We Got our Court Date!

We are scheduled to have our adoption hearing on Friday, August 31st at 1:30 pm (6:30 am at home.) After several days of signing papers, traveling to other towns and villages to get paperwork and waiting while our translator and facilitator ran around doing paperwork, our petition to adopt has been received by the court. The hearing is the day before Vlad's 14th birthday. He could be our son by his birthday! Praise God for this huge step forward. After talking with our American friends here, we think that this whole process will take more like 10 weeks than six. We have 2 weeks till our court date, then a 10 day waiting period and then probably four more weeks to process out. That means we may not be home until the 2nd week in October! We will probably be speaking fluent Russian by then.

We visit with Vlad about 3 hours every day and each day it gets better. There are always several other kids hanging out with us including one very close friend of Vlad's. He is a sweet 13 year old boy who is very friendly toward us. It is painfully clear that he is longing for a family. Sometimes he even puts his head on my shoulder and he hugs Beth.  It is so painful to know that he will be left behind. He along with all the kids there, deserve families. Remember "M" in your prayers and pray that a good family will adopt him. 

At the orphanage we have been playing Uno, checkers, basketball etc. One day we made the mistake of bringing the I-pad with us and the kids just played video games until we had to tear it away from them. We also bring a laptop and use Google Translate to speak with each other. Vlad had fun typing his new name in Russian and hearing how it sounds in English. 

We are still in a small apartment here. Our translator leaves to go back to Kyiv this evening so we'll have the place to ourselves. But we may end up moving to a hotel soon. This hotel is within walking distance of the orphanage and the price includes all meals. So, it will actually be cheaper to stay there. 

Ukraine sometimes seems to us like a country of orphans.  There seem to be more stray cats and dogs per square mile then there are people. Beth has adopted an entourage of cats who greet us outside our front door every day and wait for her to feed them. The orphanage is like something out of "Lord Jim." There are adult care takers there but you don't see much of them. The kids seem to be mostly on their own, even one little five year old who just runs around with the bigger kids. They seem to be able to leave the grounds and go to the local convenience store etc. Some of them have cell phones and the Russian equivalent of Facebook accounts. Young girls from the surrounding neighborhood come to the orphanage a lot. It's a great place to meet boys! Vlad doesn't seem too interested yet. 

Thank you for your continuing prayers and notes of encouragement.

Love, 

Bill and Beth