Russia

Ok, I know it has been a while since I have posted anything on my blog. Well this is why. On my last post I had mentioned that Nick and I were going out of town, we did and this is our story.

The day after the volcano in Iceland blew, Friday April 16th we got the call. The referal was for a little boy, after we sent all the info to the UofM we decided to go. We rushed everything, but we managed to pull it off. We got our tickets on short notice, we got our visa done and back. Everything was getting done, I made a scrapbook with photos of us and our family and I translated everything into Russian. I bought clothes for him and bought a ton of medical supplies, and clothes, toys for the orphanage. We have never been so excited, we were finally going to meet our child, we have been waiting for this for many years. We fell for this cute little boy in the photo.

We left for Russia May 1st, Delta really needs to clean up there act, I have never seen such a filthy restroom(Gross). Ok, I will move on from that rant. The next day we met with the MOE, filled out all of the paper work, and we were off to see our boy. 3 1/2 hours later when we arrive at our destination, our staff checks us in to our hotel, and at this point we just can't wait to get to the baby home and meet our son. Not so fast, they look at us and say there is a problem, we were like what kind of problem? They told us a Russian family adopted our son and he is no longer at the orphanage. I don't really even know what happened at that point except I felt like someone ripped my heart right out of my chest and started stomping on it. We tried to get some sleep that night to no avail. The next day we met a little girl who was very cute, we sent her medical information to the UofM, and met with her again, unfortunately we had to turn down this referal. At this point we just wanted to get a flight back to Moscow, and then to the states.

We purchased our tickets and then received a call saying we have another referal, please return your ticket and we have a driver for you to drive you to the other baby home. At this point Nick gave me a look of lets just get home, I said we have gone this far we have to see this through. We got in the car and 3 1/2 hours later we are there, it was later in the evening and our staff was there to meet us. They took us to the baby home. We were sooo exhausted, I wanted to pass out, days of zero sleep will do that to you. We enter this room with numerous children, they tell us they are getting her ready to see us. I really had no expectations at this point.

One of the caretakers walks out and my heart was beating so fast, She put this child in my arms, and I looked at her and I knew right there and then that my life as I know it would never be the same. I have never felt so much love, I just could not contain my feeling and I just had tears of pure joy. We played with her and got to know this little peanut. The next day we set out in the morning to see her again. We arrived and were supposed to get her medicals but the director at the baby home said there were some papers missing and we could not meet with the doctor until they had the papers. They let us see her in the mean time and come back later in the afternoon for the medical information and 3rd meeting. After we saw her we went and filled out our paper work and went back. Well guess what we heard when we arrived "we have a problem",( you have got to be kidding me)!!!!! There was a problem, with the release papers. I could not believe this, it happened again, what are the odds???

At that point we went back to the hotel had a meeting with our Russian staff, gave them more paperwork, and they promised us they will work on our behalf for us to adopt the girl. We booked a flight to Moscow and tried to salvage the most emotionally exhausting trip in our lifetime.

I don't want to sound to bitter, because even with the events that unfolded I will say I loved Russia, I thought the people were warm and the country was beautiful. In Moscow I had one of the best meals I have had in ages at the Pushkin Cafe. We made time to shop, bought some tchotchke's, and took in all of the amazing architecture and the history.

We left back to the states on Mothers day (ironic), our flight was very late, and by the time we arrived back to JFK Delta had canceled our flight and all other connecting flights out of the airport due to wind conditions. We had only one other option which was to purchase 2 first class tickets on a suncountry flight that left at 2:00 am because it was 5 hours late departing but We Finally Got Home! I just want to give a big thanks to Delta (NOT)!!

Sorry I didn't write about this earlier but I was sick with a respiratory infection that I caught at the orphanage. Since we got home we had a meeting with our agency and they have assured us that they are working hard in our behalf. We are working on our dossier 2 document's, and we are hoping for the best, but at this point I need to guard my heart. We are still not sure if we will be able to adopt the girl we met. Ursula