She said "Da" today

Today was a big day for all of us. Today was the day Natasha would decide if she wanted to be adopted or not. We have had some very good visits with her, each one getting better all the time. We were feeling confident that it would work out, but nevertheless, it was a nerve-wracking meeting! We all sat in the directors office, and much was said. Of course in a language we did not understand! I searched Natasha's face for some inkling of what she was thinking. She was nervous, I could tell, but I saw her nod her head and softly say "da". Shortly after that we were instructed to leave the office and go into the hallway. I was still looking for some indication that all was good. Once we were in the hallway, the inspector smiled at me a gave me the universal thumbs up sign and held out her arms. I hugged her big-time!

The rest of the day was a lot of paperwork. Natasha had to handwrite letter of agreement/acknowledgement. She has such neat handwriting. It was odd to see her have to state her intent in written form. Next we had to leave to find a notary to sign our acknowledgement as well. We hugged good-bye and did our best to assure her everything would be fine. More running around with papers and documents and notaries and meetings. Mostly we just sat in the car while our facilitator takes care of everthing.

We went back to the Internot for a short visit where we played Uno with Natasha and several of her friends. We had a lot of fun joking around, making fun of the fact that now our dog and daughter-to-be have the same name, and finding new ways to cheat at Uno. All of the kids there are great. We know several by name. Sasha wandered around the halls today with a jar of Nutella, Nastia gave us some pictures of her summer in Italy, Natasha and her 3 roomates giggled liked typical pre-teens.

The next big hurdle is our court date and making sure we continue to bond with Natasha daily.
We can see that she is still a bit unsure of all of this. When we are just one-on-one with her she can get a bit uncomfortable when all the focus is on her. When her friends are around and we are all interacting, she is much more relaxed and comfortable. That is when we see the "real" her. In time she will relax with us, I'm sure. For now we try to create ways for us to learn about each other. We want her to feel more comfortable and confident of her decision as each day passes.