We got "the call" on Thursday 9/24 ...WE HAVE A COURT DATE!!!
We will leaving for Russia mid October and it looks like we will go to court on October 29th!!!! We will have to wait out the 10 day period in Ekaterinburgh and then on the 10th day we pick up the boys at the baby home and fly to Moscow for citizenship and immigration!!! We are hoping to be coming home on or around November 14th!!!
We are ready ... I'm sure the boys are ready ... the end is in sight!!!
We'll be there soon Roman and Max to bring you home FOREVER!!!!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
The Amazing Race
It seems like the last week and a half has been a race to complete paperwork and the final push was on Friday! We pretty much had collected all our paperwork and just needed to pick up our state verification letters in Albany, get them county sealed and then everything could be apostilled by the state secretary ... doesn't seem to hard right ... well that part was relatively easy ... it was the mad race to BOSTON after I finished in Albany that got a little crazy and a little stressful!!! I think I logged 500 miles or so on the Saturn just on Friday!!
I started by leaving our house in Newburgh at 8am to venture to Albany .. this was the easy part ... all the paperwork was collected, sealed and stamped by 11am!!! For about 2 seconds I considered a shopping trip to LL Bean (I was in the area afterall) but decided to just head to Massachusetts ... just in case!
On my way out of New York, I heard from the office in Boston who was sending the state verification letters for our 2 Social Workers... "we sent those letters out on August 28th ... yes, we sent them directly to WHFC... no, we couldn't send them via Fed Ex ... but still regular mail and a week later they should be there"! WHFC has no idea where these letters are .. they don't have them ... or at least that's why they say!! Really ... does the US Postal service lose mail often???
Anyway, since we need these letters I figured it would be better to be safe than sorry so I called the office in Boston and asked if it would be possible to get TWO new verification letters for the social workers .. I'll pay for them again if need be ... I decide to drive to Boston on the Friday before Labor Day (thank you Mom for being the co-pilot)...we make our way down to Causeway Street ... for those of you in Massachusetts ... the office we needed to go to was just across from THE GARDEN .. you know where the Celtics play! Have you ever tried to park down there ... oh yeah.. right ... we did find a parking garage and just left the car ... got the 2 letters (THANK YOU TOM!!!) and then took the T (subway to the New Yorkers) and went over by the State House to the office that does the apostilles! My Mom called while I was driving from New York to get there hours and how many documents you can walk in with!!! The magic number is 3 so thankfully I had only 2!!! We got there and just for a second ... the woman behind the counter didn't like how the letters had been notarized... I started to say "ARE YOU KIDDING ME" but she changed her mind and said ..."ah close enough" ... THANK YOU.. THANK YOU .. THANK YOU is all I could say!! We left the building hopped back on the T .. found the ticket for the parking garage and then we were headed out of Boston at 4pm!!!
It was a crazy day .. oh and I forgot to mention how I dribbled iced coffee down my white t-shrit and had to change in the Blackstone Valley Mall parking lot ... but the short is WE MADE IT ... the paperwork has ALL BEEN COLLECTED and will arrive at WHFC bright and early on Tuesday morning and then it's off to Russia and hopefully we will have a court date soon!!!
I started by leaving our house in Newburgh at 8am to venture to Albany .. this was the easy part ... all the paperwork was collected, sealed and stamped by 11am!!! For about 2 seconds I considered a shopping trip to LL Bean (I was in the area afterall) but decided to just head to Massachusetts ... just in case!
On my way out of New York, I heard from the office in Boston who was sending the state verification letters for our 2 Social Workers... "we sent those letters out on August 28th ... yes, we sent them directly to WHFC... no, we couldn't send them via Fed Ex ... but still regular mail and a week later they should be there"! WHFC has no idea where these letters are .. they don't have them ... or at least that's why they say!! Really ... does the US Postal service lose mail often???
Anyway, since we need these letters I figured it would be better to be safe than sorry so I called the office in Boston and asked if it would be possible to get TWO new verification letters for the social workers .. I'll pay for them again if need be ... I decide to drive to Boston on the Friday before Labor Day (thank you Mom for being the co-pilot)...we make our way down to Causeway Street ... for those of you in Massachusetts ... the office we needed to go to was just across from THE GARDEN .. you know where the Celtics play! Have you ever tried to park down there ... oh yeah.. right ... we did find a parking garage and just left the car ... got the 2 letters (THANK YOU TOM!!!) and then took the T (subway to the New Yorkers) and went over by the State House to the office that does the apostilles! My Mom called while I was driving from New York to get there hours and how many documents you can walk in with!!! The magic number is 3 so thankfully I had only 2!!! We got there and just for a second ... the woman behind the counter didn't like how the letters had been notarized... I started to say "ARE YOU KIDDING ME" but she changed her mind and said ..."ah close enough" ... THANK YOU.. THANK YOU .. THANK YOU is all I could say!! We left the building hopped back on the T .. found the ticket for the parking garage and then we were headed out of Boston at 4pm!!!
It was a crazy day .. oh and I forgot to mention how I dribbled iced coffee down my white t-shrit and had to change in the Blackstone Valley Mall parking lot ... but the short is WE MADE IT ... the paperwork has ALL BEEN COLLECTED and will arrive at WHFC bright and early on Tuesday morning and then it's off to Russia and hopefully we will have a court date soon!!!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Month 5 letter
Roman and Max:
Today marks 5 days since we left Russia and came home to wait for the phone call that would tell us we were coming back to bring you home with us! The last month has been pretty busy with parties celebrating your hopefully soon arrival home, saying good-bye to Tyson and welcoming our new dog "Happy" into the family.
The most important thing was the phone call from Jennifer (she's our new caseworker)to tell us the judge had reviewed our paperwork and wanted 8 items updated. Papa and I have been running around like crazy over the last week trying to get everything collected and then appropriately stamped so we can get it all to WHFC by Friday, September 4th so we can make the judges deadline of having it in Russia by Friday, September 18th!!! Looks like we are going to make it and hopefully the next phone call will be a court date in Russia!!!
Svetlana has been great and sent us some updated pictures in August ... you both look great and so very happy. Max... the picture of you has you snuggling with a stuff bear ... we hope you like stuffys because there are a ton in your room waiting to play with you!!! Roman... the pictures of you are outside on a play set ... you may just be another outdoors man like your Papa and we have a slide and swing set just waiting for you to play on!!!
We can't wait to see you again soon and get ready to bring you home to meet your dogs ..Lucy and Happy and all the family who is so anxiously waiting to hug, kiss and love you to death!!!
Love,
Mama and Papa
Today marks 5 days since we left Russia and came home to wait for the phone call that would tell us we were coming back to bring you home with us! The last month has been pretty busy with parties celebrating your hopefully soon arrival home, saying good-bye to Tyson and welcoming our new dog "Happy" into the family.
The most important thing was the phone call from Jennifer (she's our new caseworker)to tell us the judge had reviewed our paperwork and wanted 8 items updated. Papa and I have been running around like crazy over the last week trying to get everything collected and then appropriately stamped so we can get it all to WHFC by Friday, September 4th so we can make the judges deadline of having it in Russia by Friday, September 18th!!! Looks like we are going to make it and hopefully the next phone call will be a court date in Russia!!!
Svetlana has been great and sent us some updated pictures in August ... you both look great and so very happy. Max... the picture of you has you snuggling with a stuff bear ... we hope you like stuffys because there are a ton in your room waiting to play with you!!! Roman... the pictures of you are outside on a play set ... you may just be another outdoors man like your Papa and we have a slide and swing set just waiting for you to play on!!!
We can't wait to see you again soon and get ready to bring you home to meet your dogs ..Lucy and Happy and all the family who is so anxiously waiting to hug, kiss and love you to death!!!
Love,
Mama and Papa
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