We gotta get outta this place. If it's the last thing we ever do/

The first reaction from many parents here once they get their kids is excitement, joy, relief ...

Their second reaction is:

Now get us the heck out of here.

And so once you gget the children, you wind up in a cramped Siberian hotel room. Great joy followed immediately by great claustrophobia.

The key to leaving Novosibirsk is the passport for the children. To get the passport for the children, you must have their adoption and birth certificates. And so there's this mad sprint by your agency reps to get it all done.

Some American adopting couples who had court a day earlier than us have already left (Pictured in this blog is single mom Meg and her sister Elizabeth and their new boy, and Dave and Jackie and their new girl). They got their passports within 36 hours of their court appearance. A couple of others here at the hotel were told by their agency that they would get their passports Thursday, because that's the only day that passports are distributed.

In theory, that is the law. But what we've found in Russia, the laws are made to be bent if you have the right agency rep with the right contacts .. and carrying either chocolates or coffee. Like cigarettes in prison -- which seems like a fair analogy after a week here in Sibera -- you can get just about anything with a little bribe.

In fact, the passport office is 'technically' closed to visitors on Wednesdays, but thanks to the magic of Platinum Instant Coffer in the 1 pound glass jar, the door to their offices magically opened just enough to allow our agency rep to sneak in Wednesday afternoon, give them all of our certificates for the children, and promise us we would have the passports by Friday. That means we have booked a flight out of Novosibirsk on Saturday morning, and will wait in Moscow until our Tuesday immigration visit at the US Embassy Tuesday.

So while two couples who had court last week, have waited seven days to get their passports, we will have ours in 3 days.

I'm bringing some of this magic coffee back to the States.Maybe I can get a bigger tax return if I just send the IRS a jar ...