Court Day

Well today was diffinately a nerve racking day. Today started off pretty early, we woke up at 2 am and couldnt really fall back to sleep. So we talked about our statements that we needed to makein court and went over questions that they could ask us. We fell asleep for a little while around 7 and woke up and got ready to go see Malachi at about 10. We got there and picked him up from his room. He seemed different today, I really think he knows what is going on. He did really well today, once he was out of his room he was happy to be with us. We spend about an hour playing with him. We stacked big blocks for him to walk through, looked out the window (which is one of his favorite things to do) and played with bubbles, again another favorite. At about 11 our driver showed up and told us that we had to go to the notaries office to sign some things for court. We said our goodbyes quickly and went to the notary to handle the notarization of the translation of our grant deed. After that was all set we also found out that a peice of paperwork we needed for court showed up today, the last piece of the 726million peice puzzle (approximately). We went back tot he hotel and spent the last hour or so before court preparing our statements and just trying to stay calm. We were picked up at around 2pm for court and got there really quickly. So we sat around and talked to our translator for alittle while.
Court started with the judge walking in, and then it was all serious. For the next 3 1/2 hours we listened to the various representatives fromt he baby house, one teacher and the head doctor, and represetative from the department of guardianship. Without reliving the whole thing in details, it was somewhat painful. Barbara's part lasted approximately an hour, she read her statement, with translation and then was continually asked questions by the judge to clear up questions as we went along. I ahd my turn, which was just about a 10 mins, 2 mins for the statement and then a few minutes questioning from the judge and a few minutes of questions from the prosecuter. After this the judge went over, again every single peice of paperwork so that it could be registered with the court. It seemed like the pile of paperwork was never going to end, but when it did she had us all leave the room so she could make her decision. I was very confident of the decision the only question i had was the 10 days being waived. We went back in the court room and she read the 'verdict'. She informed us that the petition will be grated for us to be Malachi's parents and to change his name. What a huge weight lifted off our shoulders. I cannot believe we have made it all the way here and are now on the home stretch. We cannot wait to see our SON tomorow. The judge is working tonight to finish up all the paperwork so the 10 days starts tomorrow. Which is 1 day sooner then all the calculations we had for departing home. Couple more of those and we will be home ont he 19th instead of the 24th :).
Keep praying that things go smoothly and quickly, its worked so far :). Thanks for reading this. :)