Monday, August 27, 2007

They are ours!

Today we went to court, it was extremely scary. There was a judge, two jurors , a secretary,
a prosecutor, an inspector, our lawyer, and us. The judge and two jurors questioned us for 45 minutes without smiling even once. Everything was in Ukrainian and our lawyer had to translate. After a grueling 45 minutes we had to leave the room. While we sat outside we could hear them speaking fast and loud for another ten minutes. When we were allowed back in they told us they approved the adoption and confirmed the girls new names. Now we have a mandatory ten day waiting period before we can take the girls. During this time anybody could appeal our adoption, (orphanage, court, family) The only thing we are nervous about is the fact that another family came today from San Francisco wanting to adopt OUR GIRLS! And their big
sister. Their lawyer says they will not encourage them appealing because he knows our girls are happy!

We leave the village Sept 7th to go to the girl's birth place to get new birth certificates. (About three hours away.) After that we get to take the girls from the orphanage and then we will stay in Kharkov. There we will apply for passports. After we get passports, which could take up to two weeks, we head back to Kiev. We have more stuff to do in Kiev, but we're not sure what it is. We'll keep you posted! Check back often, Daniel will be adding pictures that have been sent by camera phone.

8 comments:

Blaine said...

The "stuff to do in Kiev" would include medical appointments at the US Medical center and your US Embassy appointment to get immigration Visa's for the kids to come home.

susie said...

Congrats!!! I hope that there are no problems and wish you lots of luck! Hope you can come home soon.

albrecht5 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
albrecht5 said...

YEA!!! Sounds like you guys have had an adventure. We're so happy for you. Elizabeth is so excited to meet the girls. We will continue to keep you in our prayers and thoughts. Be safe and take care.

Iva & Barry

Cheryl said...

Sounds like an unnerving experience! Hope the trip to the birth place will be exciting for them and you too! Good luck with everything.

Unknown said...

Remarkable what you are doing to change lives! Your sacrifice is and will be tremendous. We are all praying for you. Pinch their cute little cheeks for us! Daniel and Trevor are amazing holding down the fort for you. You should be proud of them.

Keither

Unknown said...

Your sacrifice is amazing and your love is deep. We pray for you and your BIG family. We're excited for your return. You can be proud of Daniel and Trevor. They are holding down the fort back home just fine. They also have an entire ward backing them if they need us.

Keep the Faith,

Keith

Jan and Bill said...

Oh we are soo excited for you all. The girls are so darling and look very happy. What a blessing they will be. Praying all continues to go well and that you hold up. Keep sending the pix they are such fun.