The US Embassy

Although in the entire Embassy I only heard one, it was so nice to hear an American voice! And it was a smooth process. It took the most time just getting through security. It seems that today was a big adoption day! There were probably 30 or more families there with 2 PM appointments. Most were there adopting babies, but a few were adopting older children (although Anya seemed to be the oldest). Anya was shocked to see other children there and even more surprised that they were Russian babies! She asked if they were all flying to America too. I tried to explain that they were all being adopted too. I think she understood, but was very surprised. She enjoyed talking to the babies and one mother let her hold her little daughter. Anya commented on her "malinki feet". So, we had a pretty enjoyable wait. We waited for our names to be called - Anya almost jumped out of her skin when she heard "Anna Higgins" called over the loud speaker. I think it was a little overwhelming for her - she didn't seem to understand exactly what we were doing there. The American representative we had for our interview spoke some Russian (I think Anya was surprised), so he asked her a couple of questions. I basically had to sign a couple of documents and "swear or affirm" that everything we had presented to them was correct. They asked me about Anya's previous trips to the US (we had to give them the information about her previous visas). After that we had to sit & wait for Anya's visa (she has a sticker in her new Russian passport and she has an entire packet of documents that are sealed and will be presented to immigration in Atlanta). As soon as the immigration officer in Atlanta stamps her passport, she will be a US citizen. We have some funny hotel stories to tell & we have seen and experienced a lot of interesting things. We cannot wait to be home! Less than 24 hours! Side note - Anya is learning so much English... she will talk your ear off (we are also learning a lot of Russian). I can't wait for her to be able to express her feelings entirely - I know she has a lot going on in her head, but I don't always know what it is. I'll be anxious for her to be able & ready to tell us everything she's thinking!