What a busy day- we headed off at 9.30 to see Katya this morning.  Its become a pretty standard routine.  Olga (the Director's assistant) takes us to a playroom- and then fetches Katya.  We played "hairdresser" and Katya spent at least 30 minutes combing and "fixing" Pam's hair.  We did coloring and playing with our Etch-A-Sketch.  She enjoyed eating pears and an apple juice box.  She had her standard "temper tantrum"- which Natasha says is her way of seeing how much we will tolerate from her.  Today she got a 'rude' awakening- when she ran over to a desk and started throwing things out of it, Pam walked up behind her, lifted her from the ground and moved her away from the desk with a firm "NO".  She kicked and screamed and threw herself to the ground, screaming "DA, DA, DA".  Pam got about 12 inches from her face on the ground and said quietly "No"- Katya screamed "DA" and Pam moved to within an inch of Katya's nose and said quietly (and without blinking) "No".  The stare contest began- within about 2 minutes, Katya broke her stare and played quietly for the rest of the time.  She even asked to play "horse" with Paul before we left (by crawling on her knees and raising up her front hands, mimicking a horse, saying "neigh neigh").

After our visit, we had lunch with Alec, Svetlana and Natasha covering the court meeting.  We then traveled to the court...and waited.  Our appointment was for 3.30- of course, we arrived at 3.00 but we were finally invited in at 4.15.  8 women and Paul in a 12X12 room.  Everyone stood but the judge and the secretary.  We were introduced and asked some basic questions to verify who we were (birthday, anniversary, salary info etc).  The judge quizzed Paul as to what day we were married and how long we had known each other.  Then questions about Jake and his opinion of this adoption.  The meeting only lasted 20 minutes- and the remaining questions seemed very "token"- "Do you want to adopt this girl?  Do you have the finances to support this girl?  Are you aware of her history and how she became an orphan?  Do we plan to give her an education?"  Etc... 

The law states we must wait 10 days- but the judge decides when that starts.  Given the court was already closed- she could start the wait anytime between tomorrow and January 8th.  Luckily the judge was very lenient and allowed the time to start tomorrow- the only additional days were for New Years and Christmas.  This means the Katya will be "legally" ours on January 9th; however, we will not be able to collect her until we have her passport which could be anytime between January 11th and the 29th.  Once we have her passport, we have to book an appointment at the American Embassy (given within 24 hours) to get her visa.  This also talks 2 to 3 days.  If all goes quickly, we could be home as soon as the 17th.  Fingers crossed!!