10/23/09 Update

We received word from Edward that after 5 weeks, the documents have finally arrived at the court in Russia!! I don’t know the details of the delay, but I know he had a terrible time getting the necessary paperwork from the court in Kharkov. They continue to be extremely difficult to deal with!

The paperwork went to the Chief Justice at that court, and Edward has confirmed that the case has been assigned to a judge. What we have not been able to find out is how long the process will take. They originally told us that the court would take around 30 days, but now they are saying that it will be processed “within the time frame allowed by the law”, but no one will tell Edward how long that is. At this point, I just don’t know who to call who might be able to motivate them to speed things up. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!!

The other new development is that we received an email from the US Embassy in Kiev earlier this week. They said that they had been contacted by the SDA wanting to know why we haven’t “picked up” our children and that the law required us to pick them up as soon as the court decision is final! So we emailed them back (I was nice, I promise!), explained our situation, and asked them if they could help us. They replied that they were sorry we were frustrated and having trouble, but no, they could not help. I wrote back again and asked them if they had ANY advice for us, and they never responded.

Then, the next morning, we received and email from Edward asking us to please contact the girls at the orphanage ASAP, and that the local prosecutor was “going after” the director of the orphanage, saying the girls should not be there. Evidently the SDA or the local child services office had called them and told them we had abandoned the girls. Why can’t these people be this efficient and communicate between agencies this well when we need them to help us get the girls home?

So I just go off the phone with Irra and the assistant director of the orphanage (the director is on vacation – these people seem to go on vacation a lot!) My new friend Anya translated for us – Thank you Anya! It was great to speak with Irra. She seems to be well and was glad to hear from me. She said to tell everyone here hello, especially her friend Erika, but I could tell she was a little worried, too. The assistant director was pretty strong about the situation regarding the prosecutor and said that they were threatening to undo the adoption. Edward has spoken to the prosecutor, the SDA and child services, so hopefully things will settle down now. I tried to call Edward on Skype, but he was on a train and we got cut off.

I was not able to speak to Vika because they said she was at the sanitarium. Everyone assured me she is fine, so I’m not really sure why she is there. We called and they said that the kids were on a walk, and so we are going to try again Monday morning my time. We did leave a message that we had tried to call, and hopefully she will get that message and know that we are thinking about her.

Irra had lots of questions for Anya, and we set it up that our friends’ new Ukranian children, both girls of the same age – will call her tomorrow morning. Maybe they can help answer some of her concerns, and form the basis of a friendship that will continue once they arrive home.

So, that is longer than I thought! Please keep us in your prayers. I really, really don’t want to have to make TWO more trips, but if things with the prosecutor get too difficult, I might have to travel and get Vika and then go back for Irra when her paperwork is ready. It would be nice if the Russian court would hurry!

Blessings,

Sheri