Just wanted to give a quick bloggie update! We got started on our final paperwork yesterday, but it ended up being a very short day because the very first thing we went for, the court decree, had a lot of mistakes. So of course, that took until almost 4pm to fix, then there was little time for anything else.
We did end up driving out to Masha's place of birth, Sakee, which is a cute and small little town about 45 minutes away. There we got her birth certificate officially changed to reflect her new name-- Charlotte Rose Rowe! Charlotte is a name Tim and I, and our children, all liked. Nice and southern :) And it also is a reflection of his middle name, Charles. Rose is for my maternal grandmother who has since passed away many years ago, but whom I loved very much.
Today we set off very early, 8:30, but of course as things go here, our first stop was not completed until almost noon. Ah well, it is Ukraine time after all. Very little work done very slowly. Even the citizens will tell you so.
That piece of paperwork was for Kostya's birth certificate-- he is now officially Atticus Grant Rowe! Atticus was chosen for the main character Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird. It is one of my all time favorite novels, and I always loved Atticus Finch because of his immense character, great morals, insight and intelligence. Grant was a name that Tim had really liked, so we chose that because we just both really like the name, and it sounds great with Atticus!
After the birth certificate was done, it was on to make copies, then get new tax id numbers-- kind of like our social security numbers here, then to the notary, then to the baby house to get the lawyer there to give us the papers we needed to close out Atticus's bank account.
Well she said she would be there till 3, we got there before 1, she was no where to be found. Sasha, our facilitator, called her. Nope, she wouldn't be back in and she was not coming for us. Oh boy. What one person and their selfishness can do to derail an entire day!!
Well very long story short, we went to the bank and closed out Charlotte's account, Serge ended up calling the lawyer, she later agreed to bring the necessary paper to the bank, and we went about our other business of getting passports done for the children.
That was the FUN part, because for the first time my two babies got to meet each other!! Charlotte, in her typical style, was yelling "Mama!" before she even got in the door, so I heard her coming a mile away! Our driver's son had been sent to her institution to get her and bring her here to the passport office, and we were already there waiting. Well, she saw Atticus in my arms when she came in, and my her eyes got HUGE! She smiled at him and patted his arm and smiled some more when I told her this was her "bratya". Oh how I hope they will be friends :) I can already see that we will have to watch her with him. She is actually smaller than he is believe it or not, but she has a tendency to hit a lot, and he is very sweet and quiet, so I don't want him getting beat up on as soon as he gets home!!
It was awesome seeing them both in the same place together for the first time. I should have taken a picture, but of course I didn't even think about it. We had done so much running around and waiting all day, it didn't even cross my mind. Oh well. They are both very close in size though, might even wear the same size clothing. He has a bit more meat on his bones even than she does, her little legs are like toothpicks!
So we got all that done, got their pictures for the passports, then headed back to drop him off at the babyhouse, Charlotte went back to the institution with her nanny, and then we went back to the bank to finish Atticus's stuff since we finally had that paper from the lawyer.
Well that is when the fun began! The people at the bank tried to tell us they were closed. Oh my goodness, come on people! You knew we were coming back. And it was 3:30 for heaven sake!!! But tomorrow is Victory Day, a big holiday here, and they wanted to cut out early.
Well long story short, after much begging, pleading, crying, and begging some more, Sasha got the ladies at the bank to agree to do the paperwork so she wouldn't have to come back again by train on Thursday, poor thing. I don't blame her! That is a really long ride to go home tonight and have to turn around and come back again tomorrow night! Ridiculous.
So, it is done. Stressful day, but done. Glad for our wonderful facilitator and her drive to make it all happen. She really hustled her tiny hiney today for us and we are grateful!!
Got such a nice compliment from her tonight at dinner too, actually a few of them. She complimented Schuyler on how mature, intelligent and well mannered she is. That IS why I brought her after all! ;) She said that in her many years of doing this she has seen many spoiled American children. I bet. I see them all the time too! Glad our daughter is being the example we strive to have her to be-- a Christian young lady who isn't spoiled by STUFF but rather has some good character.
She also complimented me on being stylish, which is a HUGE compliment coming from a Ukrainian woman!! The fact that I am a mom of 6, now 8, and not haggard and dowdy looking really made an impression on her ;) Glad to know I still look stylish even with a big family. Though those bags under my eyes and wrinkles on my forehead from frowning or worry are growing....... ;)
I tried to explain to her that we love our large family, that we have chosen to do this and adopt, and our children are a blessing, they make us happy. She knows women here who have many children and do not feel this way. Perhaps they didn't have a choice in the amount of children they had, or their poverty causes them to look upon their kids as a burden. Either way, it was nice to be able to set a bit of an example to her that moms of large families can still have that "twinkle" in their eye as she called it, and be quite happy and content in their state in life.
So all in all, despite some setbacks and stress, it was a good and productive day! Now all we have to do is wait for the passports to be ready, hopefully next Tuesday, then it is off to Kiev that night by train after we pick up our children!! That will be the most exciting day of all-- being able to walk out of that institution, and the babyhouse, with our children in tow, never to look back and never to be without a family again!
Cannot wait!!!!!!!
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