Back to Zaporozhe, again

January 24: Thursday was to be a very full and exhausting day for Misha and me. Our first mission was to meet Viktor and Ileana at the Passport Office to get then new stamps for both Viktor and Sasha’s passports. We all met at the office about 9:15am and after about of hour of visits to different officials by Ileana, she completed the task and handed the corrected passports over to us before she returned to the orphanage. While we were waiting for Ileana, Misha called the Tax Office in Takmak and the Director to find out what was wrong with Zhenya’s form. Nothing was found to be out of order since the number had not changed and his new name was on the form. The next task was to get everything pulled together to file for Viktor’s passport. We made copies of the corrected passport, my translate passport, and Viktor’s birth certificate before going to the notary to obtain a notarized copy of the birth certificate. We then had to search several stores for two folders for the documents before Victor and Misha went to the bank to pay the application fee. I went back to the notary to pick up the certificate but they told me that Viktor would need to come so I called Misha and told him to send Viktor to get it. We then met together once more at the Passport Office and took our documents in to office number 8 so the man accepting the application could verify that everything was in order. He said that everything looked good but that we would need to have Galina sign and put her stamp on three forms. He also told Viktor that he needed to shave and change into a different color shirt before they could make his picture and that he should come back at 4:00pm. We decided to ride the bus to the orphanage which was probably a mistake since it took longer that we expected and we were then delayed further as we met with Galina because she needed to vent about Valery leaving us before the process was finished. I tried to defend Valery but it was a lost cause. Finally, she signed and stamped the forms and we called our taxi driver that was going to take Misha and me to Zaporozhe. We first had to go back to the Passport Office to deliver the application package. Unfortunately the door was locked for their lunch hour so we stood there for a few minutes trying to decide what we should do. Miraculously, at that very moment the man that we need to see walked out of the door on his way to lunch so Misha asked him what we should do. He told us to have Viktor bring everything with him at 4:00pm and the he would also help Viktor write a letter requesting expediting his processing. He also told us that he had to go to Zaporozhe the next morning so he would hand carry the application and give it to the office there. We couldn’t believe how God had helped us finish Viktor’s process and giving us such great favor. It was already almost 2:00pm when Misha and me left the office and headed on our way to Zaporozhe while Viktor went to get something to eat and wait for his appointment.

Normally, I wouldn’t want to ride in a taxi going almost 120 km/hr on the road to Zaporozhe but because I could tell that the car handled well and the driver was very careful while passing, I was glad that we were making such good time. Incredibly, we were in the outskirts of the city in less than two hours and arrived at the passport office a little after 4:30pm and went in to talk to Alexander about the corrections to Sasha’s passport and Medical Form and about Zhenya’s Tax ID. We also told Alexander that about Sasha’s birth certificate being reissued. After a few minutes of looking at the computer and the documents, he told Misha that if we brought a notarized copy of Sasha’s birth certificate with us when we came to pick up the passports that he would be able to process his application and we should be able to get his passport next Tuesday. Unfortunately, he still had problems with Zhenya’s Tax ID. It turned out that although nothing printed on the form was incorrect, the person in Takmak had failed to change his birth date and delete the previous information in the Father’s name field. He also told us that he needed a Medical Form for Zhenya as well but that we could bring it when we picked up his passport. The bad news was that we would need to go to Takmak and get the database updated before Zhenya’s application could be submitted and that this would mean that his passport would be delayed until Thursday or Friday. I couldn’t believe what Misha translated to me when he told me this and immediately asked Misha to please go back to Alexander and ask if there was anything that could be done to get Zhenya’s application back in synch with Sasha’s. The only hope that he could give us was for us to get the database changed ASAP and then call him and the Tax Offices in Zaporozhe and Kiev to tell everyone that the corrections had been made and to ask them to please get Zhenya’s passport finished as early as possible.

Since it was already 5:30pm and we were leaving Zaporozhe in rush hour traffic, we knew that we would have to accomplish this task the next morning. We stopped to get some dinner since we had not eaten anything since 8:00am and then headed back to Berdyansk. I prayed in the back seat for God to please help us get Zhenya’s passport on the same day as Sasha’s (Tuesday would be best but Wednesday at the latest). This would give us a chance to get the medicals and US Embassy documents and Visas completed before the weekend. When we finally arrived back at the Berdyansk Hotel, we were exhausted but we agreed to meet at 8:15am the next morning to take Zhenya to the Takmak tax office and then to the Molochansk orphanage to get the Medical Report.