We had our day in court Monday morning and everything went very smoothly. We picked Sholpan up at the hospital and Rinat joined us at the courthouse with the orphanage director. Everything about the court proceedings was quite positive and without controversy. Sholpan and Rinat had to speak to the court and tell the judge that they wanted to go and live with us in the USA. The judge seemed pleased with all their responses to his questions except when he asked them if they could speak Kazakh and then discovered that they could speak virtually none.
It was pouring rain when we left the courthouse so everyone rushed off to where they were heading without much in the way of goodbyes. We had time only to rush back to the hotel, pack our stuff, and get in our car for the 6-7 hour ride to Astana. We had long layovers in Almaty, Frankfurt, and DC. We ended up back home at 3am Wednesday, having traveled 48 hours, half of which we spent sitting around airports. The tiny seats on the trans-atlantic flight were completely filled with passengers. It was less than fun.
We have now begun to adjust to life in the eastern time zone knowing full well that Susan and Matthew will make this trip again in just 3 weeks. We hope to have everyone back home by the end of June. Keep in touch.
We will!
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