US Passport and Families Coming Home

Hello,

This is to give a heads up on getting a US passport ASAP when you get home. Do not wait too long.


When we first went through customs coming from Russia, the guy said "make sure to get his US passport in the next couple of months". I was like ok, no big deal, he is a US citizen. Isn't that the whole point of those papers?

Okay, so we went to travel December and at the United desk, she said to us, "I'm sorry he can't travel with you, he does not have a US passport." We said, no, he has a temporary sticker in his Russian passport that allows him to travel until June with us until we get the US passport. She said, "That's not true. He needs his green card." We said, that is his green card, temporary one. She said, "No, it isn't" We almost missed our plane and Michael was not leaving until she went to customs.

Needless to say she did and they said it was okay for now. So, we went through, then got to customs and the agent was like, "I need to clear this as I do not think you can travel with him." OMG OMG OMG lol, u know how u get frustrated when things are just so fricken complicated and yet we were in the right.
So his boss told him to let us through for now but we would need his US passport before that expires or he would have to go through and apply for a whole new green card, yada, yada.

We got through. On the way back into the US, they said, "he can't come through". We said OMG, yes he can. Had to go through it all over again. I kid u not. I am being so fricken arse serious. This has been the ultimate pain the arse. They, anyone agency customs needs to be more clear with us, then just get their US passports when they get home. They don't tell u why.

Okay, so we get back in the US and I go to the postal service today and say, I need to get a US passport for my son. He said, "You need citizenship for him, the parents, both parents need to be here unless one gives consent with this formalized paper etc." I said, "Do I need anything else because he is adopted from Russia, but he is a US citizen"

The guy said, "Yes, you need his US citizenship, the adoption papers both in Russian and English, and we need his green card." I said, "Right, the green card is a temporary sticker in his passport." The guy said, "No, I need his green card or no passport." I said, "No, adoptive children get a temporary sticker to travel in their passport and that is their green card for now." He said, "We'll see about that, I have not heard of anything like that."
He said, "Make sure you have his passport as we will be taking that in exchange for the US passport." I said, "You can't take his Russian passport. He needs that until 18. You can't have it permanently." He said, "Yes, that is an exchange for his US passport."

I AM NOT giving up his Russian passport. That totally sounds wrong to me. I am so furious as we have been through so much with this silly ordeal. I just want to get him a US Passport and be done with it but oh no, I have to jump through major hoops still to do this.

We need to be more informed of the new laws and understand them completely as this is a lot of work and things I am not comfortable with doing. The US citizenship papers should be enough and the adoptive papers.

This is basically to let you know what I've been told over and over and that we highly recommend to just get it over with and do it, however I may contact customs to make sure about his Russian passport as I do not want to give that up.

Hockey Gear

My hockey boys

Boy, oh boy do I have serious hockey boys. My husband and 20 month old have been going weekly to the hockey games and Alexei sits for a good three hours in his own chair cheering on our local WHL team, the Everett Silvertips (which have won 14 games in a row).

Currently, they are watching the Toronto Maple Leafs against the New Jersey Devils and I hear Alexei yelling, "Go, go go!" while waving his hand in the air and looking around to see who is watching him. Oh and he is wearing his Toronto Maple Lead Pajamas too and his Papa is wearing his TML shirt too.

I share this as I am still in awe over a 20 month old having the patience to sit for 3 hours. Now, if mom goes I am going to bet, he will not have the incredible patience he has with Papa. We shall see this weekend.

A couple of new photos are here from this week.

A New Year 2010

Hope everyone had a great holiday! Ours was so busy, I was wondering whether I was really awake for it all. Toronto was pretty and snowy, however the airport was a whole other issue. I love how Conan O'Brien puts it, once u have kids, going through an airport with dignity is the past and he goes on to talk about juice boxes flying everywhere and keeping track of his two kids. No kidding I say. By the time, I strip Alexei down, strip myself down with him in my arms, fold up the stroller, I am lucky I haven't broken into a sweat. It is a great workout.

Just finished our first post placement.
It was pretty easy. The SW came in for 2 hours, talked to us and left.

Now it is time for his 3rd doctors appointment next week and circumcision in 3 weeks. I guess the circumcision they say will be a whole day at the hospital. My husband will be with him I am guessing and I will have to wait outside. A whole month I am told until he is back to normal. February should be interesting.

Alexei had his first haircut. Did very well. Only screamed at the end when his hair was prickling him in the back under his shirt. That took two minutes to fix.

PPR Tomorrow

Our first post placement report is tomorrow. Wow, how time flies. We are preparing and getting ready for our appointment. Alexei is amazing and growing like crazy.

Almost 3 months home with our Aloysha (Logan)

As we look back over the last 3 months watching some of our videos and talking with Logan, we see how much he has grown (almost 4 inches since we have had him) and how much he has developed. But mostly, we see how much we have fallen in love with our little boy.
The moments when we are so tired we can barely lift an arm and he is asking us to run down the hall and chase him just one more time, we do it or the moment when he has just thrown the entire spaghetti plate on the carpet, we ask the dog to come over or when he has put on mom's shoes (dad's are too heavy) and a big hat and glasses, we laugh with him while he giggles across the floor attempting to walk, or when he races down the hall looking at us and we are after him trying to get him to stop looking at us and watch where he is going before he runs into the wall he is heading into, we give him hugs, all in all, through laughter, new experiences, tears, and his first romp in his snow boots, we are so happy to have been given this amazing little boy.

We could not have done it without the help of Partners for Adoption and I have never been more relieved and satisfied with our agency and the people we spent a year with working towards bringing our child home.

This is a great fear and a risk with hope entering adoption and it is a heavy decision and as I look back now that we have been home for 3 months, I see it was the best decision of our lives.

Dancing Logan