Court Date is Set

This morning Mark and I and Tanya picked up Arkadi at his office and we drove to the judge's office. Tanya and Arkadi told us to wait in the hallway and they went in to submit our paperwork and talk to the judge. It only took them a few minutes, and they came out and said the court date has been set for June 1, the earliest possible date. Praise God!

Vanya traveled to Mariupol today and met with Arkadi and the social worker. He also came to collect the papers from Tanya that had been generated here - the approval from the orphanage, the statement from the social worker, and medical reports, etc. He is traveling to his home in Gorlovka tonight and on to Kiev on Sunday, in order to present the papers at the SDA on Monday. The SDA will hopefully give all approval by Friday, just in time for the court date on Monday, June 1. Yay!

We understand that if all goes well on June 1 the adoption will be approved, but then there is a 10 day waiting period before it is finalized. At the end of the 10 days we will go back to the village/town where the girls were born to get new birth certificates with their new names on them, and then we'll get their new passports. When those tasks are done we will go back to Kiev for a couple of days to get medical tests for the girls, then get the visas from the Ukrainian Embassy and register the girls with the American Embassy. Then they'll be ours and we'll be heading home! If all goes well, it may be as early as June 16! That would be great!

So for the next couple of weeks things will slow down a bit. We must be patient and wait. But that will give us time to relax and explore the city of Mariupol and to spend time with the girls every afternoon after school. Mariupol is located right on the Sea of Azov. The sea is only about a 15 minute walk from the TLC, so Mark and I plan to take some long walks and see what we can find. We hope to be able to get out with the girls some, too. Mark has already promised ice cream at our earliest possible outing. This next week is their last week of school, so we should have more opportunities after that to take them places. The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous, praise God! We're hoping that continues and we can have lots of adventures together outdoors.

We're doing okay with communication here. Mark has learned enough Russian that he is usually able to find the words to say what we want to say in a round about way. I am not able to speak much Russian, but I find myself understanding the jist of what people are saying (sometimes), and have even been able to give some insights to Mark when people are speaking to us. So, I guess we make a good team. We're asking Tanya and others this question a lot, "Koks Cazet, pah Ruski?" "How do you say that in Russian?" Or we have to say, "Ni pinye myo." "I don't understand."

One of the housemoms at the TLC, Sveta, lived in Argentina for a time, so she speaks Spanish and Russian, but no English. You should hear her and Mark talking! It is great! They are creating a new language - Spanssian! They say words in Spanish and in Russian in the same sentence, but the communication happens! It's fun!

We went to the performance at the orphanage this afternoon, and it was wonderful! The girls did a superb job and we were very proud of them, but we were reminded that we are bringing two preteen girls into our home. We were waiting for them and the others in their group as they changed into their costumes and did their hair. Some of the other girls didn't like the flowers they were required to wear around their heads as part of the costume, and were in tears before they went down to perform. Zhanna and Ella didn't have a meltdown, for which we were grateful, but after the performance they both seemed down and insisted they didn't do a good job, even after our reassurances that we loved it! Oh well! It's life ahead of us with daughters, right? Can't be helped ~ so we'll just deal with it!

Thank you to those who are reading our blog and for your prayers. Thank you for those who've left a message on the blog or have emailed us a message. Those are priceless to us. They help us feel connected to home. It's very hard to find time to respond to each one, but please know that your support and messages to us mean the world. It's such a blessing to know that you all are there behind us. We miss you all and pray for you daily as you pray for us. God bless you all!

Much love,
Dawn and Mark