I'm a BAD blogger!

It looks like we fell off the face of the earth after court! We didn't have a whole lot of news to speak of after court since that was on Thursday and we left very early Saturday morning to come home. We got back to the airport at 11:45 p.m. and we were very exhausted to say the least. I ended up getting sick about Germany with a stomach bug or something & didn't get back to my usual self until about Wednesday. With everything that's been going on I just didn't think about the blog, but my biggest blog stalker (Vicky) has been telling me that I needed to update it! So I guess I should oblige!

We leave again on Sunday to go back to Russia. Our 10 day waiting period will be up on the 3rd and that's what day we will get to Tomsk. We will spend a few days there getting Konner's passport and birth certificate. We will leave on the morning of the 7th & go back to Moscow & spend the weekend doing some sight seeing and shopping. The 9th is a holiday in Russia (Women's Day) so we will have to wait until the 10th to get everything done at the US Embassy. We will leave Moscow on the 12th very early in the morning & be back in the states that afternoon.

The family that traveled with us on our first trip desperately needs your prayers. They went back for their second trip this week and the last we had heard things were going very badly and it didn't look like they were going to be able to go to court. I'd also like for everyone to keep my blogger friend Tina in your prayers as she is waiting to get back to get her little guy and is having some problems also.
We've been thanking God all week for how fortunate we have been that things have gone as smoothly as they have. It just breaks our hearts that these other families are having problems.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! The next time you hear from us we will be in Russia!!!!!

The Verdict Is In......

After 3 1/2 hours of intense grilling from the judge we received a favorable ruling! In 10 days from tomorrow Konner will be all ours!!!!!! Everyone said they thought court went really well, although we weren't very sure about it. Alan's speech was so good that I didn't have to make a speech! I had to stand up and answer questions for about 5 minutes which was nothing compared to his. When he was done with his speech the judge and prosecutor asked him questions for about 30 minutes. I felt really sorry for him, but he did very well. I think they stopped asking me questions because they could see that I was getting way too emotional, yes me!

We got to go visit Konner at the orphange this afternoon and all the workers were congratulating us and telling us how happy they were for us and for Konner. One of the caregivers even exchanged email addresses with us because she wants us to send her pictures of him because he has always been her favorite. She also said she has some pictures to send us of Konner when he was smaller. We can tell that they all really care about our son.

We did a little sightseeing after court today. I say little because it's about 3 degrees which is a heat wave here! As promised I took some pictures of the snow. They also have some very pretty ice sculptures near the parks & the white house. I guess they don't have to worry about them melting!

Trip Two Day 3

We've had a pretty uneventful day today. We got to visit little man twice today. The first visit was cut a little short because it was time to eat. When they come to get him and tell him it's time to eat he's outta there! The boy must like to eat because we suddenly don't exist!
One of the orphanage workers told us at our last visit today that last night when it was time for him to go to sleep all he wanted to do was play and he kept throwing his blanket off. She said they told him if he didn't go to sleep Mama wouldn't come to see him tomorrow. She said he immediately went to sleep!!
We have been busy all day preparing our speeches for court. Alan is doing the 10 minute speech and I am doing the 2 minute speech. :-)
Be praying for us that everything goes very smooth tomorrow and that they don't ask a lot of additional questions.
I'll try to post a picture of all the snow here tomorrow. It's been around -5 and snowing all day.

Trip Two Day 2

Today we had our Pre-Trial court hearing. It only lasted about an hour and consisted of the judge asking us questions and verifying that all our documents were in order. We were assigned a court date for Thursday at 10:00 am.

We got to go to the orphanage twice today. Little man is doing great and we can't wait till this is all over and we get to take him home!

We brought him a car to play with that you shake up and it takes off and this has been a big hit, not only with him but with all the adults here also. They said they have never seen anything like this. I think so far we've been told to bring back 8 of them when we come! Here is a picture of the car.

I know what you're thinking, Jeff Gordon??? For the record I wanted to get the #9 car, Kasey is my favorite. But since it was Alan's idea he got to make the final decision and he's a closet Jeff Gordon fan! I hope Walmart still has these or there will be some disappointed Russians over here!

We don't have a lot planned for tomorrow other than going back to the medical clinic to have one doctor sign off on a form. Then we will get to go back to the orphanage!

Trip Two Day 1

After over 30 hours of straight traveling we were met at the airport by our coordinator at 7:30 am. We were at the hotel & he said he would be back at 9:00 am for a whirlwind day. So much for a little rest, but we were excited to get things started. We were taken to a medical clinic for physicals and consultations with several different doctors. They took our blood, run tests, took x-rays, had us take interviews with doctors & psychiatrists. We were pleased to learn that we had fooled the psychiatrist just enough to pass! That was just a joke for those looking ahead that are going to be going through this process. It was all very informal and easy, just part of the requirments.

The treat of the day came this afternoon about 4:00 when were able to go to the orphanage. We met with the doctor who went over his latest checkup with us and invited us to ask any questions we may have. Alan asked the doctor if our little boy was walking yet on his own and she said yes and we were soon to find out just how well he is walking. She told us that they had told him that his Mama & Papa were on their way to see him & he was very excited about this. About this time a nurse brought him to the door & he came almost running in with a HUGE smile on his face! He truly did seem very happy to see us, this made us feel so good. He just has the sweetest disposition about him all the time. He has changed so much in three months! He has grown a little, but he is still small, his legs have obviously gained much strength. His hair has grown out and he is a very handsome little boy!

We are scheduled to go to a Pre-trial hearing tomorrow and the court date is set for Thursday. Leo told us that we had a very good judge and that everything usually goes very smooth when he is in charge. Hopefully that will be the case and everything will stay in line to get wrapped up the first part of next month.

We haven't had a nights sleep since Friday night, so we are going to bed very soon. It is very cold here today -30. We were prepared, it didn't seem as bad as we had imagined. All else is well, hope everyone at home is well. Thanks for the prayers. We will blog again tomorrow.

Looking East

Happy Valentine's Day! We are finally packed and ready to travel. We will update as soon as possible upon arrival to Russia.
Paka!

WE HAVE A COURT DATE!!!!

We finally got the long awaited call from the agency today!!!! Our coordinator went to see the judge today & we were assigned a court date for February 19th. We will be leaving on the 14th (HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO US!!) Yes folks, that's one week from tomorrow! We will be in Moscow on the 15th, go to Tomsk on the 16th and we will get to visit with little man that day. The 17th we will have what they call Pre-Court where they go over everything & make sure it's all in order. Not sure yet what is happening on the 18th only because it wasn't mentioned. The 19th and/or 20th will be court. We will leave Moscow on the 21st and be home late on the 21st. There is a 10 day waiting period that is never waived in Tomsk, so we will come home during that time. The wait will be up on March 4th, so we will leave again on the 3rd and go get our son on the 4th. We will stay in Tomsk a few days waiting on his new birth certificate and his passport. We will be going back to Moscow on the 7th and will go to the US Embassy on the 10th & 11th. On March 12th we will be back in the good ole USA with the newest member of the Brown family!!!!

I have finally calmed down (a little bit) and have stopped jumping up and down and yes, this really happened at work today, the girls I work with already know I'm crazy so they're used to it!

So now, because I have procrastinated yet again, I have to rush around this week trying to find gifts for the orphanage and the workers, and the officials that will be helping us. I think there about 8 or 10 gifts that we have to buy. I am open to suggestions if anyone has any ideas!

By the way Happy Birthday Alan! He loved this birthday present today!

Inching Ahead

I think we spoke with our agency almost everyday this past week (including Saturday). We finally found out on Tuesday what the hold up was with getting a court date (Kellie if you are reading this skip to the next paragraph-for your own sanity later on). Apparently, after we signed the papers before we left Tomsk saying we "officially" wanted to adopt our little guy the court has to send letters out to all of his known relatives. These letters let them know that someone is wanting to adopt him and these relatives have to sign a form and send it back in saying that they still don't want him. The court received all of these letters back and signed the previous week! I am SO glad that we didn't know about this before because I would have worried myself to death!
Our coordinator had an appointment on Thursday to petition the court for a court date for us, but for the first time that our agency has ever heard of, court was cancelled because it was so cold! It was -45 F ! They were hoping he would be able to go on Friday, but it was still too cold (-32 F) so court was cancelled again. On Saturday we were told that our coordinator felt sure that he would be able to get to court the first part of this week and we should have a court date for sometime this month. After he petitions the court it normally takes about a week for the judge to assign a date. Hopefully we will hear something soon. Be praying for warmer weather in Siberia. I don't know how those people live in that kind of weather! It's definitely going to be a big shock to us since it was almost 60 degrees here today!