Monday, August 06, 2007

She's Back!


I got word that Kristina is back at camp and in the swing of things. It was a great relief to know that she was around people I can communicate with. I had an awful dream about her recently; I think it was stress related though. Ukraine's government just confirmed that PAP's can expect to spend a minimum of 20 additional days in country for passport processing. Sigh. What a hardship that places on families that will be leaving their families, jobs, and responsibilities for such an extended period of time. I am guessing we will have to break the adoption into two trips. That means an extra set of airline tickets and more expense. Elections are scheduled for the end of September in Ukraine and that may shake things up in the system (for good or bad).

So we finally got the apostilles back. I ripped open the envelope planning to immediately repackage them in an international shipping folder and carry them up to FedEx. But instead I found that all of our documents had been unbundled, and only partially apostilled. Surprisingly, Florida doesn't allow for document bundling and each and every paper must have its own apostille. At $10 per apostille, I winced writing out the second check. I carried it back to the post office and resent it to the capital. Hopefully the papers will be back before the end of the week and THEN sent off to Ukraine. LOL! Somehow I keep saying that. With this timeframe and at this rate, it will be too cold to eat our ice cream outside of the SDA, Tami.

5 comments:

Nataliya said...

Leslie, I think it's for the better having separate apostilles for each document - somebody told me the more stamps the better, looks more official for SDA :) The NY apostilles are also $10 each, so I know what you are talking about!

We are also thinking about 2 trips now, but the good news is that the tickets are much-much-much cheaper in the winter, so that shouldn't be that bad (compare to summer prices)

Tami said...

We're thinking about two trips too...at least the tickets will be cheaper.
Don't worry about the ice cream, we can split a thermos of hot chocolate instead. Actually I'd better bring two...with a ton of extra marshmallows! :)

Leslie said...

You see, this is what I love about you guys! Always a bright outlook on things!

Heather said...

I want to thank you for sharing your adoption journey. I came across your blog today via http://alwayswanted4.blogspot.com/ and I was touched by your story. I cried when I saw the video of Kristina at the airport, and then I read through the entire blog, from beginning to end. We are just beginning our adoption journey, but I have already been amazed at the ways in which God has provided for us. I will keep your family in my prayers, and I hope you can bring your daughter home soon!

Jim H. said...

Those apostilles are such a pain! When I was a merchant marine I worked with an old guy whose favorite saying applies here: "Don't worry bout the mule goin blind...just hold the line!"
You're getting close. Hold the line and keep the faith Les!