Four Months ago Today

Four months ago today a judge in Kemerovo, Russia made us the happiest people on earth. She granted us our petition to adopt our daughter. We were so nervous as we sat in that court room. The judge asked Brian a lot of questions about his health, and also asked about our home, our yard, and our schools. She also asked questions about our families. When it was my turn, she asked me why I don't have a job with my bachelor's degree. I explained that I wanted to stay home with our child. I then asked for the 10-wait period to be waived. We left the court room for all of 30 seconds, and when we returned the prosecutor told us there was no reason for her to deny our petition, and the judge granted us custody of our daughter!

These four months have gone quickly, and Grace continues to grow and learn. We have had a few days of good weather, and I have taken the oportunity to take her to the park and to the zoo. At the zoo, she was dancing and singing, and I finally realized that she was singing "Old McDonald". She sang it for all the animals we saw, including the giraffe and bears! She loves the camera. For Valentine's Day, I made a sign and had her hold it. She would not even wait for me to take the picture, but would come running to see the picture on the screen. I finally got a shot that was good enough and e-mailed the Valentine to our families. Tomorrow I am going to the party store to get balloons for V-Day, as Grace absolutely loves balloons.

She is continuing to gain weight. She is now up to 18 pounds. That is so exciting for us.