Back home and dead tired!

We are home for the 10 day waiting period after our court date. Natasha officially became our daughter on February 5th, but there is a 10 day waiting period which must pass. Then we go back to the Ukraine and arrange to get her new birth certificate and passport. Once those documents are obtained, we go to the US Embassy in Kiev to for her medical exam and an exit interview. Then we leave for the US! Once she arrives in the US she becomes a US citizen. She retains her Ukraine citizenship until she is 18, at which time she can choose to keep it or not.

Flying home was an exhausting experience! The flight from Kiev to New York was over 10 hours. We had a 4 hour layover in New York and then a 5 hour flight to San Francisco. Today we are very tired and just trying to unpack and rest.

I will leave again on Feb 15th and will return with Natasha probably on Feb. 26th. Only one parent has to go on the 2nd return trip. We are trying to decide if Mark will return with me or not. I don't think I had mentioned this before, but the town we are adopting from is only about 500 Kilometers from Mark's grandparents hometown of Dulovo. When we realized this, we hoped that we would have time to visit Dulovo, but it turned out we didn't. However, our facilitator said that we would have time to make the drive to Dulovo during on 2nd trip. Originally we dicided that I would make the retun trip alone, but now that a trip to Dulovo is possible, I am hoping Mark will come with me on the return trip. We may never have this opportunity again. Mark's father, Chaz, has also expressed an interest in coming along and going to Dulovo. I hope one or both of them will join me. It would be a shame if I am the only one who goes to their family's hometown!