We are taking her!

The process went like this. We were picked up and brought by Alexander, an aggressive driver but surprisingly one we felt comfortable with, to the Ministry of Youth and Social Services for a quick interview about our house and how we would parent. Who would be home at what times. Who would watch Katerina etc. Then it was off the baby home (aka orphanage).

After that we met with the physician at the baby home, she explained all the information she had on the parents of our little gal which amounted to absolutely zero. She answered all of our questions (This was Kelly's area because she gets the medical better than I do). I looked at Kelly at one point and she said "nothing has changed," so we were off to see our little gal for about 45 minutes even though we did not have the signature from the Ministery of youth yet because the head honcho was out until after 2 pm.

They brought Katerina in and handed her to Kelly. She was a happy baby who was clearly teething. She tried to chew on our fingers and was putting everything in her mouth. She had two bottom teeth showing. She was just as cute in person as she was in the video we had previously seen as well as the pictures we had printed out to show family members. The only time she cried was when you bumped her head trying to crawl.

All in all the cheeks were as cute in person as in the pictures and video.

After seeing her and knowing we would be happy with her, we went back to the Ministry to pick up the paperwork to give to the home so we could "officially" see her. This was a bit painful because it was about a 2 hour drive there and back. It was probably a few miles each way at most. Traffic is that bad!

We then returned to spend another half hour with Katerina and sign the paperwork saying we will adopt this girl. It was much too short a time. Went by surprisingly very quickly. While there are a few more dates to make it official (court date), it is now as official as it can be at this point.

We will get to see her for about three hours today and tomorrow before flying home on Friday. Seeing her for the last time Thursday afternoon will stink. It will be quite difficult to walk away until our court date. But unfortunately we have no choice.

Basically, she was a great, adorable, little girl. We are lucky to be getting her. She is a bit behind the curve for her age but that will pick up quickly once we get her home. She is not crawling yet but she was trying. We could those little legs pumping hard. It was like a Scooby cartoon. The legs pumping but no one moving.

Thanks to all who have been reading this and keeping up with are progress in the adoption of our beautiful little girl.