Day 16 – 8/19, Day 17 – 8/20

The package must be DC by now! I log into my computer with great expectations……….
only to find the package is still not in DC, 18hrs since the last update. I could walk the package from NY to DC in 18hrs. That’s some special express service on DHL. So off to the park, exercise, shower, cafeteria (the girls both order and eat cabbage rolls, they’re learning). Back to the apartment, its 7am in DC and the package has arrived and is scheduled for delivery on a courier service. The packaged is delivered 9AM. Again another barrage of emails, the finger prints have arrived and we need them processed. The first responses are that no one can find the prints and then they find the prints, but they need to be transferred to the FBI for processing. Then why did we send them to the State Department on the slowest express mail service system known to mankind? The prints go out government courier to the FBI. Another day down and no closer to home

No news, when we get up at 7am its 12 midnight in DC so we can’t even ask what’s going on and really nothings going on as everyone’s asleep. You know what’s next, yes back to the park, hey when you’ve got a system that works why change it! The girls are playing with other kids, dogs, cats and even some chickens in the park. Afternoon rolls around pretty quick, so we are back on the email wagon. Where are the prints and how soon can we get them processed. It’s been a day and we were told that reprints were very fast to process. We get the dreaded email; the prints haven’t even arrived at the FBI office and once they do it takes a day to process. Salazar’s office confirms with the FBI/State Department that the prints will be processed by 12noon ET on Friday. This means the Embassy will be closed for two hours before the prints are processed. I’m devastated again, we are heading into a three day Ukrainian holiday and we can’t get the finger print processing information until Tuesday. Delta doesn’t have a flight out Wednesday so that means we can’t leave until Thursday. OMG another week is all I can think about. I’ve been in country for nearly three weeks and I still can’t go home. We ask both congressional constitutes to make some calls, but they respond that Friday 12noon is what we can expect. Cheryl will be out of blood pressure medicine on Saturday morning and she has endured enough of my journey. I call Delta and schedule her flight home Saturday morning. Cindy’s at her wits’ end and decides I can’t be left alone with the girls for another week. Cindy is flying back to Kiev on Friday (arrive Saturday 9am) UGH…….
We also find out that Cindy’s finger print processing that were completed in one day at the USCIS office in Denver have not been sent to the Embassy in Kiev. The Embassy can’t access the DHS data base to pull the finger print records. So they requested the print records on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but DHS Moscow is not responding. So another round of emails requesting someone from the state department call the DHS office in Moscow to get the processing records emailed to the US Embassy.
On top of that our apartment has already been rented for the upcoming three day week end so we must find someplace to stay. Needless to say I don’t get any sleep Thursday night. My blood pressure is again pushing an all new high, eye is twitching again and my head in pounding. All I can think is this can’t be happening, I feel like we got nowhere in a week. We decide not to tell the girls until Friday.