Day 18 – 8/21

It’s Friday morning, first I send an email to the Embassy requesting one last time for any help they can provide to get the finger prints processed and the visas issued. A hearty breakfast and off to the park, follow our usual program to a tee. Then I get the call; Good Morning Stephen it’s Lililya with the Us Embassy I have some good news, Moscow finally sent over Cindy’s finger print records, it took a week just to get someone to email them to the Embassy. We also received confirmation the state department will have your prints processed by 12noon EST. Mike is not in the office yet, but I believe he is planning on staying late to receive the prints. OMG it’s a sliver of hope. This is the first time anyone from the Embassy has mentioned processing the visas. She follows up with “can you bring the girls passports to the Embassy today at 3pm so we can prepare all the documents?” I’ll be there before three. My mood is lifted and I feel rejuvenated. I run around the park for a half hour and feel I can run all day. I call Cindy with the news and with both breath a small breath of relief. Cautiously optimistic is the best way to describe it! Back to the apartment, a quick shower, lunch and we wait for a ride to the Embassy.
Sasha calls at 2:13PM the driver is tied up “can you meet me at the main post office in 15 minutes and we will take a cab to the Embassy” No more do I hang up the phone I’m out the door to the post office. Sasha walks up out off the subway and were off to the Embassy. I call Cyndi, to make a plan; if the embassy is going to issue the visa’s today she will cancel her flight, but the timing is close. Her flight is at 8am and my appointment at the Embassy isn’t until 3pm or 7am Denver time. So she will pack on a carry on and wait at the gate until the last minute before boarding. Worst case she fly’s to New York and she can call me from JFK. I arrive at the Embassy at 2:55pm, the facility is empty except for staff and security. I go right to the adoptions window and press the button for help. Lililya arrives at the window and ask for the passports. She says have a seat and Mike will be with you shortly. At 3:15pm Mike comes to the window. OK here is the situation: the state department has confirmed that they will have your finger prints processed by 12noon EST which is 7PM in Kiev, so we will process all the paperwork and place the unsealed packets at the security office, I will have the state department copy me on the email, forward the email to a co-worker and have her print the report
and bring the report to the security office. After that I will call you to confirm the packet is ready and you can pick it up tonight after 8 or so. Now that is all depending on getting the email tonight! WOW, that’s a lot of steps. I ask “How sure are you that you will get the email?”. Mike says “We work with the state department every day; if they say it will be sent today I’m 99% sure we’ll get it today. OK, I’ve got to make a call. I leave the Embassy pick up my phone from security, no cell phones in the Embassy, and I make the call. Cindy where are you? I’m sitting at the gate. We’ll you can go home, Mike is 99% sure we can get the visa’s tonight. OH THANK GOD. Ok, I’ve got to get back in the Embassy to finish processing the packet. We set up the plan and Mike will call me when he gets confirmation that the packets are complete. I head back to the apartment to start packing. I feel almost like a free man, but a little reserved until we pick up the packet. When I get back to the apartment the girls are ready for dinner and as one last treat we head back to the cafeteria. They order wild rice and mushrooms that of course they won’t eat, so it’s juice and bread for dinner. We walk up past the apartment two blocks to the Ukrainian Presidents house; it’s covered with all types of creatures sculptured into the exterior structure. At the apartment everyone is packed up and ready to go, except for me so I start packing, almost doesn’t seem real. Mike calls at 7:30 he doesn’t have the prints yet but no need to worry, he’s taking off to drop his wife and in-laws at the train station but will be home in thirty minutes. I work on the computer for a couple hours and we have some tea and muffins for desert. Mike calls at 9:30, Stephen I’m afraid we have a problem; the FBI hasn’t sent the finger print processing information to the state department yet. According to his source, the prints have been processed but the paper work hasn’t been sent up yet. You better get someone from the congressional constituent’s office to call the FBI. OMG, its 2:30 PM on Friday afternoon what if people are gone for the day. We send off a flurry of emails, we need someone to call the FBI and request that the finger print processing documents be sent to the state department and the US Embassy right away. Ken Salazar’s constituent is out of the office and no one is available to help. Peter King’s office is on it; they are making calls and requesting someone to expedite the processing. It’s now 10.15PM and we are running out of time. The email comes “ US EMBASSY HAS WHAT IT NEEDS”. I call Mike and sure enough he confirms that the documents have been sent, he has not received them yet but should have them shortly. I will call you back once I have them printed and on the way to the Embassy. He calls back ay 11:30PM “The finger print processing documents are on there way to the security office and you can pick them up any time”. After a short discussion we decide that traveling to the Embassy at 12 midnight is probably not safe. We will pick up the packet on our way to the airport, nothing like waiting till the last minute.