Let's Catch Up!

We are finally home and able to access blogger again. So, without futher waiting, here is what happened the last week.



Pre-Court:

After we got the call from Valentina about our court date, our time in Kaz flew by. We did have the opportunity to get to know the family from New York, even if it was for just a couple of days. The night before court, all of the adoptive families is Kaz met at the hotel to visit one more time. It was bittersweet. We have really grown so close to the other families, especially the LaJoy's and were a bit sad to not have had more time to get to know them. But, Kaz will not be the end of those friendships. We will certainly have to plan a few vacations to Colorado and beyond.

We finally saw a softer side of Oleg, our driver. A few days before we left, we saw a smile and he even asked Mike in English how he was doing. That Monday, we had a different translator named Vera. Very and Oleg are friends and we had a small glimpse of who he really is. They talked and laughed the whole drive. It was surprising to see that he was such an easy-going guy. Nice to leave on that note.

Court:

On the day of court, we were surprisingly not nervous. We didn't sit up late into the night preparing speeches. We did not scour over lists of possible questions and rehearse our answers. We just felt that God was going to walk us through the day and that we shouldn't worry. When we arrived in the courtroom, everyone was deciding where each should sit and where we should put our coats, and other such things. We noticed that a man we did not recognize sat down in the front row as if he were there to be part of the case. Our coordinator, orphanage director, social worker, and prosecutor all had very worried looks on their face. Valentina was trying to calmly explain what was going on. She said they thought that he was Karina's grandfather. This, of course was our biggest worry going into court that day. If someone from her family showed up, there was a chance that we would not be granted our adoption. After a few minutes, they were saying that he was a lawyer, probably there to represent the grandparents. Not much better in my mind! After several more minutes that felt like an eternity, Svetlana took care of the situation. She went and got the judge and a few minutes later he was gone. Apparently her secretary accidentally sent him a request to be there. AHHHH! That was a painful mistake.

We were asked some very basic questions (that at the moment felt impossible to answer). We fumbled a bit through our answers, because we were so worried about what NOT to say. Valentina was a wonderful translator and really coached us through it. Yuri, Svetlana, and the social worker each stood up on our behalf and at the end the prosecutor said she would recommend us for the adoption. So, we sat and waited, while the judge sat in her room drinking tea (at least that is what Valentina said she was probably doing, so that it looked like she was really trying to make her mind up) and she returned and read the verdict. She gave us the short version and after a few seconds of reading, we were suddenly the parents of this beautiful little girl.

Following court, Yuri had planned a special lunch for us, Valentina, himself, and Svetlana. It lasted five hours. There were a dozen or more toasts. Each of them made such heartfelt toasts that brought a tear to my eye more than once. We were truly touched by their generosity and love. After our lunch, we said a very short goodbye to Karina. She thought we were there to play and didn't understand why we had to leave. The caregiver was sensitive to what was going on and told us that she would help prepare her for the changes that will be coming in the next month. Regardless, it was so, so, so hard to let go after that last hug.

We flew to Almaty the next day. It took us six hours to get there, so we were extremely grateful to have a hot shower and a soft bed. We visited the US Embassy and completed our paperwork to have Svetlana excort Karina to Washinton D.C. At one in the morning, we were taken to the airport and began our travel home.

Travel:

Our seven hour flight to Frankfurt was smooth and as comfortable as could be expected. I realized very quickly though that my motion sickness patch was not working like it had on our flights to Kaz. For those of you who know me, know that I get sick on car rides through the coastal hills. With that being said, I was rather sick for the entire time. Our next flight from Frankfurt to LA was the kicker. Before we boarded, they set up an extra checkpoint and were "randomly" selecting men to be searched again. One man was very vocal about the fact that he did not want to be searched again and made quite a scene. This extra security made Mike feel safer, but it did not me. I had gone for about 2 days at this point without sleep and was not thinking as a rational being. So, I started to worry that maybe something was wrong. Obviously, there was not problem, as we did arrive safely to LAX. The flight was very turbulent and even Mike was not feeling well on the 12 hour flight. We said a lot of prayers and had some serious talks with God. By the time we stepped on land in LA, we were both in agreement that we could not take another minute on a plane. So, 30 minutes later, we were in a rental car heading home. Oh what a great feeling to be on the ground. LA was breath-taking. The sky was so clear and the mountains were covered in snow. The ride felt like it was over in minutes. We were walking on air, so happy to be on American soil. We even stopped at McDonalds (and we don't even like McDonalds) to get some chicken nuggets. An American staple!! They were the best thing that we have eaten in a month! How sad is that.
It was an amazing feeling to pull in to the driveway of Mike's parent's house, honk the horn, and see Sammy run out the door and give Mike the biggest hug in the world. Ben came out seconds later and then neither Mike or I could hold the tears in any longer. It had been such a long road back home and we were ever so thankful to finally hold our boys in our arms again. That entire evening, about every five minutes, one of the boys would look at us and say how much they missed and loved us. It was a great night.
Regardless of how wonderful it was to finally be home with our boys, our family is not complete. Please pray for us as we wait to make our family whole. Pray for Karina as she faces so many new changes in her little life. Pray that God will cover her with peace and comfort. Pray that this time will go by quickly and that we will see her soon.
Thanks to each of you for being a part of our journey to find our daughter. We can't wait to connect with each of you and share our life changing experience. God has placed each of you in our lives and we are thankful for all of your prayers and encouraging words. It helped us step out of bed, put our feet on the floor, and get one step closer to completing our family.