Gotcha Trip Part 2- Moscow

The train ride was... interesting.... ;) Same tiny compartment with an extra little person.  First we grabbed a bite to eat on the dining car- Lina has been all about the starches and not wanting any meats or veggies... which actually wasn't so bad to see.  Oftentimes, newly adopted kids will gorge themselves with anything and everything in sight as quickly as possible since they were pretty much starved at the orphanage and had to eat fast to be sure no one else took it.  This definitely wasn't the case with Lina.  I took her for lunch at the hotel restaurant while we were waiting on Mike at the bank- and the dish I ordered her was GINORMOUS.  Huge plate full of meat, potatoes, and vegetables- and all she was really interested in was the potatoes.  And she took appropriate bites and ate at a nice pace.  Definitely good to see.  She stopped when she was finished- leaving quite a bit of food (including potatoes) behind. :)  She did this on the train also- ate her rice and that was about it.  But had plenty of Cheerios and Goldfish crackers when we got back to our cabin.

Sleep on the train- our first experience getting Lina to sleep.  From what I saw back in the hotel room as she played with her babydolls- bedtime at the orphanage was quite traumatic and abusive.  And now that it is time to go to sleep- Lina cried out, looking quite afraid.  It took about an hour- and tucking all three of us in... Lina laying against my hip so she knew I wasn't going anywhere, and Mike directly in sight across from her.  I believe she was afraid we would leave after she fell asleep and the night staff would come in. :( She did sleep through the night after she let herself fall asleep, and we had to wake her in the morning when we arrived in Moscow.

We were first told that upon our arrival to our hotel in Moscow- a doctor would promptly meet us there for her embassy exam.  All children being adopted need to be examined by an embassy approved doctor to be cleared to enter the United States- making sure she's not bringing any serious, contagious viruses into the country like tuberculosis etc.  Well, when we met our facilitator at the train station, he informed us the physician who typically meets at the hotel to give the exam was out that day and we would have to take her to the health clinic later in the day.  No biggie.

We get settled into our hotel room- Lina had fun playing dress up with my coat (upside down but don't dare try to take it off her to fix it) and Mike's shoes. ;)  And yes, that is Sponge Bob on in the background- we had limited children's programming. LOL

In the car to or from the medical exam- the more time we spent with her, the more alive this little girl was becoming.

In the car she started smothering me with hugs and kisses- absolutely new! Whenever we visited Lina at the orphanage she was always very reserved, displaying no signs of affection and gave no real genuine smiles.  This has all been changing now that she is out of that environment and with us. :)

Medical exam went pretty well- the most traumatic part was getting Lina's clothes off.  The doctor explained that these children don't want to part with their new, beautiful clothes, especially since while in the orphanage- they have no ownership.  Everything is shared community property.  He advised us to lay her clothes where she can see them when she goes to bed so she knows they are still there.  He was very nice, but did make one error we would find out later.... he told us her rash did not appear to be scabies.  He said it looked like dermatitis most likely caused by too many antibiotics prescribed for every little thing, and would be worse if she ate red/orange vegetables as well as citrus.  This made sense to us since her referral we originally received from the orphanage stated the dermatitis and that she was allergic to carrots. We trusted his opinion but found out later it was in fact scabies.  Oops.  Yep, Mike and I got it too since we shared a bed with her. The only way she would sleep was laying against/between us in the king bed.  There was still crying the first night, as well as every time she was ready to drift off for a nap during the day.  The moment she was ready to fall asleep she would get right up and put her shoes back on, refusing to go to sleep.  We didn't push for naps during the day, but were more insistent at night.  The second night she got to sleep without any tears.

Friday, the 20th, we had our appointment at the US Embassy to get Polina's visa- her official permission to travel to the US. :)  All went very smoothly there also- we were there about 2 hours which went by fairly quickly, especially with the aid of our trusty Cheerios/Goldfish. We met a few other adoptive families there, and it was lovely to talk to other Americans!

Saturday the 21st- HOMEBOUND!!  Taken at the airport in Moscow upon departure :) We had quite the traffic jam on the way, and Mike and I were sweating bullets, praying we wouldn't miss our flight!! Thankfully we got there in plenty time.  Whew!

Lina was SO good throughout all our travels- even on the 10 hour flight! She kept herself occupied with the in flight magazines, headphones (more fun plugging and unplugging them than actually watching the Muppets), coloring, and of course eating Cheerios and Goldfish. ;) She tried snuggling in to sleep several times but that lasted about 2 seconds and then she wanted her shoes back on etc... but did finally crash the last 2 hours of the flight.

Long line to get through customs in the airport- Lina was quiet as a mouse in her stroller.  Greeted by a few friends <3 SO nice of them to come out and welcome Lina to the United States!!  Waited for our shuttle to get back to our car- and as soon as I belted her into her car seat- she gave me this huge smile.  It's like she knew this was a brand new start to a new life full of endless possibilities.  We love you SO much, little girl!! xoxoxo

Lina is HOME!!! Gotcha Trip- Part 1

Sorry for the delay- we have been busy bees here!! Our Gotcha Trip went without a hitch- from an empty airport upon arrival at Dulles (as opposed to our court trip when we barely made the plane) to speedy paperwork processing in country, to bringing our babygirl HOME.

Our Gotcha Day was not the romanticized vision we had been dreaming of.... walking out of the orphanage hand in hand, teary goodbyes from the director and staff.... no, that didn't happen.  We were told the orphanage staff would be bringing Lina to our hotel instead since the roads out there are so bad.  This was a bit relieving to me since these roads were a huge concern of mine now that the snow is all melting and they will be a muddy mess.  When we first arrived in Pskov, her region, we were told she would be coming later that day- the 17th.  Then a couple hours later we were told that the staff weren't available to bring her out that day and it would be the 18th.  Another slight let down, though again I had a bit of relief since our teeny hotel room here only had 2 twin beds.  We weren't quite sure how sleeping arrangements would work out!

Another vision that went out the window... we were told she would be arriving at 11:00 and our translator would call us at 10:45.  I had visions of watching her walk through the hotel doors and embracing her etc. etc.... Well we got a call at 10:30 that she was already downstairs waiting for us! ACK!!  We rush down and she is sitting on this couch surrounded by caretakers and facilitators- there was barely any room for Mike and I to squeeze in! But we made our way through. :)

I get to come home with you guys?? No way!!

We only got a few photos- these are pretty much the best ones.  Ah well. I promptly took her up to our hotel room to change her clothes (though we were then told we could keep the clothes- normally everything stays at the orphanage down to socks and underwear and all).  Mike took off with our facilitator and translator to handle Lina's bank account(s).  All orphans have at least one bank account which can have a substantial amount of money, and we were donating a good bit back to the orphanage.  

So Lina and I got upstairs and I quickly started peeling clothes off of her... and had no idea how many clothes I would be peeling!! Good grief!!  Now keep in mind- it was very pleasant outside- in the mid to upper 50's, maybe even in the low 60's.  Here is what Lina had on, not including the diaper she was wearing for the long car ride also:

Panties over diaper, knit tights, socks over tights, jeans, long sleeve shirt, knit sweater, winter coat, snow boots, and knit hat.  Poor thing had to be sweltering in the car for 2 hours!! And I'm sure the heat in the car was jacked way up too.

This was the sight I found under all these layers...

She was actually trying to copy my smile but it ended up looking like a grimace.  She was a lot thinner than I was expecting, and she was covered in this horrible rash.

The blue is medicine the Russians are fond of using on kids.

This rash was HORRIBLE.  And itchy.  And I didn't take photos of the awful fungus on the palm of one of her hands as well as the balls of her feet.  I couldn't wait to get her home to get all this treated.  But pretty new clothes and a healthy dose of Cheerios seemed to make things a bit better in Lina's eyes.

And some coloring

Mike was gone at the bank for about 4 HOURS!!  Apparently, Lina had three bank accounts- one with just one ruble (30 rubles equals about $1.00) and the others totalled a LOT more than we were expecting.  We were so worried about how long this would all take since we had to catch our train back to Moscow that evening, but we made it.  Donated a nice chunk back to the orphanage and set back to the big capitol city to complete the embassy paperwork.

Lina fell asleep in the car on the way to the train station, hence the zonked out look.  This is the first time I have ever seen her with her tongue out- REALLY tired!  At the train station- Goodbye, Pskov! Paka paka!!

Suitcases are packed....

And we are ready to head out the door, baby!!  We're coming to getcha, Lina!!!  :))

I want to send a huge THANK YOU out to my dear friend, Patti... you know, the one who made a post on Facebook a year ago this very month pleading for the whereabouts of Lina's mama?  That post is what lead me to inquire about adopting Lina, and today Patti shared our story on her blog once again.  Love you, Patti!! xoxoxo I promise to give Lina a hug and a kiss just from you. :)

More thank you's!

I just noticed our FSP took a pretty substantial jump today- thank you to whoever donated!! <3 Donations are accepted until we bring Lina home, so if you've been meaning to contribute to her fund you don't have too much longer. ;)

I will be getting a complete list of all the donors after we get her home, so if I have your mailing address (we are only given a list of names and amounts) you will get a note and photo from us- hopefully in a timely manner. :)  Your generosity means SO very much to us, no matter how big or small the donation.  You gave and there was much thought, love, and support behind it.  We are forever grateful for ALL the support given to us during this whole process whether it be financially or through thoughts and prayers.

I was SO thrilled to find a huge piece of Lina's past just the other day- locating the baby house where she lived her first years of life.  I was even lucky enough to get the director's e-mail address and hope to make contact to not only let her know that Lina has a family, but also hoping she may have more photos or info to share about Lina.  I have heard amazingly WONDERFUL things about this dear director and am so thankful that Lina had a good start to life... for an orphan.  Of course a mommy and daddy would be best, but she was in a loving and caring environment which isn't always the case.  I will most likely wait to contact the director until after we get Lina home, so I will hopefully have more to share then.

*New to us* Photos of Lina!!

Oh. My. Gosh.  Words cannot express how excited I was to receive these photos in my FB messages!!  I can't speak much about the source yet, but trust me, after we get Lina home I will be singing their praises!!!  These came from a volunteer who worked in her orphanage at the end of this past summer.  Can we say PRECIOUS???

Melt. My. Heart. <3  Can't wait to bring you home, babygirl!!  

Day 5: COURT!! Though I wasn't sure I was going to make it to court...

March 15th- Beware the Ides of March!!  Those were Mike's words when we first found out our court date.  I'm not a very superstitious person, but I admit I was just an eensy weensy bit on edge.  But so far all had been going well on our trip and I wasn't really feeling nervous at all about going to court.

We get up around 6:45 AM to get showered and ready to head down for breakfast, allowing ourselves plenty of time before our meeting with our facilitator at 9:00 AM just before heading to court.  I showered, got dressed, and then all of a sudden... I felt HORRIBLE.  Lots of abdominal pain.  I felt hot and sweaty all of a sudden.  I went to use the bathroom.

Sitting there a few seconds (sorry for all this bathroom talk) I started feeling extremely light headed, nauseous, and like I wasn't getting enough oxygen.  As hard as I was breathing, I felt like I was suffocating.  I start having dry heaves.  If I had anything in my stomach it would have been gone, but you may recall we really had nothing much at all to eat the day before.

I can't sit up any longer.  I make my way back out to the bed and collapse- trying to catch my breath.  Mike asks if I'm ok and I shake my head no.  I can barely talk.  My hands and feet are all tingly.  I'm thinking to myself- is this my nerves??  I really didn't think I was that nervous!  Why is this happening to me?  This has never happened to me!  Then the abdominal pain kicks back in.  Gotta get back in the bathroom.

Sit there a couple seconds and all the same feelings come back.  Can't breathe.  Nauseous.  Light headed.  Must. Lay. Down.  Make my way back to the bed.

How in the world am I going to get myself out of this hotel room let alone downstairs for our meeting or to COURT???  There is just no way I can do this.  I had visions of Mike going down to meet our facilitator, bringing her up to the room, and calling an ambulance to take me to the hospital.

After laying there a couple minutes, I decide to try to eat a peanutbutter cracker.  Maybe if I ate something I would feel a little better since I only ate a couple protein bars yesterday along with a couple other little snacks here and there- nothing at all substantial.  Though with my abdominal pain, the last thing I really wanted to do was eat.  But I did.

After one cracker I felt a little better so I went ahead and ate another.  Sat up in bed for a couple minutes to see if I could tolerate sitting up now.  Then decide I'm ok to go downstairs for breakfast.  I really needed to eat.

We go down to the breakfast buffet and I put a few bland things on my plate- a blini (very thin pancake), a couple pieces of potato, a slice of bread.  I take a small bite and the abdominal pain is coming back.  It's worse.  I only stomach a few bites of food and have to get back up to our hotel room.  Finally (sparing the details) I felt much better.  Not 100%- stomach still had it's issues, but I at least felt like I could function.  We go downstairs for our meeting.

After Mike practiced his speech (we didn't have time to get through mine) and reviewed some possible questions from the judge, we headed out.  Court was a few blocks away- I didn't realize how close it was, nor that we would be walking.  So glad I didn't plan to wear heels!  The sidewalks were covered in thick bumpy ice- the walk was a bit treacherous, but we made it.  Go through the security scanners, walk into the quiet court room, and wait.

The two social workers we saw at our visit the day before were seated on the left side and we sat to the right- our translator seated between Mike and I, and our facilitator directly behind.  After a few minutes the prosecutor walks in and takes her place.  Our translator leans over and whispers to me, "She is a good one.  She doesn't usually ask a lot of questions."  One little sigh of relief!  My stomach is still churning.  Praying I make it through.

The judge enters from a staircase behind her seat and we rise.  All the official stuff- rules of the court, introduction of the court staff.  Mike is then instructed to go to the podium and make his speech.  I was so nervous for him, knowing how anxious he has been, but he did a GREAT job.  Got a little emotional toward the end, but kept it together.  He shared a photo book containing photos of the three other children with DS who were adopted from this region- the judge seemed very interested in these photos, flipping through the album a few times.  He shared a photo book I made on Shutterfly containing photos of us, our family, our home inside and out, and photos from our first trip visiting Lina.  He also shared photos of her decorated bedroom.  After his speech, the judge asked him some questions, and then the prosecutor asked a couple questions.  All questions asked were questions our facilitator had prepared us for, so he was very confident in his answers and didn't hesitate at all.

After Mike's turn it was then mine.  When I got to the podium I got really nervous a quick second, took a deep breath, and began.  Once I started talking I felt more at ease, though the judge was making a LOT of eye contact with me and I was trying to keep my look of cool, calm, collected, confident, and caring.  When Mike spoke, she was busy looking through our court documents and photo books he presented, so she didn't make too much eye contact with him.  I had all her attention.  Toward the end of my speech I shared a couple photos of the kids holding pictures they made for Lina- one being the footprint butterflies they made to decorate her room.

The judge seemed really touched by this- she even motioned to the prosecutor to come look.  She didn't offer any of our other photos or albums to the prosecutor, but she wanted her to see this. :)

She then asked me a few questions after I was finished speaking, and the prosecutor asked one or two questions.  Again, pretty much all questions we had been prepared for, so I too was very confident in my answers and spoke without hesitation.  My turn done.  Whew.

Next, the social worker from the orphanage got up and spoke, reflecting on our visits as well as describing Lina and her development.  She was extremely supportive of our adoption in every statement she made.  The judge asked her a few questions, and then the social worker from the government agency got up and gave her speech.  She too was fully supportive of our adoption.  The judge asked her a few questions, and then it was the prosecutor's turn to speak.

The prosecutor was also fully supportive in her speech!  She explained that with all the opportunities available in our home and in our community, this would be the best for Lina.  She had not one negative thing to say.  Praise God!!  We were feeling pretty confident after her speech.

The judge then left for a brief recess.  We asked our translator what she thought and she was confident we should have a good result.  During the recess, the prosecutor got up and grabbed the photo books off the judge's desk and took them back to her own.  She smiled as she flipped through all the pages.  This totally warmed my heart. :)  The judge showed no emotion at all on the outside, but I'm sure we struck a soft spot in there, especially with those butterflies! ;)  After the prosecutor finished looking through them, she handed them back to us, but first the social workers wanted to see. :) So they had a peek too, also smiling.

The judge returned about 5 minutes later.  She gave her decision.  As soon as I heard her say (or heard our translator say ;) ) the adoption was approved- the tears started coming.  I welled up and tried to contain myself as she continued speaking about all the legalities of the 30 day wait, of how her new birth certificate will be printed with the name Polina Mae Livingston as we had chosen. <3  Ecstatic.  After she finished speaking, she left the room, and Mike, our translator, our facilitator, and I all embraced.  Mike and I then hugged each other tight, both crying happy tears.  We did it!!  Lina is ours!!!

As we walked out of court, I looked at my watch- we hadn't been here but 2 hours.  That is record FAST for  court proceedings in this country! We had heard stories of other families sitting in court about 8 hours, and only the one family before us in this region who got through in three.  It truly could not have gone any smoother.  We are so blessed!!

We headed back to the hotel to take a breather, grabbed some dinner (the hotel restaurant was open this time, Hallelujah!!) and headed back to the train to begin our long journey home.

The scenery leaving Lina's region- much more remote than the big capitol city we came from...

We passed by a little town from time to time, but mostly just all snowy fields.

One of the many train stations we stopped at along the way

With a group of policemen congregating outside

After we arrived back to the capitol city and met our driver, we stopped for some breakfast since we were several hours early for our flight- train arrived at 6:30 AM and our flight departed at 12:35.  When our driver asked if we wanted to stop, I took him up on the offer since I didn't want to chance going through what I went through the day before!

Some Baskin Robbins inside the cafe (no, we didn't eat any):

And chips which were part of our lunch on our flight

And of course we couldn't board our flight without just a little drama.... ;)  We had plenty time to spare- arriving at the airport around 9:00 AM and had to wait for the airline counter to open before we could get checked in and go through security.  Once they opened we got to the counter- as the girl is printing out our boarding passes she sees we were flagged for an extra security check at the gate.  She was quite confused, saying to another woman behind the counter, "But they are American!?!"  Apparently the TSA from the good ole US of A decided to choose us for extra security screening before we could board.  Only us, right?  Sheesh.  

So we get through passport control and security, and head to our gate.  After we are standing around for a while, a man starts bringing out all these large partitions and making a huge wall around the whole waiting area.  After he gets it all set up, he makes everyone clear the area "for security purposes".  Oh boy.  All this for us?  There was a smaller area sectioned off right by the doors leading to the ramp.  The girl there had this odd looking scanning device and a bunch of plastic gloves.  Yikes!!  What in the world are we in for???  

We make our way to the back of the line after they made everyone move out of the waiting area (we were right up front before, of course).  Every single person had to have their carry on bags hand searched before they could board the plane.  We weren't sure if this was standard procedure for a direct flight to the US since we had a layover in Germany on our first trip home, and had to go through separate security screens through that airport before we could board our connecting flight.  But since Mike and I were flagged, we got to go to the "special" little area sectioned off with the scanner lady.  

We first have to stand up and hold out our arms while she swipes sections of our skin with a small piece of paper.  Then she inserts the paper into the scanner.  She does the same, swiping each compartment of our bags, and thoroughly inspects our shoes.  Oddly, she didn't really look into our bags searching for materials we weren't supposed to have, like the half empty bottle of hand sanitizer they swiped from someone else's bag.  The scanner was used to detect explosive materials.  Thankfully they didn't find any! LOL  We weren't really concerned about this extra security check since we had nothing to worry about.  There were two other people flagged on the flight as well that had to be searched.  All seemed to go fine.

Goodbye, {snowy Eastern European country that shall not be named until we get our daughter home}.... We'll be back in a month- hopefully not as snowy!  Can't wait to bring our baby girl HOME!!!

Day 4: Court prep and visiting Lina!

Our train arrived in Lina's region around 7:30 AM... we get checked in at our hotel at 8:10 and are told to meet our facilitator and translator back down in the lobby at 9:00 to go to the orphanage.  Mike wanted to grab a quick shower so we skipped breakfast and opted for a protein bar instead.

Back on the road.... The roads in the main city where our hotel is located were pretty clear- a little slush here and there but not bad.  But the farther we drove, the worse the conditions became.  I really wish I had snapped some photos of the deterioration of their condition.  This was one thing I was concerned about for this trip- remembering how bad the roads were leading to the orphanage when we were here on our first trip- before there was any snow and ice.  I knew fair well that there would be no road crews going out to this remote area to treat any of these dirt roads.  Thankfully it wasn't quite as bad as I had anticipated.  Cars here have snow/studded tires so they handle much better than ours at home would.

It didn't take long for the roads to become snow covered, but they did appear to be treated with salt/sand/dirt.  Something brown. LOL  But as we trekked on maybe an hour into our drive, there was no treatment other than being packed down by the previous cars traveling by.   Another half hour and there were two ruts where one car's tires could pass through.  Oh how I prayed no one else would come the other way because there was nowhere to go!  But we had no worries there- for this area is so remote that there really isn't any traffic to be concerned about.  At all.

After a little slipping and sliding toward the end of our commute, we made it to the orphanage.  Whew!  We first go to the director's office to meet with her before going to see Lina.  I gave her the shopping bag full of new clothes we brought for the children as well as a box of toothbrushes our dentist had donated.  She was much appreciative.  She asked if we had any questions for her- my only question was regarding what she would want for a donation to the orphanage when we return for our third trip to bring Lina home.  She showed me a couple catalogs with texture boards- large boards to be installed on the wall of Lina's groupa so the children can manipulate and feel the different textures.  Since this is something that obviously won't fit in our suitcase to bring with us, our facilitator told us this is something we could definitely order in the city.

Next, the director warned us that Lina will probably be scared when we see her as she won't remember us since it has been 4 months since our last visit.  We then walked down to Lina's groupa.

When we first walked in the room- the first thing I saw was three little girls with CRAZY hair-do's!! The caretakers styled their hair all the same- with a bazillion pigtails all over their little heads- I about died!  Quickly we saw little Lina who gave us a big smile when she saw us and immediately sat down in a chair to wait for us to come to her.  She knew who we were!  She knew we were there for HER! :)  <3 Melt. Our. Hearts.  She even leaned forward for me to nuzzle noses with her as I had done four months ago.  The director and social workers were amazed that she had remembered us after all.  We headed up to the psychologist's office for our visit just as we did before.

The two social workers followed to observe how our visit went, for they would be testifying in court regarding our relationship with Lina, how she reacts to us and how we react to her actions.  One social worker is from the orphanage and the other is from the government agency that oversees adoptions.  Both ladies were very nice and gave us our space- they didn't stay in the room too long but hung around just outside the door.

And a photo of the back of her head so you can see just how *intense* the hairstyle was ;) and see that I really don't have a moustache LOL

Lina spent a good portion of our visit sitting on my lap, and I was perfectly content with that! :) She drew a bunch of pictures in the sketch pad we brought.... One of the social workers peeked in after a little while to see how we were interacting- Lina was still sitting comfortably on my lap and we were looking through a photo book I brought containing pics of us, our house, the kids, and photos with Lina from our first trip.  She enjoyed pointing to the people and trying to copy the kids' names.  She was quick to point out mama and daddy. :)

I also brought a babydoll for her- part of my thinking was to see how she treated the baby which could indicate how she will react to Evan.  When she first picked up the doll she immediately cradled it in her arms and rocked it gently. :) Such a sweet little mama!  She then took it over to the sliding board.  She held the baby's legs and made the baby climb up the ladder (SO cute) and then she slid down the slide with the baby.

She did pause to tend to the baby's needs- putting the pacifier back in her mouth, and she was insistent on tucking the baby's dress into the diaper. hee hee!  She did that a few times- dang dress just wouldn't stay in!  I also brought some little baby bottles for the doll and she first wanted to try to drink it herself (since it was the kind you can see the liquid) and then fed it to the baby.

Fixing the binky that didn't want to stay in her mouth

She enjoyed playing with the rope lights a little while- this black cord has a switch that controls the lights and she knew just how to work it!  Mike and I were a little concerned when she wanted to play with the electric cord but she quickly proved she knew what she was doing. ;)

These are pretty much the only photos we got- we knew this would be our only visit with her this trip and wanted to soak up as much as we could.  I did get this short little video of her playing with the rope lights:

As you can see she has no problem expressing what she wants! :)  She seemed so much bigger than the last time we saw her- I swear they must have fed her twice as much while we were gone.  Our visit went by very quickly and it was soon time to head back to the hotel.

On our way back to the hotel, our translator read our speeches to our facilitator who offered us feedback on subjects we should include and some things we could shorten.  She also asked us a bunch of possible questions the judge could ask- questions she has asked other families who have gone before us.  This gave us ideas of what more to include in our speeches, and gave us time to think about how we would answer these questions if she asked us.  It was a little overwhelming but a HUGE help to us.  She assured us that we had *wonderful* documents, and that while they were very nervous for us, hopefully all would go well.  This still is kind of uncharted territory for Lina's region- we are only the fourth family to pursue adopting a child with Down syndrome from this region, and the first family was denied, having to then go to the Supreme Court to appeal the decision in which they won. :))  The second family to go to court here had to come back to court a second day to provide more documentation.  The third family finished court in record time- a mere three hours.  

We had no idea how our court session would go, especially since the judge never requested any updated documents from us.  Typically in Lina's country- court documents are only valid for three months.  We prepared our documents as soon as we got home from our first trip- back in November.  By now our documents are all 4 months old.  Usually the judge will make requests before court regarding which documents she wants updated or if she needs more documentation whether it be regarding finances, home ownership, or anything else, and families bring these updated documents with them to court.  We were hoping she wouldn't decide at the last minute that she wanted something and we would have to try to contact someone at home to try to get something for us.  It has happened in the past.  So many unknowns of what to expect!  

We arrived back at our hotel and were told to meet our facilitator at 9:00 the next morning to go over more court prep, and then head to court- to begin at 10:30.  We noticed when we entered the hotel lobby that there was dance music playing in the restaurant- there was a private party so the restaurant was closed.  We went up to our room for a granola bar and some peanutbutter crackers, snacks we packed from home for such occasions, mostly for lunches.  

A couple hours later we came back downstairs- party still going strong.  There was a little cafe/bar next to the restaurant, but all the tables were full.  Ugh.  We tried one or two more times and just gave up.  Protein bar for dinner it is... just like breakfast.  We edited our speeches some more and practiced reading them to each other, and then settled in to bed to try to rest up before our big day!!

Tomorrow's post:  COURT!!  Yes, there was some drama in the morning...