Mia's Passport and Banging Babushkas

Vlad came by to take me to get Mia's passport this morning. He told me 8:35 a.m. and he arrived at 8:30 a.m. (for those of you coming after us, please be ready for Vlad 15 minutes prior to his expected arrival. He is a VERY punctual person and he takes his schedule very seriously and doesn't want to be late and will ALWAYS be early). We got in and he seemed in a decent mood. We swung by Carlos' apartment to pick him up as well. Carlos was shirtless, shoeless and needed to get his items together for the trip. I could sense Vlad's irritation mounting and he even told Carlos that we needed to go immediately to make our appointment. Vlad continued to fuss at Carlos at various times during our drive and at the passport agency. In Carlos' defense, he was given a later time than Vlad stopped by so he thought he was on time.

Vlad continued to be irritated the entire time we waited. Carlos, who is far more laid back the Vlad, was irritated that Vlad was irritated. Vlad ushered us into the passport lady's office where we showed her our passports and signed a document stating that we had picked up our daughters' passports. She handed me Mia's passport and we went back to the waiting area where I was instructed to go with Masha. Apparently it takes a bit longer to do two passports so Carlos had to wait ... with Vlad. I hope that both make it out without an altercation. I would hate for this to be the day that someone died during the adoption journey.

My journey with Masha was good. She is a very pleasant person and has spent much of her career in the Tver (pronounced t-vay) region working on adoptions. She went through the kind of gifts that she thought were the most meaningful and I quickly posted her suggestions on the Lighthouse board so that others have her advice. She had found my camera in her car the day before so it was good to be re-united with my little silver Cannon.

We parked her car on the sidewalk. Seriously, parking spaces are just a suggestion. Cars can be parked in any way on any thing as long as you don't hit anyone in the process. This is also true for lanes. They are just a general guideline but not a rule. She then walked me to my apartment which is very close to the Embassy to show me the route that I'll take tomorrow. I saw another grocery store and an Apteka (we've decided that the codiene painkillers are good stuff so we're going to get another box in case another headache pops up in flight) just around the corner from our apartment.

We chatted about the two doctors that are available for use here in Moscow to evaluate referrals. One, you'll meet at the clinic for your chíld's exit physical. He is very nice but struggles with getting you the paperwork back as he has very little time to fill out the papers. The other we haven't met but I think that Jules plans on using him. Masha thought both were good choices. She also mentioned that you could pay additional dollars and the doctor could come to your apartment or hotel room to perform the exit physical if people wanted that service. The clinic was fine for us and it provided yet another window into life in Russia.

I came home to discover a very crabby Mia. She was trying to take a nap and got up about an hour after being put down. Now some of yáll think she's really cute even when she's crying but let me assure you that after a while, she just doesn't seem all that cute in this state. Mia is definitely someone that is used to pitching a fit and having people cater to her. I'm afraid that at our house, the days of people catering to her for every little thing may be over.

After a bit, our door bell rang. It wasn't David or someone from the agency. We checked the video screen and it was a little old babushka complete with knitted cap and scarf. Since we don't know any little old babushkas, I said in Russian, "I don't speak Russia and do you speak English". She rattled off a bunch of Russian words none of which I understood and tried to open the door. If she didn't speak English and we don't speak Russian seems like we wouldn't invite her in but that's just us. She eventually departed and my mother feared that she was a downstairs neighbor coming by to see what all the screaming was about. I quickly sent a note to our apartment guy and he assured me that while Russian buildings have some challenges, they are pretty sound proof and he doubted than anyone had heard the baby. Hmmm ... he obviously hasn't heard Mia at her worse but it is comforting to know that the building is pretty well insulated. Mom mentioned that she thought we could've taken that little babushka but while it would have made for good blog fodder, we didn't want to deal with any scuffle so keeping our door locked was the best plan.

We took a walk to the Apteka and discovered that we couldn't find the medicine that Mom wanted. Then we discovered that the newly found grocery store was closed. After a completely unproductive walk with the exception of being able to pick up some water from the street vendor, we went back to the apartment thinking it was a bit chilly and we didn't want any ádvice' from stray babushkas on how Mia was dressed.

We did find out that Joe Rogers and his new son Reid have successfully arrived in Moscow from their region. YEA! We plan on going to dinner with them tomorrow night.

Tonight we're going to Sinook, a Ukranian restaurant. It apparently features a babushka (but probably not the same babushka that we met earlier) milking cows and tending to her farm which you can see through the window at your table. Interesting! Tomorrow we'll try to go to the German restaurant that is supposedly the fav Moscow restaurant of Condaleeza Rice. We're hoping that the Paos will also be able to join us for one last hurrah in Moscow and to celebrate all of our (HOPEFULLY) successful Embassy visits (Joe, the Paos and I all have afternoon appointments at the Embassy tomorrow).

I don't need to tell you what Saturday is. It will probably be many things. It will be departing Moscow, it will be one last ride to Domo, it will be saying good bye to our friends, Toni, John, Dinia and Ron, it will probably be the 'flight that shall not be named', it will be an event that I will likely be unable to erase from my mind although I will most likely want to, it will be seeing my son again whom I've missed so much (not sure if he's missed me one bit with all the Texas fun but I have missed him :), it will be business class without the usual fun ... it will be the beginning of our family of four (ummm .. I mean five after all Blake Christensen is our oldest son after all).