I'm a Mama!!!

Today, August 21,2007 the honorable judge in Birobidzhan, Russia told me I am the official Mama to, drum roll please:

Caroline Ruth and Chase William!!!

Court went just fine with only one little hitch, when I petitioned to waive the 10 days, one of the reasons was that there was a respitory virus going around the orphanages and I did not want the children to catch it, well the prosecutor insisted that he see a log of the recent viruses and after much debate with the judge, he agreed and the logs had to be found and brought to court and reviewed and then it was decided the decision would be made the next day! Ugh! So I had to show up at 9:00 am this morning and that is when he rendered his wonderfully positive decision and waived the 10 days! Gail and I will still be here in Birobidzhan until the 29th when we fly to Moscow as it takes some time for the regional paperwork, but we will pick up the children everyday and have them with us for the daytime and then drop them back at the orphanage in the evening. Our hotel room is just not accomidating for two small children.

The kids are fabulous, they have grown so much since we saw them in November and they both remembered me! Caroline (Katia) has really opened up and is smiling and laughing and is just a joy to be around. Pasha (Chase) is so much fun, bright, smart and full of energy. They are perfect kids in my eyes! I will try and post photos tomorrow as we are at the post office in Biro and cannot use my photo card here. There is no access at the hotel, so we are at the mercy of when the post office is open.

The Hotel Vostok has been renovated!! You have no idea how wonderful this is!!! The bathroom is brand new, clean and the beds are new. It has been painted and is actually pleasant to stay here! We were really happy to find this. There are several families here with us who also are here for court so we have all been entertaining ourselves quite well. We've found some new restaurants and some of the food is surprisingly good! Although we are still grateful for the provisions we have brought.

I will try and update our days and post pictures as much as we can, but our time is relegated by the translators, drivers and coordinators and of course the children's schedules.

There have been numerous funny incidents along they way and we'll update everyone on those as we get more time. But for now I wanted the world to know that after 6 plus years of trying to bring children into my home, I am finally the mom I have always dreamed of.

Thank you all for your prayers and good thoughts.

Love to you all,
Jane