June 18, 2008

We are officially parents today! We went to court this morning at 10 am and it was very nerve-wracking. On our side there was the orphanage doctor, translator, and social worker. They all stated that they backed us up as being parents of Alexsey. The judge asked many questions and Brian was the main speaker for us. The prosecutor was also there and asked us several questions but nothing too difficult. The judge then left to decide and came back in about 15 minutes and told us that she & the court decided that they accepted our petition to adopt Alexsey Sergevitch Bigichev. They also waived the paperwork part of 4 days. This was a blessing because we found out when we got here that if they did not waive that part we could not leave for home until July 9th. We did alot of praying about this and as always GOD IS GOOD! Tomorrow the paperwork from the court should come through and we will sign them. But as it looks, we will be on schedule to arrive home on July 3rd.

As for the other days we have been here, it has been a good trip. We arrived in Moscow on Sunday and then went to the medical center on Monday. After we got there and got started it wasn't as scary as it sounded. We saw 8 different doctors and pretty much added up to going to the doctor for a regular check-up. They were all very nice and we ended up going thru it with 2 other couples from America that were on their first trip. We did get into trouble by an old russian "babushka" because we were all being too loud. She walked by scolding us in Russian...but this just made us laugh louder :)

We got to tour Moscow the 2 nights we were there and we really enjoyed the city. Our hotel room was very nice...THANKS BARRETT !! Best part was we found a Sbarro Pizza place and I fnally got to eat something besides french fries :)

We arrived in Rostov on Tuesday. We were met at the airport by Larissa and Vladimir and they gave us a wonderful suprise...from there we were going straight to the orphanage to see Logan. We went straight there and of course he didn't remember us at all and started to cry a little when he was handed to me. But, after awhile of playing he warmed up to us again and gave us that beautiful smile of his. He is also walking now. Actually pretty good...looks like he is a little athlete. Also it looks like he is left handed...I know, now he's even more of a freak like Brian :) But, as Brian likes to say: Future Left-Handed Pitcher for the CUBS.

Today after court we got to go back to the orphanage again to see him. He is really opening up to us more and more. Today he even blabbered a little and laughed even more. It was so amazing to be with him knowing that he is now our son. What a great feeling!

We hope all is well with everyone at home! Take care and we will be posting again soon.