Vitals: We leave tomorrow at 2:00. Everyone’s too wiped out to be excited…except for Ruslan, who keeps screaming, “AMERICA!” in quiet moments when he perceives we might have forgotten tomorrow’s schedule.
Details: OK, haven’t posted in a while because everything and nothing has been happening all at once. Mostly, we’ve just hung out at home, caught up on school, and wondered what the heck is going on with our paperwork. It’s been foggy and rainy, so we haven’t been out much. Kids are going stir crazy, Bill is on everyone’s last nerve, including his own. (Note to my mother: It's OK Mom. I asked Bill if I could write that and he said, "Sure. It's true.")
We spent last week trying to get a birth certificate, passport and US Consulate appointment for Ruslan. We needed the papers to give to the US Consulate in order to get his US Visa.
I started calling the Consulate on Friday to get an appointment for Tuesday. I got a message machine every time. We contacted another couple, the Lutz’s, who were scheduled to leave the same day as us (but came two weeks after us, mind you). We agreed to let each other know if we got through. So, Monday morning, I started calling the Consulate again and got a machine every time. Then the Lutz’s called. They had an appointment. ...Ok. They got through. I tried again and got a machine. And so it went until late morning when I finally got an appointment for Tuesday at 10am.
We needed to bring Ruslan’s passport, birth certificate and about six other papers to the Consulate. Nadya said she would meet us outside the building with the papers we needed, but we missed her. So, we had nothing. The US Government must be well acquainted with Ukraine, because they went ahead and started processing our paperwork anyway. The Lutz’s arrived a few minutes after us with Ruslan's birth certificate and a few other papers, but no passport. The nice lady behind the counter took them all and said to come back with Ruslan’s passport and medical exam the next day (Wednesday) at 2:00.
On Wednesday morning, Nadya called at 8am to tell us that a cab would be at our place at 8:30 am to take Ruslan to his doctor appointment. Bill took him and sent me this message after about two hours in the doctor’s office:
Nadya went to get the passports and will be here in ten minutes. Doctor's appointment is done but the doctor at the orphanage forgot to sign that they did a syphillus test on Ruslan. Nadya can't get through to the orphanage so they need to draw Ruslan’s blood to do the test. We went down to the testing room but the nurse wouldn't do it without the passport...so here we sit...
Then he sent this one:
The ten minutes is going to be a lot longer...Nadya just called and said that it will be 10-15 minutes before a supervisor will be available to give out the passport and then she is 20-25 minutes away. On a positive note Nadya was able to get the syphillus tests sent here so I don't think we'll need to do the test.
Then this one:
The SDA needs a signature in a book that they forgot to bring out...I told Nadya we could go there after the doctor's appointment on the way to the apartment so I might not get back until this afternoon...worst case we lose contact somehow...if we do I'll meet you at the US Consulate.
In the end, the passports took so long, they didn't leave the doctor's office till 1:20. Bill JUST made it to the Consulate at 2:00, papers and passport in hand. It all went OK for us, but the Lutz’s had a mis-spelling on one of their kids passports. Apparently, the woman at the passport office forgot the “h” in “Thomas.” It would take “between 20 minutes and 24 hours” to do some sort of check and deal with the discrepancy. This was a problem, since their flight out was for 5am the next day. I left with our kids, but Bill stuck it out with them for the bulk of the afternoon. Everyone was on pins and needles. They finally called a little after 5:00, in a cab, with the visa’s and on their way home!
So, our cab should be here tomorrow at 11am. We will spend the morning packing and determining appropriate Benadryl/Melatonin doses for each of our children.
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