Monday, August 24, 2009

IT'S A GIRL!

Please join me and my family in welcoming our newest family member Alina Jean Yeager. At 3:46 p.m. Kazakhstan time, she was officially declared my daughter for the rest of our lives. She weighs 25 to 30 lbs, is 35” tall and is barely five years old. She has lovely dark brown eyes and beautiful dark brown hair. She is now the proud owner of a mother, two very proud grandparents, a home, a wonderful and loving family, many friends, and two cats…one who will adore her and the other one who will think she’s ok. She is perfect in every way! The labor pains started March 27, 2008 and lasted for 17 months and 27 days. Needless to say, her mother is tired but is doing well and is thrilled to have such a wonderful little girl to light up her life!

Ok…I couldn’t resist. This is as close to a birth announcement as I will ever have so indulge me. Let’s just say I’m thrilled beyond words and am so glad this part of the journey is now complete. It’s been a nerve wrecking eight days and I am ever so glad they are over! Only 15 more days (the appeal period) and Alina will be with me forever. Believe me, I’m counting every single second, minute, and hour. I can’t wait to walk out of those blue and yellow iron gates of the Umit Baby House with Alina’s little brown skin hand in mine!

I had to go back to the court house today. It kind of unnerved me in that I had not heard of anyone having to do this after the final court hearing. Of course, my paranoia was reeling and I thought for sure there was something wrong. I’m usually not a pessimist but this is such a delicate situation and I want this so badly my mind is always looking for something bad to happen. Janette and the driver, whose name I still don’t know after seven weeks, picked me up at 9:30 am as usual to go to the baby house to see Alina. When we picked Shirin up, Janette immediately started talking to her and telling her about the court house trip this afternoon. She told me what Janette said and that’s when my mind starts saying there’s something wrong. I was very quite on the trip to the baby house because I was thinking about the court session this afternoon. We arrived at Umit and Alina and her playmates were outside. Shirin and I just followed the screams and cries of children and found them. I see come running toward me with the wonderful small on her face and all my thoughts about this afternoons court session melt away. We have a good visit. We didn’t stay in our gazebo like we usually do because there were many people there so we opted to take a walk and find a sandbox so we could be alone. We found one but Alina didn’t want to play in the sand so we chose an empty shelter to play in instead. Once again, toys were taken out of the bag, snacks and juice was consumed, and a good time was had by all. She was particularly chatty today, more than usual if you can believe it. I love to hear my little talk and especially laugh. Her laugh, even a snicker, comes from her belly and it’s always so darn cute! She absolutely loves the ladybug toy I bought her a couple of weeks ago. She’s played with it more than any toy in her toy bag. It’s still not “the” toy but I’m glad she is enjoying it. Eleven thirty came and it was time to go. I picked her up and we headed toward her room so she could have lunch. We started walking up the stairs to her room and she started to whimper. I stopped at the top of the stairs, whispered in her ear that I loved her, twice, kissed her on the ear and cheek and sent her on her way. There was a little hesitation from her whether she wanted to eat or stay with her Mama but food wins every time. That’s ok. Soon we’ll be eating at our own dining table and we’ll be having much more than soup and bread. I walked back down to the gazebo and our driver, sans Janette, was waiting for us. We dropped Shirin off and then we headed to the hotel.
Soon after I arrived at the hotel, the phone rang in my room. Puzzled at the ringing phone, I answered it and it was Asell from Interlink. My care package had arrived at the Interlink office!!! WAHOOOO….thanks Rachel and Tamela!!!! As ecstatic as I was to know that it was just down the road from me, I was still thinking about the court session. I asked Asell if I could pick it up on Tuesday as I had to go back to the court house shortly for another court session. She said that was fine. Not five minutes later, Beth, from Interlink, calls me and says she’s got to run some errands and would I like for her to bring it to the hotel. These people are sooooooo nice. I told her I didn’t have the money for it yet but she said that’s ok because she knew where I lived. Gotta love it! Beth and Vicki, a volunteer with Interlink, came about 30 minutes later and delivered it. I will go by the office tomorrow to pay them what I owe them for getting the package for me. It was almost time to go to the court session but I HAD to open my box. I unloaded all the goodies and was blessing Rachel and Tamela the entire time. More clothes and toys for Alina, 70 crocheted/knitted hats for my orphanage donation, hand sanitizer, small tins and boxes so I can put the jewelry I made in them for the gifts, and….drum roll please….the biggest jar of Jiff peanut butter that you can buy (in the grocery store anyway)!!! You know, I always thought I could do without creature comforts. I don’t believe that anymore. Always, always take a little piece of home with you wherever you go. And if you forget to, I hope you have wonderful friends like me who will box them up and ship them to you even if you are half way around the world!!!! You guys rock!!!
It’s 2:10 and I’m being picked up at 2:30 so I have to get a move on. Ten minutes later, I’m dressed and sitting on the bench outside the hotel waiting to be picked up. Janette wasn’t late today and her husband was driving. He drove us to the court house and Farida was walking up at the same time we were. We got there about 20 minutes early so we decided to sit outside and wait until 3:00 (the appointment time of my court session) the court house. At 2:58 we went in and waited maybe five minutes. The Judge was ready to begin…or so I thought. We follow the Judge into the same court room as I had on Friday. She sits down and then so do we. The young prosecutor is not there yet so we will wait on him. Three fifteen and still no prosecutor. Three twenty five…still no prosecutor. The Judge is really getting upset with him but makes a point to chit chat with me so I’m not so nervous. She talks with Janette as well. At one point, she says to me that she has been presiding over adoptions for a long time (I guess I was wrong the other day when I said she was new to adoption proceedings). She continued to say that that my adoption was the best she’s ever presided over. She liked the way that Alina and I interacted on Friday and she saw how happy Alina was with me. She said that I was the best choice for a mother for Alina. Well, I’m about in tears but I hold it together and tell her thank you. She also said that she knew about Alina before this proceeding. She knew that she had been shown to many people who wanted to adopt and when they didn’t choose her, she would cry and ask why didn’t want her. Well I’m about to just lose it but once again I keep it together somehow. Right then and there, I knew Alina was mine. I knew this Judge was going to give her blessing no matter what anybody else in this court room said. But, I wasn’t rejoicing just yet. Three thirty…still no prosecutor. Now the Judge is really becoming more upset with him. At one point she said she was going to kill him. She also started apologizing profusely to me. I told her it was ok. A representative of the Guardianship Council was suppose to be in court today too. She was just to busy to attend so the Judge said not to worry about it. But, she was going to tell the prosecutor that the GC woman was there before him, gave her approval (which she actually did on Friday) and had to leave…just a little white lie. She then said that she is not so formal in the adoption sessions as she is in other court situations. She realizes how nervous the adoptive parents are and she wants us to relax and not to be nervous. I thanked her for all of us adoptive parents for being so considerate of us. She then starts talking about a Kazakh tradition of the great grandmother (which Alina has) and the great grandchild. Most woman do not get to become great grandmothers but if they do, if they will drink a sip of water from the great grandchild’s hand, they are permitted to enter paradise. How cool is that! We may carry on that tradition at the family reunion in October. More chit chat (she’s a very funny lady) and now it’s 3:40. The young prosecutor steps into the room and apologizes profusely but the Judge will not have it. She lays into him about being late and how dare he make me wait for him. Yikes! I don’t think I would want to be on her bad side. Anyway, he grabs some paperwork from her, stands up and says that all the paperwork is in order and that he approves of the adoption (this takes maybe 30 seconds!). The Judge gets up from her seat, collects her papers and the prosecutors papers without looking him in the eye or saying one word to him, and heads out the door. That’s two yeses for me and Alina…prosecutor and the GC. Now all the Judge has to do is sign the proclamation papers and it’s official which she will do at the end of the day. We all know what the Judge’s decision is so now it is official…..I AM ALINA’S MOTHER but I didn‘t know it yet!!!!!!!!! At this point, I’m so confused. What just happened? Did anything happen? Where’s the fireworks??? Where’s the marching band??? I followed the procession out of the court room and outside. Janette and Farida were with me. Janette stops on the steps of the court house (do all court houses have steps?) and tells Farida to tell me that she will get the proclamation today and do the rest of the paperwork that needs to be done and everything is fine. I looked at Farida and said, “So, does this mean I’m Alina’s mother?” Farida smiled and answered yes. She then told Janette what I said and Janette answered yes, yes, yes. I looked at Janette and said, “Can I scream now?” Janette said yes. We all laughed and continued to walk toward our vehicles. Farida tells me that I am a very brave woman and that I am a hero. I say I’m just me but thank her for saying such a thing. She congratulates me again and we part ways. Janette and I take a taxi back to the hotel and Farida jumps in her car to head home I’m assuming. We get to the hotel and Janette tries to tell me something. Unless she can say it in French, I don’t have any idea what she is saying. I say let’s call Shirin. Can’t get Shirin on the phone so she calls her daughter Iema who speaks English as well. We talk about visiting Wednesday and Friday of this week and the same schedule as this week next week. I give Janette a small hug, thank her again, and I’m off to my room to try to collect my thoughts. While I’m collecting my thoughts, I break open the new jar of Jiff and make myself a sandwich. I pop open the last Kazakh beer in the frig and have a snack. Then I decide I’d better write this post so I wouldn’t forget anything. So…..now you have it!! Thanks to you all (I know I keep saying this but I could not have survived here in Taraz without each and every one of you!) for keeping up with our journey and all the good vibes sent our way. Until Wednesday…..

Cheers,
Alina Jean Yeager’s MOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!