It is official !!!!

This has truly been one of the greatest days of our lives....

Jon was up at 3am today, worrying about the court date. I was up at 6am. Honestly, both of us were quite nervous about the entire process. We watched "Old School" to take our mind off of it for awhile, which was a great reprieve. We also happened to be flipping channels and found the Russian version of an American sitcom classic. Quite funny.... we will attach a quick view for all of you when we get home....a good laugh (takes too long to upload here!)

Lana (our translator) picked us up at 12:30 this afternoon. We had to get one "last" document notarized and then it was off to court. We arrived about 1:15 and my husband immediately started pacing (not unusual for all of you that know him). The building was dark (loss of power occasionally we're told) -- not to mention that up until 5 years ago, it was a psychiatric hospital. Somewhat nerve-wracking.

Court started promptly at 2pm, with the Judge, backup Judge, Prosecutor, Social worker, Lana, Jon and me. The Judge asked us a series of questions about work, our family -- parents, siblings and Natalie, friends, the adoption process, Americans adopting from Russia and of course, our little Nick. She spoke with both of us, then individually as well. Lana told us to expect the Judge to be incredibly stoic -- all business -- no smile, etc. Well.....the Judge didn't know my husband. Jon had her in stiches -- smiles and laughs within 10 minutes, while in the meantime attempting to convince her that she needed to waive the 10 day wait period and that we needed to get Nick home to see our Dr. asap. Interestingly enough, the power came back on during his dissertation! During the hearing, we had convinced the Prosecutor that it was in Nick's best interest to waive the extra 10 days, and the Social worker backed us up as well. Both told the Judge that they agreed with our request to waive the additional 10 days. The Judge then asked us to clear the courtroom. She called us in about 15 minutes later, and told us that she officially granted us adoption of Nick. Both Jon and I started to tear up.... and then told us that she waived the 10 day wait period....which she never does. What a wonderful day for us..... We thanked her repeatedly for the gift that she had just given us.

So, tomorrow afternoon, we will pick our son up at the baby home. Both of us are excited, and anxious. We can't believe that after 30 months, the adoption journey has led us to Vladivostok, Russia and we are now ready to take our son home with us. It is finally here! We expect this will be quite a transition for him.... and for us. We haven't had a 2 1/2 year old for some time, but am certain it will trigger our memories .... starting tomorrow night. The hotel here has upgraded us to a suite (a second room for Nick) so that will be nice as well.

We aren't sure of our travel plans at this point. We should learn more tomorrow, but we will definitely be home much earlier than expected. YEA! We most likely will travel to Moscow early next week and spend a few days (maybe a week?) there to finalize paperwork at the American Embassy, and then fly home to Illinois. More to come.....

As we write tonight's blog, we have already enjoyed a North American New York steak dinner (Jon) and seafood fettucini (Becky)..... and have sipped some Russian champagne (unfortunately, most of it had to go down the drain (not so good)) and are now onto our Merlot (Jon) and Chardonnay (Becky). We are celebrating and have toasted several times tonight....to our family, our friends, our lives. Again, we thank all of you for your thoughts, prayers and support throughout our entire journey. Without all of you, we wouldn't have been able to make it. Each and every one of you are important to us and we can't wait for you all to meet Nick very soon. God has truly blessed the Sipes family!

Love,
Beck and Jon