It is official!

We are legally a family! Well, almost.

Court was a breeze. We were in and out in about 25 minutes, and all parties were in favor of the adoption. The baby house director and a city social worker spoke on our behalf. The prosecutor agreed with the adoption. And then it was over, and we were being congratulated. So we headed over to the baby house to break the good news to Eva! She was happy to see us, then puked on my dress shirt. We took our very first post-court family picture.

Technically the judge's decision isn't effective for 15 more days. This is the waiting period, to make sure we don't change our mind about the adoption. And since we won't, we are considering ourselves a family already. I'm glad that court is over! We didn't figure there would be many objections, but it's still a little nerve-wracking, and any time I have to speak publically it makes me jittery.

We took Eva today to have her passport photo made. She wore the cutest dress, and she sat up in the photographer's chair and looked so cute. When she noticed all eyes on her, she started clapping and blowing raspberries. We never could get a good shot, but the photographer got something passable for a passport. Every picture was cute.

Tomorrow is our last full day here in Petro. We will see Eva tomorrow for our regular visit, and then a short visit on Sunday, then we're off to Almaty. One last thing I won't miss: mayonnaise.