He Reigns - Day 1

Trip 2 – Day 1

First off, if you have never heard the song “He Reigns” by the Newsboys, I highly suggest listening to it. This song has been playing over and over in my mind since we stepped on the plane in Atlanta on Saturday, right up to this moment, as I sit in our hotel in one of the truly great and unique cities of the world! the great city of St. Petersburg. The largest most northern city in the world. He Reigns is an upbeat song, and it will serve loosely as our guide through my post tonight.

Getting Here

As hard as I tried not to, I ran out of time. I was not ready to leave when the time came early in the morning on Saturday. I can report however, that I was more ready to leave than I have ever been in the past for such a big trip. There were a ton of logistics this trip that were not present the last time we came over the ocean for Ian. We had to take Ari to Chicago, where my mom and my grandparents met us all at the airport. We had to make sure we had a sufficient layover at O’Hare for my peeps to find us and for us to transfer Ari to them without it being all traumatic for him – or us. So, we built in a 4 hour layover, which I think all in all went well. We had enough time to leave the airport proper and enjoy a nice lunch with all of us. Ari was ready and excited to begin his vacation, of which he has talked about for weeks

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Ari, me, my mom and my my nana

When the moment came for us to get in the cab to head back to the airport, Ari’s little face was a bit sad. His last words to us were, “come back.”

I could choose to make that a big sad scene. I miss my baby boy so much, I do worry about him a little bit, but I also know that he is, to us, a love song born of a grateful choir. I know he is in loving hands with my mom and my grandmother and the rest of our fairly large extended family. Tomorrow he is headed to go swimming at a cousin's house and I think he might even get to ride on a city bus - which the child also lives for! Thanks mom for loving on my little man!

(from the song, He Reigns, Newsboys)

It’s the song of the redeemed...

It’s every tribe, every tongue, every nation

A love song born of a grateful choir

If you missed the big post I wrote to introduce Ari, you may want to visit it, he's an amazing kid with an awesome heart. Click HERE for Ari's post.

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Heading to our flight to Germany on the moving sidewalk at O'Hare

Craig already exhausted, trying to sleep on the railing

Transferring by tram to our Luftansa flight to St. Petersburg

Our oceanic flight was rough. We were expecting it to be a tad bit easier because, well, we were minus a 4 year old child after all. What we neglected to remember was that 300 or so other folks were joining us on that plane and the one that sat right next to me - was indeed I believe, a 4 year old child, dressed like an adult. Seriously, this lovely person had the following gifts for me during our 8 hours together: a super sized McDonalds cup brought on board empty but promptly filled to the brim with ICE. Ice with which said person then CHOMPED on from take off until landing because she never slept. When the cup would empty, she would have it refilled. Oh, and I guess this is the ice eaters rule: shake the ice in the cup around each time before taking a piece to find just the right one. LOL - I jest but really, it was super annoying. Still, God must have the master plan for her as I do not think she realizes that there are only 5 ice cubes in the whole of Europe at any one time, and she will likely not be getting one of them. If the ice was not enough, she also turned her cold air from above on HURRICANE force, much of which blew onto me and I had to cover 1/2 of my body in three blankets to keep warm. To top it all off, every few hours, she would turn to me and s.t.a.r.e. at me. ODD.

Craig sat next to me - and the aisle. Lucky.

Frankfurt was expensive, as it always is. Something like $20 for a simple bread and butter and OJ breakfast.

We landed in St. Pete, found our bags, found our driver Anton, and hot tailed it over to the Marco Polo Hotel, where we are staying with the Clark Family, also a Reece's Rainbow Family. We met with our facilitator to get the low down on the rest of the stay here, and then we headed down to the restaurant to have some dinner. It was 9:30 pm.

Mushrooms in cream (super rich), unknown red berries very bitter note to self do not eat those (again)

Baked Grannysmith Apple with nuts and raisins inside

yummy

Did you catch where I said it was 9:30 pm when we BEGAN dinner? In this part of the world, it is White Nights. This means, for 80 days, the people living here experience complete daylight for something like 21 hours a day. It is only dark for 1-2 hours around 3-4 pm and then bam - daylight again! It is surreal and strange and really kind of cool! After dinner Craig and I walked down to the river.

Time Check: MIDNIGHT!!

TIME CHECK: 1:00 AM!

On the banks of the Neva River in the Northern most populated city in the world!

Let it rise about the four winds

Caught up in the heavenly sound

The weather here is beautiful! It does get a tad hot during day but overall, it's great! No real bugs to speak of and a glorious breeze skips around you much of time, bringing a cool wind just when you need it most. Today we toured the city. The history in this place is not to be missed. Craig and I agreed after seeing just a few hours of the main attractions, that we will have to bring the boys back here when they are older. Ian has to see his birthplace, it is totally amazing! We have a wonderful driver Boris, who takes care of us, and he showed us around today, giving us all the needed information to make each stop even more breathtaking and interesting. The sounds here are incredible when you walk the streets, you can hear almost every major language in the world being spoken, seagulls, and if you stop and stay awhile at some on the major historical places, you can "hear" what it must have been like back then - Peter the Great's army marching through the cobblestone streets inside the fortress, the clacking of the hoofs of the thousands of horses being kept at the stables there.....I never knew all of this was here, and I am so blessed to be able to take it all in while we wait to see Ian again! This is his birthplace and it is incredible.

Here are some of the amazing places Boris took us today

The two red columns were lighthouses, and where the trees are was the port, back in the 1700's when Peter the Great built this city. The white building behind then trees to the right a bit was the stock exchange where merchants would buy, sell, and trade goods

Directly across from the port is the Fortress. This is where the city really began and was at first, enclosed within. This fortress lies on a small island in the river Neva.

The outer walls of the fortress.

There is a white sand beach here too, in the middle of the Neva.

Look what I made! LOL

We stumbled upon an international sand sculpting event on the beach at the Fortress

All I can is - that cannot be sand!

This one above depicting the Taj Mahal was my favorite

The theme of the sand competition was "world cultures" totally cool to see and watch these things being crafted out of sand and water

The walls of the fortress are about 36 feet wide, if you look here, you can see the width, it is the white and grey looking areas through the tunnel in this photo

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Let praises echo from the towers of cathedrals

To the faithful gathered underground

The tall church spire is the tallest point in the city and the angel atop has a wingspan of something like 9 feet. It is said to be the guardian of the city.

Craig and I at the fortress, shortly before I dropped our pocket camera and it smashed to bits (yes, I drop stuff, terrible and costly habit that must be stopped, I felt terrible, that was like our spy cam!)

behind us of course, and on the menu for Wednesday, is the Winter Palace of Peter the Great, now the Hermitage

This replica of the boats that would dock at this famous port back in the 1700's is now a posh restaurant and gym

This is a hydrofoil, we will ride this express boat from the Hermitage to the Summer Gardens (called Peterhof) on Wednesday.

This is on the square at the Hermitage. That column is crafted from a single piece of granite and it took 2,000 soldiers with ropes to pull it atop where it sits. It is not attached to the base in any way. The sheer weight of the column is enough to keep it in place.

This ship is significant because the cannon you see on the deck there, shot the blank round to start the revolution of 1917.

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Of all the songs sung from the dawn of creation

Some were meant to persist

Of all the bells rung from a thousand steeples

This was the place I was very excited to see, Saint Issac's Catherdral

It took 40 years to build. There was a running "joke" during its construction period that the architect had to stretch out its completion because as long as he was in charge and working on it, he would not die. One month after its completion in 1858, he in fact died. The church is in the shape of a cross, if you were to look upon it from above. There are granite columns here too, and you can see where bullets cracked them in places during World War II.

You can climb many, many sold granite steps that are hundreds of years old (original stone!) to get to the colonade, where an expansive and awesome view of the whole of the city awaits, you can see the Bay of Finland too. Somewhere out there is Ian!

The square at Winter Palace, from way up atop Saint Issac's

Rickety steps downward, I wasn't nervous, nor am I afraid of heights

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Tremble at what they’ve just heard

‘Cause all the powers of darkness

Can’t drown out a single word

The canal near Kazan Cathedral

Kazan Cathedral

Kazan is breath taking and holds a serious piece of Russian and French history for all to see. It is a masterpiece of architecture and much of what is inside is original, including the more than 200 year old stone flooring you walk on there

This is a living Russian Orthodox Church so picture taking has to be very subdued

Those candelabra chandeliers contain over 500 candles each (now light bulbs of course)

Inside, are the banners from the war of 1812 where Napoleon's army was defeated by the Russian army. The ACTUAL banners and flags that were marched out before the battle began, and keys to the french cities that were given over to the Russians after they won, are on display here. It is truly a sight to see. You almost cannot believe what you are looking at, the banners read "Napoleon Bonaparte, 1812, Regiment so and so."

There is also an "icon" of the virgin Mary which was brought by the Russian's to that battle and it said to have been the reason why they won. The actual icon is inside Kazan. It is a silver plaque about the size of a dinner plate.

Wanna see for yourself?

I shot a few seconds of video on the down low that shows it all - please pardon my astonishment when Boris tells me those are the actual items from 1812, it was really hard to believe

Outside of Kazan, if one is lucky and handsome, as Craig is, one can also have a photo of an era gone by

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This is one of the, if not the, most expensive hotels in St. Petersburg, the Astoria. When Madonna stayed here, get this, she brought her own furniture. President's and world leaders have all stayed here. It is on the square at Saint Issac's.

This is a Ferrari, for those that might not know

Remember I told you about the man that drives us around in a private air conditioned van? Well, Boris shared a great deal with us about the reality of life here for the average man. Boris has 3 small children ranging in age from 1 to almost 7. At his full time job, as a Concierge at a hotel, with SEVEN years of experience, and who speaks perfect English, he makes $700.00 A MONTH. Boris is a good man, a nice person, a family guy. He struggles here, like most average people. To cloth his kids, they save up money and then go to Finland for holiday and shop there. Clothes here are just staggeringly expensive. Want a Russian Olympic logo tee shirt? You will have to pay $100.00 for a real one, and not too much less on a street cart. Let's just say I had to let that dream die:) LOL. I will however be haggling for a wooden music box that plays traditional Russian tunes for Ian to have in his room as a keepsake.

So, back to Boris and the way things are here. Sure, you have your "new" Russians as they call the newly rich around here, but mostly, people struggle. We saw a number of cars that are priced here, in excess of a $100K. Why that in kind of important is that we might see 1 or 2 of those in Atlanta in a month or more. We saw at least 10 in one day in St. Petersburg. Corruption here is rampant. Clothing is ridiculously expensive, and so are basic goods. Average people don't go out to eat here much either, as one dinner for two people can cost $60.00 easily. Boris told me they just simply do not go out to eat, it is not affordable.

This city is just like most major cities around the world, comprised of the ridiculously rich, a few folks in between, the poor, and then because it is "R", orphans. This city, and others like it, is crying out for help, only so many of us ignore what we think does not directly impact us, so many walk around here in a daze, focusing on the next meal or the next deal. A Ferrari that drives past an old man who is begging on the street for a ruble - he has wet himself and the stench permeates the street corner - the fancy fast car driver turns away, and the old man watches the car until it is out of sight.

Walking around here with all of that juxtaposition, and being here in the middle of saving an orphan's life, Ian's life, is hard to compute. You look at it all and try to take it all in and in the end, it just does not compute. If we had to live here, we could maybe afford a car like the one below, maybe. Boris told us that he would like a certain type of car, used in the US he can get this car for $7,000. He can ship it here for just $1,000 more. To get it out of Russian customs, the fee is more than the $8,000 he will have paid to buy the car and get it here. Craziness! That applies to everything that comes through customs, so sending say, a big box of clothing, socks, and PJs to Ian's orphanage, would be a lost cause because the cost to get it out would be more than anyone working there could pay to get it out.

All over this city you cannot escape that which looks down upon you from above. Not that I could ever afford a Ferrari, I would so much rather be riding in the old little green sedan, toting kids that have been saved from institutions and worse, than roll down the street in some material thing that I chosen to be my identity and to signify my worth. Plus, it's a two seater and you can't get too many orphaned children in that thing!

Still, knowing that we are here and doing something about it as our part and as something we felt God called us to do, makes us at least able to joyfully spend a half-a-day seeing world history live and in person. I'm not a history buff, at all. You just have to be here and take some time to see what is here and you find yourself wanting to see more and more and more. This place has more than 300 museums!

We are truly singing God's praises for all that has had to happen over the course of this year to bring us here today. We are so grateful to you for supporting us and praying for Ian, and for our journey. Many of you reading this shared in your financial blessings to help us get here to have court for Ian. We don't take any of it for granted and we hope that sharing the city with you is a little bit of a thank you for your support. We promise to share more, and all about our week here.

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All God’s people singing

Glory, glory, hallelujah

He reigns, He reigns

Tomorrow, we see Ian