Crazy Day :)

Today was 'paper job' day!  It should have been called 'sit and wait' day :)  Because that's about all we did today!  We started at the Office of Deeds...or the equivalent, at least.  We had to get his birth certificate from the district where he is living now, and also the district where he was born.  We waited in the van for about an hour or so at both locations.  We also had to get his tax ID code changed.  Or something.  That was a bit of a fiasco.  The ladies there were saying that we needed to have a Power of Attorney for Niko. The problem was that their computer system recognizes names differently.  Their equivalent of a 'middle' name is their fathers name + 'ovich'.  The fact that Jake's 'middle' name didn't have an 'ovich' at the end really seemed to mess them up!  So they wanted us to get a Power of Attorney for Niko, so that they could use Niko's name in the computer system.  Niko explained that he's done this many, many times - and this has never been a problem.  Well, he eventually got it worked out for us.

Next he called the 'passport lady'.  Of course, she wasn't in today.  But Niko said it's no problem if we do it tomorrow morning.  He said we should still be able to get our passport by Friday without any issues.

So that was our day in a nutshell.  Niko dropped us off around 4:00p - which unfortunately means that we missed our visit for tonight.  Bummer.

This is how we felt after our day was over :)  Yes, we were that tired!  Eight hours straight of sitting-waiting-driving-traffic jamming-starving-signing...!

So...all in all, everything went well today - as well as can be expected!  But...

Yes, I said 'but'.

....the US Embassy is closed on Friday, which is when we need to get Carter's visa.  Veteran's day.  Go figure.

Which means we'll have to wait until Monday to get his visa...which means we won't be home until at least Tuesday.  Bummer again.

However, there IS good news.  Very good news.

It sounds like tomorrow will be Gotcha Day.  That means that tonight is the last night that our boy will spend alone, in an orphanage.  Tomorrow, he begins his new life.  Tomorrow, he will be with family.

Tomorrow is a new day for Carter Benjamin.  A new day, indeed.

Niko will pick us up at the orphanage around 9:00a and take us to the passport agency.  And as far as I know, Carter won't be going back to that orphanage ever, ever again.

One Thing I Know For Sure: Wahoo for Gotcha Day!