Mixed news...

First the good news. We got the tax code today! Nadya picked us up this morning at the same time that Oleg was picking up Oksana and one of the orphanage workers (Ellen, it was Ira). We all met up at the passport office and when we walked up to Oksana, her eyes lit up and she started smiling, laughing, grabbing our hands and putting them on her face, etc. She was SO excited to see us! We were equally excited to see her, and surprised that they had given her a dreaded orphanage haircut. She now has a mullet, which will be quickly fixed when she gets home! We went into a lady's office for quite awhile while Oleg talked and talked to her about our passport. I have no idea what was going on but Nadya looked frustrated with what was happening. It turns out they are asking for another document. I don't really understand but we are going to get it tomorrow and it does not delay the passport. We went to sit with Oksana and Ira in a waiting room and the next thing we knew we were told that the staff was going to lunch and we would have to wait! It was about 100 degrees in that building and we now had to entertain Oksana through their hour long lunch break! It actually went amazingly well though. Larry would walk her around, then I would walk her around (my arms are still feeling it!), then we got out the camera and took pictures of each other, our feet, the furniture in the room etc. Ira explained to Oksana that she was going to say "Paka (goodbye) Ira" and go on an airplane with us. She seemed a bit confused about all of that! She was very good, and just when I thought I'd die of heat stroke they told us to bring Oksana in for her picture.

She loves to experience new things and she had us laughing the whole time they were trying to get her picture. We sat her on the chair and she laughed, sang, clapped, and smiled the whole time (in the video)! She was too short to reach the white background so Larry had to sit under her and lean back out of the way of the picture. It was quite funny to get that picture. You can see in the video that the lady would hold up a bird to get Oksana to look forward but in each picture she was leaning over or looking around and it took forever to get a good shot! You can see in the video we are trying to get her head right. They say "up" she looks way up...they say "down" she looks way down! She was getting a bit frustrated with us crazy people! At one point she shot the picture RIGHT as Oksana turned and looked away! When we finally got the picture she went with Ira and Oleg back to the orphanage (with no complaint because she was excited to get another ride in Oleg's car :) and we took a cab back to our apartment.

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So what's next? Well, this is where some of the bad news comes in. There is a story behind this that I don't have the time or finger strength to type out but basically we can not get a flight out of here until Wednesday. At first we were DEVASTATED. Once we looked at every possible option, and had a good cry, we realized there was nothing we could do about it and we decided that at least we now have a DEFINITE date. No more hoping and praying to get things that will get us out of here faster only to be disappointed again and again. We are coming home Wednesday.

So tomorrow we go get this other document, then we go to the bank to get the money out of the account that the government has for Oksana (each child has one and it is customary to donate that money to the orphanage which we will do), and I think we are going to the orphanage to do some paperwork which means we'll probably get some time with Oksana again. We'll get the passport on Thursday or Friday, suffer through the weekend, and then break Oksana out and take care of all of the embassy stuff early next week. Even if there is some unusual delay and the passport does not come until Monday we still have time. Now I'm off to bed. This day has been physically and emotionally draining and I have to be ready for tomorrow.