Tuesday, September 29, 2009

A Rose by Any Other Name...

Today was a very long, but very productive day!
We were picked up at our hotel at 9am this morning, and we went with Alex and the other couple (that went through the court proceedings with us) to the government agency responsible for issuing our certificates. We waited there about 2.5 hours, and then we were each called into an office where we signed our names about 4 or 5 times on various documents. Then we were given our Adoption Certificate and Emma's new Birth Certificate!
So...we are now officially Emma's parents, and her name has been officially changed!!! This day has taken a very long time to get here, and we couldn't be happier!
certificates
We still do not have her with us though. Our agency representative does not allow us to get Emma (or any children) until all paperwork including her passport has been received.
Anyway, after we were given these two documents, we were taken back to the other couple's hotel where we had lunch while Alex went to the police department in their district. He returned around 2pm, and then he drove us to Emma's Baby Home. We waited while he went to the police department in our district to get clearance. It only took 30 minutes to get our papers, and he was back. We were able to spend about 25 minutes with Emma today. They brought her to us in the exact SAME dress!!! It must be time to wash that dress. :)

dad squeeze

stinker

big laugh



We left her early because today is the only day of the week that the government office in charge of getting passports stays open until 8pm. We decided to go ahead and apply for Emma's passport so that we can hopefully make our flight back to the US next Tuesday! It took us about an hour to drive to this building, and then we were there for 2.5 hours waiting for our turn to request a passport. Alex went in with us, and we presented the application along with the Adoption Certificate and her new Birth Certificate. The lady helping us was a little confused as she had never processed a request like ours before. We are hoping this does not hinder the process. She told Alex that he could call in the morning to find out when the passport would be ready! We are really hoping it is on Thursday. Once we get the passport, we can go get Emma and fly straight to Moscow to finish out the adoption process!
We did not get back to our hotel until 8pm tonight so we were gone for 11 straight hours today! I think it was ALL worth it though because we are definitely ahead of where we thought we would be at this point.
Tomorrow we venture out on the Metro again to see Emma at the Baby Home! We will have two more visits with her. We are hoping that she is happy to see us. Her smile lights up the entire room!!!

20090929-(1 of 1)

blackberry

Loving Dad's Blackberry already!!!

12 comments:

Patsy said...

Oh, my goodness ! This little girl is the BEST B'day present ever. And those smiles - all I can say is "Bing"!! Thank you for bringing this joy into our lives. XOXO

Barb said...

That's great news! She's so cute!!

Henley on the Horn said...

Adorable!!

Henley on the Horn said...

Adorable!!

Heather said...

I'm so glad that things are moving forward!

Anonymous said...

I love the pic with the blackberry...So cute...I am glad everything is going well and I hope everything continues as planned...

Jessica

Jo said...

CONGRATULATIONS! I am so very happy for your *official* family of five!!!!

I'm praying for a return {as scheduled} on Tuesday!

Loving that dress ;)
Jo

Anonymous said...

So glad that things have gone well so far! Praying for the passport to get to you ASAP!!!

Blessings, Ashley

redpoppy007@aol.com said...

Hope everything goes smooth and you get to come back home soon with your new daughter to meet her brothers. Godspeed.

Anonymous said...

So happy to hear things are going well! The girls are enjoying the emails y'all are sending :)

Jodee said...

Wow! You did have a long, but productive, day! Emma is absolutely adorable and the same dress day-after-day is a hoot! Can't wait to see more pictures!

Bamawhitney said...

Oh she is so precious. Love her beautiful smile and your husband's face is possibly lit up even brighter than her's!!! Congrats again and praying for swift processing!

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