Delivery Attempted

Good News: Our p/w has made it to Russia!!

Not-so Good News: Our coordinator wasn't there to receive it so DHL will re-attempt delivery tomorrow (Wednesday)!! Argh......

I can only hope that she wasn't there because she was with the judge presenting the p/w and trying to get a court date for Trish and Tony (also adopting from Ekaterinburg...two girls!). You may remember that Trish and Tony took pics of K back in November when they were there to meet their little girl, S. What's really neat is that I currently know 3 families here in the US whose little ones were with K in the same Grupa and one family in Spain whose little boy is with K now (P). Gracie and Roman are home with their families with K, P and S to follow soon! What a reunion it would be to have all 5 kiddos get together one day!

This will be a great week....I just know it!

Come on, DHL!

It was a week ago today that we heard from the Judge that she was requesting the last of the documents. Four days later, all documents were in hand and FedEx'd to our Agency for receipt on Tuesday. That's almost record-breaking time...2 business days and received at the agency on the 3rd business day! Hey -- maybe I should make this dossier-preparation a new profession! Maybe not....

I received an e-mail from our Dossier Coordinator that everything was received and getting apostilled -- with the plan that all would be sent out Thursday (today!) via DHL for receipt in Russia by Monday the 30th.

So this is it, we hope! As soon as it is received in Ekaterinburg, our Russian coordinator will meet with the Judge, give her the paperwork and then set a date to appear in court. Court dates are on Wednesdays and Fridays so I'm thinking the earliest would be the week after Easter around the 15th or 17th....which would mean we'd be leaving between the 10th and 12th. Oh my God --- that is in two weeks!!!

Earlier this week, someone at work commented to me "You're so calm." And to a certain extent, I guess I am. Everyday I try to accomplish one thing but then at the end of the day, I realize I have a million things to do. Poor JD gets the brunt of my stress ~ as he relaxes in his "barker lounge chair." But overall, I think we're handling it the best we can. No sense in worrying over things we can't control!

Now I'm off to bed to dream of our little girl. I pass by her room each night and just can't wait to be able to peer in at her and watch her sleep. :)

Heard from the Judge!

It's 9:25am Thursday and I just got out of a patient's room. I check e-mail quickly (like I do 1000 times a day) and there it is: an e-mail from our adoption agency with the title "Today's Update".

I sat there with my fingers on the keyboard ready to open the e-mail bracing for a court date. "This is it -- the moment we've been waiting for!", so I thought.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hi Laura,
GOOD NEWS! The judge accepted the explanation letter from NC. [the Secretary of State of North Carolina wrote a letter to our judge explaining that the way they "glued" our paperwork is the way it is always done, has always been done this way, and that they are unable to change policy at this point.]

Of course, the judge asked that we update a few items for her and after she receives these updates she will issue our court date. Here are the documents needed:
* updated medical
* updated FBI
* updated ABMS letters for all doctors except Dr. O (we updated his letter in February, so she is satisfied with this one)

We are getting REALLY close. I think that you should anticipate travel to occur mid-April.

~~~~~~~~~~

{deep breath, in through the nose, out through the mouth....}

1. Our medicals (exams with the 8 specialists we had to see) are done -- just have to send to our Agency. CHECK!

2. Within 3 minutes, I had an e-mail sent to the American Board of Medical Specialty requesting the verifications of the 8 doctors we saw. Tomorrow the documents will be couriered to the State Dept. of Illinois for apostilles and then FedEx'd to us by Saturday. OUTSTANDING

3. FBI Clearance (to show we still don't have an arrest record) was sent for weeks ago and should arrive any day. OUTSTANDING

So, one of the 3 requests are completed and we should have the other two in our hands within a few days. The documents will be sent to Russia hopefully by the end of next week. Then the woman who holds all the power in the world regarding our quest for parenthood will review the docs and set a court date.

Since our Agency is anticipating travel in mid-April, we won't have K home for Easter as hoped for but it is possible that we may be celebrating our 15th Wedding Anniversary on April 16th with her.

We can't think of any better way to celebrate!

7 months of Dossier compilation -- 3+ lbs. worth! That's a lot of paperwork...and we're not done yet!

We're Hooked Up

I wish I was writing to say we were hooked up with a Court Date but instead -- we're trudging along and trying to get hooked up in preparation for our 3+ week stay in Russia.

Today I signed up for Skype, an online communication tool in which we can use the internet to make FREE calls and video to other Skype members. We can call anywhere in the world for free -- and we like free. Tonight we bought a webcam (not free!) to attach to our notebook so if our intended party has a webcam, we'll be able to talk and see each other. If our intended party doesn't have a webcam, then we can talk or text -- still free. The crux of the whole thing is that our intended party has to be online at the same time as us. Hmmmm, but what happens if the Grandparents, for example, aren't on-line when we get K and we want to talk to them?

We're also armed with magicJack, a little USB device, which you can hook up to your computer’s USB port to make calls to any telephone worldwide. In this case, we'll have magicJack hooked up to our computer in Russia, plug the hotel phone into magicJack, and wha-la, we can call the Grandparents or other family and friends (lan lines or cell phones) for no cost! (That's when we tell them "hey, get online, we want to show you K!".)

I'm not a walking commercial for Skype nor magicJack -- especially since we haven't officially used either. But I've contacted so many other adoptive parents who have used both and they all rave about both. So we'll see.

I just feel like I was able to check-off two things on the To-Do list today. If anyone has any comments, please don't hesitate to let us know. The good, the bad, the whatever. ;)

Hope to be in touch soon....with GREAT news!

God, Grant me the Serenity....

Our most honorable judge has requested that our recent documents be "redone" by our parent agency in North Carolina. She did not like that the apostilles (official document that "notarizes the notary" and attached to each document obtained from the various different banks, companies, etc.) were actually glued to the top of each page making it difficult for her to lift the page. She has now requested that the paperwork be redone and resubmitted next week, at which time our agency hopes she issues a court date. Last month, this method didn't bother her enough to have it redone with another family's paperwork -- but this month, it bothers her!

I have to laugh --- otherwise, I'd cry.

I did ask our agency how much lead time we'll have from the time we receive a court date and the time we need to leave for Ekaterinburg. She said the judge usually sets the court date 2 weeks out (which means we'd have to leave in about 1 1/2 weeks) but she has had a family in Ekaterinburg who was given a court date within a week --- which means they had to leave asap (nothing like getting VISAs and airlines tickets STAT!).

We're going to continue moving forward and packing as if we are leaving in a few weeks -- perhaps the luck of the Irish will shine upon us and St. Patty's Day will bring us good news about our paperwork and court date!

The "Amazing Race" in Russia

JD and I have always joked about going on CBS's "The Amazing Race" where contestants literally race around the world trying to win a million dollars. It's quite an exhilerating show -- one I can't be eating during the show or I woof my food down and have no recall of doing so!

Tonight on CBS at 8pm, The Amazing Race will be in Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk, Russia. Kras is about 1400 miles from Ekaterinburg and Novosibirsk is about 1000 miles SE of Ekaterinburg. Both are in Siberia and cold so it should be interesting! They will be taking the Trans-Siberian Railroad as part of the race. When we are there, we won't be taking the Railroad, although I think it would be a great experience taking it the 1200 miles to Moscow. But to be cooped up with a 2-year old in a small compartment?...ah, no.

Usually on the show, they have the contestants partake in local customs or visit landmarks. I noticed on the previews that they show these little houses along the side of the road. They are like little shacks but take note of the colorful and ornate windows. We saw these types of homes ("country cottages," as our coordinator called them) all along the way to the orphanage.

We'll be watching the show tonight and really hoping that soon we'll be running our own race to the Orphanage so we can hold, hug, squeeze, kiss, and play with K! We may not win a million dollars but our award will be so much greater!

One of the "country cottages" right outside the city of Ekaterinburg (it was snowing...)

Still waiting to hear...

The weeks are getting long. Maybe it's because the nights are getting longer. I twist and turn and find myself getting maybe 4 hours of sleep a night only because I can't shut my brain off -- it just thinks about our dear K all the time. What is she doing? Will she remember us at all? How many words is she saying now? Does she have another cold?

I sent an e-mail to our Agency yesterday asking for an update. I don't want to sound pushy but we have paid for their kids' college tuition with the amount in fees we've shelled out...so I figured we deserve something...even if it's a "we're still waiting to hear". No word yet so we continue to try and be patient. And the fact that they are closed on Fridays really makes it a long weekend. :(

I'm sure our p/w made it safely but I want confirmation from our coordinator in Russia that she got it and that it was all in order. I can't imagine that the Judge could want anything else...except our FBI Clearance, which expires March 26. We sent our fingerprints to the FBI several weeks ago and I messed up -- included personal checks for payment instead of money orders. Ugh -- you'd think that after doing 3 rounds of fingerprints I'd get it right! Money orders were sent via FedEx on Monday so we're hoping our FBI Clearance comes through quickly.

In the meantime, K's crib is filling up! When I remember that we have to bring something to Russia, I immediately put it in the crib so it doesn't get misplaced. Soon, we'll be bringing in the suitcases and really start packing. Let's hope we hear something soon so we can go bring K home where she belongs ~ in her own crib and in our arms!