Stuck in Limbo

Well, it's always something, isn't it? The worst part is we just don't know anything. Russia is moving towards requiring adoption visas for the final trip instead of the normal tourist visa. This requires a different invitation to be included with the visa applications. Well, Albina (travel agency in Seattle that also takes care of the visas) took the letter across the street to the Russian Consulate to make sure everything would be okay. Since this is very new, the people at the consulate don't know how to process it. They say there's not enough information on the invitation to process the visa, but since it's all so new, .... Albina is hoping to find out today or tomorrow if that invitation is enough. If it's not, then whatever is needed will have to come from Andrei in Moscow. Depending on what that is will determine how long it will take to get it. If we need something extra and it takes too long, then we won't be able to travel on August 2, because we won't have our visas and passports back yet. Therefore, we can't buy airfare, or reserve our apartment, or make arrangements for the boys, or update the "manual" the accompanies them, or reschedule doctor appointments that may or may not be missed, etc. I can't do ANYTHING ... except try to live a normal life without checking my email every 2 seconds. Poor Alex is getting the brunt of it, because Derek is in summer school all day. I'm a planner who is potentially leaving the country in 11 days, and I am unable to plan anything. For those of you who are also planners, you know how frustrating this is for me. Also, the pump at our neighborhood pool is broken so we can't even go swimming -- which isn't at all relevant to the adoption except that it's one more annoyance.

OK. I feel better. On a positive note, Derek had his T Ball banquet last night and the boys were having a love fest with each other, which made for some ADORABLE pictures. I'll send them in another post.