The Nitty Gritty

We're down to 3.5 days until lift off and we have everything done...thank you, Lord. We got the visas yesterday...turns out the women's day (Russian Mother's day) holiday slowed things down at the consulate so our visas went out a day later than projected...worked out fine. We were supposed to have a travel phone conference with our FC yesterday but her boy friend decided to make some romantic gesture and she never got to work...lucky girl! So, we will speak to our new FC on Monday. We got an updated medical on Els today and she gained almost a whole pound and grew about 2.5 inches.

Today I drove on a field trip for Rusty...the zoo...what a bunch of Monkeys...and this evening my mom has something up her sleeve...not sure what...I just know I have to be ready at 4:45. Hmmmm.

So, we are down to the nitty gritty, folks...Have a great weekend!!!!

Amen.

Too good not to share!

DQ: with out the Dairy

DRAMA: that's right...it would not be Russian adoption without some drama...even where there should be none. So the visa's were not where they were supposed to be today...my house! I called and the woman, who is Russian btw, was a little perturbed with me...she got a little snippy while she was telling me that she told me yesterday that they would be to me by today...so, I kindly repeated that the tracking information said they had not even been picked up yet...low and behold they were still at the consulate...so, she will get them out today and I will have them tomorrow...drama over, crisis averted.

No other news on the adoption front...6 days...

ONE MORE WEEK

...and we are on our way...starting to feel a little sick. My nerves are always a bit on edge before I travel but this is kind of MAJOR! Anyway...still waiting on the visa's...I will call and check on those today. We are also waiting for our doctor to finish the paperwork that we will have to hand over for our medicals in Moscow. (we have to carry over our lab results and a radiology report)...I have the wash going constantly trying to keep everything clean so that I can pack everyone this weekend...nothing else to report...except...

CONGRATULATIONS, SHERRI!!!!! She is Mama now! You can check her out @ http://www.slaadventure.blogspot.com/

Everywhere we go...

people want to know, so we tell them:

When we get to Russia, We will spend the first three days in Moscow having "medicals" done. They do not have GPs there so we will see 8 different doctors in one day all at an American Medical Clinic that is staffed by, you guessed it, Russians who speak little English. I have heard it is pretty much a joke...for example, the psychiatrist asked questions like "have you ever had blunt force trauma to the head?" or "If you live in FL do you find alligators to be a nuisance?" The cardiologist will come in and listen to our hearts and sign off, the pulmonologist will come in ask a few questions listen to our lungs and sign off...anyway, it is all done rather quickly but is necessary for court...so, we do it. On the 3rd day, we leave for Kras.

When we land it will be the next day:0) (big country!) We have one day of visitation and prepping for court and then we have court the next day. Assuming the judge decides in our favor, we begin the 10 day wait which is standard in all court decisions in Russia. We do not have to remain there during this time. We could come home and go back...but we have decided to stay and use this time to bond with her in the environment she is comfortable in. Our 10 wait ends on a Friday night...we will go and pick her up but will not be able to do any paper work until Monday.

On Monday, we will go and apply for her Passport, birth certificate, etc...it takes a few days to get this back and on that Wed, we will be on our way back to Moscow. (we are now just over 3 weeks into the trip) In Moscow, She will have to go through a medical, we will have to apply to the Consulate and US embassy for her Visa and immigration paperwork...Since we can only apply to the consulate on a Friday, we sit over the weekend...we will receive her registration on Monday or Tuesday and fly home on Wed. Four weeks and one day later...

And there you have it...the answer to that FAQ, "Why do you have to stay in Russia for 4 weeks?"

T.G.I.F.

I am so glad this week is finally over! I think I have found a way to stress about nothing! I actually feel pretty calm but I can't be still...I am cleaning like a mad woman, working like crazy, and on occasion wandering from to room to room only to stand there with a blank look and wonder what it was I came into the room for???? (ok, that part isn't new) I am sleeping like a rock at night..and yet, this afternoon, I feel tired. I think my body knows it should be stressed but my mind has not caught up! Isn't that backward?

It's not like the weekend will find us lazing around...pretty much every minute of it is accounted for beginning at 3:30 when I take Ruthie to Gymnastics ending Sunday night at a mission dinner at church. But I feel like I made some real headway this week in getting stuff done for while I am away and my fc asked if I could carry some stuff to Moscow and so it gives me an excuse to pack an extra suitcase...maybe:)

It isn't like the kids will fight, whine, and complain any less but I am leaving in a week so I am more accommodating right now. That's right, 6 weeks of spoiling instead of just the 4 they will be at my mom's house.

It isn't like I will get to sleep in on Saturday since they get up at 6 AM regardless of whether they have school or not and it isn't like we don't have to spring forward Saturday night anyway!!!

It is just Friday, and I am one day closer to my little girl.

Tickets, Please!

Got the plane tickets via fed ex today!!! Oh my goodness, just 12 more days! I can't believe it...I am preparing some letters that I will mail in a package to a friend of mine and she will mail them to my children for me while I am gone...I am getting their schedule just about completed and on a calender for my mom...and yesterday, I called around to get all or most of my bills taken care of while we are gone...turns out all of my utilities need 30 days notice to go onto auto pay...oops! So, I will have to leave those to my mom to take care of and pay her when I get back:0) Thanks, Mom!

I am ahead of the game with having all of my work stuff ready to hand off to none other than, my mom. (since I work for her:0) It seems the Lord has this timed perfectly...I will not miss any of my kids stuff at school and as far as my job goes, a month away could not have been timed more perfectly.

I have been asked for an update on Flip: He is still alive after locking us out of the house...I did manage to use a lawn man's cell phone to leave my husband a message on his cell (he was at the gym) and get my step dad on the phone to get my kids from school in time...all in all, I sat outside for about 2 hours, an hour of it on the porch out of the torrential down pour...good times...

Much Ado About Nothing

Ok, so yesterday we had a man here fixing our sprinklers and I went outside to talk to him and unbeknown to me, Flip followed me. I thought nothing of it until I went to get back into the house and of course, it was locked! Any other time, our children will have any number of the windows unlocked because they open them but never close them properly but not yesterday, oh no...every window locked up tight...so outside, no keys, no phone, it is about to pour down rain and my kids need to be picked up from school soon, no neighbors are home. hmmm...typical.

I Got an email from a friend who leaves today and she had a document request as late as yesterday...and they wanted it apostilled...ha! I am sitting here wondering what is going on? Wondering if I will float along the next 10 days and then 3 days before we are scheduled to leave suddenly have requests for additional documents. I pray that my paper chase has come to an end...that the judge will be satisfied with everything they already have. Enough is enough! At least it should be.

Visa applications are on their way and will arrive at their destination today before 10:30 CA time...I have everything we need to take (including a plane ticket with Ellie's name on it...how cool is that?) except a prescription for antibiotics for the girlie that I am waiting to hear back from the doc on and I think I will grab some lolly pops and a puzzle for the plane. I have to go get the last big fat whoppin' check from the bank and get it to our agency...watch that step, it's a doozy! And then it is just a matter of putting it all into the suit cases...and packing my kids for their stay at their Nana's house. I'm dreading that the most; packing 3 children for a month away from home...ick!

I haven't heard much from my FC but we will get to have our travel meeting with her before her last day at the agency...so I am happy about that...then we will have our file handed off to one of the other FCs but by then there will not be much more to do besides the post placement reports...only three more years and we will have our lives to ourselves again. *sigh*

Spring Forward: Are you kiddin' me?

I cannot believe that we have to spring forward this weekend! Seriously...Spring forward always knocks me on my behind like I flew to oh, let's just say Russia or something! It takes me a week to get used to the time change...I drag around like a zombie just getting through my days and I have to do this the week before we leave for Moscow (8 hours ahead) and then another few days Kras (4 more hours ahead)...Just enough time to get used to their time and then we fly back to Moscow (4 hours back) and few days later, home (8 more hours back) Are you kidding me?

Got the airline tickets situated yesterday...luckily we got the email that changed our return date from the 15th to the 16th BEFORE we finalized the arrangements! Had to get this done as the agent said the costs of plane tickets is rising about $10-$20/day because of gas prices! Today I am going to work on getting my office organized...it hasn't been cleaned up and organized since I moved my work into it several months back but the nesting is kicking in so I must get it done! I am also going to get over to fed ex and get our visa applications out to CA so we can get on that whole process.

Two families had successful court dates yesterday and are now the proud parents of two handsome little Siberian men. Congrats to the Swingles and the Dinis! My friend Sherri leaves tomorrow to begin her trip to bring her daughter home so please pray for safe travel for her! I will get a chance to finally meet all these people in Moscow and in Kras because our trips overlap. I am so excited about that!

So, today marks 14 days until we fly out!!! Just two more weeks and we are on our way...still hard to believe we are almost there!

Elephantitis

I can hardly believe that my two plus years of being "pregnant" with this child are about to come to an end. I can sympathise with the elephant on a whole new level now and I believe they have received top billing in my heart as my favorite animal. We spent the weekend a little different than you might imagine after getting the good news late Friday afternoon. I, of course, fired off an email to the travel agent to get her working on our flight itinerary. Then, I got our Visa applications filled out and ready for Fed Ex today. But then we just went about life as usual over the weekend. sleepover on Friday night (our house...still tired), baseball game on Saturday, church on Sunday. We did go to Target and get a car seat for the girlie. That was kind of cool. We also bought her an Easter dress:0)

Once back at home, I went through all the stuff I had been stock piling for our trip and I managed to cut out quite a bit of it from having been there just a little more than a week ago...I now know we don't need everything I thought we did. So I have begun the process of packing. Friends have asked what I need to get done before we go and the answer is, not a whole lot...I don't have any paperwork to do, most my packing was already prepped, so I will just concentrate on my kids, getting my office ready for me to be away from it for 30 days, a few things around the house...T minus 15 days until lift off...stay tuned!