Well we got up early this morning because we wanted to get Sasha a present in the open air market. We picked up a cool MP3 player with games on it for him to enjoy in our absence. We were able to give it to him after court as we said our good byes. We told him to not worry if it gets stolen...WHICH IT WILL, but that Santa Clause is coming soon and he could get another one.
We waited for Nastya (Ksenia's sister) to arrive by train. She traveled all night, 15 hours from Kiev to accompany us to court. She was our translator and prepared us perfectly for the hour that we spent in our hearing. Nastya and Ksenia are the most amazing young ladies who love God and want to help these children find families!
When we arrived, Sasha was already there in his little blue suit, sitting with the lawyer from the orphanage and the deputy secretary from children services. Bless his heart....he was very serious but seemed to be ready. When we arrived, we got our hugs and Nastya sat next to him to prepare him for the hearing. Not exactly sure what she said to him, but he said, "dah, dah, dah." yes, yes, yes!
Finally, we were called into the small room with the judge, prosecutor for Lutugano, 2 jury members, and the secretary or court clerk who took all the notes by hand. The judge called the court to order and the proceeding began.
He first asked Jeff and I to state our names, birthdate and address. Then he allowed me to sit down while he asked Jeff several questions. Some of the questions were about education, health of parents and siblings, work history, details about our home and income. He also asked if we had health insurance and proceeded to tell us that Ukraine did not have any health insurance. He also asked Jeff to tell him about our other children. After Jeff answered the question about our children and their ages, etc, he said , "And why do you NEED another child." Jeff's response was perfect....."He said, "We have a love for children and our family has a lot of love to give and we are so blessed and want to bring Sasha to America to give him a loving family." He also asked Jeff if he had a problem since Sasha was Ukrainian. He said that Ukrainians are different than Americans....wow, he was wondering off into an area we didn't want to go. He also asked Jeff why we didn't adopt in America....did they not allow us? Jeff said, "They're all God's children, no matter where they are from.." Yes I was so proud of Jeff!
Then it was my turn, same questions basically, as if I didn't hear Jeff's answers. The judge told us that he was part of the Soviet Union and that Russia was a powerful country. All and all the judge was so nice and as the questions went on, he said that he gives us credit for coming half way across the world to adopt a child. He said that even if Ukrainans had money, I don't think they would go to America to adopt.
The judge then asked the two jury members if they had any questions. The one elderly lady said, "Do you believe in God?" Jeff said, "Oh yes, we love God very much and are Christians."
Then it was Sasha's turn.....omg, what a brave little boy. He had to stand up by himself as the judge asked him questions. He said to Sasha, do you have any family memebers? Sasha reponded that his grandma came to visit him one time and told him that he should go to America to live with his mama and papa. He also asked Sasha how he will learn English. Sasha said, "Mama will teach me at home." Then he said something about why do you want to leave the Ukraine. Sasha said he wanted to live in America with his mama and papa.
It was an hour of sweaty palms but we felt your prayers. God got us through it and then we had to wait for about 10 minutes for the court to deliberate. When we were called back into the small room the judge went through some formalities and asked us what our intentions were one more time. We had to state that we wanted to adoopt Sasha as our son and take him back to America.
Wow! It wasa amazing and so joyous! The moment of truth! God brought us through it and although we were nervous we truly felt a peace.
Then it was on for the ride of our lifel. We travelled two long hours to the airport in fog. Jeff truly almost didn't make it. He was in the front seat but that didn't seem to help. We were zigzagging around cars, passing on a two lane road and it was dark and foggy. We could barely see 20 feet in front of us and when we were passing semi trucks we both truly wondered if we would ever see our airplane. It was wild!!!!!
There could have been a car headed our way, but oh well, let's just see what happens. ha.... Needless to say we were so happy to get to the airport safely and Jeff is still shaking his head. wow....what a day!
Finally we got on the plane and I talked Jeff through the three hours to Munich as he was still in shock. haha Then we arrived in Munich and the fun began again. Our driver was going about 140 kilometers on a 2 lane curvy road to get us to our hotel. If Jeff ever drove this way I would truly kill him. World travelers we are not! Lord please take us back to good ole' Rock Hill.
Gotta go talk to kids on skype...love to you all,
m and j
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