Court

Today was our big day, at least one of them:) Irina came on train and was here until court. Was going to make her some good ole southern cornbread and gravy for breakfast, but she had stopped and bought stuff for herself and then we had to leave earlier than we thought so didn't put her through the misery of pretending she liked it HA
She went through all the possible questions and how we should answer and things for sure not to say. She said depending on judge and how thorough they are and how many questions it could take from 1-3 hours, but she said the judge we were having is usually pretty quick and she thought it should only take an hour to hour and half.
I understood we had an appointment, but then when we got there she went and talked to judge and insinuated that the judge was just working us in so..?  At one point when we were waiting I noticed her hands were shaking and I asked her if she was nervous and she said always! :) She said every case is different and she never knows what question they might come up with and what the prosecutor and jury will be like etc. She said we had no need to worry because she was taking care of worrying for all of us :) We sat out in cold, block hallway and waited for about an hour and finally we heard the criminal case leaving and by the sounds of it it hadn't turned out like they had wanted it to! We go into the court room and I was quite shocked, Bill said it smelled just like the old school house in Geiger and quite frankly it wasn't in any better shape either! The old creaky wood floor had big pieces missing, the walls were block with lots of paint chipped off and.. you get the picture! But it served the purpose. As soon as the judge walked in she looked at Peyton and had a little conversation with Irina. Irina then told us that it was against the rules for children to be in the court room and she wanted Peyton to leave, but Irina had told her that she has been around him and that he is a very well behaved child and he would't cause any problems (cough-cough)and could he please be allowed to stay? The judge said if we could promise that he would not talk, absolutely not one word he could stay. We affirmed as sending up a prayer for intervention for as you all know your children always act up at the most inconvenient times and he is VERY sensitive if we are stressed! Wasn't worried about him talking, but sure wasn't promising he wouldn't cry, for sure if we would both be called up at the same time!! Our prayers were answered and he did very well!! The judge read us our rights and then read our petition, asked Bill why he wanted to adopt a child, told me that is said in the HS that I wanted a big family and wondered how many children I wanted? I had know idea it even said that in the homestudy, but for some reason it made her smile :) She asked Irina a couple questions and asked our lawyer and the inspector what they thought, and of course they had glowing reports of how we have bonded so well with Kody, and are such a wonderful family and it was definitely in Kody's best interest for us to adopt him. I wonder if they ever say anything different or if it's always the same little memorized lines?:)
The judge then asked if anyone had any questions and after everyone said no they dismissed themselves for deliberations! Irina just gasped and whispered I can't believe this!!! This is quicker than I have ever experienced! I told her we were OK with that ;-) I think we were all done and walking out in 20 minutes! YAY
They came back in and said they are granting our petition to adopt Eugene and he is now
Kody Eugene Nichols!!!!! 
The tears just can't be held back any longer! :)
Before we left Irina went and talked to judge (btw her name was Tanya, Pey thought that was cool:) and thanked her for being so easy and quick with us. She wanted to know why we had ever brought Peyton with us to Ukraine, she wondered if we didn't have any babushkas at home? :) Irina told her it was different culture and the grandmas aren't as responsible for the kids in America and that we had WANTED to bring him with us. She said she was moving to America:) She leaves tomorrow for a month vacation and she said it will be her children's vacation because her whole time will be spent taking care of grandchildren!
Got back in time for our morning visit and even Kody knew it was a happy day, as soon as he saw me he smiled great big and then threw his head back and just screeched!!! The nanny just looked at him and then me and kinda shrugged and smiled as Kody just giggled! I'll just admit right up front that I'm head over heels in love with that little sweetheart already!! He's such a keeper!!! :-))
Nothing else out of the ordinary the rest of the day... took Pey to the park for awhile, took a walk, bought Kody his first 3 outfits and then took them to visit this eve and tried them on him, looks like he's going to be true to size, the 6 month fit just perfect and 6-9 has a little room to grow.
Oh remember the other day I talked about having fits with his paci? I asked Irina where I could find one like they use there and she just laughed! She said I wouldn't be finding any because they are from Soviet days!! :-O No wonder I couldn't find any LOL She also had the comforting words of saying the bottles they use are also from Soviet and can't find any nipples like that! :(( I think were in for some tearful eating and 'other' times!! Would it help to go to bed right now and store up some extra sleep ;-)
Had our missed cornbread and gravy for supper, fried hash browns and some sausage patties. Well they were suppose to be sausage patties, but since the wrapping wasn't clear and I couldn't read anything on the pkg besides kobaca it turned out to be something between bologna and weiner! :) I cut it in slices and fried it in a pan. Beings i'm not a meat lover to begin with I generously left my portions for the others! ;-) Peyton proclaimed  it good so must have not tasted too bad HA