Our story continued.......part IV

Once I arrived in Moscow - after the long and exhausting plane ride - my initial adventure began.

I was met by a driver who I thought spoke English, but didn't.  He knew a few words - enough to ask all the important questions, but as we drove it was frustrating because I had lots of questions, and he had no answers. 

We drove to the Slavinskaya Hotel (Radison) where I met our adoption coordinator, Sonya.  The first words out of her mouth to me were "I sure am glad I called home today - I had NO idea you were coming...."

I wanted to scream - her secretary had told me to travel...... I had not just decided to get on a plane and travel thousands of miles to a foreign country without her authorization....

After some discussion, I learned that everything I had been told regarding our adoption was NOT true.  Joe and I thought that we had received final approval to adopt our boys, and we thought I would be in Russia for approximately 2 weeks.... just long enough to finalize everything at the United States Embassy...

What I learned upon my arrival was quite different from what we had been told in the US in the days before I left.....

We did NOT have approval to adopt our boys, Sonya had no idea if or when that approval would come, and she also had no idea how long I would need to be in Russia.

I was so upset!  I spent that first night in Russia trying to figure out what I was going to do .... I was angry, I was confused, I was scared, and I was worried. 

The next day I fired Sonya - I hired the translator who was working for her at twice what Sonya had been paying her, and the fun began........

For the next 6 almost seven weeks I worked thru the bureaucracy of the Russian government to complete my adoptions....learning the adoption process as we went.....

In the early 90s the adoption process in Russia was completed based on a notarial process - you presented your adoption dossier to various agencies - they reviewed them - they approved them, and once you had all the departments permission and signatures the adoption was finalized.  The final step for adoption was getting the Mayor of Moscow to sign the paperwork - you can only imagine how difficult that was......

Eventually, we, Alla and I, were successful in completing Alex and Max's adoptions, and I returned home with them.

The process was grueling, but I learned a lot.  I have many funny stories from that trip - and I am so glad that I stuck it out....  we adopted two beautiful boys - who we love with all our hearts....

more to  come......