Court was only a matter of a few minutes–maybe a half an hour or so, but not much more than that.  In fact, we wound up waiting in a very hot, stinky hallway for over an hour ahead of time.  I didn’t eat much for breakfast so by the time the judge’s secretary called us in, I was starving and ever so grateful that we could sit in the courtroom.

Mr. Na was with us and I was so worried he’d just be this little wiggle worm throughout the session.  But he was actually pretty good.  I held his hand to keep him occupied but since most of the dialog was in Russian, translated into English for our benefit and then translated back into Russian, he couldn’t follow any of it.

The judge was flanked by two witnesses, which Pa thinks were other court clerks or secretaries who just happened to have little else to do but sit and watch three Americans sweat and fidget.  The judge was very nice, though…very straightforward.  She asked us why we wanted to adopt from Ukraine again and, interestingly enough, wouldn’t our son be insanely jealous of a new child?  We told her that he had been so good with her these past few days–playing with her and holding her– and sure, he’d be a little jealous, as all siblings can be, but he would always know that our love for both of them is equal and fair.

And really, that was that.  Within a few minutes, the judge congratulated us and I burst into tears!  Anna’s name was changed to Audri Anna and the judge’s official decision will be ready on Tuesday, August 19!

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