Court Date and other news

Yay!!! Court is over! As many of you know, we had court on Thursday at 4pm. I was calm until we got into the courtroom and the judge began to question us. The judge was very young, mid-30s, and casual in short sleeves and khakis. There was a man on one side of him and a woman on the other side. There is no equivalent for their roles in the USA. They mostly kept silent and listened to the hearing, but occasionally the judge would ask if anyone had any questions for us and the woman would speak up. Next to her was the court stenographer/recorder. She used a computer to take down proceedings. On a lower level in front of HER was the representative for the prosecuting attorney’s office. Now in the US, a woman in this position would have been in a power suit. Not here- this girl (younger than me, anyway) was wearing a VERY low cut dress- can anyone say, “EYE TRAP?”- and was dressed like a girl headed to the beach for vacation! She also asked us questions occasionally.

Seated with us was Yulia, our facilitator, and the Inspector of the region, who acts as a sort of regional minister for the rights of family and children within the State Department of Adoptions. The inspector is a very nice lady who seems to care about the children she is responsible for.

The judge began by reading our petition to adopt Mira and to change her name. Her birth name is Miraslava something something that someday I hope to have written down and translated so I can tell her when she asksJ Her new name is Mira Kathryn Wells!!!! Anyway, the judge asked Rich to stand and put forth questions to him, such as: how stable is your job/income, why do want to adopt another child when you already have 4, what size is your house, etc. Then I had to stand for my questioning. I was quite nervous and was shaking and blushing like a schoolgirl!! I was asked how I was going to handle 5 children, would I be bringing in outside help (AS IF!!!), did our family get along, did we live close to relatives, etc. After all this, there was a brief recess while the judge read his notes. He came back in and told us “Congratulations!” and cracked his first smile of the day. Yulia said, “Congratulations, you’re parents…again!”

Maybe if I had all typical births and children, the congratulations would get old after 5 kids. But well, Kimberly was my first born- CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Lauren was my miracle- CONGRATULATIONS!!! Brandon and Connor are my boys, my boys that I wanted since day one and which took bedrest and multiple tests and ultrasounds and an emergency c-section to get here- CONGRATULATIONS!!! And Mira. Mira is my adopted daughter, my daughter that I never even knew about until 1 ½ weeks ago. My daughter who is living proof of the faithfulness and care of my God. Miraslava means “Glory” and God has indeed shown me His glory and He is being glorified on this entire journey! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Here is a photo of the happy parents in front of the courthouse. We are now in our ten day appeals wait period. After this, I can start the proceedings to get Mira a passport, visa, medical clearance.

Now for other interesting news:

Our hotel seems to be the party spot in town. Music and loud people til all hours of the morning. We even got to see a wedding party!

This next picture is for my Yuku chat group- I miss ya’ll!!!!! Every Monday night we’d stay up talking about Ukraine, adoption, and special-needs children. One favorite topic of conversation was how nasty the bathrooms in Ukraine are, especially on the trains. So, some of us said that we would buy Depends just to wear on the very long train rides to region. Well, I didn’t have to take train rides, and I have only used the hotel bathroom so I’ve been fortunate. I did however, find a market stall selling lots of Depends!!!!

Some more sweet photos of our Glory- Mira Kathryn Wells!!!

All bundled up for the warm weather:) Ukrainians believe in keeping the children WELL covered here- poor Mira gets quite clammy.

Look at that sweet face!

Mira's sweet little feet. She will require surgery as one of her feet is a pretty severe clubfoot. I love that the caretakers still put shoes on her!

Mira loves to play with Daddy!!

Mira's first photo taken with BOTH her parents!

Thanks for all your prayers and sweet comments! We have lots more photos to show you!