April 21, 2009 the judge ruled to grant our petition to adopt in full... Tears of joy...
The picture below was taken inside the courtroom immediately following the ruling (Orphanage Director, Larissa, shown on the left in red... the young woman on the right was the Prosecutor who couldn't believe we wanted to adopt four at one time :)
Today we celebrate our "Gotcha Day"! Tears of joy...
After being stranded in Europe for an extra five days, Tony (a.k.a. "Papa") made it back on the one year mark late at night. [For those who did not know, Tony had been teaching at Kyiv Theological Seminary for a week in Ukraine.] We woke the kids up a little earlier than normal for a family breakfast celebration before school. They opened presents from Ukraine, which made the celebration even more special....
The first day we met our kids at the orphanage, we had taken some toys for each of them. We had given James a truck. However, their teachers at the orphanage had confiscated everything we'd given them there (they literally had to leave the orphanage naked - well, we'd bought them clothes to change into... they returned everything including their underwear). Anyways, James had asked for another truck. He was excited to receive one, as well as a Ukrainian Soccer Jersey!
Papa brought the girls some earrings and barrettes... They were ecstatic and immediately changed into them to show their teachers and friends at school...
Tears of joy...
4 comments:
I forgot that we shared the same "Gotcha Day"!!! Congrats on a year with those precious little ones! Many, many more warm memories to come!
I love Gotcha Day!! I can't believe it has been a year. It seems like only yesterday y'all were picking up the kids; however, when I see your family, it seems like you have been together forever. I pray continued blessings on you guys and many, many more years of joy!
Love you!
Ashley
Happy Gotcha Day! The kids look absolutly wonderful! We did the same thing for Oksana and brought home a small gift from Kazakhstan for her for each year until shes 18then one special gift for when she graduates high school and one for when she gets married. Congrats to you all!
I agree Tears of Joy!
Catherine
Great to see the gifts that the kidos got. They look like they really liked them. Tony did a nice job!!! I just went along for moral support.
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