Day 53 - Running Around

Today was our day to start all the official paperwork to begin finalizing things on this side of the world. The judge has granted our adoption, but now we make it official in bureaucratic offices.

First Vital Records Office

 

We started out 9am and went to get the amended birth certificates first. We were very fortunate that both girls were born in this city. We didn't have to travel very far, at all!  One office was almost right around the corner from our apartment! The second office was only about another mile-and-a-half away.  Then we had to go to the Department of Justice to legalize the new birth certificates and then to another office to change/amend the tax identification records.  All this was right here in downtown!

Waiting inside the second Vital Records office

We had a quick 30-minute break for lunch at McDonald's while Tatyana got some other papers together over at the notary office.  Then we stopped at the notary to sign a letter for the passport office.  We were done and back to our apartment by 2:00pm!

This says Notaries in Russian/Cyrillic

I can't tell you what a blessing it was to have such an easy day today.  I have followed other family blogs and heard where they spent hours and hours driving along rough roads and never stopped to eat or take a potty break.  I was expecting a long busy, crazy day and ours was nothing like that.  Maybe this is our reward for toughing it out over the court delays... or spreading things over 3 days... I don't know... but I'll take it!

We'll get the girls early in the morning and head over to the passport office and take them back to the orphanage when we're done.  We'll have to super-bundle them tomorrow since it's going to be really cold.  I'll be digging out a second pair of thermals for myself. We heard that the schools might be closed tomorrow because it will be -20C/-4F for the high temp.  But it doesn't sound like any offices will be closed.

We are learning that you can get a little dehydrated in this super cold, dry weather. And the dry, heated air indoors doesn't help, either. We're feeling some of the effects.  We're used to sweating and drinking lots of water during the summer months at home, but it's hard to think about drinking lots of water when you're bundled up to your nose and your toes are chilly.  So we're trying to remind ourselves to drink plenty of water each day.

We're heading out to have dinner with another adopting family, the Wests, who are here in this city.  It's been nice to meet other families who are sharing similar journeys. It really helps the time to go by easier.

Until tomorrow...
Paka!
C