Hey everyone, it's COLD out there!!!

Jesse couldn't help with my blog problem either, so I'm doing this through his somehow. He said it would work and I believe him. So let's bring you up to date.

Vlad and Natasha were at the airport to meet us. It was sure good to see them again. They told me that they had sent for Zhenya and he would be there shortly. He was about 15 minutes behind us. What a great surprise! It was so good to see him again. Not the first meeting Jesse was expecting, but it was great none the less. Zhenya has an escort with him. It was the only way they would let him go. He didn't care, he was so happy to come.

They have redone the Frankfurt airport since we were here last. It is beautiful now. Real high end store like Rolex and Versace etc. Security is ridiculously long. We had over two hours there and as we sat down by our gate, they announced that they were ready to board! We had to go through two security check points, each one taking longer. I got pulled over and had a pretty thorough pat-down. They took my money belt and walked off with it. I didn't let it out of my sight and it made for some tense moments. Dawn Soper was telling me tonight that she got pulled aside too - behind a screen and was as close to being stripped search as you could get. Maybe they are singling out American women, I don't know.
Today we woke up to a lot of snow! We had so much to do, how dare it snow so much. Well, we weren't going to let that stop us, so we bundled up and ventured out. It was so bad that even Vlad couldn't make it, so Natasha called a taxi driver she uses sometimes. We walked some of the way as there were too many cars that were stuck and our driver couldn't get around them. We went to get Zhenya's medical done and then to the Embassy. Both went quickly and smoothly. It was so great. The Embassy people were very nice. They took all of our documents, gave us the interview, and will have Zhenya's passport ready with his visa so when the approval comes they will just call me and have me come to pick it up. We are hoping for tomorrow. The Embassy sent off an email with a copy of the tracking document I provided saying that they(NVC)had received the approval from the USCIS on Dec.23rd. The Embassy said the NVC has had plenty of time to send it to the Embassy, so where is it? Hopefully they will go look for it and send it. Sorry this is so lengthy, but it is mostly for the family who have been following our every move with much anticipation. We will head to Sumy tomorrow to take our escort back and "officially" take Zhenya for good. Boy is he happy. He has asked me several times if he has to go back. I told him, "never again".
Tonight we met up with the Soper's and went out to dinner. It was fun for all of us. The airport closed down today, so they are praying it will open tomorrow and they won't have any problem getting out. They are so ready!