Dodging the bullet... Well, here's the end of the story...we arrived in Yekaterinburg safe and sound this (Sunday) morning after leaving from Dulles late Friday afternoon, thanks to a ten-hour time change and 14-hour layover in Frankfurt, Germany. But not before the Judge pulled out one final item from her bag of tricks on Friday.

At 6:30 a.m. Friday, we learned that one minor but essential change to our paperwork was ordered. And that the Judge required that we get the same individual to perform the notarization on this paperwork as had done so six months earlier. Failure to get notarization would mean no trip to Russia later that day and our court date would be vaporized.

Fortunately, we know our notary well enough that we were able to call him early in the morning at home and ensure we would be able to find him before leaving. The Wolfes, our traveling partners, did not know their notary so well. But their bank managed to find that specific employee (who was off on a vacation day) and convince her to come into the office and do the notarization. Amazingly, all four of the families with our agency having court dates got the early morning documentation wake-up call and managed to get the proper notarization before getting on their respective planes later that day.

And more paperwork was rushed to us at the airport by courier at the last minute before we had to leave the security area to board our flight, enabling another family to meet their court date.

And we're off...first to the hotel to drop off our stuff, then to the orphanage to see Elena.  ¶ 7:31 AM