IT’S OFFICIAL – we are proud parents of Mara Christina Szluk!  

It’s been an incredibly emotional and overwhelming day for Nick and I.  After four long years, the adoption journey is over.  The court ruling was very straight forward.  The judge asked formality questions, followed by several questions about our siblings and if we were prepared to take care of Mara.  He couldn’t have been any nicer – actually asked us if we would like to adopt another child from Georgia since we could legally adopt two.   After the questions, he turned off the microphone and said he needed about 5 minutes to think about it (our translator turned to us and said “don’t worry”).  Before we knew it and in less than a half hour, he came back to say we were the parents of Mara Christina Szluk .  We both found ourselves sobbing with tears of joy.

Earlier today we visited Mara at the foster mother’s house.  Amid very frugal conditions, Mara was as happy as could be:  always smiling, laughing and engaging with us.  

She clearly loves and is loved by her foster Mother.  

She never let loose of the photo book of us, came right to us and said Mommy & Daddy.  It was heart melting.    

Next steps?  Luckily the judge waived the 30 day waiting period and we can bring Mara home whenever our paperwork is final.

Our plane leaves on July 3^rd so we plan to finalize all of the paperwork as soon as possible, along with spending the next 10 days or so getting to know Mara and having her adjust to us.  Tomorrow we take her to visit the doctor to get her shots and physical, which is required for her to enter the US.  The court paperwork will be final on Monday.   We then need to visit the US embassy so they can grant her visa. 

We will move from our gorgeous hotel room at the Radisson (stock with panoramic views of the city from our picture glass windows) to a flat where Mara will move in with us. 

We also want to say thank you to all of our friends & family and in particular, our agency and team here in Tbilisi who have supported us through this incredible journey.  We couldn’t have done it without you all and will be forever grateful for everything you have done to help us start our family and give this precious little girl a loving home.

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