Come on, lucky 21!

We've been informed that our Trip #1 to Russia will depart on September 21st. I spent 2-hours straight on the phone purchasing new tickets today, paid a hefty "change fee", and now we're hoping that 21 is our lucky number. Otherwise, we're kinda ready to go! I unpacked what I had packed but the guest room (which will later become K's room) is full of all the stuff needed to endure 22 hours of traveling.

In the meantime, I have lots to do. My immediate task at hand is trying to coordinate getting appointments with 8 different specialists for both JD and me:

* Family Medicine
* Oncology
* Neurology
* Psychiatry
* Dermatology
* Infectious Disease
* Addiction Specialist
* Pulmonary

This is a requirement for Russian adoptions and Yekaterinburg requires that PAPs (prospective adoptive parents) complete this stateside. It's usually easier when done in Russia -- you simply go down a hall and each door is a different doc!

Here in the states, many docs won't see you if you don't have a referral or a specific reason (other than the Russian Government says so!). It's a challenge but what we may end up doing is going to San Diego, see the docs in the area around where our agency is (docs who have done this many times in the past), and make a "fun" weekend of it.

It's been a crazy week but *everyone* has been so supportive. I am blessed with the best husband, family, friends, and co-workers in the entire world! Thank you, thank you.