Travel to Moscow

We are ready to fly to Moscow in a few hours. The overnight flight is about 10 hours from Washington, D.C.. flying out at 4:50pm. Last fall, we didn't do a very good job of sleeping on the plane. I am hoping this time to eat dinner, watch a movie and fall asleep. Of course we have learned our lesson - at least fly in Economy plus for that long of a flight. Maybe after this trip we will have enough miles to get bumped to first class.

We look forward to the trip with lots of anticipation. We keep hearing bits and pieces about court from different people as the process is constantly changing. This entire trip is geared toward the court date and preparing for that 2+ hour event. As the changes have taken place in Russia, the courts have gotten tougher. They are asking for more documentation and questioning the families with endless sessions that sometimes result in extending the court into the next day. We have recently heard to brush up on the adoption laws of our state, how a child becomes a US Citizen, the poverty guidelines of our state, and to study your homestudy/financials very, very well. This week one family's court date was postponed so that they could wait for more paperwork. I think I have given them everything they could possibly ask for, but it seems the Russians are trying to figure out this new process as well.

We will arrive in Moscow tomorrow and will do physicals/bloodwork/chest xrays to the tune of about $1000 each. All this talk of suspending adoptions leads me to wonder why they would want to give up the financial gain from the American tourism. They have successfully extended our trip by quite a few days - we have to eat and sleep somewhere.

When we arrive there tomorrow, there is supposed to be a protest happening in Red Square due to the upcoming elections on March 5th. We are staying about 1/2 mile from Red Square this trip, as Russ so well arranged. So, I'm sure we will have to check it out. We blend in pretty well until we open our mouths and speak.

We know we are going to have to roll with the punches on this trip - which doesn't sit very will with some of us (Russ). This should be interesting.

Jenny
Jenny