It's Official!

I'm excited to announce the 3 minute court session was a success and Sheetal is now officially the daughter of Kate and sister of Steven! The kids were really troopers waiting it out in the hot court hallways for our appointment and for the paperwork afterwards. There was a couple from Delaware before us, adopting an 18 month-old little girl to add to their family of 4 other kids under age 7, so we knew it would be fast. The judge asked the lawyer a little something, the social worker a little something, then said, "no problem" and then, "ok."

We went straight to our friend Meher's club for a swim in the pool. Sheetal has no fear of anything and bravely put on a baggy 2T swimming suit (loved the cherries on it) and went in the kids pool with her mom. Steven and I had a lovely dip in the big pool and suddenly India seemed cool and refreshing. The first food we fed Sheetal? India chips (curry flavored french fries.) Nummy. Not so healthy but there's time for that in the future!

Today we went over to Meher's house and had a lovely afternoon which included a beer for me, Sprite for Steven, rice and dahl for Sheetal and massages for Kate, Meher and I (200 RS or $4, 50 RS more for the scalp massage!) Kate and Sheetal got their hands henna'ed later in the afternoon while Steven and I lounged in our hotel room.

Tomorrow we will arrive at the orphanage at 10:30 to get my hands henna'ed, get Sheetal into her sari and have the going away ceremony. They have asked us to stay for lunch and will give Kate the final documents before sending her on her way with her new daughter. We are staying at our hotel until 4:30 pm when we get our ride to the airport for our 7 pm flight to Delhi.

This internet cafe is honestly the hottest place we ever go so it's hard to want to stay long, but some final observations about Pune before we go.

-Yesterday we saw a little girl in a Santa Claus hat. Not sure why.
-The power goes out multiple times a day. Our hotel has a backup generator so it's usually a matter of a few seconds before power is back on. The power went out in the elevator one day so we now take the stairs!
-India people do this strange head bob sort of left up and right up which seems to mean anything from "I understand" to "yes" to "no" to "I'm thinking about it."
-The autorickshaws are on strike so there are 43,000 less vehicles on the road. It has been going on the whole time we've been here. The leaders of the strike are going on a hunger strike. The charges for a rickshaw ride are about 10 RS for 1 km (50 RS/$1) and the taxis and other vehicles are using the opportunity to price gouge. For example, our taxi today to Meher's cost 300 RS ($6) which Meher said should cost 100 RS ($2.)

We love you all and miss home terribly!!! See you soon!
Corey