Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Court Day

We had our court hearing yesterday and received approval to adopt Sergei! It will not be legally official until next Friday, July 9th. On the 9th, we will be able to pick Sergei up from the orphanage and he will be able to stay with us.

After we get Sergei, we will need to change his birth certificate. Since we can't get him until Friday, we will have to wait here in this town until the following Monday before we can do anything. Then after we finish his birth certificate we will be traveling to another city in Ukraine to get his passport. This will likely take several days. Then we will be heading back to Kyiv for Sergei's medical exam and to acquire his visa. Again, this will take several days. So, we're probably looking at approximately 21 more days here in Ukraine.

Court was quite interesting and somewhat intimidating. The judge and the other court personnel kept going on and on about how we are so young to be adopting a 13 year old. It was to the point where Brad and I were wondering if they were going to reject us because of our age. At the same point, I knew that there had to be at least 15 years between the youngest parent and the child, and I knew we had 17 years. Oh, my palms were soaked with sweat. Brad and I were so tense!

Sergei was extremely nervous too. He told us that he was afraid of the judge. Of course, he was hearing all their talk about how young we are so he was probably thinking the same thing that we were. I was relieved though, when they gave us a positive decision. We all were.

This is Sergei after the court hearing when we got into the car...

I'm starting to feel better. I'm on my 4th day of Cipro and that seems to be helping. Hopefully I'll continue to approve each day!

Well, we're off to the orphanage in about 30 minutes.

Be blessed!

2 comments:

Stephanie said...

Good luck!

Pam said...

This is all very familiar to me. Our court hearing was very difficult too, with many questions about our dogs, our income, and many questions to the children that brought Olga to tears. Always wonderful to get that part over I must say. All of us felt very relieved. Your remaining process is very like ours was. It feels long doesn't it? We were given custody of the kids immediately after our court hearing, and didn't have to wait like you do, but had to wait 3 more weeks in Moscow (all of us together.) I so sympathize with you. Oh, it will be nice for you when you are home. Never the less, Praise the Lord Ha? Glad you are starting to feel better. Prayers and Blessings.
Love Pam