My first visit with Netta this trip was somewhat of a disappointment to me, but only partially.
Today is Sunday and we went to the orphanage to see Netta. I have not seen her since the previous trip to Moscow when we visited her in the hospital.
We spent a little under two hours with her in the small area at the orphanage where you are supposed to meet your adopted kids.
I’ll be leaving for Moscow today to join Michelle who has been there a week already. Next Thursday we will be returning with Netta!
The week there has been a series of ups and downs as far as I heard from Michelle. At orphanage Netta was much more apprehensive than at the hospital. Perhaps this has to do with it being a familiar environment where the only things not familiar were Michelle and Karen (Michelle’s aunt who accompanied her). It didn’t help that there were errands that needed to be done with Netta such as taking her to the photographer for passport photos. It was all strange and frightening. Netta often looked like she was on the verge of breaking out crying.
According to Michelle, it seemed to get better though. By the third day, on the trip back from the doctor (standard procedure for visa application), Netta suddenly looked around and seemed to say to herself, ‘this isn’t so bad’ and started smiling and playing with Michelle.
So here is the plan, I am flying to Moscow today, on the weekend we will get to see Netta once in the orphanage then on Monday we pick her up at the orphanage and…. She is ours!
The next three days are full of arrangements for getting Netta’s Russian passport and American visa. Once those are in place we fly home.
So now you know everything.
Well, we are on our way back home today. Hopefully Netta will be released from the hospital today and be taken back to the orphanage.
Our current plan is for Michelle to return in about two weeks (there is a minimum of eleven days waiting period before you can complete the process. She will start the tasks and also spend time with Netta in the orphanage, and I will join after about five days. The next steps are getting a Russian passport for Netta and an American visa.
Hopefully Netta will remember us when we return, but I think the chances of that are rather slim. We saw her at the hospital where she had seen many new faces.
We are thinking to leave her in the orphanage until the last few days when it is absolutely necessary to schlep her around. At that point we will take her with us to the hotel. I am very curious to see her reaction to all the new things she will encounter, and everything she will encounter will be new. I hope it won’t be too overwhelming. Up till now she seemed to be very curious and inquisitive about her surroundings. During our visits she was constantly checking out everyone that entered that tiny kitchen (many people) and every new sound or thing introduced.
A big question is how she will react to Ella, and how Ella to her. I am really hoping that Ella won’t see Netta as a magnet of our attention away from her, and that she won’t be hurt. Already I feel that I am in someway betraying Ella by focusing so much time and attention away from Ella (can’t help it). The interaction could provide healthy stimulation that they both need.
I have to say that throughout this week in Moscow Gaul was absolutely wonderful. He was patient, helpful, enthusiastic and interested. He connected nicely with Netta and was the one to really make her laugh.
Some of the times weren’t all that fun. There were disappointments and lots of waiting, but Gaul toughed it out patiently. In short, if you are looking for an adoptive brother… Gaul’s your man.
This is our last day in Moscow for this trip. We have no official procedures that need doing. We want to see Paullina (Netta as of yesterday) and do some sightseeing.
Unfortunately today is a soggy, drizzly day and also, the Kremlin is closed (which was our first choice). We ended up going to the Cosmonaut museum that celebrates the Russian (and mostly the soviet union’s) space achievements. It is a small modest museum that stresses mostly the heroism of the cosmonauts rather than the technical achievements. Gregarian, who was the first cosmonaut to survive space is the biggest hero.
We had another nice though confined visit with Netta (that’s it, Paullina has been pushed to a middle name). She seemed to enjoy it and started playing tricks on us; laying down and not wanting to get up, dropping my glasses expecting us to pick the up.
Today is the court day.
We donned our nicest cloths as we were told to do and were ready promptly on time.
Katya and Mikhail whisked us off to the court. There we spent the next three hours waiting for our turn. Another two families adopting as well were there ahead of us in line. What was holding us up was some unknown procedure that was being performed by our judge!
After that was completed the judge attacked the adoption cases one after the other. We were the third, each took about twenty minutes. It was a simple affair where the judge asked us a few questions then the state representative, the orphanage director and some other official gave testimony. I showed a little video we had taken of Polina playing with us all smiley and we were told to step outside. Immediately to be called back with the court decree.
We are now the parents of Netta Polina!
And that was that.
Well… The first meeting with Paullina didn’t exactly go as we expected. Far from it actually. We met with Katya as we had planned yesterday, she came to collect us from the hotel lobby. Michelle was asking something at the desk and I went over to Katya, She asked how we slept and I said fine, that we were excited. No reaction…
When Michelle walked over Katya said ‘I’m afraid I have some disappointing news. Paullina is sick and has been taken to the hospital’. This was not what we wanted to hear. We had no idea what this meant and at this point neither did Katya. She tried to comfort us by saying that at the orphanage they easily hospitalize a child and it could be nothing, somehow we were not comforted. We drove over the orphanage to see if we could get more information and maybe see Paullina at the orphanage. We were met there by Helena, the program coordinator and the orphanage director and chief doctor who looked overwhelmed by what she as to deal with.