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. :)

He is ours!!!

This is just a quick post to tell you all that the judge said YES!! She did not waive the 10 days however. We will still be home before Christmas with Malachi Artyom Tank.

Day Two

Wow, what a day, for all of those who read the end of the story first, I will start at the end, we got our court date, its tomorrow the 3rd, at 230pm (Tomsk time). Just after midnight tonight for most of you reading this.

We started the day off going to see Malachi this morning at 10am. We showed up to his room to pick him up and he kinda started whining. The thing that got him to stop was me mimicing him, but hey, whatever works :). We played with him for about an hour and a half and then dropped him back off to his group. He was holding the wand for the bottle of bubbles he was playing with and when i tried to take it from him, he told me "Nyet". I'm sure it wont be the last time I hear him tell me no. We had a good time with him today, he definately seems like he is warming up to us.

After the baby house we went shopping for some "Russian" food, such as pringles, bread, cheese, cookies, soda and water. Very nutrious, we are.

We were picked up at 330 this afternoon to go to our preliminary court hearing. I am not sure if their goal is to scare us or not, but every thing they tell us about court, scares me. All in all the preliminary hearing went well. There was some arguing about a specific document and whether or not the court would accept a copy. In the end i think the judge "encouraged" the prosecutor to accept the copy so we could move on. The whole time they were talking about that document Barbara and I were both praying that the prosecuter would accept the copy :). Basically she was confused about the grant deed and what it is, surprise, so am I. We made a statement and are hoping that will appease the judge and prosecutor that we actually do own our home. Tonight we are spenidng our time writing up statements that we will say in court tomorrow. Barbara is going to give the factual statement and I am going to give the emotional statement. The emotional one is shoter :).

Well I guess I should actually get started on my statement now. This will probably be the last blog update until after court, so please be praying for us. Oh, and if you want.. email us please :) @ thetankfamily@gmail.com.

Day one Part one

Well, today seems like the longest day ever. I didn't really sleep that much on any of the flights so I feel like I have been awake since Saturday morning. We arrived in Tomsk at 645 this morning greeted by our coordinator and driver. We found out our translator who we had last time would not be here this time, kinda bummed. After getting to the hotel and having just enough time to take a shower an change clothes we set off on a whirlwind of doctor visits. We saw 8 specialists, had to get blood taken at two different locations and had chest x-rays at yet another place. I still wonder why we had done all of this like 3 weeks ago back home, but oh well. Now its time for a nap until 315 or 330 and then off to see our boy. Maybe that post will include some pics :).

Food update: Some beef jerky from Laura and a "cup noodles" (no, there is no "of").

Airport!

Well we are sitting at the LAX airport waiting for our flight to board. We breathed a sigh of releif when we got through security, but realized we have to go through security at least 4 more times before this is all over.but I guess we just have to be happy with every step forward.In 26 hours we will be in Tomsk. Can't wait to give the first update from there.

3 days until take off

Well, we are almost all ready to go. I think the last thing we have to do is pack. Barbara has worked really hard over the last few days getting the house ready for Malachi.

All of our paperwork is in and approved and notarized and apostilled. Barbara is picking that up today from our agency. Barbara's last day of work was yesterday which marks the start of her "stay at home mom" days, which I know she has been looking forward to for a long time. Today is my last day of work for the year, and maybe a couple weeks after the new year.

Here are a few links to give you an idea of Tomsk:
1. Weather - Weather In Tomsk (10 day)
2. Webcams - Webcams around Tomsk
3. Wiki - Tomsk, Russia

Getting ready

We have spent the last few days gettnig ready to go back to Russia to pick up our son, Malachi. We have purchased all of our tickets and looks like we will be returning on or before the 24th of December. Like our Pastor Ty said, maybe we should have been more specific when we prayed to have him home by Christmas :). I (Jason) still have to get one more peice of paperwork notarized because the notary messed up the last time and we got to get our fingerprints run for the 3rd time, how exciting!