All Is Quiet

Dossier has arrived. Was signed for (so says the tracking number information) Oct 8th. Now the great wait. Our facilitator in Kiev will work on translating the many documents. Each individual document has a special piece of paper stapled twice on the left edge that covers the original with the name of the notary that signed it and the approval of the state commissioner. There are about 25 documents. She has her work cut out for her.

I must confess, the very hardest part for me in this journey, is leaving my home for 4+ weeks. I do love to travel and explore but get restless to return to my nest after a couple of weeks. Not sure how I'm going to remedy this discomfort when there is no set return date. So now is the best time to do what I can to prepare as thoroughly as possible for that time. I'm reading other blogs, keeping up on my scant Russian and pestering my Ukrainian adoption buddies for information. (Word on the street is one of my buddies has 15 pages of stuff to bring!) Rolan has switched to Russian instead of Ukrainian language CD's to listen to on his way to work. Hunting for constructive stuff to do while we wait for papers, court dates, etc. Ideas are welcome. I've heard the boredom gets to you. As a last resort, I could bring a suitcase full of books, magazines and yarn to make poor unsuspecting children scarves and afghans. (Actually, that doesn't sound too bad.) I would love to plant fruit trees or a veggie garden with the kids depending on the time of year and the tools available. Something to look into. Anyway, I think the more prepared I am, the more I will look forward to going and actually enjoy the time we are there.

It's really hard to say when we will go. There is a rumor that the 2008 quotas are not met so they are still giving appts even into Dec. February? March? Unknown. New Ukraine law weeded out the international singles and older adopters so the lines aren't as long as in the past. People who have already submitted their documents are getting in sooner than expected. We are on pins and needles watching our buddies bring kids home, get appointment dates and make flight reservations! When will our turn come?

I'm a little twisted but this is fun.

"Houston, We Have Contact!"

When you are waiting for signs of life from the kids you love, it seems like they are on a planet in another solar system.

Here is proof our letter was received!

Thank you AZ!

Dossier Away!

I'm embarrassed to say how long we have been working on this thing. It took extra long and then we had to update almost all of it. ("Excuse me, yes, I know, I'm sorry but this has to be done over again because . . .") But now it is updated and the dates should be good til the end of January. Seems like enough time but my hunch is that we will have to do more updating before this portion of the show is over. Other people aren't getting their papers submitted in less than six months and as special as I think I am, I bet ours will be like that or worse on account of the gov over yonder liking to take January off. That just means we pay moocha mulla to mail more updated documents when January comes and goes. I digress.
So, sniff, it is with hankies waving we bid THE ALMIGHTY DOSSIER godspeed.

On the up side, a good Ukrainian lady that does adoption work is seeing the girls today and sending them our love with a letter.
AND Frontier Horizons is going over at the end of the month. They said they would take the girls a package for us!