And Then There Was Four

Phooey, Mel's eyes are closed :(

First off, pictured above are the proud new parents of one little "D"!

Last night after filling our bellies on McDonald's (we tried a new Russian restaurant that opened below our apartments, but they were so new they didn't have an English menu or one with pictures yet) we came back home to cram for Court.  I practiced my speech, but fortunately, did not have to have it memorized.  I made sure to write notes on the various classes we took 3 years ago, thanks to my Home Agency refreshing my memory in a very timely fashion via e-mail.

Quizzed each other on various questions that might come up in Court...we figured we would get the "Will you treat her any differently since she is adopted?" or "Describe your visits with her".  So we focused on the types of classes we took as that was a while ago.  I made sure I knew my financial numbers really well. We studied her background info, her medical info and what they mean in laymen words. Also,I  made a list of her personality traits and reasons why we think she bonded with us. Feeling as prepared as we could, we went to bed with the alarm set for 7:00 AM.

Mel had a bit of a restless night, I slept fairly well. Showering, dressing, making sure we have all the appropriate documents, passports, visas, speech, notes, snacks, umbrella, camera, pictures, mints and water (85 degrees in St. Petersburg). We met our driver right on time at 9:30 AM and headed into traffic, at one light we were stuck for 10 minutes before it turned green. Our driver told us a police officer is in control of the light at the intersection and usually at this time he doesn't wait 10 minutes to change it.

Even with that delay we still arrived right on time, meeting our coordinator outside the Court building.. After flashing our passports and accidently blocking our judge in line...we headed up to the Court room. We met our translator, saw the orphanage director (such a nice lady!), and some governmental official.  And in we went, sorry, but we can't say much about what happened as it is a "closed court session"...but we came out happy as can be as the Judge agreed that we would be great parents for little "D"!

For now we can rest...though on August 1st we start preparing more paperwork to bring her home.  In the meantime we'll have 2 visits each week and have some time to do more sightseeing.

Thanks for all your love and support!
Paka,
Michael

Posted by Mel at 6:48 AM