Going through customs to get out of Russia took 7 checkpoints.  When Mac & I went to South Africa 3 years ago, I was frisked 4 times.  This time I was never checked, but Mac was!  I went on through and looked back at Mac with a big smile.  It took us 3 hours to get through customs.

After getting on the plane, Mac & I were looking forward to a long sleep on the flight home.  Well, right in front of us was a crying baby from teething and her 4 year old high energy sister jabbering in Russian the whole time & dancing in the aisle.  Across from us were 3 people downing a fifth of Crown Royal.  I was getting nauseated just smelling it.  How do people drink like that in high altitudes?!  The baby and sister were finally asleep after 8 hours.  So I'm thinking, "Ahh, finally we can try to get some sleep".

Side note: for the 28 hours traveling home, it was daylight the entire time as we passed through 12 time zones.  So it's a little hard to go to sleep anyway.

We were nice and cozy snuggled up and sleeping soundly when the stewardess announced over the intercom, "If there is a doctor on board and you would be willing to assist us, please come up front." I open my eyes and 2 rows in front of us is a man passed out on the floor.  People are getting out of their seats to see what's going on.  The stewardess is stating firmly and repeatedly for everyone to please return to their seats.

Turns out the person on the floor in medical crisis is one of the drinking buddies!  After 30 minutes of him laying on the floor, he is mumbling to them. They eventually help him to stand and take him to a first class seat to give him further attention.

There was duty free liquor stores before we boarded.  I believe this guy will pay more than taxes with a hefty fine when he goes through customs in the States.

Reminds me of another time we were flying and a drunk man fell and hit his head on the arm rest in front of us. He was running to the bathroom to throw up but landed right in front of us.  He started puking and we had to put our feet up on our seats as "liquid" was flowing everywhere!  The stewardess poured coffee grounds all over the floor to mask the stench.  We saw him taken away by officials as we de-planed.  Why is it that people think they can get drunk without it affecting them?  And then why is it we get assigned to sit by them?!  Hey, Mac, you got a CR business card handy?

Never a dull moment on our return home!

We are in the Atlanta airport awaiting our departure so I will try to get more pictures posted.  Everyday it's been about a 30 minute window to email post & pictures to Bobbi.  Thank you, Bobbi, I couldn't have done it without you!

Thank you for all your prayers.  We made it safe and sound and so did all our luggage.  We accomplished what we went to do in Russia.  And we return home filled with memories we will be talking about for a long time.

To Him who can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine.  Praise be to  God!

Yesterday the temperature was 98 degrees. Today a cool front blew in and it only got up to 55, and the low was 40.

Friday & Saturdays are wedding days.  Every time we passed the war memorial there would be a new wedding party taking pictures.  It is a tradition to leave flowers there to remember those who lost their lives in the war.  We were told every family in Barnaul lost family members in WWII.

While I was taking a picture of a bride and groom, all of a sudden a car caught on fire right in front of us.  The poor guy who owned the car was trying to put it out.  I was afraid it was going to blow up with him right beside it!  Engulfed in flames, the fire truck arrived and the guy grabbed the hose to put out the fire himself, while the firemen stayed in the truck.

Since we found out Russian sushi is good, we ate it again for lunch to celebrate Natasha's birthday.  Restaurants have very slow service and no one ever gets their food at the same time.  So some finish eating before others get their food.  Now we were running late to make it to a violin concert that Joseph & Sonya's son, Mason was performing in.  Natasha said it wasn't far.  That is a relative term in Russia...we ended up running without stopping for 20 minutes to make it on time after Joseph said the doors were about to be closed.  You can't get in after a performance starts.  It was now 40 degrees outside and Mac was sweating.

Next walk was to buy handmade scarves and then on to Arkasha & Natasha's flat to eat birthday cake & ice cream.  Then one more breezy walk back to hotel to counsel with more church members.  They are so hungry for guidance.  People wanted to meet with us even while we were packing.  We finally had to say that was all we could do and prayed over them and said our goodbyes.  There will be more conversations with them on Skype in the future to continue encouraging them as they lay the foundation for their CR.