The following events occur on June 27, 2006.

We've completed our period of bonding, and yesterday we applied for court. The application documents were fascinating. Mostly they were papers asking to change her name, asking to name us as her parents on her Kaz birth certificate. Her birth name is so long. I think her middle name is probably 20 characters. It's nice to have that information, in case she wants it one day. I don't think she'll retain any memory of her life here in Kazakhstan, but I want to be prepared when she starts asking questions. That's her right, and our responsibility. No doubt that she'll be an American girl, but also no denying her heritage, and the first year of her life in the baby house.

So we visited with her again today. She is anticipating our visit at noon, just after her naptime, and she is waking up earlier and earlier from her morning nap. So she starts getting cranky around the end of our visit. She sometimes falls asleep on my shoulder, but we try to keep her awake, because just after we leave is snack time. And the last time I saw the snack, it was cookies, and she deserves the cookies after the beets and onions for lunch.

Tomorrow we are taking her to get her picture made for her passport. It will be her first time out of the baby house in 10 months. There are no car seat laws here, so we will hold her in the car. I wonder how she will feel on her first car trip since she was a newborn. She will travel on a Kazak passport, since she will have dual citizenship until her 18th birthday. I must remember to take her a smashing shirt tomorrow for her picture.

We bought her a couple of things at the market. I got her two pairs of sandals, a hat, and a head kerchief. The hat was about $1, and it is so cute on her. She is used to wearing hats, since they are always bundled up, so she leaves them on. Such a change from the boys. I will definitely be able to dress this one up, and, as Betsy says, accessorize.

We confirmed that our court is Friday the 30th, at 11 AM. That is midnight on Thursday night/Friday morning back in Nashville, so if you're awake at that time, say a little prayer for us. Court is mostly a formality, but in the time we've been here, there's been a family leave without their baby girl after court. So, we're a little nervous. Hopefully everything checks out. We're pretty clean, no dirt here, except for that one little episode at a club in Bentonville about 6 years ago . . . surely that is long forgotten, but one can never be too careful.

No picture today; I've tried four times to upload it, and now I give up. We borrowed the first season of 24 from a family here, and we're 2 discs in. That is taking priority right now. I'll try again tomorrow.