Our Day in Court

Before leaving for court.  We were SO nervous!

There was snow this morning, which made getting to court a real challenge.  Apparently, the car had real problems getting to the orphanage and almost didn't make it.  They were then late getting us, and ended up calling and telling us to walk toward "the main road" to meet them.  We walked the wrong way, and thankfully, Vitalik must have seen us out the window, and he ran down the sidewalk - like maybe 2 blocks and got our attention to send us back in the right direction.  The streets and sidewalks were covered in snow and I was, obviously, not wearing snow boots, so I ended up holding Vitalik's arm most of the way to keep from falling.  "Moi tooflee, no good, sneig.  (my shoes, no good, snow)  Understand?"  He answered with one of his favorite English phrases - "I understand,"  which he somehow jumbles into about 2 syllables, always with a quick, confident nod- it's awesome!

Before court, everyone was nervous and we were all trying not to look nervous to one another.  The court hearing lasted about 2.5 hours and was incredibly intense and included a lot of scary moments.  We left the courtroom while the judge and jury discussed the case, and then returned for the verdict.  What a relief it was to have this part of the adoption journey completed!!  We were all completely exhausted and stressed out, but relieved and finally beginning to breathe again, I think.

After court - tired, happy, and cold!

Wiped-out and happy kids waiting for the celebratory lunch in a restaurant - what a treat!

There were very few lite moments on this very serious day.  I suppose this is why this picture is my personal favorite!  The room in which we waited before and after court had this little holding cell in the corner.  After court was over and after all of the important people had left, Eugene and Vitalik paused for this rather obvious photo-op.  I love it!

After having lunch with the kids, their social worker, our facilitator, and driver, they took the kids back to the orphanage, we helped the facilitator chase down the 4:20 train (we should be getting used to running in the cold snowy weather by now!) and finally we were dropped off at our apartment (doma sweet doma!)

Tomorrow we visit once more before getting on the train and beginning the 2-day trip home.  We will return for our third trip and expect to spend lots of that time in a Simferopol apartment with the kids getting a taste of what it feels like to actually live together.  We know that there will be challenges, but we can't wait to get started!