Finally parents!

Hi again!!
Thanks, Rachael, for posting a comment for everyone on the last post. And thank you to everyone else who responded to my text message with congratulations.

To the rest of you - here's the official word: Nastja is now our daughter! WOOHOOOOO!!!!!!! We are FINALLY parents. :)))))

After a very stressful and scary day, wondering what court would be like, it came down to basically what I logically expected. We were picked up by Igor, then we picked up a lady from Tallinn City social affairs (like the MSA but for the region instead of the whole country), and met Kersti from MSA at the courthouse. We were a half hour early to the court house, so we had time to talk to the lady from the city social affairs. She was really nice and knew a good bit of English. She could see that Nastja was already affectionate to us and commented on how she likes us already. At the time Nastja was holding my hand and wrapping her arm around my waist.

We went into the court room and sat down next to Kersti so she could translate. The judge spoke no English. We went through some formalities of our rights to see certain papers, ask questions, etc., and then we started the official process of the hearing. She asked for clarification on something Jason wrote in our documents, which made Jason just about have a heart attack right there on the spot. Turns out it was just that she wanted to know, for the official documents that she would write, whether she should list "Weehawken NJ" or just "New Jersey" as his place of birth because his passport says one and his birth certificate says the other. Whew! She had one other similar question. I think it was confirming the spelling of our last name. Then she asked if the adoption had the approval of the lady at the city social affairs, and she said yes - as long as we make sure Nastja stays in contact with her brother and sister in Estonia. Then the judge said if we have time, we can wait in the hallway for 15 minutes for her decision in writing. We laughed and said of course we'll wait. So about 40 minutes later (again Jason about to pass out from anxiety) the court clerk came out and gave a paper to Jason to sign. It was a paper saying that he, as the head of the family, is receiving the court decision in writing. So when Kersti told us that's what he was signing, we asked at the same time "What IS the decision???" She calmly turned to the last page and read us the last couple paragraphs, keeping us in suspense. "It says that you... Jason... and you... Molly... petitioned to adopt Nastja... and because of all of your documents and the review and thought by the judge, it is considered in the best interest of the child that the adoption be... approved." Wow - what a big sigh! She hugged us and said congratulations, then explained it to Nastja. I'm not sure if she really understood till then what we were exactly doing at court. So then when Kersti told her, Nastja smiled really big and hugged us both very tightly for several seconds. She was very happy.

Incidentally, though children only over 10 years old are required to be asked if they want to be adopted by the family, the judge asked Nastja anyway. I think because the lady from city social affairs said that she already behaved affectionately toward us, that the judge was only curious what Nastja would say. Of course she nodded and smiled when the judge asked, then she leaned on my shoulder and giggled a little. So cute.

We took Nastja to McDonald's to celebrate, then bought ice cream at the grocery store. Now I hear Nastja barking at Jason like a dog and pretending to bite him. I guess I should go train them both. ;)

Anyway, thank you all for your warm wishes, support and happiness for us. We're so glad something finally goes well!

Tomorrow we start the immigration (passports, etc.) stuff and go pick up Katya and Roman. More then!!

Love,
Molly