Court...

We will start with the official ruling and then go into the details....YES!!!!!!!

Ok, Alec picked us up at our apartment at 2:00 and we traveled to court. We arrived there 20 minutes early and were told that the case that was 2 before us was still going on. It was an American couple trying to adopt 5 children (at the same time, all living in different orphanages). The case before us (single woman) was sitting with our coordinator as she is with our agency as well. A woman came out of the court and said that there was a problem with the case going on (apparently the adoptive mother didn't know all of the medical histories of the children - a BIG no no in court!!) so the judge temporarily stopped the case. We were told that the next case would not be until 4:30! Natasha decided to take us, Golina, 2 woman speaking on behalf of Ann (the woman before us) and Ann to a bar nearby where we had tea and coffee. It was an interesting time as we were able to speak with Ann (she is from Florida and adopted a little boy from Moscow 5 years ago) about her experience with our agency and were happy (for what it's worth) to find out she had the same frustrations and it was not just us.

We returned to court at 4:30 and Ann was immediately taken in. The wait was only 30 minutes for her to come out with a YES response. We were then taken into the court room and the judge was already seated. The only people in the court (besides us) were the judge, her assistant, a prosecutor, our orphanage director/doctor, a social worker and a translator. The judge announced the case and we each had to stand up as she read our name, date of birth, place of birth and citizenship. She then announced the other people in the room and why we were there. Laurie was asked to step forward first (to a podium) where the judge asked her several questions - ranging from "are you ready to be a mother", "do you think you have been married long enough to be parents", "what interaction have you had with other children", to "what plans do you have for child care". John was next and his questions ranged from "are you ready to be a father", "do you feel you are financially stable to support your family", "what are your religious beliefs" to "what are your hobbies". The orphanage director then gave the child's medical history and reason for being in the orphanage. The judge asked us if we knew this information and if we were comfortable with it. The social worker then stood up and gave a little more background on the child's history. Lastly, it was the prosecutor's turn and she gave her recommendation from the municipality that we be approved based on our paperwork and the statements of the orphanage director and case worker. The judge then retreated to her chambers to make her decision. She returned about 2 mintues later and said that the judgement was approved and would be official on April 27 when we can pick the child up from the orphanage!! It was a very emotional moment!

We left the court room and were congratulated by Natasha, Galina and the orphanage director. We made plans to visit our son tomorrow and were told that we will be able to take him outside to play! When we returned to Alec's car and as the ride back to our apartment began, through the shining sun, it started to rain. We would like to think that these were Uncle Will's tears of joy.