We are going to begin language learning right away, and will also be finalizing our residency applications/process.

Will you hold Adalynn on the plane? No, we got Adalynn a separate seat on the plane. I am sure we will be holding her some of the time, but the flight is through the night, so we are hoping she can sleep!

How long is the plane ride? Once we connect with our connecting flight here in the States, we have a non-stop flight to Moscow. The total time for that flight is 10 hours.

What is the time difference? There is an 8 hour time difference...8 hours ahead of EST.

Hope these answers have helped you a little in knowing how to pray for us, and have helped in knowing what life will be like for us. We appreciate each one of you and your hearts for the Lord through this ministry.

Blessings,
Philip, Kara, Adalynn, and the littlest girl