Da

We just got back to our apartment here in Krasnoyarsk; it's 4:30pm on Tuesday, August 3, 2010.  A judge just approved our request to adopt Nadia and Eliana.

The hearing started at 2pm, in a light green courtroom, the seal of Russia on the front wall.  In the room were the two of us, our interpreter, our agency representative, a representative from the orphanage, a member of the orphanage's board of trustees, the court secretary, the judge, and the local prosecutor.  I was the only male in the room.  We all stood as the judge entered, and she informed us of our rights before the court and asked if we wished to make any requests before beginning the hearing.   We asked that we might be allowed to to use an interpreter and also that we be allowed to submit an album of photos of ourselves with the girls.  Both were approved.

The judge then read aloud our petition to be allowed to adopt Nadia and Eliana, and asked if we had any changes to make, which we did not.  She then asked me to stand and answer a series of questions which lasted most of the hearing.  She wanted to know why we were adopting rather than having children of our own biologically, why we were adopting internationally, why Russia, why two children at a time, and so on.  She wanted to know what our home was like, whether we had any balconies or places that children might fall from, if we had any pets, and if our backyard had a fence.

"Do you have any bad habits?", she asked me.  "Biting my nails," I replied, causing chuckles in the room, "probably others that my wife could tell you about, but none that would affect my ability to adopt these girls."

So many questions--about what I liked to do in my free time, what my job was, how many hours a week I worked, how much I was paid, whether I could afford to raise two children on my salary alone, they seemed to go on and on.  She wasn't hostile, but quite serious and businesslike.  A few times I made the room laugh with my answers, which I thought was an achievement given traditional Russian stoicism.  When she asked me to describe our first meetings with the girls, as I described Nadia's smile, generosity and orderliness, and Eliana's reserve that gradually melted away, I saw the orphanage representative's eyes tearing up at my descriptions of how we began to see the personalities of the girls coming through.

She wanted to know about how we would raise them--how we would handle discipline, tantrums, and unexpected difficulties.  She mentioned the incident of the Russian boy who was adopted and then sent back to Moscow alone on a plane, and asked whether we would do likewise if unexpected problems arose with the girls.  "Absolutely not," I said.  I explained that we knew that we were likely to discover issues and difficulties after getting home with the girls, and that we had a great network of friends and family to support us, along with a great church and professional resources like the International Adoption Clinic at the University of Minnesota close by as well.

Eventually, she told me I could sit down, and she asked Linda to stand and address the court.  Linda got some questions about her plans for work, her cooking, her health habits ("Do you eat cheeseburgers?") and her feelings toward the girls.  Linda did great, and then the judge's questions were over.

Then the representatives from the orphanage, the board of trustees, and the prosecutor addressed the court, giving their assessment and recommendations.  All were in agreement that in view of the fact that the girls had been made available for adoption by Russian families and had not been adopted, and since we had demonstrated the desire and ability to be good parents to them, it was in everyone's best interest to grant our petition.

We then were all told to leave the courtroom while the judge deliberated, and so we stood outside in the darkened corridor for less than five minutes before the judge summoned us back inside.  She read her decision to us, granting our petition to adopt the girls and to change their legal names.  Nadezhda Alexandrovna Kazina became Nadia Eileen Lang, and Alyona Alexandrovna Kazina became Eliana Sophia Lang.  The hearing was adjourned, and the judge told us, "Love them well."

Now we must wait for the mandatory ten-day period before we can take the girls into our custody.  We are allowed to visit them, but they must remain at the orphanage during this time.  Then, once we have them with us at our apartment here in Krasnoyarsk, we have to apply to the US Embassy in Moscow for US passports and visas to allow them to travel with us and to enter the US.  Once those are approved, we will fly to Moscow with the girls, take them to a doctor for mandatory exams, then bring them to the US Embassy in person for their citizenship paperwork to bring with us on the flight.  Then we fly to Atlanta, where they will become citizens upon entering the country, and then the last flight home to Minneapolis.

Three years plus in coming, it is very good to get to this point.  Now we can relax a bit and enjoy our final ten days of kidlessness.  Then the real hard work and fun begins.

We have a date...more details to come.

Just got word today of our official court date to appear in Russia before a judge to take custody.  It's soon.  More later. :)