Day 19

Thursday, April 29th, 2010. Today we spent the day packing since we’ll be leaving for Rome, Italy in the morning to wait out our 10 days. We went to a travel agency and booked our flights from Donetsk to Rome (direct, and about a 3 hour flight), and Natalia’s flight back to Kiev. The direct flight from Donetsk to Rome is brand new and only on Fridays and Mondays, so it worked out perfectly. The costs of the flights were about $1100 roundtrip for both Jerry and I, and about $208 for a roundtrip ticket to Kiev for Natalia. We will all return on Monday the 10th in preparation for getting our official court decree, amended birth certificates and passports for the girls, and “Gotcha!” day when we finally leave the orphanage with the girls.

How they expand their privately owned apartments here:


The path to the orphanage:



We went to the orphanage about 3:30 and picked up the girls and the lawyer from the orphanage. We were able to snap a few pictures before court which was scheduled at 4pm. We waited out in a waiting room before heading into the court room. When the judge walked in, we all stood up until he sat, just like in an American court room. We all (including us, Natalia, the orphanage lawyer, the Inspector, the Prosecutor, and the girls) had to stand, state our names, positions, addresses, and birthdates. With Natalia translating for us, the judge read our entire dossier, each document included therein, and then asked us questions such as why we want to adopt these girls, what we think that we can give them that they cannot get here, and how long we have known the girls. Something to make note of here- when the judge asked us this, Jerry started to talk about the hosting program, how the girls spent 11 weeks with us, and that we have known them since last summer. The judge then stopped Jerry and restated his question and asked how long we “officially” have known the girls in Severodonetsk. He does not want to hear anything about the hosting program! Apparently this has to do with a law stating that children can’t be preselected and that we must “meet” them here.

Getting ready to go to court:


In front of the courthouse with Natalia and the orphanage attorney:


Waiting to head to the courtroom:


He then asked us if we think that we can afford adding two more children to our family, the make-up of our family including the children’s birthdates and our wedding anniversary date, etc… The judge had a sense of humor and asked Anastasia if she would stay here if he built a swimming pool in the orphanage, and we all laughed. The girls were nervous, but ultimately all went as planned.

The judge locked us up for psychological evaluations after he found our that we already have 5 children and want to add two more!


The whole process took about an hour, and everyone was very nice and polite. We spoke afterwards with the Prosecutor (who asked Jerry to host her in the USA). She is a very nice lady.

After a short break, the judge came back with our ruling, and our petition to adopt Anastasia and Kristina was approved! According to the judge, our “10-day waiting period” doesn’t end until May 12th, which is a couple of days longer than we had hoped, but we will do what we have to do.

After court:



When we left court, we headed back to the orphanage to say goodbye to the girls since we are leaving very early in the morning. We showed them on the calendar when we will return, and they were very excited. We went and had a celebratory “martini” at the hotel. (*note, the “martinis” here are not like in the USA. Apparently “martini” is the name of a liqueur and not a type of drink. I believe their version of a martini is 2 parts vodka and 1 part “martini” liqueur, which is a bit sweet.) After, we picked up Larissa and her son and had a celebratory dinner at the Golden Palace.