Tatyana K. Winter

Well Paula and I are very happy to introduce you to Tatyana “Tanya” Winter. As of 1:00 a.m. Salt Lake City time today Tanya became our daughter. I will say that Paula did much better with this delivery than with Kyle and Abbie. This of course is not to say she was bad with Kyle and Abbie.

Court was an interesting experience. The building on the outside was nothing impressive to say the least. However, inside was actually nicer than we expected. We went into one of the courtrooms, which was about 30’ x 30’ and sat in front of a woman judge. There was a court recorder and a prosecutor there as well. Then there was a representative of the orphanage, Nina the social worker, and the inspector, Gala. Gala was basically like a social service worker in the U.S. She was the one that went to visit Tanya when she lived with her Grandmother and was the one that removed her from the home. We were asked a few times to stand up and answer questions about our work, home, discipline, Kyle and Abbie, etc. They also made sure we had been given all the information concerning Tanya’s background. This lasted about an hour and then we were asked to wait out in the hall. Tanya was not in court with us at first but when we returned to the courtroom she came in with us. The judge asked her if she wanted to move to America and Tanya quickly respond with “Da” (that is yes). At this point the Judge read her decision concerning our adoption and confirmed that the Russian Federation supported our application for adoption and that it was final. I must say that when Paula and I stood there listening to the Judge finalize our adoption it was hard to not cry. Even now as I write this again I can feel my eyes get watery. We had to wait a bit after court to get the official documents and while we were doing so met a family from Kansas City who were here adopting an eleven-month-old little girl. We have received Tanya’s new birth certificate with our names on it now as her parents and her new name of Tatyana Kaye Winter. Tanya’s passport has been applied for and we are told that we may get it tomorrow but no later than on Thursday afternoon. This is great news because it means that we should be able to come home early. At the worst I would say we could come home on next Tuesday but if we get her passport tomorrow we may be able to come home as early as Saturday! Please keep praying about this because your prayers are working.

Since court it has been an emotional experience. To look at Tanya and realize that she is now our daughter is really amazing. We were looking through the picture album that we gave her last summer. We pulled out some letters and found the first one we sent her which was before we had met Tanya. It was dated March 25th, which is almost exactly one year from our adoption date. What a difference a year can make.

We went to the “mall” to have lunch and this again was a treat. As we walked around this mall and passed many stores we kept hearing gasps of amazement from Tanya. It was obvious that she had never seen so many pretty things. Her eyes were wide, taking it all in. Then we stopped at this little food court to have lunch. I pointed to the food to ask Tanya what she wanted to eat. I could tell by her eyes that she had not had a choice of what to eat before. She did enjoy the food and I think our grocery bill is going to go up a bit. Then we went down to the grocery store to purchase some fruit. When she saw the big red delicious apples she said something in Russian and pointed at them with big eyes. Again, I doubt she had ever seen such a big and red apple before. Of course she is eight years old so when we walked by the candy she was very interested in that as well. I think she will fit in well with Kyle and Abbie because the two things she eyed the most where Skittles and M & M’s. I think the one new experience that caught me by surprise was when we returned to the hotel and got in the elevator. We walked in and she had a very puzzled look on her face. When the doors closed and we started going up she jumped. Then when the elevator stopped she jumped again. Her smile returned when the doors opened up. It is really incredible to experience the world with her and to realize how many things we take for granted that others never experience.

This has already been a full day and now Tanya is taking a nap. We will meet with our friend and translator Tanja this evening and then all go to bed. As our journey continues we will share more. I am sorry for how long this entry is but there is so much to share today and it is only the middle of the afternoon.

Eric, Paula and Tanya