Sunday, July 25, 2010

Beautiful Sunday

Well, we are into our 2nd day of 3 days of paperwork log jam. Here is how it works:

Step1 - Get court decree and a notarized letter from the judge
Step2 - Get 2 birth certificates
Step3 - Submit birth certificates to Ukraine State Department for passports
Step4 - Get medicals for both children
Step5 - Submit passport and all supporting documents to the US Embassy
Step6 - Get completed documents from the US embassy
Step7 - Come home

Step1 is complete. We did this on Friday. Step2 is almost done, we obtained 1 birth certificate on Friday. We tried to get the 2nd birth certificate on Saturday, but they were doing weddings all day and they were too busy. We can do nothing on Sunday or Monday. Birth certificate office is closed for 2 days. We start early Tuesday getting 2nd certificate. If we can obtain that early, we can submit papers for passports. Passport photos ARE done, they were done yesterday. The passports will take 3-4 days. This gets us to Thursday or Friday. The US Embassy is closed EVERY last Friday of the month, so even if we did get the passports, we could do nothing until Monday morning. So, I am estimating we will submit all of our papers to the US Embassy on Monday. Tuesday we should get cleared to leave. Wednesday August 4th, we should be on our way home, arriving in Tulsa Aug 4th late with the Heather, Liesel, Joseph and Zoya.

Now, here are some fun photos from today:























Joseph's hang out for just a few more days!






















Zoya... she loves earrings and necklaces. She knows how to put them in ears too!

























Joseph LOVES his new big sis! I know he's going to love HOPE and AVA too! Just don't wear necklaces or earrings around him. He'll pull them off!























My son! Simeon and Jude! You are going to love this guy! He likes to play rough!

John


4 comments:

Charissa said...

Aww...love the one of Joseph looking at Liesel. Or is he looking at her earring? ha.

Hey. Do me a favor and see if you can figure out where Zoya's room is. Can you try to get some photos of her bed, her locker, her eating area, etc. Also, ask Yulia to find a time to translate about the kids' schedules, likes, etc. Pretty please?

Also, can you ask Liesel to try on the shoes and clothes I brought? figure out the right size.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you have it all under control. Best of luck to get through as quickly as possible!

Love all the pictures!

Jan

MoonDog said...

well my birthday is Aug 4 and since I know I wont be flying home with MY kids that day, nothing would make me happier than to see Zoya and Joseph home for my birthday!

the Gower Fam said...

Sounds like you got it pretty well figured out. We are leaving for Kiev Saturday and will be there August 1-4th so maybe we can see you all and your kiddos!!! That would be awesome!