At 5pm that night,I was taken by the co-ordinator to a Government building.Here, he signed alot of documents and the last one was Tori's red passport with her little picture in it.The lady procurator handed this little,red communist passport with 'USSR" written acrossed it and said"You can go home now!" back to the Vladivostok Hotel ,Mama and daughter sound asleep.But after hearing this great news... started packing and I ,of course, went shopping!No jet lag here!But I must say,we had eaten the best food we ever had.The black ,heavy bread with cheese and fresh salmon make our mouths water even now.And caviar and pickled herring were so abundant and inexpensive.Although my breath was much to consider!Tori was eating her first solid Russian baby food and loving it!She also was trying to sit up and was giggling at everything and everyone.The maid help me sing to her a Russian folk ballet and she fell right to sleep.(Tori not the maid!)In only 24 hours,Tori had changed so much.That distant look in her eyes was gone and she was smiling, and also,going through diapers at rapid speed!The next morning I flew business class back to Moscow.If you have the chance to fly on Aeroflot,go business class.It beat American first class by far!I was driven to the American Embassy with Tori all dressed in red,white and blue{STARS AND BARS}.After hearing and trying to understand the Russian language for a week,I walked in,looked at the guy behind the desk and said"Sorry,I don't speak Russian".The guy looks up and says :Neither do I ,lady.You're in the American Embassy,speak English!"We were interviewed,Tori's paperwork was looked over and stamped.Then they gave us her visa.We were ready to leave for America.But not before we seen Red Square,The Kremlin Wall,St. Basil's, Lenin's Grave,Sparrow Hill{The greatest Russian Fleamarket} and a grocery store for toilet paper.All I missed was microwave popcorn!And we visited the most beautiful catholic church where a nun approached me to visit a side altar.This altar was in honor of St. Theresa,the saint of adopted children.We returned to our rented flat and Tori was really tired.But not Mommy!I summoned my driver and host to go into Moscow shopping!Ladies,don't miss these department stores.Mink hats for $50 and up.Crystal pieces I have never seen as beautiful.To say the least,I left all my clothes and the baby's to the orphanage except for 2 outfits so I could bring all this back!The next day we all left for America and arrived at JFK February 4,1999.The end of our journey and the start of our family..
