Stephen copied Daddy today whenever he would stick out his tongue! Too cute! It is frustrating being confined to a room that is 8x13. We can tell after a while he is thirsty and sometimes they give us juice or water, but not much. It is REALLY hot in the orphanage so we are hot - I can only imagine what he feels like with all those layers of clothes on him! We signed the papers today that say we want to adopt him! It felt really great to sign on the dotted line - although nothing is official until the judge declares us his parents. Yesterday, we gave Alma his new name for the paperwork: Stephen Joseph De Lorenzo :) Thursday is his first birthday! We are going to bring a cake, but I am not too sure if they will let Stephen eat some. Sveta said that just us and the caregivers eat the cake. Perhaps they will let us give him a banana?!? A birthday banana - lol.
We are currently visiting him once a day for an hour and a half. We asked today if we can see him twice a day now that he seems to be feeling better. We do not know the answer yet. It is hard to only have that little time with him. When you consider that along with the fact that you are confined to a tiny room and can't feed him anything you just want to scream.
A few people have been asking how long we have to be here. Well, there is the two week bonding period first. Then it takes about a week to go to court. After court there is a fifteen day waiting period. Once that is over Stephen can come back to the apartment. Last, it takes about 17 days to complete all of the final adoption paperwork including a new birth certificate, a passport for Stephen, the SOS clinic examination and the Embassy exit interview. So we still have a ways to go :(
7 comments:
We celebrated Natalia's first birthday in Kazakhstan, too! They allowed us to bring in something called, "sand cookies" for the kids and the adults (and Mateo) were permitted to eat the actual cake. They even sang a special song in Russian for her. It was something we will always treasure. The bakery we wre telling you about has a billion things to choose from. I'm never hot and I remember roasting in the orphanage! Soon the De Lorenzo family will all walk out in freedom :-)
I am so happy to see him alert and having fun. Do you feel like he is getting the idea that you and Joe are special people to him? He looks like he feels very comfortable with you. He looks so sweet!
The pictures are absolutely precious. He is so cute!! Glad you got to sign on the dotted line and get through the next stage. One step at a time. He looks glad to be with you.
Wow, I didn't know the stay in Kaz was so long.
I love seeing your posts each day. It is just beautiful to watch him get more comfortable with you two.
So cute and he is dressed like a boy! So glad to see he is playing with Joe.
Oh my goodness...what a handsome young man he truly is! I am just so happy for the two of you and love the imitation pictures with daddy.
He is looking better every day!! I can tell he is bonding with you. I'm sure you give him more affection in your short time together than he gets all day, so he probably looks forward to it! He looks adorable in his sweater...the pink clothing has been cracking me up!!
Post a Comment