Well, the pissy news first. Then I'll go back and celebrate Ekaterinburg and Roman. Liz, our social worker, called back to tell us that we had not "made the cut" for the trip in January - we will now travel on Feb. 13th.

Apparently, all international adoptions - ALL - go through a lady named Natasha in Washington, D.C. She schedules all trips to orphanages, no matter who the agency. Russia only allows a certain number of people per trip into the orphanages. Even though we responded within 24 hours, apparently all slots for the Jan. 23rd trip were taken. So we were pushed back.

There were a lot of emotions in this house last night. Rage. Seething anger. Numbness. Sadness. Frustration. Lots and lots of anger. Whining. Tears. Disbelief.

We finally narrowed it down to a few things:
1. Although we understand we have no control, in an operation based on timing, false timing should not be given out. No travel dates should have been attached to Roman if there was a chance we wouldn't go on that date.
2. Had we known we would have to wait almost 6 weeks before we traveled, we would have discussed Roman more. I don't think it would have changed our answer - but we would have had to think much longer. We're pretty unhappy about the fact he will be 9-1/2 months when we return, rather than the 8 we had figured on upon acceptance.
3. The closest comparison I could make is this: it's like giving birth in a hospital, and having your child wheeled out of the room and the nurse saying, "you can come back and pick him up in a month." He's OUR son. And we're being denied the time we want with him.

However, it has a somewhat tarnished lining. It is easier for me at school - I am just beginning my leave upon our first trip, Feb. 12th. It was easier to plan, it's easier on my sub... and I still get 2 weeks to myself between trips to scrapbook. :)

We also have now demanded updated measurements and photographs, as the ones we have are from December. So we'll see. We're frustrated, and just beginning to come to acceptance of it.