A DAY IN KALUGA COURT

We are back in Moscow reflecting on the day's events....

We woke up to a beautiful warm sunny day in Kaluga and went and had breakfast with German. After breakfast we stopped by the baby home for about an hour to see our new little boy and to get an update from the Head Doctor. He has definitely grown since we last saw him (hence the new nickname of CHUNKY MONKEY) and has a pretty good bill of health, except for what they are calling an ear infection. He smiled when he first saw us and then realized we were strangers and started crying. German said he was crying because he was upset we had left him there and was wondering where we had been :) THen we left the baby home and went to our favorite German restraurant for lunch before we headed back to the hotel to get ready for court. We headed out around 2pm Kaluga time which was 6am USA time and met up with the Inspector from the Ministry of Education and our translator Anna. We waited about 10minutes and then off to the court room to get the ball rolling...
Court....it's hard to describe what we were feeling. First of all, they have actual "cells" with bars for criminals to sit in the court room - kind of strange. We were on one side of the court room with our translator and the Social Worker from the baby home, the inspector from the Ministry of Education and the Head Prosecutor were on the other side of the room. German and Anna had prepared us for what kinds of questions to expect and gave us some "tips" on how to word certain answers. So, in walks the judge and court begins. She only asked us about 4 or 5 questions (unlike the 10 or 15 German and Anna were telling us we would be asked). Then the Social Worker, Doctor from the baby home and inspector spoke about lil man's background, his biological parents and that they support us adopting him. This part took about 1 hour. Then the judge left the courtroom to make her decision.
We waited in the courtroom for about 40 minutes before the judge returned - the LONGEST 40 minutes of our lives!!! We petitioned to have the 10 days waived, but they did not see any emergency with his health where it would be necessary for it to be waived. Then the judge came in to give us her ruling, she stated that she did not rule in favor of the 10 day waiting period, however did rule in favor of us adopting Lil Man and named us as his Mother and Father...
We then left court and ran a few errands with German and then off to the baby home to celebrate with LiL Man!!!! When we arrived at the baby home LIL Man just woke up from his nap so he was a little groggy. We had about 20 min with him before we had to beat feet to get back to Moscow. However, before we left the baby home the care giver asked us what name did we want them to start calling him, so....... We told her to call him..................................
LOGAN
Yes, that's what you have all been waiting for....we are naming him Logan Christopher Merz. As we said our last PAKA PAKAS (bye byes) we left the baby home holding back tears from having to leave him one last time, but knowing that we would be back for him for good VERY SOON. We were walking outside back to the car and as we turned the corner we looked at the window and the caretakers were holding him and waving and blowing kisses as we left. It was so sweet to see that....this baby home is amazing in the care and love they give these children.
So, I guess we have told you pretty much everything. For now, we are flying back home tomorrow (Wednesday) and will return to work for a week. We will come back to Russia on Sept 27 and officially pick up Logan on Sept 29. Then we start the rest of the paperwork process and end this part of our journey - we know that a whole new edition is about to begin. Love you all and thanks for your continued prayers - it is what gave us strength, calm and peace during court today :)


This is the first time we met Logan in June 2009

Our visit with Logan before court today (he's a little unsure still)

Proud new parents :)

The New Merz Family