"We have to Talk"

TUESDAY February 10th
During lunch we got a call from our coordinator that we needed to talk after lunch. Now normally when you hear words like that it means a break up or something bad. We were not eager to hear. We were with the translator today as the coordinator had to spend the day dealing with our documents and meeting with the judge. When we met up with her she told us the Judge requested 3 more documents!!!!! Now, I hate to hear about more documents because over the past 2 months I have been running around chasing after a gazillion new ones. Of course, hearing about this NOW- just 3 days before court is not ideal to say the least. We were stunned and freaking out. Mike was not a happy camper and really just wanted to curse out the judge. We talked him down and assured him that the judge would not appreciate that and we cannot jeopardize our girls! So- we listened, complained, screamed and then figured it out. A frantic call went out to our agency, documents we had here were scanned and the agency is working on the documents. We pay them the big bucks and this is what they need to be here for us for. It is not like we could do anything from here anyway!!!! We were reassured by the coordinator that this is not a problem. We are able to go to court and proceed with the adoption and even get the girls home before the documents get to the Judge. But they have to be done today in order to have the apostille date be before the trial date. SO needless to say this was not a fun afternoon. We were hoping to get in an hour nap after lunch before returning to the orphanage but with all the back and forth we didn’t even have a second to sit down before we had to head back to see the girls for our afternoon visit.

Today is only day 1 and really only morning 1 and we are already emotionally drained (and jet lag doesn’t help)

Our second visit was wonderful. We were able to use the back play room and had the room to ourselves. It was great to crawl around on the floor and play with them without all of the front door interactions and interruptions. Dasha bloomed. We played with a touch and feel book and lots of toys. Masha and Michael enjoyed some fun interaction and by the end of the afternoon we were thrilled to see Masha crawling. Yay! The girls got to spend some time together also and it was nice to see them look at each other and interact, even if it was only to steal one another’s toys or throw things at each other (Masha did the stealing and dasha did the throwing!)

Later in the afternoon we had a brief meeting with the orphanage doctor and the social worker. The Doctor went over the girls medicals one more time and specified items that are on their updated medical. Apparently before a child is adopted they have to have a complete physical. That is great, and we had no idea it was done in December after we met the girls. Thankfully we were told that a number of issues we had heard about from the original medicals have been resolved. They were both deemed physically healthy with some minor delays. We have to remember some of the terms and items on the medicals because the judge will ask us if we are aware of their diagnosis. Quick and easy talk with her (with our coordinator as our translator) Of course not so easy with 2 toddlers in your arms so nothing got written down. Just now as I am journaling and am putting the things on to paper to remember them for court? Then we had our turn with the social worker. She asked if we missed them and if we thought they remembered us; If I was staying home or who else would be taking care of the children, will they have their own room or stay in the room with us in the beginning, if the economic crisis in the US has adversely affected us or mikes’ job. She asked if our families were supportive in the adoption process and a number of other questions like that. Later on our translator said that this was a preview of the questions that the judge will ask at our trial. Before the decision of the court is handed down supposedly the orphanage doctor and the social worker will give their recommendations. So, all in all it went very well. I think they like us and like the fact that I will be staying home with the girls. She specifically asked how I was going to handle 2 at once and if I would have help. They were all impressed that both sets of parents are coming over to Russia to be a part of this amazing experience.

We brought the kids up to their groupa room for a dinner of porridge and bread. Smelled gross. The kids are placed in little kid sized chairs and tiny tables and basically feed themselves. They were given a piece of bread to chew on as they wait in the line to be feed the porridge by a caregiver. They both cried when taken out of our arms. I had to pull Michael out of the room to leave.

We headed back to the hotel. 24 hour cafeteria cheap dinner and then straight to bed. It is 9:45 right now. Mike fell asleep around 8:45. I am off to sleep now. Looking forward to a good night’s sleep and the fact that we do not have to get up so early tomorrow. We are being left alone with the translator for the day of visiting with the girls. Our coordinator is in court all day tomorrow with the other couple. Sending them my prayers and good vibes for a quick and easy trial tomorrow. Also looking forward to hearing all about it and getting a debriefing at dinner. Good night.