Court Day #2

We had our second day of court today and we are now the very proud parents of M. We need to wait 10 days in order for the final court decree to be issued, and then we can bring her home! (And post pictures.)

Court went smoothly, again. We were there with our translator and attorney. Also present were representatives from the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health, M's social worker, the orphanage director and the prosecutor. Our translator translated everyone's testimony for us to hear, as well as everything that the judge said. Everyone, save the prosecutor and Kevin, was a woman. And all of these people's testimonies reinforced to me that they truly wanted M to have a good home and happy life. Part of the hearing involved listening to the judge review our dossier, document by document. While this was boring to our translator, I listened attentively because here was a summation of all the hard work, dollars and stress that have been the reality of this adoption until the moment we met M. I had the feeling you have when you walk out of a college final or hand in a thesis. Gratification and relief.

But there is much more than that... now we have a new daughter! We get to see her tomorrow afternoon one more time before we return home briefly for the 10-day waiting period. Kevin asked our coordinator if it was possible to stay during the 10 days but our coordinator said that we cannot. Apparently Stavropol is a region where our agency does not support families that stay for the 10-days. In addition, they are not comfortable having families stay in the south so close to the Georgian conflict. That is the first time I heard them make reference to what is going on in the south without us asking. But we were reassured that it is completely safe here and that we should have no trouble returning. I truly hope so.

While I wish that our time at home between the trips wasn't so short, I am anxious to get home to see C and K. Also, it gives me the opportunity to get them ready for school, and to spend a few more days of summer vacation with them. Their grandparents will come to our house for the third trip because the kids start school a few days after we leave. Our third trip will be short too, only 7 to 8 days. We are scheduled to arrive in Stavropol August 24th, and to return home from Moscow August 30th. M will be 11 months old on that day.

To celebrate our successful days in court, on the way back to the hotel Kevin and I stopped at one of the street corners where a Kvas cart was stationed and we both had a cup of kvas to commemorate our day. I'm sure we were quite a sight, two nicely dressed Americans drinking kvas and taking pictures. But it was fun!



I promise to post more about Stavropol when I have uploaded the pictures.