Well, we finally received the exciting news today that we have a court date. We are scheduled for February 13th and 16th. The other couple we traveled with on trip 1 got a court schedule for Feb 11 and 12 so I am not sure if we will be traveling with them again or will be passing them in Moscow and Tver as we will be doing different things on different days. We have to wait until next week to get our actual travel dates and itinerary. So, now we continue to wait.
Oh, and one more thing. The judge is asking for yet MORE documents. Thankfully this will not hold us up on getting on the court schedule. I am even more thankful because I believe the request is only for a new notary 'true and accurate' on documents we already submitted. We again should find out what needs to be done early next week.
YAY!
I can finally breathe and prepare to travel.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
January 20-25 MORE DOCUMENTS
The Judge wants more documents. Why is it that if one family gives her specific documents she thinks she can get the exact same documents from every family after that. What the Russian Judge does not realize is that in the US every state is different. Notaries can do different things in different states. Not every family is in the same situation. It is ridiculous but we just have to do what she says, one way or the other we have to do it.
I spent the days on Wed, Thursday and Friday between Mike's office in Midtown to get things notarized, the county clerks office on Chambers street and the Department of state on Williams street. And round and round I went.
I walked over 4 miles on Thursday between all the places and subways.
From 8 am to 8 pm I worked on this. At 7:45 finally all the documents were ready and I sent the FedEx off to the agency before the 8pm express FedEx deadline. All our documents got their on Friday morning.
Our new FBI background clearances came in the mail on Friday. The ones I received from our home study agency from our original clearance checks in June was an official looking letters from NYS stating we have no criminal background. They were requested directly by the home study agency. For some reason I thought the same type of letter was what we would get this time too. But, today by FedEx we received back our original finger print cards, with a 1/2 page paper note stapled to it that says see results on back of card. On the back bottom is a stamp that says 'NO Arrest Record' and the date. That is it. The stamp isn't even so dark. I had to get them notarized and apostilled too. I was afraid that when photocopied you could barely see the results stamp. Well, you can see it but not so well. That is all that we got from the FBI so I certainly hope it is okay. Not very official- no signature or official letter. I scanned them into an email and I will ask my agency about it on Monday.
I really wanted to take an 'adoption break' this weekend because the paperwork and craziness has been overwhelming this past week. Especially because I thought we would be in Russia already.
Mike and I vegged out on Saturday. We basically stayed in our PJ's in bed and on the couch all day. I think we are both feeling 'blah' just waiting. We are depressed, just waiting for the next phase of our life to begin, the road blocks are taking their toll on us. Vegging out was good. It helped with our 'blah' mood and I think we also both realize that once the girls are home we will not be able to that so it was a nice 'calm before the storm' type day. It is also freezing out. We have been keeping up with the weather in Tver and it seems that it is colder here than in Russia right now.
Now we wait- to see if the judge requests more or if she will give us a court date.
I spent the days on Wed, Thursday and Friday between Mike's office in Midtown to get things notarized, the county clerks office on Chambers street and the Department of state on Williams street. And round and round I went.
I walked over 4 miles on Thursday between all the places and subways.
From 8 am to 8 pm I worked on this. At 7:45 finally all the documents were ready and I sent the FedEx off to the agency before the 8pm express FedEx deadline. All our documents got their on Friday morning.
Our new FBI background clearances came in the mail on Friday. The ones I received from our home study agency from our original clearance checks in June was an official looking letters from NYS stating we have no criminal background. They were requested directly by the home study agency. For some reason I thought the same type of letter was what we would get this time too. But, today by FedEx we received back our original finger print cards, with a 1/2 page paper note stapled to it that says see results on back of card. On the back bottom is a stamp that says 'NO Arrest Record' and the date. That is it. The stamp isn't even so dark. I had to get them notarized and apostilled too. I was afraid that when photocopied you could barely see the results stamp. Well, you can see it but not so well. That is all that we got from the FBI so I certainly hope it is okay. Not very official- no signature or official letter. I scanned them into an email and I will ask my agency about it on Monday.
I really wanted to take an 'adoption break' this weekend because the paperwork and craziness has been overwhelming this past week. Especially because I thought we would be in Russia already.
Mike and I vegged out on Saturday. We basically stayed in our PJ's in bed and on the couch all day. I think we are both feeling 'blah' just waiting. We are depressed, just waiting for the next phase of our life to begin, the road blocks are taking their toll on us. Vegging out was good. It helped with our 'blah' mood and I think we also both realize that once the girls are home we will not be able to that so it was a nice 'calm before the storm' type day. It is also freezing out. We have been keeping up with the weather in Tver and it seems that it is colder here than in Russia right now.
Now we wait- to see if the judge requests more or if she will give us a court date.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Delays
Yesterday I thought- Oh my god, we are leaving on Saturday. I will be in Russia for a Month. I have so much to day. So excited. Wow- what a difference a day makes….and what a let down!!!!!!
Today I find out we are delayed. Our coordinator has been working hard on our behalf in Russia. She was supposed to meet with the judge go over the documents (some of which we frantically got together in the last moments before the new year!) to hopefully set our court date. I have been waiting patiently all week . The judge just got back from vacation on Jan 12th. We had a tentative date of January 21st for court. I was trying to not get my hopes up but I just don't think I can wait anymore. I know there are families who have waited longer than we have. One family I follow the blog of waited 7 months. 2 families they know waited 11 and 13 months in between trips. We are only on 1 month wait but it still feels like forever already! I don't think I can wait any longer. This is just too hard. I want my babies. The longer this process goes on the harder the transition will be for them. Don't they understand? Why does everything have to be so hard? I just want my babies.
The judge is now asking for more documents. We had to go through an FBI check to finalize our official home study. USCIS/Homeland security also does an FBI check before we are official approved to adopt internationally. Both of which were done over the summer. Seems that the judge wants yet one more new check… like as soon as we finished the FBI check we went out on a crime spree! Give me a break!
The Judge is also asking for some sort of letter verifying the truth and accuracy of all of the official documents that we submitted like all the doctors licenses, CPA license, I171H etc. Thing is that these already have true and accurate statements attached to them signed by the specific person. i.e. the CPA said this is a true copy of my CPA license. But that seems it is not good enough for the judge. It would have to be re-done for at least 8 documents’. Of course 3 copies of each notarized and appostilled! She wants a notary or someone else official to verify the original document. Again, ridiculous!!!!!!!
If I weren’t so sad, upset, and pissed off I’d have to laugh at this situation. Hopefully once the girls are home we can do that. How ridiculous are these things they want from us. Lulu told me one family was asked for GPS coordinates to their house!?!? What? Why? Is that the weirdest request a Judge has made? I bet not. I’d love to hear from other Russian adoptive families to see what is the most ludicrous requests have been.
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