tomorrow is the big day

Well, we got a call this morning from our facilitator saying she would call around 3:00 in the afternoon to let us know if we could visit Meredith at 3:30. She was clear that it was a "maybe". We went out for a while to shop around and find lunch (found a pizza place that wasn't too bad, except the lack of sauce!). Then we came back and hung out at the hotel waiting for the call. Unfortunately, when the call came at 3:45 we were pretty sure our "maybe" was a "no", and we were right. Luckily, I think we'd both figured it was unlikely anyway, so we were able to take the phone call, say "oh well", and move on. Seems like God is granting us the serenity to accept that which we cannot change :)

One thing we did while we were out today was find the "flax market" mentioned in one of our travel guides. The travel guide talked about all kinds of wonderful Russian linens at amazing prices. There were some linens there, but actually it was more like a flea market. That's not a bad thing! It is mostly clothing and shoes and purses, with some other stuff mixed in here and there. We were keeping our eyes open for a baby coat for Meredith. After all of our careful packing, and making sure I have layers for her to wear, and hats, I didn't actually bring a *coat*. Granted, the expected temperature is around 65-70 degrees for the day we pick her up, but it is important to show that we will take good care of her by dressing her very warmly. The little cotton jacket we gave her on Trip # 1 is probably mixed in with the orphanage clothes now, so I don't think we can retrieve it. Fortunately, we have time to figure this out because obviously we don't get to take her with us for a couple of weeks still.

Tomorrow is our big day - going to court. Our facilitator is picking us up at 9:30 and we will be dressed for the occasion. Rob has his suit along and I am wearing a nice businesslike dress (Mom, you know the one, you got it for me a while ago -- navy
blue with one button at the waist). We'll try to remember to take pictures (we sometimes forget to take pictures if Meredith's not around!). In court we will be asked some questions, then the "inspector" (social worker I think) will testify on our behalf, and then we will wait for approval. Assuming it is given, our 10-day wait begins. After court tomorrow, we expect we will get to visit Meredith. Hopefully they'll let us change clothes in between :)

We have found that we can get the internet in our room if we sit right by the door or go in the hallway, so hopefully I can stay in good touch the next couple of days while we are here. We head to St. Petersburg on Friday and so there may be a dry spell of 4-5 days on the blog depending on what kind of internet we can find there. We know we don't have it available at our apartment, though we do have something more important: a washing machine!