As we're nearing Josh's sixth birthday I can't help but think about five years ago when Chris and I were in Russia for our first visit with the boys. During our trip our agency http://www.eaci.com took very good care of us and at the same time the people there have ALOT of control over how things are executed each time you're traveling.
I'm not sure if things are still the same but at the time the Ministry of Education had custody of them and you had to comply with how they wanted things filled out with every t crossed and every i dotted in an acceptable way. The agency was a big help with letting us know what to do and what to expect from the experience. It all took lots of time to gather everything from our birth certificates and marriage licenses to forms that you fill out and then have apostilled, - it's a kind of internationally-recognized notarization - since we lived in Maryland I had to drive to Annapolis to get the physical stamps on the pages - at $10.00 a page!!!. So we had to compile it all - It was like working on the most serious graded paper you'll ever do since it's so important and I always had the ultimate goal in the back of my mind while doing this. As it turns out the "Ministry of Magic" as WE came to call them - has the option to back out of the deal for any reason and without explanation if it wasn't all lined up correctly.
Not only was there that paper work maze to get through but there was also after- adoption stuff to do. From what I understand some parents who went before us didn't think this stuff important and it made it more urgent for us to get it done. The reason was to justify why we have these kids and illustrate to the Russians how they're thriving here. While we were in Russia in July, 2004 it was hard to imagine getting through the three years of follow up updates and now it's hard to remember it. Again the agency set us up with basic forms to fill in each month - we've got copies of them - something like this that the kids can look back on later in life. Wow the time flies!!
Exactly five years ago we met Josh just days before his first birthday so at the time Dima was 32 months old - in the orphanage Josh kept trying to get out the door in his lope / crawl. Dima was goofing around with our video camera and crayons and to our relief - we'd been told by an International Adoption Specialist (another story) to look out for speech- he whispered to two tiny stuffed dogs we brought along, Josh actually repeated a "Hallo" from me. I realize now that they both must have been really tired since we had them with us for something like four hours and they were then really off schedule from what they usually did. Then in September, 2004 when we left Russia I took their basic schedule and only modified it a bit and to this day it's the basis of our days.
During our first trip to Russia we built in several extra days to stay in St. Petersburg - I'm glad we did, since Chris and I are both pretty well - traveled we appreciated the architecture and the beauty and the history of the city as well as the great food and the Alaska - like nights (where we went on our honeymoon). Obviously everything changes with kids and we haven't had another trip like that one since.
We left Russia the first time on July 23rd - one day after Josh turned one. It was tough coming back without them - but at the same time you don't want to get too emotionally invested until it's all over since things can change at a moment's notice with the enactment of a new law over there. Until we got back to Dulles with them I felt like it was all a dream and now most of it does too since it all sped by so fast.
Now more than ever I wonder about their mothers and siblings... where are they how often do they think of them - and Where would we be and what would Alexi - we changed his name - and Dmitry be doing right now had our paperwork not hit the desk at the Ministry of Education at just that moment that theirs did to set this all in motion.
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