August 14 2008

Most of our court paper work for the second trip to legally adopt the kids has been completed or set up to be completed. Final prep for the first trip is under way. We received our Russian visas yesterday. I have a Russian speaking doctor from WA familiar with diagnosis of Russian orphan's that will be assisting us by phone and e-mail while there. Alicia Flores has kindly offered to help with the ASL interpreting during our court date. I think I forgot to mention to her the weather there during November. =) Numerous large things now completed (whew!) Can almost catch a breath now. Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinskiy is the name of our final destination while there. For those concerned for our safety while in Russia I wanted to share the letter Jamie the Eastern Europe Regional Manager that is assisting us with the adoption sent today. "I realize that the current political situation overseas has brought with it some concern about adoption processes; therefore, I have chosen to send my weekly email a bit early. " "As events in Russia and Georgia have unfolded over this past week, we know that such political unrest can cause considerable anxiety for families who are waiting to bring a child home, preparing to travel to Russia, or are considering adoption from Russia. Over the past 32 years, WACAP has worked in countries where similar unrest or violence has erupted and in most cases, adoptions have continued to go on despite such conflicts. While the issues are very significant to military or security branches of government, typically such unrest does not specifically impact the branches of the government that manage adoption affairs. Furthermore, WACAP does not work in areas of Russia with close proximity to its border with Georgia; therefore we do not anticipate any travel or processing delays for our families at this time. " In addition we will be taken care of the complete time we are there day and night by Russian salaried WACAP employees. We will have a rep that will be helping us with any legal paper work, a translator (Svetlana), and a personal driver. These people will even accompany us on the over night trip north to see the kids. From what Ive read on numerous blogs Svetlana is the best, sweetest person you could possibly ever hope for in assisting with the adoption process.