Worst 48 hours of my life

Only have 5 minutes to post. The hotel concierge at the Sokos is letting me use her computer. The Russian Consulate Helsinki puts the NYC one to shame. It was a day of utter awfulness. I have never cried for so long, so hard and so deeply in my life. (Those of you who know me know what that means.) I can´t type the whole awful story right now, but it involved me vomiting from stress and grief at the consulate. It also involved being told I was stuck here for 10 days. It also involved hearing that my two girls left their accommodations in St Petersburg after a terrible altercation with their host, and a night wandering St Pete and me not knowing if they were safe.

I will never ever trust the Russian Consulates ANYWHERE ever again. I am sick from crying all night...headed to the Consulate to stand outdoors in freezing temps & in the rain for 2 hours before they open. Every Russian Consulate I have ever been to treats their people like animals. I will never understand it.It makes me sick.

PLEASE pray that I will find a way back to St Pete very fast and will see my girls before nightfall. Please pray for my peace of mind as I think I have lost it. Must go.

UPDATE: It is 1:30pm and I am at an internet cafe in downtown Helsinki called Mbar. I got the visa...no thanks to the Consulate, but to MONEY talking...

I am taking the 3:30pm train to Saint Petersburg, It's a nine hour trip because of the long stops at both borders. I get into St Pete at a few minutes before 11pm...plus the time change.

The girls returned to the apartment, which I credit to prayer, as I laid prostrate on the hotel floor and begged God to give the girls the humility to return there. I don´t want to discredit Alex´s mom, because she is a wonderful woman, but she suffers from Alzheimer's very obviously, and Nastia did not understand her behavior. So when she was saying horrible things to Nastia about being an orphan, Nastia took it to heart. I was not there to explain that she has no control over what she is saying. Poor Nastia, Alex´s mother found the one thing that would outrage Nastia...an anti-miracle of sorts.

My friend Brian, God Bless Him, called Anya´s number incessantly until he reached her. I then got to speak to Nastia after a night of horrible worry. Brian held his phone up to his cllphone so we could talk. GTG as my internet time is up.... more from St Pete.... Prayers ALWAYS welcome...