Maybe I should have named my blog "The Long and Winding Road to Max"

I know it’s been a while, but we’ve been on a wild rollercoaster since the last post. Even when I had the time to post, I didn’t know what was happening from one day to the next, always assuming that “tomorrow” I’d have more information. By the time tomorrow came I was again either too busy to sit still for five minutes or news had changed again.

So, now I’m sitting here at 8:30 in the morning a month and a half after our last post. Steven and Fin have left to pick up our dog, Lenny, from an overnighter at the vet’s office and I am trying to wake myself up with a cup of coffee and a report on what we’ve been up to. Mind you, I was up until three in the morning going through Max’s closet packing his things for trip number two, not because we have dates, but rather because I desperately need to feel like the ball is still rolling and progress is being made. If this post comes across as sleep-talking, at least you’ll understand why.

We sent our second dossier to Vlad on 11/10 and our greatest concern at the time was our late I71-H form. On 11/14 I contacted our US Representative’s office to handle the matter having been convinced that immigration just hated me and wasn’t processing our paperwork as some sort of personal attack. Turns out, however, there was confusion at our agency and INS simply needed a copy of our updated home study.

Home free? Not quite.

On the morning of 11/17, we got another call from our agency…our second dossier wasn’t properly notarized and needed to be redone. I was devastated. I thought it had already been in Russia by that point. Four days later, by the power of pure panic, I had another dossier together and sent off to Russia.

In the clear? Nope.

We still had the problem with the INS and the I71-H holdup. It was being handled though and we knew it was simply a matter of postal service processing times. Then, on 11/24, I got a call from the agency informing me that someone was contesting the adoption. While it wan't a biological relative or anyone that wanted to take custody of Max, it was someone with enough power to turn the process upside down for awhile. I was told resolving the matter could take anywhere from two weeks to ten months and I was devestated. Two days later our I71-H form came in the mail with very little celebration.

Making matters worse, I was in the middle of studying for finals. I had taken on 19 hours of mainly history classes in an attempt to graduate before Max came home. In between the tears and devastating phone calls I had to read piles of books on WWII and Southern History, write essays and cram for exams, not to mention maintain my composure whenever Fin walked into the room so that she didn’t notice mommy slipping off the deep end. It was a rough couple of weeks to say the least.

The Good News:
The “non-consent” matter is being handled and we are simply waiting on a piece of paper to go from one end of Russia to the next, although we’ve been waiting on that piece of paper to make that trip now for an entire month, with no word on the hold up other than “red tape”. When that paper is in the right hands, we’ll be sent another court petition to sign, notarize, apostille and return to Russia so that we can finally receive our court dates for trip number two. At this point I’d be thrilled with February, but I keep hoping for tomorrow.

-Our complete second dossier made its way to Russia.
-Max had his first birthday.
-Steven turned 40.
-I graduated.
-We spent Christmas week at the beach with my family.
-Finnie and Max both made the good list with Santa.
-My sister got married.

On Christmas Eve we received a new photo of Max from our friend in Russia. On one hand it was so wonderful to see how much he’d grown these past two months. He’s got two new teeth, his hair is getting thicker and judging by the picture he’s grown a foot taller. He’s absolutely beautiful. However, it reminds me too how long we’ve been separated and how many nights have gone by that I wasn’t there to rock him to sleep and hug him and kiss him. This is hard.

Today is New Years Eve in Russia and the government offices will be closed until January 12. I still have a glimmer of hope that there is a Russian workaholic that can’t stand to be away from the office that long and will make sure our paperwork gets processed over the long break.

I know, but I can’t help it.

-Sara