Day 45 - Paper chase - Tuesday Nov. 1

Ksenia was running late, so she picked us up a few minutes before 9am. Although, it seemed like it did not make much difference because, the places we went did not have the documents ready anyway. We walked around Sumy and then went to get the boys photos taken for their passports. Since the paperwork would not be ready for several hours, Ksenia took us back to the apartment and we waited not doing really much of anything. Then she called again just after 1pm and we went back out to get things done this time. We went to get the new birth certificate for Yarik. The look on his face was priceless. I wish I had my camera. His smile was from ear to ear when he saw the new name on the certificate. He was one very happy boy! Next we went back to the social security office to apply for the name change on his social security number. The office was not open yet, so we waited about 20 minutes til we could go in and get in line. That was a much longer wait, although, not too bad. After that, we went to the passport office and had to change the name on his domestic passport. Again there was a wait for that. Once we had that done, Ksenia took as back to the apartment. We were all hungry by then, since we had not eaten lunch before Ksenia picked us up the second time. There was a sushi place right by where she dropped us off near our apartment. I kind of joked that we should go for sushi, since Yarik does not like fish or rice, but both boys thought it was a good idea. I figured we had pretty good reason to celebrate, so we went in. They also served pizza, so Sergei and I chose some sushi to try and both boys also ordered a pizza. They brought the sushi first and Sergei really liked it. Then the pizzas came and the boys had a hard time finishing them. Even with Katya and I helping. Katya had arrived just after they brought the sushi and had planned to hang out with us at the apartment for a while. But they did finish the last pieces and we paid the bill and went back to the apartment.
The three kids visited while I called home and talked to my mom and then my sister. I also did a video chat with Darren who greeted Katya as well. It was good to catch up with them a little. I got to visit with Katya a little before she had to go back to school. Vitali had also come over, so Yarik and Vitali walked Katya back to downtown to catch her bus. Sergei played angry birds and Darren and I did our devotions over video chat.
When the boys got back we all got ready for bed. Sergei and I had to be out of the house by 5 am. Another melatonin helped Sergei fall asleep fast. I was so happy to be on the home stretch with our paperwork. Only a few more days of signing documents and we hope to soon have passports in hand to go to Kiev.