Visas ... everywhere you want to be

Today we took the children to the US Embassy to have the immigration visas processed. Once they arrive on US soil, they will officially have dual citizenship and will retain dual citizenship until the time they are 18, at which time they chose what they wish to do.

The Embassy holds processing every day at 2 p.m. We had to pass through two sets of armed guards, a security scanner, and a pat down to get inside. We walked in this little holding area with about 16 other US parents adopting, including three who had stayed at our hotel in Novosibirsk. We're told that because Russia has been reaccrediting agencies and many have not been reaccredited yet -- like ours -- that 16 families a day is a very small number; normally there may be closer to 50 families in here.

There was nothing major or eventful during the processing, just signing paperwork, and then being handed everything on the children to take with us ... their Russian passports with visas inside, birth certificates, etc...

It was like being in a nursery. Kids were crying, running around, parents chasing them ... Yana and Ruslan behaved fairly well considering the chaos.

We can't post any photos of our visit at the Embassy because they don't permit photos on the premises.