Thanks to the O'Shields, for my post title today. Rush-huh??? Wow...today was a day of sitting and WAITING...and although, E would claim we were rushing, I'd beg to differ. Yes, we were swamped with lots to do, but it was HURRY UP and WAIT!! Really it fits right in with the entire adoption process...but it was a productive day of WAITING so, I'm not complaining.
It all began at 11:15 this morning. E came to pick us up to go to the notary. There I insulted the notary by walking in and saying, "Privet" with a smile on my face. Apparently, "Hi" was too informal for the setting...opps! So much for trying to use my Russian. Then, I proceeded to sign a document in black ink so they had to white it out, and make a copy, so I could re-sign my name in blue ink. Opps again!! Finally, I signed both documents correctly and we were outta there. I couldn't get outta that place quick enough...as I couldn't seem to do anything right.
We had about 30 minutes to spare, so E took us for drinks, before we headed to the orphanage to pick up the social worker. Well, upon our arrival to the orphanage, E called the social worker to let her know we had arrived. Problem…she did not answer her phone. O no!! So E went in (leaving us in the van) to find out what the hold-up was. She came back and it wasn’t good news. The orphanage doctor was upset to still have our babies because there is an outbreak of chicken pox among the children. And when a child in the orphanage gets chicken pox, they are taken to the hospital immediately. She was concerned that C’s son may catch them. Thankfully, lil’ V has already had them so there isn’t a concern with me not being able to bring her home...but we don't want lil' E getting them. Anyhow, long story short, the doctor requested we pick up our babies a day early. As you can prolly imagine…I was ECSTATIC and thought it was the best thing ever. :) Praise God...a day earlier!! I'm ready!!!
This news was not what E wanted to hear, however, as the social worker was running an hour behind schedule and we needed to get not only get lil’ V off of the registry today, but we also needed to apply for her passport…and time was slipping by the minute. Finally, an HOUR LATE (and yes we sat in the van for the entire hour, OUTSIDE the orphanage), the orphanage social worker steps outta the orphanage and we quickly drive to the police station, where once again we SIT and WAIT in the van for TWO HOURS while the social worker does her thing at the police station. FINALLY, she walks out with our necessary paperwork. Lil’ V is now off of the registry…woot woot!!!
Back on the road, we weave through the traffic and quickly try to beat the clock to get to the passport office to apply for lil’ V and lil’ E’s passports. Praise God, they haven’t had 400 applications yet, so we take a number (I’m 311) and take a seat to WAIT for our turn. Thankful to be able to apply for her passport, I hardly notice the wait. Once they call my number, I go in, sign my name on a piece of paper and we're on our way outta there. Getting passports done today means we should be able to pick up lil' V and E's passports on Friday (and Saturday if need be)...a day earlier than planned. Another praise!!!
We quickly race downstairs to exchange USD for Rubles and it’s off to the train station we go. We purchased our train tickets for Sunday afternoon, as we have to head to Moscow to do more paperwork at the Embassy. Once tickets are purchased it’s back in the van we go. It’s now dark and after 7 pm…a long day of waiting, but much has been accomplished!! Time to finally say good-bye to Sergei and E and time to go eat.
After dinner at…yes, you guessed it…Pizza Hut, we went to the best TOY STORE ever!!! I got the best doll baby for lil’ V. It say a ton of Russ*an phrases and is even dressed in a lil’ Russ*an outfit…so cute. Then I found the lil’ mammoth from the Russ*an “cartoon” a “Mother for lil’ Mammoth” the adoption story of a mammoth by an elephant (I posted this on here a while back, but here it is again if you missed it)…
Then, because I really want her to be fluent in both Russ*an and English I brought her a Russian sound book that says the sound for each “letter” and then also allows her to write the “letters”. I think it’ll be great practice!!
One more thing...we returned to the hotel to find lil' V's and my luggage had arrived while we were out shopping :) So thankful to not have to buy clothes and stuff for lil' V tomorrow morning. Sadly, Steph is still without her suitcase and she's not happy. :( Well…that was my productive day of waiting…now to TRY to sleep (as if that's possible) as last night I got a whopping three hours. Tomorrow morning at 9:15, I will head to the orphanage to take my daughter outta the orphanage which she has spent four years of her life. Please pray for her…as I’m sure the happiest day of my life, may very well be the scariest day of hers…leaving everything she has ever known. :(
