We passed court!

What a great day! We passed court and are now officially Maks' parents!! Unfortunately the 10 day wait was not waived, so we will be sticking it out here in Russia. We woke up early this morning. Jason had a hard time sleeping. Went into the dining room to eat breakfast (eggs, cucumbers, tomato and bread today) and then were picked up by Anna and Sergei. The ride to court was very short, only a few blocks. Not something we would want to walk in dress shoes though! Once in the court we sat and waited in a hallway for the judge to appear. When she did, Jason & I were called in first.

We each had to stand and state our names and some other general information. Then the judge read through the application for adoption. She asked Jason to stand and asked him a bunch of questions about the adoption. Why did we want to adopt? Why from Russia? What was our post-adoption plan for Maks, etc... Then it was my turn. Similar questions. She read through Maks' personal file and asked us if we had anything else to add. We requested the 10 day wait be waived based on medical information. The Social Worker and Prosecutor had a turn to give their opinion and then we were asked to leave the room while the judge made her decision. A few minutes later we were called back in and she read through her decision to accept our application for Maks' adoption! The whole thing took about 50 minutes. We were so nervous coming into the day. You just never know what can happen. We were so excited to have the court's approval though! Sandra was next and had the same outcome. Smiles all around. :)

After court we went back to the hotel to change. Anna and Sergei then took us to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. After lunch Jason & I were dropped off at a Wal-Mart type place. Other adoption families have dubbed it "Wal-martski". It had a little bit of everything! At least I know where I can find diapers now! :) We went back to the hotel to watch more DVDs and are now back at Travelers Coffee for some dinner.

Tomorrow morning Sergei will pick us up at 7:30am for our trip down to the orphanage to see Maks and Vika! We're going to take some clothes to try on him to see if we are anywhere near the right size. Especially the snow pants. All of the kids here are completely bundled up. It makes sense though, its very cold!!!

I'm attaching a picture of the "Wal-martski" and our picture right outside of court this morning!