Aye, Aye, Aye or in Russian, Oy, Oy, Oy

Man, oh man. Argggghh. Come on!

These are the slightly edited thoughts I have had today. The bottom line first...the orphanage did NOT give Anya her medical by  September 30 and the courts are pulling her out of the orphanage on the 6th or 7th for her medical, which is TEN TO FOURTEEN DAYS in a hospital. Talk about inciting unnecessary fear in a child.

I got the call from the director of our California based adoption agency this morning. This has generally not been a good sign when he calls. He was responding to my questioning to see whether or not Anya actually got the medical instead of us waiting until the end of the week to see if the judge gave us a court date or not. Apparently a director over in Russia is philosophically opposed to international adoptions and would not give Anya the medical. So, we think the courts then stepped in and we understand she must be sent to a hospital for her 1-2 week medical. Please do not ask me what they could possibly do that takes 1-2 weeks. I do not know. I do know however that Russians do not typically run on Western time and deadlines are often suggestions. And they are seldom a hurry to do much of anything-it's a great way of life in many ways. So, this testing must be given from a very relaxed point of view.

I am however, heartbroken that this poor girl is going to be dragged out of her home and hospitalized. We should have much more clarification tomorrow and will correct anything we believe today that is actually wrong at this point. If she is hospitalized in the town we stayed in, there are people we know and more importantly, that she knows, that will go visit her for us. We have even thrown out the idea of sending Matthew over there next week to be with her daily if the powers that be approve. I don' t know how that skinny boy will stay warm, but he tells me he does. Then it looks like, at this point, I would go over around the 24th and we would go to court the first week of November sometime. Now I really have to add another suitcase for the "vinter vear", as Tricia put it. Who knows when we'll go?! Okay, well God does.

Please pray for Anya's calmness and peace, for Matt being able to go if that is what she needs, for her to see this as an adventure and for NOTHING the slightest bit unusual to show up on her medical. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I appreciate that through all this, you are out there, understanding all the drama!

~Monica