First... I am totally freaking out! I went through this stage about 8 months ago. It is inconceivable to think that I could be responsible for another human life. Have you seen the pile of clothes next to my bed?

I look around our house and see all of the stuff that still needs to be completed. More baby latches, clean all of our junk out of A's room, and get a ton of stuff that little people need. We have nothing!!!

So you probably are asking why can't we just jump on a plane and go get the guy. It all boils down to waiting for more paper. During the arduous 8 months, things they were a changin' in the former Soviet Union. First the MoE decided they weren't going to give any more release letters* to clients whose agencies were not accredited. Second, the regular judge in Khabarovsk went on vacation in September. During her holiday another judge presided over adoption hearings. This judge decided to start enforcing a law that had previously been overlooked. He said that adoptive parents must complete a medical evaluation by 8 different Russian doctors. He would not schedule any court dates without this little piece of paperwork.

This meant bad news for us professional waiters. Those stuck in between trips would be required to make an additional 3rd trip to Khabarovsk (or Moscow) to complete this medical form. THEN the judge would schedule the court date.

Here are the following scenarios on getting A home:

#1. Once our Russian facilitator has the Certificate of Accreditation in hand she will then reapply for our release letter. It will take about a month for that piece of paper to come from Moscow. Once we have our release letter we will be able to fly to Khabarovsk for our medical exams (it is too expensive to do it in Moscow). Once in Khab we will get poked and prodded by 8 different docs. The good news is we will get the chance to see A.** We then fly home, sans child and wait for a court date.

#2. The release letter timeline is still the same, but the trips are different here. Depending on the timelines for the families who already have release letters, we might get to take one long trip. There is a break even point. Anything less than 26 days it is cheaper to stay in Khabarovsk than to fly home. Derek's boss has said that as long as he is able to work (has an internet connection) he will not have to take vacation time. So theoretically we could pull a Melissa and Jason and live overseas for 6 or 7 weeks. The bonus is I wouldn't have to leave A a second time. This would be a big life saver on my sanity.

I am voting for option #2, but I am scared to death of living in Russia for almost 2 months. Best case scenario we will travel for our medical trip at the end of March, beginning of April and then wait about 4 weeks for a court date.

So the reaccreditation was a good thing, but alas we are still waiting.

--------------------------------------------------
* release letter: piece of paperwork releasing A from the Federal Data bank.
All Russian orphans are put on a federal data bank for 6 months and a regional data bank for 2 or 3 months (I can't remember how long exactly) Prospective adoptive parents must sign a piece of paper stating they wish to adopt this child and for that child to be released from the federal data bank making them eligible for international adoption.