A dream fulfilled!

Celebration
and
goodbye
party for
the
caregivers
of Room
#2!






Hello---very sorry that I missed some days with the blog--my emotions have been on a rollercoaster for the past 3 days. On Monday, my cocker spaniel Emily became acutely ill and had to be seen by the vet---many thanks to Bonny and my mom for taking such good care of her. I especially can't thank my mom for spending time with Emily as she spent her last moments of life. She apparently had a fatal type of anemia that is common to female cocker spaniels. It is extremely difficult to lose a cherished pet--especially when you are halfway around the world and can't say goodbye.
Anyway, the next day was court. The court was an experience in itself. There were many people involved, all who had to speak on my behalf. The judge couldn't make it, so a different judge heard the "case". She is a new judge who had never done an adoption, much less an international adoption. It was slightly nerve wracking (sp?) even to those who do this often...she was asking for documents that did not exist, and had many, many, many questions. What usually takes 15 minutes before the judge actually took about an hour, and seemed like an eternity. I stood and sat more times than in church!! The director of the orphanage had to speak, as well as the doctor that cared for Zhanna at the orphanage, the social worker I had to see, the facilitator Tamara, and she wanted a diploma from Lena to prove that she was qualified to even be there as a translator. Anyway, it went (fairly) smoothly and Zhanna is now officially my daughter. There is a 15 day waiting period now, then we begin the process of obtaining the adoption decree, a new birth certificate with my name on it, and about 9 business days of paperwork. Then, off to Almaty to obtain a visa, get the physical from the American doctor--to be sure she is not bringing anything contagious to America, then to the consulate and home!!!
After court, we had to go grocery shopping for baby food, and food for 2 celebration parties--one for the doctor and Rosa, the director of the orphanage, and one for the caregivers of Zhanna's room. Then, the caregivers changed her into the clothes that I brought and we came to the apartment. It is now 9:30pm, and Zhanna has been sleeping for an hour. I can't believe my dream has actually come true and I am a mom to a beautiful little girl!!!
Will write more tomorrow, as we have no appointments or anything to do besides get to know each other for 2 weeks! Lena will continue to come for a few days, and we will still have a driver for groceries and whatever else. Please pray for warmish weather....2 weeks is a very long time to spend in the house!!