Final Days

Friday, William and I wake up late to a phone call from our advocate. It's 9:10 and he's sending a driver over at 10:00 to take us all to the Embassy. The Embassy has verbal notice of our amendment, but it hasn't been added to their "cable network" for viewing yet. They have decided, however, to go ahead and interview us and process our paperwork. Then, hoping the amendment is available before the end of the work day, they will add the Visa's for the children for us to pick up and we can be on our way. We quickly ate and got dressed in order to be ready for the driver's arrival.

At the Embassy, we processed through security with our passports and paperwork (everything else we left at home or in the car...camera, cell phones, etc.) We payed our fees, completed all the necessary forms (most I had pre-filled out), and answered a few questions. I wasn't expecting them to ask total cost of our adoption (including airline) or what various agencies we had worked with. But, I gave a best estimate of cost and listed all the different agencies. At first this part gave me pause. So many times we had been cautioned not to mention this or that. But the kids were already ours and this was US business.

We then were directed to the "interview" window, where we swore that all the information in the documents was true and complete. The papers were signed off and then we left. The embassy kept the children's passports in case the amendment came through. They would attach the Visa's and call us to come pick them up. We were done until then. Back to the apartment.

At the apartment, we srounged up some lunch - leftovers and more pasta. Then we waited. Wanting to be optomistic, I started sorting through all our stuff and packing. The kids watched more TV.

About 4:00 pm we got the call! The Visa's were ready!!! William rushed out the door to get to the Embassy before they closed. The kids and I made a quick trip to the market for frozen veggies and meat filled tortellini type pasta for dinner and we (I) packed. William returned with the Visa's and sealed envelopes of papers that we would present at immigration in the USA. Misha cooked the dinner, we showered and went to bed. We would be up about 2:00 am to make our 5:25 am flight home. This is the same flight schedule that we had taken a week prior.



2:45 am Saturday morning (4:45 pm Friday in California) we were on the road. We were leaving with half the luggage that we had brought with us (the rest being donations/gifts) and 2 more people. It was a short line at the ticket window, but a LONG line at customs. By the time we got through customs and to our gate, we only had about 15 minutes before we loaded the plane for our flight to Frankfort. In Frankfort, we took over a large section of the waiting area for our 6 hour layover. DVD's, skipping contest, chasing Misha, and cards were on the entertainment schedule. I tried to take a nap when we first got there, but Anna kept coming over and petting my head until I acknowledged her.

The seats we were assigned for the 11 hour flight to SFO were really horrible. On the 747, there are 3 seats on each side and 4 in the center. Two of ours were window and middle, and two were about 4 rows back in the middle of the center section. William was able to change these somewhat. We were closer together with 2 windows (one in front of the other) and an aisle & middle in the center section only 1 row apart. Not ideal, but doable. We were going to try and see if William could trade with someone so he and Misha could sit together, but the other 2 seats in both his and Misha's rows were taken by couples. The couples were friends and wanted to sit near each other. Oh well. It was very sweet how one of the women kept trying to figure out a way so we could sit together. She finally offered to trade with Anna and me. This worked out perfectly. They still got an aisle & middle seat and were near their friends. Anna and I sat with William and Misha was right behind us.

How do you entertain a 5 year old on an 11 hour flight? Coloring and her Barbie would only last so long and the computer only carried a few hours of battery time. Luckily Anna fell asleep before we even took off. She slept for about 3 hours, roused enough to eat a roll, and then slept for another hour. When she woke up, she played with her Barbie, drank juice, took a potty break, brushed teeth, and then decided to go back to sleep. This time she decided to really get comfortable. Shoes came off, pillows on mom's lap, feet stretched out over Dad's legs, blanket tucked in, and she was out...for the rest of the flight. Waking her to disembark took some doing. No one else in the family slept. Oh to be so young and be able to sleep anywhere!