Making Progress

Saturday we had some down time and walked to Red Square, got photos of the outside of the Kremlin and the much-recognized St. Basil's church (photo here). If it wasn't for the fact that it's 30 yards from this colorful icon to the Kremlin wall and the seat of Russian politics, you might think you were at the gate of some Slavic amusement park. After getting a good sense of the heart of this ancient city, we strolled the kilometer back to our apartment. Our driver Vlad met us at 3:30 and drove us the 45 minutes out to the orphanage, where we were allowed to take Syevinch around the grounds in a stroller for about an hour. (The picture here shows one of the several play areas on the orphanage grounds -- very colorful and well maintained and monitored.) I should mention that our expectations for Moscow's early-autumn weather were for a much cooler climate. Despite having packed warmer, we've been thrilled that it has been in the low 70s the entire trip, despite the clear indication of fall's approach in the color of the leaves.

Our ability to connect with Syevinch is slow and at times painful. Saturday was Renee's day. Syevinch spent nearly the entire 90 minutes of alloted time in Renee's arms as we strolled the orphanage grounds. Lots of eye contact and physical interaction as I walked ten steps behind getting loads of photos of their bonding in progress. Renee is now able to pick her up without resulting in tears, and at least a few times, when Syevinch began to cry in the stroller, Renee picked her up and the tears stopped. A very good sign. However, she is still quite scared of me — which is very hard to take at times — although I am attempting to hold her for slightly longer periods of time in the hope that the familiarity helps. But it has been a growth experience for all three of us and we will continue to visit her today and tomorrow (Sunday and Monday) to continue the ritual.

Some of you have asked about the process from this point forward. Once we leave here and return home, we expect to wait about one month for the call requesting our return, at which time we will appear in court and petition for custody of Syevinch. This should be fairly straightforward and is expected to last about an hour (although we have heard horror stories of 8-hour "interrogations" by unsympathetic judges). Once approved, there is a mandatory 10-day waiting period before we are allowed to take custody of her. Often, the orphanages will allow the adopting parents to take temporary custody of the child during this time, but this orphanage does not. So we have the option of returning home immediately after the court hearing and returning after the waiting period. This latter option would mean that we would have no further contact with Syevinch, however, until our return and that may just be asking too much of her for an 18-hour, multi-legged flight home. So choices are to be made....

Oh ... I neglected to mention in yesterday's message that two days ago we visited a notary here and had to sign a form indicating our intention to adopt. The form required the full name that we intend to give to the child, so here it is (the drum roll is up to you): Genevieve Syevinch Sanguinetti. This French-Uzbeki-Italian combo might be a mouthful, but it has a nice, complex rhythm to it. We're going to try to continue using Syevinch until the adoption is finalized and then break Genevieve in over time (the name, rather than the person).

All our best and more to come.

Larry & Renee