Monday October 11, 2010 - return to the SDA

Both of us are up at 3am - the time zone difference of 10 hours has us pretty messed up, plus we can't think of anything else but our three boys. Luckily, the baseball playoffs are on the TV, so I watch Tampa Bay tie it up with Texas while Emma reads. By 6am we are both starving, so I head out to look for breakfast - after all, I am the hunter and gatherer...it's freezing and the streets are empty, but I find an open McDonald's on the other end of Independence Square and point to a few things that look familiar and run back to the flat before our breakfast gets cold. It's actually pretty good - funny how that works when you're starving. The food helps us settle down and we end up falling back to sleep until about noon. Our driver is picking us up at 1:30 to take us to the SDA so we stumble out of bed and get ready to "meet Vanya".
We've done this all before, so it's really just a formality as we walk up the stairs into the SDA office to meet with the same woman we met back in August. She remembers us and is very supportive of what we are doing. She pulls out Vanya's file and shows us a picture of him in a suit that looks like its about two sizes too big, but as usual he has a huge grin on his face - this kid is one happy kid! Always smiling. We act as if we are seeing Vanya for the first time - asking questions about his health and where he currently lives, etc. The SDA officer offers up the pictures they have on file for all three boys and Emma starts to cry as she looks at her three baby boys.
We agree to meet up with Vanya and she starts the paperwork allowing us to officially visit his school orphanage on Wednesday.
Lesya does her usual wheeling and dealing to get the papers signed and approved before we leave, and we head back to the Irish pub we went to before to grab some lunch and wait for the signed documents. Lesya and her husband, Irina, Emma and I sit and talk for the rest of the afternoon discussing what will happen over the next few weeks. The moratorium doesn't look like it will be an issue, but she has another bit of interesting news that may or may not affect our adoption. Apparently the mother of our three boys just gave birth to another boy last week!!! Lesya doubts it will even be a factor, but if somebody in the SDA wants to keep the family together, including this new baby, it would delay the entire process by another 18 months...shhhh - don't tell anybody!!! After all, it is a different father, so we doubt it will be an issue. But its just another stress factor to have rolling around in the mush we currently call our brains...

After a few glasses of wine, we head back to the SDA to pick up our documents (Lesya has done it again!!!) and they take us back to our flat. We have an early start tomorrow, as our driver will be picking us up at 7am for the 4 hour drive to Kirovograd - what is it with these crack of dawn starts?? I guess they want us to meet up with Natasha the lawyer before lunch to get everything ready for the Notary at 1:30 and a visit with Max and "DJ" at 3:30. Our escort for the trip will be the lovely Natasha who came down with us back in August - we're getting the whole gang together again!!! We will most likely see Katya the translator and Gregori the driver too!!!

 

Irina and Vadim take us back to our flat, where Irina follows us up to collect the rest of the money (including the extra fee for the third child) and she wishes us well on our adventure to the heartland and leaves us to our excitement. We are both drained by all of the crazy news, but we know it will all be okay - right???

So, after a quick and easy dinner at the fast food restaurant below the flat, we call it a night and pack up for our two week stay back in Kirovograd. We get to see the younger boys tomorrow and Vanya on Wednesday!!! I wonder if Max and DJ will remember us. We sure remember them!!! Sweet dreams boys - Mama and Papa are coming to get you!!!