I didn't sleep much last night because today is when I'm suppose to have the meeting at the NAC to find out about Roman in Simferopol.  Of course I've said that like 2-3 times already. I called Vlad this morning and he will pick me up at 2:00 p.m. at the apartment.

John and I headed to the internet cafe for lunch and to read emails.  They sure like pancakes in Ukraine but its not "our" kind of pancakes. They are more thin (less bready) and often have stuff cooked in the batter or they are used to wrap stuff up. For instance I ordered "pancakes with meat" for lunch. I get these two burrito looking things that are pancakes folded around some cooked mystery meat.  They served it with sour cream on the side.  It was good. They stuff other type of things inside of pancakes too.. some vegitables, fruit, even chocolate.  I'm also fond of this "Bel Coffee" which I won't drink in the US because I work most of the time.

Its just Bailey's Irish Cream in coffee with whipped topping and chocolate sprinkles.  They serve it hot and stick a straw in it.  This is the first time I've been offered a straw with hot coffee.

Its noon now, so I'll head back to the apartment to wait; until Vlad picks me up.

So Vlad picked me up a little before 2 and we heaed to the NAC. Elena-#2 was there to meet us with all the paperwork. We waited and waited and waited.  Finally we were told that the director wasn't here.  She had left at 11:00 a.m. and canceled all of her appointments for that afternoon. I was pretty ticked-off because she was blowing me off again.  We started to leave at 3:30 p.m. when we passed the director on the stairs.  So Elena-#2 made a few phone calls to try and have someone talk to her about seeing us. We went back up stairs and waited some more.

Around 5:00 p.m. she agreed to see me.  Its been several days since our last scheduled appointment, so I had this big long speech all prepared to try and persuade her to let me adopt Roman.  So we enter her office and the phone rings. Then someone comes in the door and leaves.  Then I'm asked to tell my story.. I get one sentence out and 3 more people come in the door.  So the Director says she doesn't have time to deal with this and refers us to the Deputy Assistant Director.  So I was rather annoyed but was assured that the Assistant was a nicer person to deal with.

She told the Assistant to review the case and then advise her.  Well the Assistant already reviewed our case on the last visit.  So 5 minutes later she goes in to talk to the Director.  Ten minutes later she comes out and tells the pyschologist to track down the file on Roman and confirm that the papers she read were true.  We had submitted the email letters from Norma that told about Roman and his sisters along with the letter she posted to the mail list.... and photo of Roman and his sisters.  So the pyschologist dug up the paperwork and proved that everything we had been telling her was true. Next they wanted to track down my 2nd dossier.  This is where it got really stressful.

I submitted 2 seperate dossiers in December. They only assigned 1 registration number which is standard practice but they screwed up and only enter 1 dossier as being received in their log book.  Well both dossiers were translated on the same day and submitted the same day.  I assume the NAC just stuck them both in the same folder. So then late July when I submitted the update for ALL of the documents in both dossiers, they stuck those in the same folder.  And again when I showed up at the NAC office for my first appointment, I brought 2 new medical forms that had the patient number listed.  They stuck those together in the same folder.  Why the heck would I bring 2 of everything over and over if there wasn't 2 dossiers.  Someone should have caught this long ago.

We couldn't prove that both dossiers were submitted at the same time.  So now I had to write a letter requesting permission to submit the 2nd dossier and ask for the Director's help to expedite the process.  Vlad translated it on the spot as the security guard was trying to throw us out (6:30 p.m.).  The Director granted me permission to formally submit the 2nd dossier.  We will do that tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.

Both dossiers are exactly the same but they insist on reviewing the documents again.  Also the agency license in the home study will need a new translation that shows the current date so they know when we submit it that its still valid.  This is silly because the license states on it the date that it expires in Indiana. But the good news is that the Director approved us to get a 2nd registration number.

They will review the 2nd dossier on Monday. We have another appointment with the Director on Tuesday to get approval. If all goes well and I'm approved, we hope to expedite the travel letter and have it Wednesday.  What's in my favor is that Ukraine has a law that they want to keep siblings together. Since they didn't do that in Roman's case, allowing him to be adopted to a family which will foster that sibling relationship is the next best thing. The psychologist proved that;our story about Roman is true. And, they normally expedite the adoption process for older children.

We made it through a major obstacle today. Vlad and Elena-#2 were great and I couldn't have gotten this far without them. They are the dynamic-duo.  Persistance, Patience, and Politeness works. Things are looking good now but I won't count my chickens until they hatch. When I get a travel letter in hand to go to Simferopol, then I know this will really happen.

John and I left the NAC about 6:30 and headed to the internet cafe for dinner and journal time. This has been a very stressful but successful day. I will have to call NW airlines tomorrow to change my flight from this Saturday to 10/19.  John will probably fly back because he already has stretched his vacation policy. I will be fine without him and at least can have control of the darn TV remote for once.

Wish me luck!