Greetings from Tropical Ust-Kamenogorsk
November 20, 2008
Sorry to have been out of communicato for so long but it seems the Shiny River is having some problems with their server. Let’s catch up…
We filed our court documents on Monday and the following day we found out our court date would be November 26th. Nine long days!!!! We were especially bummed since it meant we would miss Nolan’s birthday. He was great though-we told him that for his birthday we were going to go to court to get him his sister. He thought that was the best (of course he would also like a PS3 but a sister is great too!)
So we will be flying home on Thanksgiving Day. In fact we should arrive around 4:30 Thursday afternoon, just in time for turkey! I CAN NOT WAIT. Of course I wish I could just take Nina home with us but that is not possible. After court there is a 15 day period when we could change our minds (not gonna happen) or the adoption could be appealed by the birth family or the state (pray that does not happen). After the 15 day waiting period there is about 12 days of paper work and legal processing. We don’t know exactly when Nina will come home but my gut tells me it will be after Christmas (her birthday) and mostly likely early January. We are in the home stretch though and as my sister so wisely pointed out in one of her comments…we will have a whole lifetime together.
In the seemingly never-ending flow of Adoption Ark families, yesterday we said goodbye to Anne, Fred and (the always entertaining)Tasha. They were a great family who adopted a beautiful brother /sister pair. It was nice getting to know them. We saw them mostly in the mornings at breakfast but it was comforting somehow to know there was another American family here. We were happy though that they we successful in court and able to go home. The day before another couple arrived to start their adoption; Wade and Jill are here meeting two gorgeous little boys. We’ve had a great couple of days getting to know them. They have been great company and have really helped us with our homesickness as we wait out the 9 days until court. Each of these families has been a Godsend to us.
Nina Bea is getting more and more fun. Today was a riot. We were walking in the halls of the baby house and met up with other kids in her group. When Nina saw them she pointed at them and said “mama, mama” then she (rather aggressively) ran over and shoved two of the kids who were coming towards me. Dart and I were shocked. I mean she likes me…she really likes me! Yesterday though was even better because for the first time Nina sat on Dart's lap. We’re kind of wondering now if she was afraid of his beard. Yesterday because of illness, all visiting parent had to wear surgical masks. Nina seemed fascinated with this and sat looking at Dart while putting ladybug stickers on his mask.
We filed our court documents on Monday and the following day we found out our court date would be November 26th. Nine long days!!!! We were especially bummed since it meant we would miss Nolan’s birthday. He was great though-we told him that for his birthday we were going to go to court to get him his sister. He thought that was the best (of course he would also like a PS3 but a sister is great too!)
So we will be flying home on Thanksgiving Day. In fact we should arrive around 4:30 Thursday afternoon, just in time for turkey! I CAN NOT WAIT. Of course I wish I could just take Nina home with us but that is not possible. After court there is a 15 day period when we could change our minds (not gonna happen) or the adoption could be appealed by the birth family or the state (pray that does not happen). After the 15 day waiting period there is about 12 days of paper work and legal processing. We don’t know exactly when Nina will come home but my gut tells me it will be after Christmas (her birthday) and mostly likely early January. We are in the home stretch though and as my sister so wisely pointed out in one of her comments…we will have a whole lifetime together.
In the seemingly never-ending flow of Adoption Ark families, yesterday we said goodbye to Anne, Fred and (the always entertaining)Tasha. They were a great family who adopted a beautiful brother /sister pair. It was nice getting to know them. We saw them mostly in the mornings at breakfast but it was comforting somehow to know there was another American family here. We were happy though that they we successful in court and able to go home. The day before another couple arrived to start their adoption; Wade and Jill are here meeting two gorgeous little boys. We’ve had a great couple of days getting to know them. They have been great company and have really helped us with our homesickness as we wait out the 9 days until court. Each of these families has been a Godsend to us.
Nina Bea is getting more and more fun. Today was a riot. We were walking in the halls of the baby house and met up with other kids in her group. When Nina saw them she pointed at them and said “mama, mama” then she (rather aggressively) ran over and shoved two of the kids who were coming towards me. Dart and I were shocked. I mean she likes me…she really likes me! Yesterday though was even better because for the first time Nina sat on Dart's lap. We’re kind of wondering now if she was afraid of his beard. Yesterday because of illness, all visiting parent had to wear surgical masks. Nina seemed fascinated with this and sat looking at Dart while putting ladybug stickers on his mask.
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