The Son of My Heart

Okay, so we have been delayed a few days in Kyiv but its not unexpected. We knew things would take longer here; if no other reason than the fact that you have to fight traffic getting from one office to another. Hopefully, we will be coming home by the end of next week. My hope has always been that we could come home before Vitalik's birthday, Saturday, July 19th.

Our 10-day waiting period was over on Monday but due to a few mistakes, the decree did not become final until Tuesday, July 9th. So he becomes officially ours on my Mom's birthday. Now both dates will be easy to remember: Independence Day and my Mom's birthday. (By the way, we called my Mom on her birthday and the kids sang Happy Birthday to her in English. Too cute!) We could not pick up the decree until the end of the day Tuesday so we could not start our next round of paperwork until today, Wednesday. And, boy, was it a long day. We left the apartment at 8:00 to go get the birth certificate over on the Left Bank where Vitalik was born. We got right in but she tells us she will not have it ready until Saturday. Our facilitator, Victor, convinces her that we need it today so she promises it at 6:00. So while we have some free time we decide to go to the technical school where Vitalik has already enrolled to get his Certificate of Graduation plus some other records they were in possession of. We get there only to find out that an orphanage representative has to come in person to retrieve these documents. So we drive an hour to the orphanage to pick up the lawyer; another hour back to the technical school; another hour back to the orphanage to return the lawyer; another hour to the apartment to drop off Vitalik while he is still being calm and patient; another hour back to the Office of Vital Statistics to retrieve the coveted birth certificate; and another hour home. Tomorrow we will leave again at 8:00 to get the new tax number; legalize the birth certificate; do the official exchange with the lawyer from the orphanage; and apply for the passport either tomorrow or Saturday. A criminal background check must be done before the passport is issued but we have been "promised" it in three business days. If we can get it Wednesday we can do the medical exam and get the visa and, hopefully, be outa here Friday. Thats my no-delays-scenario. Gabe is on his way back to the goood ole USA, by the way. (We miss you, Pa!)

Although it was a busy day, it was a very enlightening day. First, although Vitalik has his moments, I must say that he was good as gold today driving around town. I was more stressed than he. He is not happy about having to go again tomorrow but you gotta do what you gotta do. Alexandra is staying with Roman while Vitalik and I run around and he has been very patient as well. He does call often to find out what I am doing and when I will be home but he is easily entertained and is a reading machine! I bought the Harry Potter series in Russian and he is flying through them. Also, today, I met the director of the technical school who was good friends with Vitalik's father before he died. He really did not provide a whole lot of helpful information but he helped open a dialogue between Vitalik and I that was enlightening. It was also good to be able to see the neighborhood where Vitalik grew up. It is so hard for him still to share things of his past so it is good when we have these small opportunities to connect with those memories.

It was July 14, 2007, when I stood in the Hall's kitchen in Birmingham; looked across the room at this young man whom I had just met; and heard a voice in my heart that said "that is your son". For close to a year, I agonized over my son's future. No one knows the hours I spent on my knees pleading with God to not let him graduate without a family. I know there will be difficult days ahead. In case I doubted that, Vitalik has made sure to remind me. But God has chosen us to go through difficult times for the sake of a lost and wounded sheep. And so it is with great rejoicing that we begin the journey home.