We have a court date....finally!

We finally received the "call" we've been waiting for! The judge finally set a court date. It is Tuesday, May 16, 2006 in Tobolsk (Siberia). So much for the "tentative" date of 4/26 we were told. I know it's after Mother's Day which stings a bit but we'll be landing in Moscow on Mother's Day so it's close enough. Matthew will have many new "firsts" to experience that the 7+ months it will have taken to get him home will hopefully fade quickly. He will be home for not quite a month when we take a "road trip" up to Rio Vista for his cousin Nathan's high school graduation. Matthew will get to meet the Pippin clan for the first time.

I will post more once I receive the actual itinerary early next week. I know most of it now but how many days in Tyumen after we spring Matthew from prison...I mean the orphanage will decide how many days in Moscow. I can safely say now though that we will leave Los Angeles on Saturday May 13th and return to Los Angeles on Wednesday May 24th. Where we are during this time is anyone's guess. No fear, I have my laptop and I will add to this blog every day while in Russia. I have to while there because once we are back home I'll be lucky to answer emails for a while let alone post.

We'll see, you never know. Maybe Brian will have fun changing diapers and warming bottles.

Debi

Ladie's Man!

Just one more doing his "serious little man" pose.

Hey Baby! Come over to my crib for a while!

Two teeth

I finally had to capture a still from the video as none of the pictures I took with the regular camera showed his bottom teeth. At 10 1/2 months that's all he had so I wanted to get a good picture. I finally pulled his bottom lip down long enough for Brian to get a close up. Matthew got quite "pissy" over that too! LOL

Those eyes!

Shoe chart #3

Matthew's idea of letting me know we're done with the shoe thing.

Shoe chart #2

Here Matthew is helping to hold it up for the camera. His little hand pretty much shows where he fit on the chart. Barely a size 2 then.

Shoe Chart #1

Showing the chart to Matthew and explaining it to him.
He is looking at it quite intently.

6 months and counting!

Okay I'm told to continue to be patient. Nobody said I had to be happy about it.
Matthew is in Siberia learning to walk and probably climb out of his crib in hopes of escaping at this point. My only comfort is that he is being looked after decently, Natalia is checking in on him and he has his "girlfriend" Anna Grace to keep him company. She is a beauty and nearly 13 months old now! Good news is her Mommy and Daddy come to our neck of the woods a few times a year and the kids can now grow up together. They're probably in their cribs now plotting.

NON court date update:

We were told by our agency that on Friday 3/31 our rep in the region was going to see the judge for sure and get our court date. We received a measurement/medical update on 4/5 so we had hope. That week ended with no court date assigned. We have been told "any day now" since January. On Friday 4/7 we were told we had a tentative court date of April 26th. My excitement was short lived. I know that this judge hears adoption cases on Tuesdays and Thursday. April 26th is a Wednesday. I queried our case manager exactly what is meant by tentative? She said it's the date the rep "thinks" the judge will set the date so he must have a much newer crystal ball that I do. By this past Wednesday 4/12 our agency wasn't even returning emails so another full week has gone by. Matthew turns 17 months old this Monday 4/17. I can't wait for the next round of empty promises that should keep us going another month.

On a happier note, I did finally complete my project of capturing still pictures from the video we shot. Once I can remember how to post the pics on here I will do so. I have to download some program (this is from my new computer).

Well this week I'm going to unpack and repack Matthews baby bag for the 3rd time.
He is now 28 1/2 inches and 20.9 pounds so time for 12 month outfits. God only knows what the weather will be. Oh that's right, in July it's hot everywhere!!!

A very special THANK YOU to CT! You are the life preserver that God has chosen to throw out to me. Without you I would have surely drowned by now. Can't wait for us to raise our babies together!