New Court Date

Yeah!!! We finally got our new court date. It's next Friday, June 20th. Our flight back to Ukraine was scheduled for June 14, so we're just going to keep that ticket and fly back this Saturday. We will fly into Kiev on Sunday, then take the train down to Simferepol and arrive there Monday. That will give us a few days to go visit Vacya and recover from jet-lag before our appointment. We're super excited.

Still waiting

I talked to Andrei again today and he said that we should be able to find out our new court date tomorrow. Of course, this will be about the fifth time that we should be able to find out, so we probably shouldn't hold our breath. We did get some good news though. The judge talked to the prosecutor today after she looked through our documents and she does not seem to have any problems with our new application. Hopefully this time through will go much more smoothly.

Home

We've been home for about a week and a half now. It's been nice to get back into a regular routine after being out of the country for 8 weeks. We're still waiting to find out when our next court date will be. Andrei is trying to get it scheduled for sometime in the last 2 weeks of June. Hopefully we will get a date tomorrow so that we can make plans for going back.

Tammy saw Vacya this past weekend and it sounds like he's doing pretty well. He asked where Joe and I were and said that he missed us. Tammy reminded him that we went back to America to work, but reassured him that we will be coming back to get him and bring him home.

Here are a few pictures...

Vacya and Byelka (one of 3 dogs at the orphanage)

Vacya with Jack and Linda, the other 2 dogs. It's a good thing he likes animals since we have a zoo at our house :)

Water-balloon fight (that's Vacya in the pink pants)

Coming home

We bought our plane tickets and will be home Saturday night. We are both really looking forward to being home, although we feel bad that we have to leave Vacya behind for now. We explained to him that we need to go home to work, but we will be back in a few weeks to finish the adoption. Then he will be coming home with us. He seems to be taking it all ok. He will be finished with school on May 31, then his class will go to a camp on June 6 where they will stay for a few weeks. Hopefully the fun activities they have for the kids to do there will help keep him from getting too discouraged while we're gone.

Praise God!!!!

We got some very good news today.  After talking to the lawyer and the judge, Andrei found out that it is possible for Joe to give me power of attorney so that I can apply to adopt Vacya under just my name because the age difference is not a problem with me.  I guess we're setting a precedent in Ukrainian adoption law and the lawyers, court officials, and prosecutors around Simferopol and even some in Kiev have heard about our case.  The judge told Andrei that he had wanted to approve our adoption, but could not because the prosecutor objected and the law actually does state that there can be no less than 15 years age difference between the adoptive parents.

We are planning on coming home this weekend so that we can work for a few weeks before we have the next court hearing.  We don't know yet when it will be, but it should be at least a few weeks before it will happen.

Appeal

Andrei met with a lawyer today who is preparing the application for our appeal, which will be submitted tomorrow.  He as also been talking with the inspector in charge of all adoptions in this area (who had approved our adoption).  The inspector is meeting with the judge tomorrow to see if we can get anywhere that way.  From what I understand of the situation, it might be possible to change our paperwork without actually having another hearing, but the judge would have to agree to change the decision.  Our facilitators are not sure right now what the best option will be, so they are talking with everyone they can to see what should be done.  Joe and I have decided that if we do need to have another hearing, and it won't be scheduled for a few weeks, we are going to come home for a few weeks to work (and keep our sanity).  Hopefully we will find out tomorrow or Thursday whether or not there will be another hearing, and how long it will be before a hearing could take place.

When we went to see Vacya today, I could tell right away that someone had told him something.  His usual bright smile was not there.  Tammy came with us so that we could talk with him.  We asked him what he had heard already, and he said that they told him the judge said no, we can't adopt him.  Apparently the caregivers and kids in his class all know about it. We explained that this is not finished yet and we are working with a lot of people to still be able to adopt him.  He seemed to feel a little better after we talked to him, but I think that now he's finding it hard to believe that this will really happen for him.  He made several comments about the medal that the judge wore around his neck during the hearing, like he was thinking, "that guy is the one who has the power and he said no, so that's it."  We told him that a lot of people are praying about this and God knows what is going on and He can make this happen.  

Vacya

Vacya was at the hearing today, but he left with the orphanage representative before they gave the decision, so he does not know yet.  Tomorrow when we go to visit, we will just tell him that it is taking longer than we thought and we will have to go to another court hearing.  We don't want to tell him that they said no and have him worry about it.  Sasha and Andrei have already contacted several lawyers and prosecutors that they know and are doing everything they can to help resolve the situation.  Sasha said that we have 10 days to appeal the decision and that we should be able to have another court hearing within 20 days.  I'll post more info when I get it.

Joe and I are hanging in there.  He was pretty angry and I'm just shocked.  Joe went to play basketball with Matt this evening to let off some steam and I'm spending some much-needed alone time.  We both believe that God wants Vacya to be a part of our family and He is in control of all of it, so we're just trying to trust that everything will work out in the end.

During the very stressful 4 hours that we were at the court today, I kept reciting my favorite Bible verse to myself, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6,7

Keep praying and petitioning!  We know that God hears even if we don't understand why He's allowing these things to happen.  And we can definitely use some peace right now :)

We love you all.  Thanks for your love and support.