It's official..... I'm a mom!!!!!!!! :-)

And I am the mother of the most amazing baby girl too!! :-) So much has happened since my last post.

Court. I won't lie. This was very scary and intimidating. Olga and Assia had so well prepared me, but it was court and even the thought that the judge would say no was just unbearable. We got to court right on time but we were the only ones. The prosecutor arrived just after us. Then the lady from the records office. And the wait. The lady from the Ministry of Education was about 30 minutes late. So we all sat in relative quiet waiting. Talk about a long 30 minutes. Every little bit Assia and then Olga would ask if I was ok. I would smile and say yes. What else can you do? :-)

Finally the lady arrived and we went into the same room where we had pre-court. In addition to the people mentioned above, the director from Abby's baby house was also there. Everything happened exactly as Olga had told me it would. The judge asked questions. Assia and I stood to answer them. Then the prosecutor asked questions. I also presented my petition to have the extra 2 weeks waived. I don't even remember most of the whole thing but I did have to also give my speech. The baby house director talked, the lady from the ministry of education talked, the lady from the records office talked. And then came the prosecutor. She fully agreed I should become Abigail's mom but did not believe it was necessary for the 2 weeks to be waived. Fortunately, Assia chose not to translate this part for me. Even more importantly, the judge decided to grant my adoption (YAY!!!) and grant the waived 2 weeks (YAY!!!). We all quickly left the judge's room and it was hugs all around which was very cool. The mood instantly changed from somber and serious to very celebratory. I didn't realize it was good news until Assia gave me a hug. :-)

We left court and went to the apartment so I could change and then went to the Records office to sign more stuff and get Abby's birth certificate. And then we went to get Abby. By this time it was already after 6:00 and the baby house was very quiet (most workers leave at 5:00). I got Abby's snowsuit on (Oh my gosh but it was adorable - all you can see of her were cheeks and eyes). We went back to the apartment and the wait began. Our flight was delayed. We were supposed to leave at 9:10pm and the flight wound up being 23 hours late. Olga once again came through for me (I will never be able to repay her for everything) and kept checking on the flight so we were able to stay at the apartment. The problem was the updates kept changing so I would unpack what we needed and then find out we were about to leave and pack everything again. I did this 4 times over the next day. And the apartment had nothing for babies so I could not put Abby down. That night I slept with Abby and kept waking up to just stare at her. :-) She is soooooo beautiful and it was an amazing feeling that she is now my daughter. The next morning when she woke up, she was grinning and then laughing. Talk about one happy mom. :-)

But the great news is we made it. Assia came over Thursday and I was able to run buy water to make bottles and cereal for the baby. At 3:00 Thursday afternoon Assia left and Olga and Igor arrived to take us to the airport. Saying good-bye to all 3 of them was very hard for me. We all exchanged gifts and email addresses and I will stay in touch with them.

The Uralsk airport is more like a bus station than an airport. There is no real waiting area and it seems 1 flight is coming or going at any time. We had a 2 hour wait for the plane to land but Olga waited with me so the time went by pretty fast. Abigail is such a little trooper!!! Because the airport is so cold, she had to keep her snowsuit on that whole time. She did not cry except when she got hungry. When the plane finally got there we had to leave Olga and Igor to go through security. Security is about as tight here as it is at a McDonald's. They wave a wand over you and ask what is causing the beeping. Pretty funny. Now Abby and I had to wait (still with coats) for another 1.5 hours in this little room. I'm telling you, it would have been hard on most adults but Abby did so great. The only time she cried was when we had to walk outside to the plane. I'm not sure I have ever been that cold. It was a really hard freezing walk (about a football field length) and was completely iced over. The nicest man took my bag for me and then when we got to the plane he made every one let us through.

Abby's first flight was very good. I had hoped she might sleep since it was now so late but she was too busy taking in all that was going on. Fortunately we had an entire row to ourselves. There would not have been room for anyone else. :-) Abby did rest a little while I gave her a bottle but afterwards she was ready to go. I walked her in the aisle for a little bit and discovered the back of the plane was entirely empty except for a couple with a precious baby boy. They spoke very little English but enough for us to determine their son was 1 week older than Abby. The babies had the best time staring, laughing, and clapping at each other. The couple gave me another pair of socks for Abby because they were afraid she was cold. Now I should mention that she had on the required thick tights, a onesie, a shirt, pants, a shirt, a sweater, and socks. :-) These people are very worried about the cold - even inside a hot plane.

When we were landing, Abby fell asleep (of course) but I managed to get her bundled back up again and we road the bus to the "terminal". My driver Vitali, and interpreter Galena were there waiting on us and we finally made it to the apartment around 12:30am. Quite a day! Fortunately, Abby is an amazing sleeper and I was able to unpack last night.

Today she has been all smiles and laughs. We even ate in her first restaurant for lunch and she was charming everyone. I wish you all could see her. Just precious!!!

Right now Vitali is walking Abby in her new stroller (I bought it at a market just this morning). We had paperwork to do at Gulbanu's office today and I am going to buy groceries in a little bit then we are back to the beautiful apartment to wash clothes and rest.

I'm sorry this is such a reader's digest version - I have left out so much but my time is very short. More later! :-)