Leaving Tomorrow

Well we still haven't heard anything about the power situation in order to print Zoya's birth certificate but we have decided to leave tomorrow as planned and hope for the best.  The power has already been out for 10 days so hopefully soon it will be back on.  This makes me very nervous.  We don't want to be stuck in Ukraine waiting for the power, but we don't want to wait to hear when it comes back on and then lose a few days traveling either. We miss Zoya tons and don't want to lose ground with our bonding by being away any longer.  If the power does not come back on soon that will put us in a tough situation. Techically once we get to her region Tuesday, we can take her out of the orphanage.  This is not recommended for many reasons.  First we would have to lug her all around for long car rides and wait in buildings with her while trying to get our paperwork done.  Second, if something happens where we can't get the passport or in true Ukraine style, something else goes wrong where it would prolong our stay, we couldn't leave because we would have already taken custody of Zoya and we can't take her out of the country without her passport....we can't get her passport without her birth certificate....we can't get her birth certificate without a power supply!! Also, if we stay in the same house we did last time, I definitely do not feel comfortable having Zoya in that house.  It is not clean or safe or in any way okay for a baby to live in for any period of time. 

So we are praying that the power will be back on Tuesday morning and we can start the last of the paperwork.  We leave out of Erie tomorrow at 11:40 and get into Kiev Monday 6:15am (1:15pm Ukraine time).  We will then maybe get an apartment to get cleaned up in and take the night train that night to Zoya's region and arrive at 7am on Tuesday.  Tuesday is the first day we are legally allowed to begin paperwork...but that is all contingent upon the power supply.  This isn't unusual for a small village in Ukraine, but it IS annoying! IF the power supply is back on we can get her birth certificate and on the same day we can apply for her passport on Tuesday.  It has to be sent to Kiev and it takes about 5 days to come back.  We hope that we would have her birth certificate back by Saturday or Monday at the latest.  Whatever day we get her passport back we will break her out of the orphanage!!! Whatever day that is we will take the night train with Zoya back to Kiev.  We will do some paperwork for her Visa at the embassy and then get her a medical exam.  The following day we will go back to the embassy to pick up her Visa and then we are free to go! (depending upon when we can get a flight out).  If the power is on and things are moving as they should we plan to fly back to the US April 22nd.  I know a lot of people thought we could just go back over for a few days, pick her up, and return home....who are you kidding....that would make things too easy! We will be there at least 10 days and depending on the power...could be up to 3 weeks (I'd hate to think more than that but ya never know). 

Please pray that this power issue is resolved.  We are really wanting this part of the process to go smoothly and are starting to get a little tired and weary...this has been a long process and just when we think we are at the "easy" part, problems arise again.  We are trying to stay positive but like I said, we are just really hoping to breathe easy and not be stuck in Ukraine for an unknown period of time. We just want to BRING ZOYA HOME where she belongs!!!