Miracles do happen!

Noone knows why, and everyone was in shock, we got an immediate decision!!
They were still telling us this morning they did not expect it, the judge had already told them at their meeting that the 10 days would not be waived. She just does not waive the 10 days we were told, but she did!!! We just emphasized that we had spoke to several doctors and were ready to get her immediate medical help for her condition. She seemed impressed by the fact that we have called the orphanage on a regular basis. She seemed to like Gary, she smiled when he answered several questions. I gave the closing statement and that was our chance to "plead our case", I told her that we truly loved and missed Anastasia and that we were eager to have her home with us so that we could get her the medical treatment that she needed so that she would be ready to start school, I felt as if the surgery would make her safer and build her self confidence. She said, how soon do you want to take her home?
The whole court room (all 7 of us) about fainted, I said "The soonest you would allow her to come home" She said "So if I said tomorrow you would be ready" "Yes your honor that would be wonderul" Everyone still just sat there with huge dumb-founded smiles. There was the social worker and paperwork lady from the orphanage, 2 court officials and our translator. She then left to make her decision. The Russians were giggling like school girls, they could not believe what just happened. The social worker and paperwork people gave wonderful heartfelt testimonies on our part, I'm sure they helped our case.
She came back not even 10 minutes later and granted us our adoption, with immediate decision!!!
There were hugs all around. Our Russian facilitor that works for the adoption agency was sitting in the hallway waiting, when we opened the door and told her she hugged us and said she had no idea how we got an immediate decision. Then we sat there while 5 Russian ladies made many phone calls to many people trying to sort out what to do next. I cannot tell you the compassion we were shown today. I'm sobbing recalling it. IF you are reading this and adopting from Russia, I can tell you I truly believe every family that adopts from there is teaching about compassion to people who have not been taught it and probably not shown it. Especially those who are adopting older or special needs children. They still do not understand why we would want to do this, but as they see us do it over and over again I believe that they are learning that we love these children just as any other and as our own.
I would love to be in bed right now, but I am waiting to be contacted about change of flights, hotels, etc...
We went today and got her new birth certificate!! It is in Russian but they showed us where it said "Anastasia Michelle Suttles", and where it listed us as her parents!! So surreal.
The next several days are very busy with paperwork. Anastasia will stay in the children's home for that period of time. These are not short easy trips to do paperwork. Also she needs time to process that she is leaving the orphanage and time to say goodbye. She told us yesterday she is ready to come home NOW.
Please continue to pray our paperwork goes smoothly. As of now we are flying home next Friday the 29th!
I will keep you posted

Court tomorrow, well actually today,

It's after midnight here. It did not get dark until almost 11.
This morning we went to the orphanage around 10:30. The children were outside playing so we got to play outside with her which was nice. She said she did not know we were coming and that it was a surprise. We also got to interact with some of the other children, which was heartbreaking. 2 boys in particular followed us around saying Mama Papa, and talking to us. They are all so sweet, some of them are being hosted this summer, I pray that they find their forever homes.

They still say they expect our court to be easy and short, but that they do not expect the 10 days to be waived and that we will have a 3rd trip. We do not have our hopes up, but we are still praying for a miracle. If not, we or I will return on the 28th, to start all her final paperwork.

They said they had to travel to her biological grandmother's house 3 times to get her to sign the release papers. They said she is such a drunk and very hard to deal with. They said her biological grandfather seems very nice and just wants what is best for Nahstia.

Nahstia said she is ready to come home now. When we told her it would be another 2 weeks, she said she didn't know how long that was, but that it didn't sound very long.

Carrots in the Bathroom?

We just got to our apartment a little bit ago, it's about 8:25 pm here, noonish back home. Our flights were fine. I did see several odd things in the airport. The first of which was a woman peeling a carrot in the bathroom. Like a whole carrot, with a peeler, how can she have a peeler at the airport when your not even supposed to have tweezers? And why are her carrots so important to her that she carries them with her and peels them, in the bathroom. This was a Frankfurt airport...weird!!!!
The second of which was an employee at one of the duty free shops she walked up to a display of perfum sprayed her hands about 5 times, rubbed them together, then walked to another bottle and repeated the same action. I wanted to gag just watching it, what in the world is that all about. There was an American couple standing next to me when it happened and they were as stumped as I was.

We get to go visit Anastasia tomorrow!!
That's all the excitement here.

Yes, I'm excited

People keep asking, are you excited, are you nervous, etc... Yes we are excited, a little nervous, but not so much.
What have I been doing?
Cleaning, a lot, I believe I am in supercharged nesting mode!
Finishing up Anastasia's room
We need to study our homestudy to make sure we remember what it says, because that is what the judge will have read before she asks us questions. Not that our homestudy is full of lies, but things can get mixed up in translation so we need to remember what says what about what.
We have paperwork to fill out for the embassy, we just got this yesterday, and it feels surreal to fill it out for Anastasia.
Creative packing, we have not only the things Gary and I need, but also many gifts that we must take, and we also need to pack for Anastasia just in case.
Getting things in order here for the wonderful friends who will be caring for our boys while we are away, we have so many great friends, love you guys!

So yes really excited, but it still feels surreal, so hard to explain!!

Thank you ....yes you!!!

I have gotten several very encouraging emails from people, they have meant so much, and given me much needed strength. Because money, etc... are all useless without the will and strength. Thank you to anyone who has shown us support, no matter how small it may have seemed.
So, an amazing thing happened. I sat donw today to look at flights, visa prices. etc...
I called Gary over to the computer to tell him that our Visas were going to be 1700.00 not 700.00 like last time. I didn't know where this cash would come from. I didn't feel worried about it. I did several other thing son the computer then logged into my paypal account to pay Tim the translator the 20.00 I owed him for last nights call to Anastasia, and it says there has been a 1000.00 donation. I looked away then looked back, and it was still there!!! The exact amount we needed! HOw amazing is that? This donation was from a relative I have not seen for a long time, probably not since I was a little girl or maybe a teenager. Another family member had referred them to my blog. What a blessing it was for them to support us!
At times when I felt weakest I have gotten amazing encouraging emails. On dsys when the pot runs dry, suddenly there is something there!
I thank those people who have done anything to support us.

NO News IS Good News

So, we were notified this morning of our court date. YEAH!!!!! May 18th!! Boy does our agency work fast. So at first I was so excited but not panicked, then I realized we've got to fly out mext Friday!! OMGoodness, that is like a week and a half away.
Our wonderful friends are keeping our boys while we are gone.
We did not get the judge we were hoping for, so they said there is only like 1% chance we will get our 10 days waived.I'm no math wiz, but those are not good odds.
But I am at peace with that, becuase, next month, my daughter will be HOME.

Got nothing for you

Sorry nothing new and exciting. We did speak to Anastasia the day after my last post. It was pretty uneventful and somewhat short. We were abrubtly cut off by someone needing to use the phone. She did not know that we had been calling, and I'm not sure she believed us when we told her we had been.
We are waiting to hear if the judge has received our paperwork, which judge we will have, etc.. And of course our court date.
She again brought up death. She asked "what if I die?" Meaning herself. I told her that she was very young and healthy so I wasn't worried about her dying. I think she is definitly going to need counseling mostly because of the loss of her first mother.