Mission Accomplished!

Today was a good day. We have been looking forward to going to the Embassy for the past several days. I woke up too early because I was wound up knowing we would be getting Alexander’s visa today. It is the last of the paper chase that we will have to do. I got the boys up a little after seven because Ira wanted us ready to leave by 8:40am. We quickly ate breakfast and finished getting ready. Ira wanted to make sure we had our ducks in a row and for them to move quickly. So she sent the Babushka and Jacob to the Embassy with another translator to turn in our remaining paper work, and then the Embassy could start on the visa. While Alex, Ira and myself went to the Medical Center to get his physical. Ira could not find a taxi that would be inexpensive for as long as we would need, so she rented a mini suburban and asked her husband to drive us around. This was very nice of him to take off work to help us. The Medical Center is staffed with Ukrainian people who work for the Embassy. Normally the hall way is filled with many people to get their physical, so they can get their visa to go to America. This is done for any Ukrainians or adoptive families. We found out that immigration visas were not being processed until middle January and only adoptive families were being issued visas. That is why the hall was fairly empty. There were some Ukrainians just getting their physicals today. After awhile five other adoptive families came in. It was really nice to hear other Americans talking. The doctor was very nice and it only took about 15 minutes. They prepared their report and then we had to wait till the cashier got in. We waited for over an hour then come to find out she was having computer trouble. She showed up with the computer and Ira made sure I was first in line. We then ran to the car because we had to get to the Embassy, which were a few miles away, before 12:00pm. We did make in time. I have been wondering what the Embassy would look like. I expected an flag waving in front of a large building. But that wasn’t the case. There was a sign in Ukrainian and English but not a huge sign. There were several security guards around as well. We walked into an unimpressive building. Maybe there is a reason for that. There were two buildings. The first building was the security check. No electronic devices were allowed beyond that point. We showed our passports and then were wand scan all around. Jacob and Alex thought that was cool. Then we walked outside and across a short distance to another building. In the building there were two sets of thick glass security doors with another security guard. We felt like we were in a vault. The Embassy workers were behind glass windows like the drive thru at a bank. I had to fill out a couple more papers. The lady said that the interviews with the consulate would be at 2:00pm. I had two hungry and wiggly boys and I knew we needed to eat soon and we had about 1 1/2 hours till 2:00pm. Ira’s husband said there was a McDonalds close by and that sound good for the boys. We were back at the Embassy by 2:00 pm. The consulate was there and talked to all of the adoptive parents at one time. Then he said he would do individual interviews. The interview lasted all of five minutes. He said we would get the visa in about 20 minutes. Boy those minutes flew by. They were calling my name and we had the visa by 3:30 p.m. Woo Hoo!!! What a relief it was. It took us a while to get back to the apartment because of all the traffic. It was as bad as Atlanta traffic. Well -that is all for now as and my grandmother “Mama Love” would always tease me and say that is a pretty deep subject.