Meeting with facilitator

On my trip to Ukraine over Christmas break, I was able to meet with Sasha, our adoption facilitator and ask a few questions about the adoption. Because Ukraine does not allow the pre-selection of orphans, I have been worried that we might not be able to adopt Vacya specifically. However, Sasha said that because we requested Vacya and we have been approved, there is no reason to think that we won't be able to get Vacya. I'm sure I'll still worry about it until everything is finalized and Vacya is actually on the plane home with us, but it was reassuring to hear. I was also concerned about the age requirements in the Ukrainian adoption law, which state that both parents have to be at least 15 years older that the adoptive child. Although I am more than 15 years older than Vacya, Joe is only about 14 1/2 years older than him. Sasha said that this will not be a problem. Finally, I asked about how long we will be in Ukraine for the adoption; we had heard that it could be 6 - 8 weeks or longer. Sasha said that generally the families that he works with are only in the country for about a month. We'll still be prepared to stay longer, but it would be great if we could have everything finished and return home in just 4 weeks.