March 3 - 4

Good news, bad news.

Good news:  The judge approved our adoption!

Bad news:    Pam accidentally purchased pelmeni filled with liver.  She is sick.

Mom, I know you are reading this.  Pam did not give it to the dog.  Maybe that is why she is sick.

Back to the legal stuff.  It took more … time than we thought it should take to get our court date.  Masha handled it well.  On Thursday morning they were still negotiating about when court date would be, and I am so glad it worked out for Friday, as next week there are two days off for the huge women's day holiday.  If Masha had not been successful, I would not have been able to 1) get back to teach a 4-hour night class that had already been postponed, 2) take the Sasha/Jonathan-but-not-Adrienne-who-is-independent-now relay handoff from Johnsons to Mom and Dad Menge to Mom Langewisch, as my mother needs to get back to her real work, which is debating with my father, and 3) avoid more shopping with our new daughter.

At the last minute the director told Milana to come to court.  She is a brave girl.  She was not in the least bit frightened or troubled, as far as we could tell, by hearing all this talk of erasing her old name, altering her birth certificate, and being reminded of the termination of her birth parents' rights.

Now there is a 10-day waiting period for potential appeals.  On March 15^th Masha will come back to Donetsk and we can begin the process of getting a new birth certificate (We could have changed her birthday--how bizarre!), shredding her old passport, getting a new one, and forcing a conclusion to which jeans she will buy.

Odd note:  Our taxi on the way to court was a Soviet-era Lada, souped up with premium black widow spider door lock knobs.  On the way he stopped for a cup of gas.  No joke.