Court, More Papers and Passport, oh my!

Dear Family and Friends,

Here’s an update from us as of Wednesday, June 11th , 8 PM Voronezh time.

The past several days we have been in the ‘hurry up and wait mode’ concerning getting Natalie’s paperwork complete before we can head to Moscow. On Monday we spent the entire day driving back and forth from office to office, around the center of Voronezh submitting documents to apply for Natalie’s new birth certificate and passport. Our facilitator knows how to speed up the process because by Tuesday afternoon we signed and picked up her new birth certificate that states us as the Mom and Dad. It was a wonderful moment as we signed our names and became ‘official’ parents to our sweet girl. Last night our hosts took us to the cinema and we watched an American movie in Russian. Quite an experience. Steve mainly wanted to go so he could enjoy the popcorn!

Today (Wed.) we were able to go and visit with Natalie at the orphanage for an hour. This takes practically the whole day because it’s 2 hours there and 2 hours back to the apartment. When Natalie saw us she smiled and clapped her hands, walked over to me, took the doll (kookla) I had in my hands and sat down in my lap. Everytime I see her I tell her “tea nosha dochka”—“you are our daughter” and I love the way she looks into my eyes as I tell her. Somehow, I think she understands. They let us take her out of the small visitation room out into the play yard and the garden. She loved the flowers but wasn’t so sure about the bubbles I brought. We still haven’t seen her in a bad mood or have a bad moment, but I’m sure it’s in her. She loves to smile and have Daddy take her picture. Today Steve showed a Baby Einstein dvd and she was mesmerized! We think this will a lifesaver on the train and the plane.

Saturday will be ‘Gotcha Day’ and the orphanage asked us to be there by 9 am. I am sure we will be sending pictures of this day we have waited so long for. We will all wave ‘paka’ (byebye) to Pavolovsk and head back to Voronezh as a family. Then Sunday, June 15th, we will board the overnight train back to Moscow and finish up the paperwork at the US Embassy. We’ll let you know as soon as we get information on our flight back home.

Please feel free to comment on this email. We can’t tell you how much we enjoy hearing from you—it is truly the highlight of our day when we get on the internet.

We love you---keep praying us home!
Karen, Steve and Natalie