It was an AMAZING day.... Details on Court

First off, several of you have kindly emailed us that you are following, and with great comments, but you don't know how to post -- we want this blog to be able to flip into a book so little man can know how much he was loved along the way -- to post, if you want, go to the bottom of a post go to the "comments" - click "comments" -- type your comment in the little box, put your name at the end, then select "anonymous" -- and click "post"

So, for those of you not bored to tears –
Details are easier than feeling words!! Rundown of yesterday:

• To courthouse around 8:30
• We had been told before we went that supposedly the people she will have the most questions will go first, and that they have no idea who will go first. Of course, we were the first couple to go into the judge! Ha ha ha!! Celeste thinks was both because we were American, and we were adopting a younger child.. and, she did have several questions that were not typical apparently.
• I can’t say all she asked, but it was interesting overall -- They were thoughtful, appropriate, and understandable questions given current world economy, media events, and tragic events of the past.
• The judge was kind, and interestingly asked several questions about my job & why we have an IA program - she seemed surprised to hear of such a program, and when she was pondering a question, I asked our translator what her response was (b/c she didn't translate it for us) and she said "something about she was glad the children had help in the US"
• When we were done, and after she “deliberated” (ie; probably had a cup of coffee and a bite of her breakfast bagel), she came back in and declared us the parents of little man!! That was a relief. It would have been an ugly scene otherwise. Please note: we weren’t actually nervous as cognitively we knew that we would not have gotten to that point if she wasn’t going to say yes. But, come on, who wouldn’t sweat it out and feel relief in that situation?
• Afterward, our interpreter asked if she’d like to talk more—She knew I had brought pictures of the children families have shared with me over the last few months --- all parents of children from Kirov -- she smiled deeply, looked slowly at each picture, asked questions about how the children do when they have “psychomotor delays” and “speech delays”.. What do we do for them? How the children are doing in school? Etc.. We discussed this a bit, and finally, she asked: “Are they happy?: the children, and the families, are they happy?” And I said, “Oh, yes, incredibly so, the children are so very loved, and the families are so very happy” – Her response was one of being very pleased.
• We thanked her very much for her work and for helping add us to the list of happy families.
• We walked out of the courtroom and pulled out our best “American Idol, we have our yellow sheets and we are IN” victory dance…
• We sat for several hours, waiting, quietly joking, cheering on our new friends from the US and Germany as they each came out of that room deliriously delighted!
• We left and took the group photo -- for those of you who are "Amy Fashion efficianados" yes, you are correct -- that WAS a circa de 1995 EXPRESS scarf (Aunt Becca is so proud, no doubt) and it WAS the same sweater I bought some 15 years ago in Napa at Nancy and Kelly's wedding, and it WAS a long brown skirt I've worn to a million other "lucky" events (like my PhD defense last month) -- Come on people. You really didn't expect I'd shop for myself when buying A. all his new ropes for this trip, did you? Besides, comfort comfort comfort... For those reading and coming behind us, whatever you do -- be comfortable. even if it means wearing things that your old friends and family will go "OMG" but smile, too! I know my friend Vic in Ohio will be rolling laughing at this, and take heart in that, were she here, likely it would have been the same story!! LOL
  
• We then ran all around Kirov for several hours in a very hot van to get various paper work completed…
• We received: birth certificate, passport (picture is ADORABLE), vaccination records, adoption decree, baptism certificate
• We CELEBRATED!! All the proud papa’s spent an hour and a half wait outside one of our stops waiting for an official and toasted their children over beer (no cigars!)
• We had lunch & celebrated with wine (women) and beer (men) and the “chicken of the day with French fries” at the “Ground Hogs Day” lunch place (Kirov families w/ our agency are likely giggling at the memories; and Kirov families with our agency to come – fair warning: same place every day, and you are sure that if you order the same thing every day, it WILL come out looking different.)

A shot of LM from last trip -- we only took a couple photos yesterday, and all are a full reveal. Until we have custody of him (Friday evening), we want to keep full face shots down low. So, stay tuned from Moscow :)

• And, we had an unexpected surprise at the end of the day: We went to see our little man
• Poor little man – a few mosquitoes had a party on his face overnight – he has several large welts that are hard to believe – Russian mosquitoes are brutes! As Jeff put it last night, every time we go back, he has more "war wounds" -- when we arrived on our first day here, we found he had 2 perfectly circular rings on one wrist and one hand with gaps on the side -- ringworm?? nah. He had been bitten by one of his buddies... That afternoon we came in and he had a mark on his forearm we are still not sure what it was from... Then yesterday, the mosquitoes!! I asked which the culprit who bit him at the end of the day, and it's actually entertaining who he is... Let's just say that there is a curious relationship between he and Aslan and the people adopting him, but i can't really post that full story, sorry!
• Little man cried today with us – and for those of you new to adoption, please know, we were actually very very glad to see this – he had been quite indiscriminately friendly yesterday & all along has showed no pain – this kid’s brute belittles those pesky mosquitoes for sure.. The German family know him from their first trip (long story) and they laughed at us yesterday b/c he is such a rough house player (and so are we!) They dubbed him “A. Arnold Schwarzenager” ….And so, today when he cried when we touched his one welt, and he snuggled in and allowed us to comfort him…we were actually glad.
• We fed little man and said goodnight – we have to do that only 1 more time (tonight) and leave him behind – as Friday we leave with him for Moscow…
• Our friends from Germany dressed their children, packed them into the van, and brought them home – we are not sure why, but they get to leave tomorrow while we wait until Friday. We think it has something to do with staffing in Moscow. Both kids did well in the car, and the one little gal came into the hotel, smiled and literally ran up the steps w/ her parents -- running down the hall with them to say goodbye to all of us, then ran back into her room -- he told me later, "D. super -- she play, she sleep, she super". And, I agree! She is a beautiful 3 year old girl. So, 1 little boy 28 months, 1 little boy 35 months, 1 little girl 30 months, and our A. almost 17 months... So, the average age of kiddos coming from here matches what we are seeing at home, too, and we know we got lucky with little A. being so "young"... But, the over 2 y/o kiddos have been clearly well loved and their parents well read in attachment, so I suspect they'll do well! And, i am now more firmly convicted that you really can see so much more about a potential child you are adopting when they are a bit older -- and in many ways, that can take away some of the "scary" concerns and help balance the attachment concerns.
  
• While one would rightfully presume the day ended with a huge celebration, the honest answer is – we did not. We came back to the hotel and passed out in exhaustion for several hours.... For those of you coming – keep focused on reality of all this – much of it is a fairy tale or time warp or whatever, but reality is, this is also a sleepless endeavor and so, when sleep finds you, you take it!! Go with the flow, do not have pre-established expectations other than the people here are doing their best and you will get your chance with your child, and that it's not all dreamy all the time... If you have a flexible mind, open heart, and understandable non-verbal gestures, and do not even try to read the non-verbal or between the lines verbal cues, you will be fine here! We, personally, are having a great time!!! ☺
• Ended day and the quick post…then went up to share a glass of wine I from the crazy little café at the top of our hotel with my incredible husband…We talked for quite some time about what he'll need (more on that in another day's post) to put this life behind him and learn the social rules of a family... And then, we had a toast to our son’s future for the first time officially!!
• It was an amazing day.