September 21, 2009

I’m sorry it has been so long since my last post. I’m back home again – hurray!! – but unfortunately, without either girl. When I last wrote, it was a Sunday and we had planned to go to the passport agency on Monday to apply for Vika’s passport. When we got there, they asked us for lots and lots of extra documents that Edward said were very unusual. Most of it was stuff we had already filed at the court for the court case, and so we had to go back to the courthouse and get them to give us copies of their documents. It was almost as if they wanted to re-try the case! Our judge and secretary were on vacation, but they were in and out of the courthouse, so we were able to get what we needed. Then, when we went to the notary to draw up the document to apply for the passport, the notary would not prepare the document because Greg was not there. I had a power of attorney for Greg, but they said that applying for a passport was “too important” for a power of attorney. We went to three notaries and they all said the same thing. Edward was very frustrated because the notaries in other cities all accept a power of attorney in this situation and he had never had this problem before. Finally, someone suggested that we apply for the passport in my name only and see if the passport agency would accept that, and they did.

The passport agency also required that the girls do new consent forms – in front of a notary, this time. So we had to go back to the orphanage and get them and bring them back to town. Of course, this all took place over the course of four days – with waiting for our turn at the notary and passport offices, and trying to reach the judge’s secretary, and just the general amount of time it takes to travel from one place to the other, we started the process and did not officially complete the application for the passport until Thursday morning! It was extremely frustrating!! Here we are on Thursday, and I’m scheduled to fly home on Saturday, and we have just now finished the passport application. It took us two weeks to get Vika’s birth certificate, so some research on Irra’s birth certificate, and apply for one passport! And we worked hard! It was unbelievable!

So anyway, on Thursday when we finally completed Vika’s passport application, they said that it would be another two weeks before the passport came back. Also, we had hoped that I could sign the papers for Irra’s passport while we were there so that I when I return for Irra I would not have to wait, but they said no to that as well. That meant that I would have had to wait another two weeks for Vika’s passport, and two weeks when I return for Irra, and that was too much time away from home. So we decided that I would go ahead and return on Saturday and pick up both girls when Irra’s birth certificate is ready.

About Irra’s birth certificate – Edward spoke to the vital records lady in Russia several times, and then to the chief justice at the court for that region, and the plan is that he will take our documents to the court there. They will “review” them, and then they will give permission for the vital records to issue a new Birth Certificate and a Certificate of Adoption. They said the process would take about 30 days, but we found out last week that one of the documents we needed from our court in Kharkov will not be ready until today (when our judge returns from vacation) so that 30 day clock doesn’t start until Edward goes to Russia (hopefully this week) and officially submits our documents. I really hope this works. The story keeps changing; first the vital records office said there would be no problem, now we have to be “reviewed” by the court. This process makes me very nervous. I don’t understand why the original court decree is not sufficient for all of these people, including the passport agency. It just seems to me that they are messing with things they have no right to mess with. Everyone wants to get into the act - I keep expecting the taxi drivers to ask to see my home study or something! Also, I’m also not sure if that is 30 days in US time, or 30 days in Ukraine time – remember that it took us 4 days to apply for a passport! Time moves very, very slowly there. I have heard stories of people waiting 6 months for their children in this situation, and others who spend thousands of dollars to get birth certificates. Edward assures me that he can take care of it this way, but I’m still nervous. So if we get the girls before Thanksgiving, I’ll be ecstatic, but I’m not holding my breath!

The girls were great about the whole thing. They want to come, but Vika was actually getting pretty nervous about coming without Irra, so she was happy to find out she would wait until Irra’s paperwork was ready. This next trip – can you believe this will be my 4th trip to Ukraine!! – should be about 2-3 weeks, and there should be no reason I won’t come home with both girls this time!!

In the meantime, I did a lot of blogging at the camp that I have never posted. I’ll work on editing it some since Greg has filled you in on the court and stuff, and then post it if anyone would like to read it. The time at the camp was the best part of the whole trip. I had lots of fun getting to know the girls and their friends at the camp, and there was no pressure – we were just waiting and that was all. I’m encouraged by the girls’ attitude towards me at the camp, and the way they treated me, which was not always evident once we left the camp and moved to the orphanage. So enjoy, there are some funny stories!

Also, about my dad. They are still testing, but the news is good – it appears that the cancer has not spread and is contained in the prostrate. Thanks so much for all of your prayers and encouragement. Our friends, both old and new, are very important to us, and some days your comments and support were the only things that kept me going, especially in the last two weeks I was in Ukraine. I came under some heavy spiritual attack, and even began to have suicidal thoughts. It was very intense, but God is faithful and He will see us through to the end!

Blessings,

Sheri & Greg

PS – I’ll try to post comments with my photos soon as well!