We are family.....

It is offical....as of 3pm today we are offically the parents to Olena. It was quite the experience but thankfully everything went well. Jason and I held it together pretty well. Gene on the other hand was a nervous wreck. He pulled through though with flying colors. At the beginning of the session the judge asked who wanted to speak first and I volunteered which was a blessing in desguise because he asked several questions that Jason would have for sure bloched!! He asked why are you adopting, why Ukraine, how do you know she will have a good and fair life in the U.S., why are we not adopting domestically, will she be able to be President?? yes he did ask that. I could hear Jason now...because my wife said....maybe we should ask my wife....my wife never mentioned this to me, I am not sure?!! but it did go well and when I was done he asked Jason to stand, asked him the basics such as name and place of employement, then asked if he agreed with all of my answers - easy enough! After answering questions for about 40 minutes he left the room to consult with the other officals for about 5 minutes, they came back into the room and gave some long speech in Ukrainian which I understood meant "yes you are now the parents of Olena". Amazing how the both of us could sit there and listen to him and actually understand what he was saying. We both had huge smiles on our faces and so did the other people in the court. He then came and shook our hands and told us Congradulations and Best Wishes. Finally it is over.
We will now have a 10 day waiting period which will end on December 9th, unfortunately that is a Saturday so we can't do much, but we should be able to take Olena from the orphange on Sunday. Complete her passport and new birthcertificate on Monday and Tuesday, leave for Kiev on Tuesday night and arrive on Wednesday morning, then a few more days completed immigration and having a medical evaluation, then HOME!!! I am hoping to be able to leave a day or two earlier and fly out on the 15th or 16th. Every day counts even if it is just one day, I am leaving as early as possible. I miss my family, my dogs, my cats, my house, my bed....everything!!!
After court we went to Dixie BBQ and met up with one of the other families. Jason and I ordered Tbones steaks and were salivating at the table at just the thought of some good beef. Boy were we surprised. We got some type of meatloaf thing covered in a sweet BBQ sauce, still good but not what we were dreaming about. Guess the tbone will have to wait until we are back home! We finished off with some good icecream though so that was a treat.
That about covers it all. Thank you so much to everyone for your support and prayers. We made it! We couldn't be happier and we can't wait to share the joy with all of you. Now it is just a matter of waiting everything out and starting the count down until we go home. Love and miss you all.