I CAN'T BELIEVE IT"S BEEN A YEAR! (Part 1)

So...on September 19, 2007, I got an e-mail from my friend Rose. I was staying with her 3 girls while she & her husband were in Ukraine for the last month, working on adopting a little 8-year old boy named Alex. (Their girls are teenagers & they had always wanted a boy.) Of course, while she was away, we kept in touch by e-mail & a few phone calls...talking about how their trip was going, how the girls were, on & on...This e-mail was different. She told me about the 16-hour train ride from Kiev to Stakhonov which is about 40 miles from the Russian border in southern Ukraine, seeing Alex again, then last sentence: "Just curious...do u have a current passport?" That was it. No reason for the question, just that. Hmmm...Being the curious type, of course I wondered why??? Funny thing, because of the new passport laws (even to cross from Arizona to Mexico) getting ready to start in January, I had just picked up application papers the day before to renew mine. So, of course I told her I was getting ready to send in renewal paperwork, "Why?" Within 10 minutes, I get her reply...blah, blah, blah (more trip stuff), then, "I was asking if u had a passport cuz was wondering if u were interested in an all expense paid trip 2 Ukraine." Ummm...wait a minute, gotta pick myself up off the floor, start breating again, re-screw in the screw in the bottom of my chair that came out when I fell on the floor, then continue reading. WOW!!! They had been over there for about a month & foreign adoption processes being what they are, things were going at the rapid pace of...
S L O W. Apparently, even though things were almost finalized, there's a 10-day waiting period before they can even begin the passport & visa application for Alex. Well, Rose's husband REALLY couldn't stay in Ukraine any longer...you know, bills to pay, job waiting, boring stuff like that. She didn't want to stay there alone--I wonder why?? So, they were going to come home & then she needed to go back to finish up & of course, bring Alex home, & didn't want to go alone, so would I go with her? My reply to her took a really long time (2.5 seconds to be exact). YES!!!!!! At times like this, it's wonderful to be single & kids out of the house (sorry Jodi & Tyler--you're on your own--Momma's got a life--sometimes). Again, she replies in about 5 minutes, "Ukraine a dive are u sure?" So, I took my time before replying so that I could really give this trip the thought it deserved--I didn't reply for at least 10 seconds, "YES I AM SURE!!! Don't care if it's a dive...what a GREAT experience!!!" (Can you tell I use lots of ...'s & !!!'s ?) By the way, these are direct quotes because I saved all the e-mails, of course. She shoots back another e-mail quickly (this is all taking place in the space of about 15 minutes), telling me that I need to check into getting an expedited passport & to find out the cost--she will pay all costs over & above the regular passport charges. More e-mails back & forth for the next 4 days while I check prices, airline travel dates for her, sending in the application, etc. Ok, gotta tell you, the passport cost to me: $125, additonal costs to her: $272.88 ($200 for the expedite through a VERY wonderful, helpful company http://www.urgentpassport.com/ which I would highly recommend, & another $72.88 for FedEx to ship overnight to them to handwalk through--24 hour turnaround to get the passport).

OH! Gotta change subjects for a sec...(there I go again with the ...) The life of a bi-polar, OCD, ADHD, etc. person is odd to say the least. I was watching my TiVo in the living room, got a phone call, paused TiVo, came in here to get on the computer to check something during the call, got another call while in the computer room, then started doing this post. 1 1/2 hours later, I stopped for a sec to go feed the cats & LOL!! the TiVo's STILL paused. ADHD strikes again.

Anyway, back to the story. (Trying not to use the ...'s) Meanwhile, their "facilitator" is trying to bribe people, which is very common over there, to waive the 10-day waiting period so they can bring Alex with them. Bribery didn't work, I release the breath I was holding because I was secretly wishing the bribery wouldn't work. Ok, I'm awful, but I WANTED to go & was excited now. So now, after all that, passport in hand, air travel scheduled (which you have to finalize & show proof of before you can apply for an expedited passport), packing started, and then we wait for October 8 to come.

To be continued...