>From baikaltour@gin.global-one.ru Tue Oct 7 07:30:13 1997 Subject: transmission ends... Hi everyone! At long last, our Siberian adventure has come to an end. We just came back from a very pleasant dinner with Valentina, her assistant Ivanna and the Smiths. We had a nice time talking and joking about the differences and similarities between our cultures. It was a nice way to end our stay. Tomorrow we leave at 10:20 a.m. local time. It's a 6-hour flight, and so with the time difference we'll arrive in Moscow at 11:25 a.m. Keep your fingers crossed that Ben is a good flyer! ;-) In Moscow we'll meet up with Sergei, a delightful, funny man who met us when we first flew in a couple of weeks ago. He'll be our "Valentina" for the next few days -- making sure we get to the hospital okay tomorrow afternoon, and then walking us through the process of getting Benjamin's visa at the U.S. Embassy on Thursday. Friday we'll do some sightseeing, and then Saturday -- at long last -- we'll fly the friendly skies home. It's a long flight, but we'll load up on our supply of crackers and books for Benjamin, plug our SGGL tapes in to the Walkman, and with our adrenaline pumping we'll be home in no time! This will be our last message from Russia, so we'd like to say some of our THANK YOUs now. In addition to those we've thanked in previous messages, we want to mention Ray Nanney, who took a huge load off of Kevin's mind by covering for him at Furman these three weeks. Also, many thanks to Kevin's dad for facilitating these e-mail communications. We'd truly have been lost without them! To Kimberly, Kevin's mom, and all those who helped or offered to help with Zack, Milly and Ginny (and various household chores) while we've been gone, we again offer a heartfelt thanks. It's been tough enough to be away from them for so long, but it would have been much worse if we didn't know they were in such good hands. And most of all, to *everyone* receiving this message, and many others who aren't, we give our thanks for your support and encouragement not only during this trip, but for many months now. We could not have made it through this without you! We have been inspired and uplifted by your words, thoughts and prayers, and know that we can continue to count on them in the final legs of our trip. Thank you so much! We wish we could offer some profound words as we close this message, but none are coming to mind. Let it suffice to say that we have had a genuinely meaningful experience in our time here, one that we will never forget. True, we would have liked it to be 10 days shorter ;-), but in the end we find that we have grown a great deal both as individuals and as a couple, and gained a priceless treasure in our wonderful new son. What could be more meaningful than that? Transmission ends... Much love, Kevin & Julie