When it rains

First of all, thank you to everyone who has prayed for us and sent good cheer our way.  We feel so fortunate to be covered in prayer and good thoughts.

The status, is in short, we wait until Monday.  Anna, our agency director, along with Lyle and Diana Thomas, have graciously helped us in any way they can.  We are headed to St. Petersburg tomorrow, as previously planned, to visit with the Thomas'.  So while we are there, we have a meeting scheduled at the Embassy to see what can be done.
The best possible outcomes are these:

1.  The judge accepts a letter from the Embassy confirming Travis' identity.
2.  The Embassy issues Trav a second passport.

If neither of these are acceptable, we will fly home as planned on Tuesday and take care of matters at home while waiting for another court date.

This day has been miserable.  We took a cab to Pete's orphanage, a drive that should cost 120 rubles, but the driver refused to accept anything less than 200.  I said "Nyet" angrily, but Trav paid it anyway because we needed a ride back.  We made the best of our time with Pete.  We watched him clap his hands for the first time, and he was making baskets like a true basketball pro, throwing a ball into some bowls...I don't know, there might be something there.  We then said our goodbyes.  We chose to walk back to the hotel, and 45 minutes later, as we walked in the door, the concierge was unhappy with us because the cab driver called and said we were not at the orphanage.  She thought we were "dead".  But I explained the injustice of paying a taxi driver more than what I know the cost should be, so out of principal I refused to take the cab back.  She called the cab company and now we've initiated a scandal.  All over $2.  Don't mess with me today Russia.  But the concierge is on our side and took them on like an attack dog.

The last 2 hours we have been listening to a wedding party whooping it up with loud music, stilettos, and chants of "skolka" filling the air.  Maybe they won't notice if a few bottles of Stoli go missing.