What a great day we had today! This morning we enjoyed some special time of resting and having long chats together. Later, when it was time to leave, we greeted Jen and Jesse in our parking lot as they arrived from their court hearing. God answered all the prayers being said and they were granted a favorable decision by the judge, meaning that as of today, they are officially the parents of little Anelle. We were so happy for them and got to hear all about the hearing. It was nice getting a little "heads-up" about what to expect when we have our hearing early next week.
Later at the baby house, we all enjoyed getting to play with our daughters. The weather was beautiful today so we didn't mind having to go outside. For the first time, we spread out a big blanket and all got down on the ground to play together. It was so much fun. A little bit later, Jen and Jesse brought Anelle over to play too (there are some really cute pictures on page two). Following our party on the blanket, Katie took her usual nap and then it was time to head in. When we handed Katie off to Dinara, Katie just stared and stared at Dinara's face; she was so fascinated by her. We took a bunch of pictures because it was so cute!
When we got home, we transferred the pictures of the girls and some family photos we took of Jen and Jesse onto the memory stick and hiked over to their house. (Since Jen and Jesse's phone was reconnected today, they aren't coming over to borrow ours every day.) We had a nice time together, exchanging pictures of our girls and chatting some more about our fun experiences in this foreign country. On the way home, we also enjoyed a nice time sitting on a park bench, watching the boats go by (even at 7 p.m. it was still 80 degrees).
Since today was the last day of our initial 15-day waiting period, we are now just waiting for our court date to arrive. Tomorrow we get to pass the time by going to visit Katie in the morning, and then possibly going out to a celebration dinner with Jen and Jesse. We've been told we may go to a traditional Russian restaurant to have some horse sausage. We'll let you know how it tastes!