Monday, March 19, 2007 - Our Nightmare Day!!!!

From the title of the post, you already know that today is going to be just a horrible, rotten, no good day. We are able to sleep for awhile and wake up around 8am. Yena makes us some breakfast, bread cheese and yes...COFFEE. It's instant freeze dried and it is actually pretty good. We unpack our stuff and get spread out and then get ready to leave. The phone rings and we are off for the orphanage and it's around 10:30am. We are going to stop off and pick up our translator Helen. We grab her and we are on our way.

We get to the orphanage and Helen tells us that we are going to have pictures. I am thinking to myself, this is an abvious DUH. I want to take plenty. Well, we walk through the door and it just smells in there. I just can't wait to get her out of the hell. We go to the same little room as before and wait. A few minutes later, the same doctor as before and Helen walk through the door. They are exchanging words and I look at Steve and tell him something is wrong. When they are done, I ask Helen what is wrong. She tells me it's something about paperwork. I'm thinking, that was a longer conversation than just paperwork. Apparently at this point, we are on a need to know basis and they don't think we need to know anything. The doctor and Helen come back in and Helen gets our coordinator Andrei on the phone. You can hear him on the phone with the doctor. I am hoping he is yelling at her telling her to get her shit together. We think we are set to go and helen tells us that we are going to take Brooke to go get her passport picture taken. OK, we are a go!

They bring her in and she is wrapped up in clothing 6 different ways from Sunday. I take her in my arms and she is afraid of me and begins to cry. We take her out to the car and she quiets down a bit. Eyes like saucers, we take off for the pictures. When we arrive, Helen has been on her cellphone speaking to whomever. She turns to us and tells us, in a matter of fact tone of voice, "you will go to court tomorrow for 1 baby and then come back for the girl in 2 months when she is 1 year and go to court again." I just look at her dumbfounded and tell her, "I'm not leaving Russia without my daughter." At this point, Steve and I are frantic. We have no idea what is going on. We take Brooke in to the passport place and get her picture taken. I just don't know which way to turn and who to call. Note to anyone reading this who is coming to adopt. RENT A CELLPHONE ON BOTH TRIPS. We didn't have any way to call our agency, the embassy...ANYTHING. We don't speak the language and we don't feel like they are giving us all of the information. Sure, have a 5 minute conversation and then tell me it's something with paperwork. We get back in the car and we head back to the orphange. A caregiver comes in and takes Brooke. At this point, I'm not sure when I will see her again and if ever. I am in tears and just hysterical. Helen comes back in and we talk to her some more. She tells us that Brooke needed a blood test and it wasn't done and it is done when she is a year old. I walk out to the car and am still hysterical. What the hell is going on here?! Steve and I wait outside for Helen to come back out. Finally, I go back in to look for her. I don't find her and come back out. Steve goes in to look for her and is back 5 minutes later. We leave and drop Helen off. She tells us that all of her words at the baby home were for us and only said good things. Great! Is that going to get me my daughter?! We leave and head back to the house. I am basicaly crying all the way home. Steve tells me that when he went back in to find Helen, she basically told him that we needed to find another baby. I look at him in horror. My mind is racing and is frantic. I just can not accept this. I will turn over EVERY stone to find someone who will help me. I just keep thinking to myself, God can not take 2 baby girls from me. This just can not be happening. WHY???!!!! WTF!!

We get back to the apartment and Yena makes us some lunch. How in the hell am I going to eat? I don't want to be rude so I go out to the table. We get a little way into lunch and the phone rings. Yena answers it and then tells Steve it's Helen. She tells Steve that Brooke will get the blood test and the results will be ready on Thursday and we are set for court on Tuesday for BOTH children. He repeats back to her what she just said and it is true. Well, this has me crying again. I won't feel better though until we are back on American soil.

We prepare ourself for court the next day. Around 7pm, Nurija and Russlan come home and they make us dinner. Russlan speaks English so we are able to have a conversation. They tell us that we are first up tomorrow at court. Great, after court, we will go to get Brooke out of Baby Jail. We try to hit the hay early and see if we can get some more sleep. Pretty soon, we will have 2 children and the sleep will be out the window.

Later on that evening, We call John and Christina at their host family's house and ask them if they will call on their cellphone and ask our agency to call us at our host family's home number as we don't have a way to get to them. Christina bless her heart does it without hesitation. We have only met the other couples once before this on our last trip but I feel as though we have met friends for life. They just get the situation that we are in. 10 minutes later, the home phone rings and it's our director from the agency. It is so wonderful to hear his voice. I told him i was going to put Steve on the phone. He then asks me if this is a money issue. A money issue? Are you kidding me?! I just about lost my daughter and you think this is about money! Oh please. Steve gets on the phone and tells him the story. He says he is going to get on it and get back to us. The reason that he asked if it was a money issue is that Andrei had come over and they told us he needed 5K. Then they needed another chunk of change after that. We just wanted to know where the money was going and for what so we weren't just throwing money out the window and getting screwed. I got on the phone and also spoke to the director and just let him know about the day and it was emotionally heart wrenching.

As I sit here typing this, my story about Brooke seems so short and uneventful. I just can not express how horrible this day was. You just appreciate what we have in the States and what is available to us. We rely so much these days on cellphones and other things. I don't know how to tell you in words what it was like to be in a foreign country with no cellphone, no way of contacting anyone in the States that can help us and no one around you who speaks the language. I don't ever want to feel that again. Just a helpless feeling. Guess we'll just put this day behind us and move on. This week can not go by fast enough and I can't be on that plane home any faster.