The best laid plans ...

Well, there has been a slight change in plans. Actually 2 changes, but the net result is that we are leaving a little earlier and staying over there the entire time - 4 weeks! On the trip going over, we spend a day in Moscow, but this had to be pushed forward a few days. That caused us to not have enough time to get the proper visas to be able to leave Russia for the week in the middle, so we had to get visas that keep us there the entire time. Not a huge deal, just not what we were expecting. There are benefits to doing this, though.

So here is our current itinerary:

Leave Saturday, May 2 at 12:15 pm. Fly through Atlanta to Moscow.

Leave Moscow on Tuesday May 4 for Krasnoyarsk.

Spend time in Krasnoyarsk with an unknown number of trips to the orphanage.

Tuesday May 12 is our court date, where a judge asks us lots of questions until he feels he can allow us to be parents to Baby Boy.

Wednesday May 13 should be the start of the 10 day waiting period. This is when we were going to come home, but we will now stay over there.

Friday May 22, end of the 10 day waiting period and when we should get Baby Boy and he is finally with us! This is referred to as Gotcha Day.

Spend a few more days in Krasnoyarsk getting paperwork and his passport, etc.

Leave Krasnoyarsk Wednesday May 27 for Moscow.

Get his US visa (so he can enter the US as he isn't a US citizen until we land)

Leave Moscow Saturday May 30 to head home.

Arrive in Richmond Saturday night May 30 after a long and interesting trip!

Whew! This is going to be an interesting trip. We'll need to rethink our packing strategy if we aren't coming back in the middle. Although we weren't expecting to stay the entire time, it should be ok. It will give us more time to explore the city and be prepared to get Baby Boy when it is time. We will be updating the blog quite a bit, so it will be busier compared to now.

So hang in there, only 5 weeks (!!!) until we are back. Cross your fingers and hope that the remainder of the paperwork and process goes smoothly. 

It's really real, isn't it?

Well, we got the call today ... we are heading back to Russia in 2 weeks!!! Wow! We weren't really thinking about the call because we only got back just over 6 weeks ago. We weren't expecting to get a call this soon, so it definitely was a surprise. In 5 1/2 weeks we will be back for good ... yikes! So much still left to do and then all the travel and everything.

So, getting myself under control ... we fly out May 6 for Moscow, do a few things there, fly to the region, see Baby Boy, have our court date, then we come home for a week. We then head back after a week, get him and his paperwork and leave the region, head to Moscow for a few days, then we are home on the 30th of May. Crazy, huh?

We haven't completely got his room set up. We weren't trying to get it done too quick so we didn't have the reminder that the room was done an he wasn't here yet. We need to finish the room, get remaining paperwork ready to take with us, prepare for packing, etc., etc. The list goes on and on.

Please continue to keep your fingers crossed that things continue to go well. We are both hoping that things go relatively smoothly, and fortunately we have no reason to expect the rest of the process to be bad. 

Rockin' the mini-van!

Heather and I have entered the world of the mini-van (Toyota Sienna). It's something we had been thinking about since when we were looking at siblings, but even now it will still be good. Much more room than the Honda Civic, more room than the Camry. We traded in the Civic so now have two larger vehicles and still one car payment. It's a bit different from driving the Civic but so far is very nice. Later today I might try and decipher the car seat instructions and test fit it in the mini-van. 

On the adoption front, we are still waiting. Not that things are behind schedule, just that it is tough when there is not set timeframe. Our paperwork is in Russia and I believe has been translated and sent to the region. It is looked over by the regional staff of the agency, then Baby Boy's paperwork is added to it once that is done. The whole mess is then given to the judge, and he or she decides if it looks ok. I'm sorry that we are back in the period of nothing much to update. 

We are going to put away some more of the shower gifts so I an take a few pictures of Baby Boy's room. The wall color is a deep blue that goes with the rain forest theme, but it is still somewhat bright. We are going to do some more decorating but don't want to overwhelm him with stuff in the room.

Now back to waiting.