It seems there’s no denying Madonna. After Madonna’s first adoption attempt on two-and-half-year-old (3-year-old?) Mercy James was denied, Madonna and her lawyers sent into motion an extensive appeal. Personally, I thought it was a fool’s errand – it seemed the legal system of Malawi had enough of Madonna, and I doubted a different judge would send mercy James to live with Madge. I was wrong, though. Just this morning (in Malawi), a second judge ruled that Madonna had the right to adopt to Mercy. This comes after Madonna’s representatives denied that the appeal would go Madge’s way, but no matter. There’s also some vague discussion of “a private jet being prepared”. Don’t worry, Madonna isn’t going to physically go to Malawi and pick up her new daughter and comfort the little girl through what will be a difficult transition – no, Madge is just sending the jet.

Madonna’s family has just gotten bigger, now that the pop star has legally won the right to adopt a daughter from Malawi.

Preparations are already underway to bring Chifundo “Mercy” James, 3, from the African country to America private jet, after the singer stayed up throughout the night hoping for a courtroom victory.

“It’s the early hours in New York now but my client has been awake all night waiting for this,” Madonna’s Malawi lawyer, Alan Chinula, tells PEOPLE. The attorney spoke to his client as soon as the ruling was made official, at around 2 a.m. her time Friday. “She was ecstatic when I broke the news to her. She said, ‘Thank heavens.’ ”

Chinula says he is “now awaiting instructions from New York to start preparing travel arrangements for Mercy. I have to be there for her passports and everything.”

It is likely to take three to five days before the paperwork is ready and the child is able to leave and join fellow adoptee David, also 3. He was formally adopted in 2008 after some controversy and legal challenges.

Madonna, 50, is not expected to fly out to Africa from New York, but Philippe Van Der Bossche, director of her Raising Malawi charity, has been asked to arrange a private jet as soon as possible.

It is believed that Mercy may, in the short term, be moved to the Kumbali lodge where Madonna stays when she is Malawi.

The ruling – by Malawi’s highest court – was made after a lower court had turned down Madonna’s first bid to adopt Mercy in April. That court had said the singer had not spent enough time in Malawi.

[From People]

Congratulations are in order! Madonna got her way – as she almost always does. Though I don’t think much of many, many aspects of Madonna, I do think that Mercy’s life will be better with Madonna, and I’m not just talking about Mercy’s quality of life. Though I don’t find Madge to be the best mom in the world, she’s far from the worst, and I believe she genuinely loves and adores her kids, and feels a real connection to Mercy. I also have to give Madonna some respect for not backing down in the face of her first adoption denial. Though I questioned Madonna’s press-seeking motives, and her nonexistent concerns for another country’s laws, hopefully it all came from a good place. I hope, I hope. Congratulations to the happy family – I’m sure Lola is thrilled to have a new little sister!