Received the US Visas for Kids Today - Headed Home!

Yesterday we had the Doctor's appointment in the morning. She gave both children a clean bill of health. Due to Mari's age, 11, she had to received a Hep. B shot (which I felt bad about because I had assured her that she would not need any shots). Mari was a trooper! Both of the children's blood work came back fine also - thank Heaven. Mari was tired and kind of out of it the rest of the afternoon. I don't know if it was the shot, nerves at leaving here, or the excitement of returning to Colorado (or some combination). She asked "no returning Gorodnya" and I told her "no, maybe someday". I think it is sinking in. She has been a sweetheart with translating Misha's needs to us, translating to Misha what we need of him, and helping to get him down for naps and for the night. I hate asking her to take on this "mother" role when I need to impress upon her and Misha that I am the Mother now, but I am guilty of taking the path of least resistance and will work on communicating one-on-one with Misha when I get home.

With our medical paperwork in hand, we headed to the US Embassy yesterday afternoon. It felt a little wierd blowing past the people in line outside - but that is what we were instructed to do by the guard outside after he saw our passports. I held our passports out so that the Ukrainian's in line could see that they were dark blue American passports and they didn't try to lynch us for butting in line. Luckily, I had read Stefanie Krebs' blog and knew that we weren't allowed to take anything into the Embassy except paperwork, passports, $400 cash USD per child (bring extra in case you paperwork is not complete and you need to beg for copies at $1 per page), and in our case because it was a cold day, our coats.

Unfortunately, I did not know to print out the paperwork in advance (before leaving Colorado as we did not have a printer here), available on-line at http://kiev.usembassy.gov/amcit_adoptions_eng.html The forms are also available at the Embassy. It took over an hour to complete just the forms. Completed samples are on the wall if you have any questions. A set of forms will need to be completed for each child as the Embassy will generate a file for each child. The forms include an I-864W (rev. 01/15/06), an I-600 (rev. 11/28/01), an Exemption from Immigration Vaccination Requirements, and a DS-230 Part I and Part II. We only had one copy of the Adoption Decree, so we pleaded with Natasha to make a photocopy. She came back and said it would be $1 per page. We were thankful to have this resolved for $8. Time in the Embassy, read as your child(ren) would be happier somewhere else, would be significantly reduced if you complete the paperwork in advance.

As I was ten minutes into happily completing forms, and John was keeping Misha from dismantling the Embassy (hah, they thought bulletproof glass would keep them safe), Natasha behind the window asked if we knew that our 171-H was for 2 children in the 6-10 year old age range. Althought Frontier Horizon had Mari listed as 9, Mari is 11. The Dossier was submitted before we had met Mari on her hosting trip. We had a long conversation/argument about Mari being just 4 months into her 11th year. Natasha did not care about this technicality, just that Mari was 11. Natasha left us to see how to proceed. I was no longer happily filling out forms, but had a pit in my stomach and could barely concentrate. Great, to get through this whole process, to Ukraine the kids are ours, and to have it hinge on a piece of paper generated by our Government!

If you are in process with competing documents for your Dossier, I would recommend
a.) having your Social Worker, and your employer in the employment letter, downplay your salary as it is open to all to see in the various proceedings and thus an assessment point for how much money you will be asked to forfeit for "expediting fees", and b.) have your Social Worker list the age of child(ren) that you would like to adopt at as wide of range as possible (keeping in mind that there can not be more than 45 years difference in age between the child and either parent, and that there must be 15 years difference between the age of the child and either parent).

Natasha reviewed the rest of our completed paperwork and told us that we would have to discuss the issue concerning Mari's age with the Consular Officer in the morning. We were hoping the Officer would be American and would listen to reason and would wave this technicality. John asks if I can cry if I need to. Trust me, if the Officer says "no" to the Visas, I won't be pretend crying. We should have caught this, we didn't, our Facilitator should have caught this, he didn't. A restless night of sleep. We want to go home desperately, we miss Duncan so, so much!

Allyson offered to pray with us this morning, which we did, and we faced the day ahead covered in God's Armour. We arrived at the Embassy for our 10 am appointment at 9:30. We checked in and went to wait in the Waiting Room, with toys and kid's books and near the Cashier's Window, and were called at 10:05. After 20-25 minutes of being processed we were asked to wait 30 minutes while the Visas would be prepared. No mention of Mari's age at all. We didn't bring it up either.

After receiving our sealed packets of paperwork and the 2 Ukrainian passports with US Visas, we headed to TGI Fridays for a Celebration Lunch with Christina. A cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke - WITH ICE. How much more American can you get?

We are looking forward to being home, but dreading the flight and the 5 hour layover in Warsaw tomorrow. We worry about Misha on the plane and keeping him occupied. He exhibits the typical orphan behavior of no respect for other's property, hitting, kicking, and is a child in need of boundaries and guidance. Hopefully the person sitting in front of him on the flight will be patient and understanding if he kicks the back of the seat. Please pray for us on the flight home, for our safety, for our sanity, and for Misha to relax and sleep.

I will blog when I get home as I have a whirlwind tour of Kyiv to post. Kyiv is 1500+ year old beautiful, bustling, growing city of 5-7M people and a young democracy. It will be interesting to see how the country changes from this visit to our Heritage Trip visit planned several years down the road when Misha is old enough to appreciate seeing his country and learning about his heritage.

Thank you for all of the comments and e-mails. They have kept us going and we looked forward to reading them whenever we could! Hugs to everyone! We will see everyone in Colorado and Dunc buddy, we will give you one BIG KISS (and lots of little kisses)!