Showing posts with label Astrakhan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Astrakhan. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Documents
We had some unforseen delays getting all of my documents out of Astrakhan. I received word last night that we got my documents back. That's a good thing! I'll speak to CHI again soon about the options available to me and then I'll have some decisions to make about what happens next.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Update
I recently found out that I won’t be able to go back to Astrakhan. The little man I leave behind will remain in my heart forever.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Documents Submitted to Court
This past week my documents were submitted to the court in Astrakhan again. Now a judge needs to be assigned to my case. Once the judge is assigned, my documents will be reviewed by the judge and we'll see what happens next. This next step should take about two weeks or so.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
My Documents Are Done!!!
Yesterday I picked up the last document (I hope) I will need for court. Today I went into Manhattan with all of the St. Patty's Day revelers (I'll bet they had more fun than me) and got all of the necessary signatures, stamps, seals, copies, etc. on my documents. Then it was off to the post office and they were over-nighted to St. Louis. CHI will review them and send them to Russia on Friday. Once they arrive in Russia they will be translated, stamped, sealed, etc. and submitted to the court in Astrakhan.
I have been preparing adoption documents for over four years now. To say that I think I have completed my pre-adoption documents is HUGE! Thanks to all who very willingly assisted me in this process, doctors, accountants, social workers, family and friends. A special thanks to those of you who have been listening to me about these documents, encouraging me to continue to push through them and covering for me while I had to run out to get a document, a signature, a stamp, a seal, etc. I could not have completed this task without you.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all, I'm hoping I have the luck of the Irish as I continue through this process. Take care, Chris
I have been preparing adoption documents for over four years now. To say that I think I have completed my pre-adoption documents is HUGE! Thanks to all who very willingly assisted me in this process, doctors, accountants, social workers, family and friends. A special thanks to those of you who have been listening to me about these documents, encouraging me to continue to push through them and covering for me while I had to run out to get a document, a signature, a stamp, a seal, etc. I could not have completed this task without you.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all, I'm hoping I have the luck of the Irish as I continue through this process. Take care, Chris
Monday, February 15, 2010
Big Day Today 2
February 15, 2010 8:26 PM
This morning I realized that my blog posts were being posted in Eastern Standard Time, instead of the actual date and time I am posting. I believe this is beacuse my blog was originally created in the Eastern time zone. If any of you fellow bloogers can let me know how to post in the time zone I'm in without having to schedule my posts eight hours in advance, please let me know. I put the correct time on the computer today thinking the blog posts would actually be in real time, but they are still posting in EST. I'm going to put the date and time of each post on each entry until I figure this out.
Anyway, today was a busy day; I had an early morning pickup to go for my ’interview’ at the Ministry of Social Welfare. The interview was very fast; it consisted of a review of my referral, a question about whether or not I would like to meet him and the signing and notarizing of some documents. Then it was off to the orphanage to review all of his documents and hear about his medical and social history. From there I went to see him. I had two visits with him today, he responded to me the way he should have when we first met, he cried (keep the wise cracks to yourselves). The second visit went better than the first; he warmed up quite a bit and was much more responsive. I’m hoping he progresses with each visit. I’ll see him two more times tomorrow and Wednesday then I will have to make my official decision by Thursday.
My room was changed today, I’m in a new room where I can actually walk without having to turn sideways, again, keep the wise cracks to yourselves. I just had dinner with Jennifer and Michael and I’m going to try to get some sleep tonight, I haven’t slept at all since I started this trip. Thanks for following along, Chris
This morning I realized that my blog posts were being posted in Eastern Standard Time, instead of the actual date and time I am posting. I believe this is beacuse my blog was originally created in the Eastern time zone. If any of you fellow bloogers can let me know how to post in the time zone I'm in without having to schedule my posts eight hours in advance, please let me know. I put the correct time on the computer today thinking the blog posts would actually be in real time, but they are still posting in EST. I'm going to put the date and time of each post on each entry until I figure this out.
Anyway, today was a busy day; I had an early morning pickup to go for my ’interview’ at the Ministry of Social Welfare. The interview was very fast; it consisted of a review of my referral, a question about whether or not I would like to meet him and the signing and notarizing of some documents. Then it was off to the orphanage to review all of his documents and hear about his medical and social history. From there I went to see him. I had two visits with him today, he responded to me the way he should have when we first met, he cried (keep the wise cracks to yourselves). The second visit went better than the first; he warmed up quite a bit and was much more responsive. I’m hoping he progresses with each visit. I’ll see him two more times tomorrow and Wednesday then I will have to make my official decision by Thursday.
My room was changed today, I’m in a new room where I can actually walk without having to turn sideways, again, keep the wise cracks to yourselves. I just had dinner with Jennifer and Michael and I’m going to try to get some sleep tonight, I haven’t slept at all since I started this trip. Thanks for following along, Chris
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Big Day Today
Well today’s the day I have been waiting for. I get picked up at 8:10 AM and it’s off to the Ministry of Education for my interview, to paraphrase the Beatles, ‘hopefully I passed the audition’ and they let me into the baby house to meet my boy.
Last night I met the other CHI couple that is adopting from Astrakhan now and is staying here at the Azimut, Michael and Jennifer. They are very nice people. They are on their court trip for siblings, a 4 year old girl and a 3 year old boy that they are adopting. They have an adopted 5 year old son, Daniel at home. They told me how their interview went and what I may be able to expect today.
I’m hoping today goes smoother than the previous few days, I think it has to! I appreciate all of your prayers, good wishes and posts to my blog. Hearing from people at home is a great comfort.
It's 6:20 AM on 2/15/10 in Astrakhan now, I’ll post again later, wish me luck! Chris
Last night I met the other CHI couple that is adopting from Astrakhan now and is staying here at the Azimut, Michael and Jennifer. They are very nice people. They are on their court trip for siblings, a 4 year old girl and a 3 year old boy that they are adopting. They have an adopted 5 year old son, Daniel at home. They told me how their interview went and what I may be able to expect today.
I’m hoping today goes smoother than the previous few days, I think it has to! I appreciate all of your prayers, good wishes and posts to my blog. Hearing from people at home is a great comfort.
It's 6:20 AM on 2/15/10 in Astrakhan now, I’ll post again later, wish me luck! Chris
Astrakhan Against The Odds
This morning I decided not to go to Red Square, it was snowing pretty hard and I didn’t want to take that long walk in the snow so I stayed at the hotel and did some things to prepare for tomorrow. I’ll see Red Square on my next trip.
At 2 PM my translator and driver showed up to take me to the airport as planned. When we got to the airport things began to change. Go with the flow, expect the unexpected, all things that are said repeatedly by adoptive families traveling all over the world to bring their children home. Well today’s trip to Astrakhan was just another example of expect the unexpected and maybe a little bit of just how much can you take? I checked in and my translator left me at the security gate. As I was going through a young officer came over and took my passport. He then started asking me several questions about where I was going and why and announced that my visa was wrong and that I could not fly on a tourist visa. I was able to fly on this visa from the US to Moscow, but apparently I can’t fly domestically within Russia on a tourist visa, it’s so much easier in the US, no visas to cross state lines, maybe it’s something we should think about, we could keep all those New Yorker’s out of Florida. Of course I have no way of knowing how to solve this but my translator has been well trained. Unbeknownst to me she had not left the airport, she was waiting to see if I cleared security and when I didn’t she came over and talked her way in to help me. A few phone calls and a lot of conversation and the young officer let me through the security area….. we’ll see if they let me fly back to Moscow on this visa, can’t wait!
Landing in the Astrakhan airport was different. We landed on an airfield where we had to get on a bus to take us to the terminal, I’ve done this before but the strange thing was the plane we were on was the only plane on the airfield, I guess we don’t have to worry about air traffic control here (see previous post about leaving JFK… ha ha ha).
Against the odds I made it to the hotel, not the one I thought I was going to, but that’s OK, I’m staying in the Azimut, it’s an older hotel right on the Volga river. A few minor problems here that my translator and coordinator are going to solve tomorrow, I was told not to unpack my suitcase, my coordinator had to pay for my room in cash tonight, etc. etc. One thing for sure is that I know I’m in good hands, I’m sure they will resolve everything tomorrow and hopefully tomorrows post will be without incident, one can only hope!!
Julian, great post, thanks for the laughs, much needed and I’ll be sure to count the layers of clothing tomorrow.
Happy Valentines Day! Chris
At 2 PM my translator and driver showed up to take me to the airport as planned. When we got to the airport things began to change. Go with the flow, expect the unexpected, all things that are said repeatedly by adoptive families traveling all over the world to bring their children home. Well today’s trip to Astrakhan was just another example of expect the unexpected and maybe a little bit of just how much can you take? I checked in and my translator left me at the security gate. As I was going through a young officer came over and took my passport. He then started asking me several questions about where I was going and why and announced that my visa was wrong and that I could not fly on a tourist visa. I was able to fly on this visa from the US to Moscow, but apparently I can’t fly domestically within Russia on a tourist visa, it’s so much easier in the US, no visas to cross state lines, maybe it’s something we should think about, we could keep all those New Yorker’s out of Florida. Of course I have no way of knowing how to solve this but my translator has been well trained. Unbeknownst to me she had not left the airport, she was waiting to see if I cleared security and when I didn’t she came over and talked her way in to help me. A few phone calls and a lot of conversation and the young officer let me through the security area….. we’ll see if they let me fly back to Moscow on this visa, can’t wait!
Landing in the Astrakhan airport was different. We landed on an airfield where we had to get on a bus to take us to the terminal, I’ve done this before but the strange thing was the plane we were on was the only plane on the airfield, I guess we don’t have to worry about air traffic control here (see previous post about leaving JFK… ha ha ha).
Against the odds I made it to the hotel, not the one I thought I was going to, but that’s OK, I’m staying in the Azimut, it’s an older hotel right on the Volga river. A few minor problems here that my translator and coordinator are going to solve tomorrow, I was told not to unpack my suitcase, my coordinator had to pay for my room in cash tonight, etc. etc. One thing for sure is that I know I’m in good hands, I’m sure they will resolve everything tomorrow and hopefully tomorrows post will be without incident, one can only hope!!
Julian, great post, thanks for the laughs, much needed and I’ll be sure to count the layers of clothing tomorrow.
Happy Valentines Day! Chris
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Moving Very Quickly
I’m moving much faster than I thought I would in this process. My documents arrived in Russia on January 20th for translation and then region assignment, a process that normally takes about three weeks. On January 27th I received a call that there is a little boy in the Astrakhan Region that matches my home-study and is available for adoption. After several discussions with CHI and my adoption doctor, yesterday I let CHI know that I would like to start the process to go and meet this boy. I’m waiting for CHI to let me know what I need to do next, when I will travel, etc. I’ll post updates as I move forward.
In the mean time, if you would like to know more about Asterkhan, click on the link below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrakhan
In the mean time, if you would like to know more about Asterkhan, click on the link below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrakhan
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