June 10. 2011 - Court decree signed!

The judge signed our adoption decree today!  The 10 day waiting period ended yesterday and luckily the judge was in today and could sign the decree.  I don't know from a legal standpoint when the adoption is considered official, in my mind it was official on May 31 but it is wonderful to have the 10 day waiting period over with and to have official documentation of the adoption.

Paul arrived in Kyiv on Thursday afternoon (7 am Mpls time) and he was able to spend an hour with Kirill this morning before he needed to leave to go meet the lawyer at the courthouse.  He said Kirill was very happy to see him.  I am sure for Kirill he has had some concern this entire time that maybe we were coming back.  We talked with him several times over the 10 days and I hope that minimized his concerns.  When every we talked to him, he told us how many days until he would go to Kyiv with papa.  He wasn't always right on the count as he sometimes confused it with the # of days until papa came back to Kyiv.

Now that we have the adoption decree Paul has began the process of completing the necessary steps to bring Kirill to the US.  The paperwork was submitted for a new birth certificate today.  He and the lawyer arrived at the office just before closing time today so were not able to get the new certificate but they could file the paperwork and the plan is to pick up the new certificate tomorrow morning.

The plan then is for Paul to go to the orphanage in the afternoon and take Kirill back to the apartment in Kyiv with him.  Very exciting but also very hard for me to be sitting here in MN and have to miss these special times.

Today is also a special day because it is Max's last day as a 5th grader and an elementary student.  He will be in the middle school next year.  I had the opportunity to attend the awards ceremony at his school today and help celebrate his academic and athletic achievements from this past year.  We are very proud of Max!  He is a very good student and is well liked by his teachers and classmates.