We're parents...again!

Court is over, the dust has settled, and now it's official! We're parents again!! "Liberation Day" is what we joked about calling today, when our little orphan 'inmates' (as they are referred to on official documentation) were officially adopted. Though there was no drama compared to our appointment last week, the backdrop for today's scene felt like a movie set...but an out of place one indeed...

It seemed unlike anything one would find in the former Soviet Union and more like the backdrop for a Hemmingway novel, a Bogart movie, or a Buffett song. The dark stairs led past the small guard's desk and cramped first floor to a second story with twelve or thirteen-food high whitewashed ceilings with crumbling plaster walls painted in faded flamingo pink. The worn terra cotta tiled floors had bright blue steps and similar, cracking rod iron staircase and handrails, both very ornate. All the lights were off (of course) and the husting crowds of people moved quickly and quietly down the hallways, dressed in their finest clothes and smelling of cigarettes. The whole scene was surreal and notably out of place in this quiet, western Ukrainian town. For a moment, it was as if we were transported from here to Old Havana...it was strange.

Don and Jackie (the other family here) were called in first. While they were meeting the judge, we rehearsed the answers to the questions we had been given ahead of time. "Not to worry, " our facilitator repeated in her thick Russian accent, "I am speaking to the judge and will tell her what needs to be said." No problems, we thought, we'll go over these questions and be done easily...like everything else here in Ukraine, however, things turned out fine but nothing like what we expected!

Don and Jackie were done quickly (15 min), and we were shuffled in quickly after them amidst congratulations and handshakes in the hallway--no doubt out of place here in this courthouse! We entered the room and were seated across from the judge, some witnesses (like jury duty), the orphanage director, and a worker from the state department. All of this took place in the judge's office, where she freely took phone calls from time to time, even in the middle of our proceedings!

From the very beginning, it was like a game of Twenty Questions, but without any of the questions we had anticipated. "What do you do for a living?" "Why do you want to adopt from here?" "How many rooms are in your home?" "Who lives in your home with you?" "How does your daughter feel about adoption?" And so on, and so on...

We patiently answered the judge's questions, then listened to the testimony of the orphanage director and state department worker. The director talked of our interactions with Ruslan during our daily visits and how it was her opinion that he bonded with us and felt very comfortable with us. She recommended that we be allowed to adopt per our petition to the court. The state department worker, though we had never met, also concurred with the director's recommendations and said that, based on her review of our dossier, it was in the child's best interest to be adopted by us.

The saddest part of the morning was hearing the judge question the orphange director about Ruslan's brothers (3). When asked about the other children and the parents, the director stated several times that none of the family had ever come to visit or inquire about Ruslan. Not after dropping him off at two months old...not after being contacted by the state to terminate her parental rights...not after learning that he was adopt-able by other families...not ever. It was heart-breaking to hear that none of this family had ever come by to see him--even after only one week we can clearly see that he is a wonderful boy!

With that, the judge asked us to stand and then read her proclamation that Thomas and Rachel Judd were now the parents of Samuel Ruslan Clark Judd and all documents were to be updated accordingly. Even the crusty old Ukrainian man on jury duty against his will cracked a smile...