The Verdict Is In

That's right, Lyle & I have been legally approved to be Ryan Eli's mama & dada!!! Words cannot begin to descibe the moment we heard the verdict. You don't have to speak Russian to know when someone is speaking words that will change your lives forever.

Since the hearing was scheduled for 4:00, we didn't feel like leaving the apartment except for a small trip to pick up fruit from next door. Vera picked us up at 3:40 and we waited for about 40 minutes before our hearing started. It seemed apparent the judge was questioning Vera about something and Lyle & I thought "Oh %$#@. What's wrong???" Apparently the documents on her desk were not the originals. Vera grabbed her cell phone & called the lawyer. He said they are sitting in the court building. Vera explained this to the judge who left to go hunt them down. She returned with what she needed & then we began.

It was a very small courtroom. The only people there besides the judge, Vera & the two of us were the prosecutor, one of the doctors from the Baby House, a rep from the city's education department, the court reporter & a student. It wasn't intimidating in any way. In fact, everyone kind of giggled when we weren't sure if we should sit or stand & kind of did a combination of both. In fact, I'd say some of them looked pretty bored throughout. The prosecutor spent a lot of time twirling his pen around.


Lyle spoke on our behalf. He was fantastic! He responded to the questions through Vera who did all the translating. He didn't have to make a speech or have anything prepared. I only had to answer one question directly. After almost 30 minutes, we were adjourned & had to file out of the courtroom. Less than 5 minutes later we were all called back in, some Russian words were spoken & we were legally approved to adopt Ryan. The judge was so nice that we asked if she'd pose for a picture with us. She agreed & we're so happy to have this keepsake.

Afterwards, we took Vera out for pizza & asked Jean & Marilyne to come down & meet us. As much fun as we've been having here, this was our first moment to 100% relax & breathe. We can't wait to tell Ryan the good news tomorrow. He'll probably say "Ba or Da" but it will come from the bottom of his heart.

On Monday, March 30 the appeal period will end & we can take the court decree to the Baby House & take Ryan home to our apartment. It'll be a couple of weeks from then for all our paperwork to be complete before we can head back to Canada. Once we have Ry-Ry in our custody we can post some photos of this gorgeous dude. Get ready girls, he's a heartbreaker!