Big Day

Today was court!
EVERYTHING WENT GREAT! The court accepted our petition to adopt Anastasiya. Present in court were the judge (a very nice lady), two jurers, a prosecuter, a court secretary, orphanage director, SDA director, Syvette, Russ, Ana and I. It was a formal hearing, but the process was not difficult. Syvette had prepared us well for what questions would be asked. The prosecutor did not ask any questions, even though Syvette said that he may (this was unusual she said)Ana did so very well when it was her turn. She stood bravely and answered all the questions with confidance. The orphanage director was very supportive and shared many positive compliments for us. Syvette translated everything for us. After the proceedings court adjourned for ten minutes for the judge to reach a decision. Upon return to court and after giving her formal decision that permission was granted by the court for us to adopt Ana, she came down from the bench and presented gifts to Russ, Ana and I and hugged us with tears of emotion in her eyes. Russ recieved a embroidered cloth with Ukrainian national colors to represent love and pain in life, Ana received a CD of Ukrainian music and a Ukrainian doll for remembrance of her culture, I was given a large handmade vase and fresh cut red tulips. In the Ukraine mothers with many children are highly respected and thought to be heroes, so in Ukrainian culture I am this LOL. After court we took Ana to McDonalds to celebrate. We stopped to get passport pictures taken and then to a notary to get Ana's passport documents started. When we returned to the orphanage there was a group of missionaries from Canada visiting for the week that were there. A tea party was being served by the girls in Ana's group and Russ, Ana and I were the guests of honor in celebration of the court appearance and Ana's adoption. Afterwards the children were sent outdoors with the missionaries to play and the teacher from the orphanage presented us with a dinner and toasts. The dinner was from the orphanage menu and it is Ukrainian custom to toast 3 times. Everyone at the orphanage is very happy for Ana, the people who work there are very kind. Ana was very tired from the events of her big day, but she still followed us to the gate of the orphanage and stood waving as we pulled away in the car. She understands that tomorrow is the last day that she will see us before we travel home to prepare for coming to the United States. Today was an exciting and exhausting day. We got our return date, May 11. To our disappointment we will be here until May 28. I was thinking 7 to 10 days not 17 more days when we return. Russ will not be making the second trip, he has lots of work to catch up on at home and Heather is very anxious to have the opportunity to come to the Ukraine to learn about and see her new sister's culture first hand. Ana is excited that Heather will be coming to see her. Airline tickets are already booked for the return trip. Tomorrow we will visit Ana for the last time before returning home and then we will take the overnight train back to Kiev tomorrow night.