December 7, 2005 Gotcha Day!

Today we left the apartment at 8 am expecting a very busy day. We took a taxi(with wet seats) to the passport office. We sat in the taxi with Max while Stas took the documents in. There were around 50 people standing outside the office. Stas came back out with a form for Jeff to sign. Stas took it back in and returned 5 minutes later with Matthew's passport. We were in shock. We headed to the legalization office to finish up the birth certificate. We ran into Kristy from North Dakota there. We met her and her husband in Kiev. They arrived about 10 days after us. They had adopted two gorgeous brothers, 7 and 9 years old. We sat and talked to her for a long time. Finally we went in and signed our names. They handed us the new and old birth certificates and we left. We went to the Inspector's office to drop off copies of all the documents. Then we went to the orphanage to get Matthew.

At the orphanage we waited for the Director. She gave us permission to visit Matthew's living area and take pictures. Then we changed him into his new clothes. We gave the director some flowers, and took some pictures of her and Matthew. She gave us a picture of Matthew at birth and at 1 year old. She also gave us a cross that he was given at his baptism. He was baptised a Russian Orthodox Catholic. The head doctor talked to us for a while, Matthew fell asleep in Jeff's arms.

We took a taxi to the apartment. I layed down with Matthew, he fell asleep quickly. Jeff and Max went to the store for lunch and supper groceries. When they got back, all four of us stood around the bed and watched Matthew sleep. He looked so sweet. When he woke up we gave him a bath. He hated it, he screamed like we were torturing him. Jeff even got in the tub with him but it didn't help. After supper we took a van to the train station. Jeff, Matthew, and I had a small compartment to ourselves. Matthew really liked the train, he looked out the window and pointed to everything. Max stayed with us until it was time to go to sleep, then he went to his own compartment. We fell asleep easily. I didn't sleep well. Matthew and I were sharing a bed which is about as wide as my shoulders. At 7:30 the train pulled into Kiev. We woke Matthew up, Max came to help us with our luggage. Sasha picked us up, except for Stas who went home. We went to the medical clinic where Matthew had a physical for the embassy. They weighed him, measured him, looked at his eyes, and listened to his heart and that was it. They gave us a compeleted form and we left. We took our luggage our new apartment. It was really nice.

At the embassy, only the three of us were allowed in. We went through very tight security. They took almost everything we had in the diaper bag: pop, candy bar, camera, phone, etc. Of all the places in Ukraine we went this place was the most confusing. Finally we found American citizen services, we filled out some forms and answered some questions to a woman behind a bomb-proof window. We had an exit interview with a man (who was also behind a bomb-proof window). He asked us a few simple questions and told one of us to come back at 4 pm for Matthew's visa and immigration paperwork. We went back to the apartment for a nap. Jeff went with Max for the paperwork and brought back pizza. Matthew ate the crust and a banana. We said good-bye to Max, we will really miss him.

We stayed in the apartment all day Friday, except for a trip down the block for some supper and snacks for the plane. Sasha came over to collect the rent and introduce us to Nickoli who was going to take us to the airport in the morning. We packed our suitcases and went to bed.