Picture the Audience in Their Underwear

We've all heard it before, right? If you're nervous about speaking in front of others, just picture the audience in their underwear. Well, today we didn't need our imaginations.

Sasha picked us up at 2:30 for our 3:00 court time. I was a bit nervous on our way there. Okay, I was a lot nervous. I would've happily rolled down the window and lost my lunch. I just kept praying, "You are my peace. You are my portion." And I was reminded that God is the one Who brought us here. So why did I need to worry? He has orchestrated it all. Every detail. Some of you reading this know about the family who came for Vera earlier this year, met her and left her. Some of you were angry about it. Some of you didn't understand how someone could do that.

I'm here to tell you that I know why that happened. It's because Vera is OURS. Do you remember the story of how we found Vera and the picture I had had in my head for a few years? Well, THIS is the picture.

I've seen Vera's former Reece's Rainbow photo and it wasn't the one from my head. I would not have known that she is ours from the old photo. That other family HAD to go meet Vera to take THIS photo. It's pretty incredible when you think about it. So, don't be mad at them. What they did is sad and disturbing, but it WAS part of God's plan. He used them to help us find Vera.

So anyway, we got to the courthouse and chit-chatted with Sasha while we waited for everyone else to arrive. She told us that the court officials usually end their Friday at 4:00. That's why it was so quiet...most people were gone already. The judge, we learned, does not usually hold hearings at all on Friday afternoons, but Sasha persuaded him to do it for us. Great. So he's probably already upset that he has to be here on a Friday afternoon to hear our case. It's either going to be really short, or he'll drag it out just because he can. While we were waiting, the director of the baby home arrived as well as the social worker and prosecutor. Then our translator arrived. Sasha couldn't translate for us during the hearing since the director of Vera's orphanage is her mom. It's a conflict of interest. Our translator, Natasha, came in and I was instantly at ease. Not because of her demeanor, although she was very nice. But her skirt...was completely see through! Oh my! I was sitting and she was standing next to me and all I could see was her rear end. No slip or anything. I thought to myself, "Well if she can go before the judge looking like that, what am I so worried about?" It was so oddly funny to me. Jon didn't even notice. From that point on, I wasn't nervous anymore. Thank You, Lord!

Finally everyone was there and we went in to the court room. To our right there was a cage like thing, probably where prisoners go when they're on trial. There were also two seats for the jury, a seat for the prosecutor and a big table with 3 big, wooden chairs behind it. The judge sat in the middle one. He finally arrived and we all stood. I instantly wanted to giggle, but thankfully God quieted me. Picture a Danny Devito type. He was short and pudgy, and he was dressed in ALL white...button down shirt, pants, even white patent leather shoes. The top few buttons of his shirt were open revealing a very hairy chest. He came in, went to his seat and threw his keys on the table. Yep. He didn't want to be there. The formalities were all given and eventually Jon got to give his prepared speech to the judge. I wanted to laugh again when I saw the judge periodically looking at his watch. He wanted to be there even less than we did. So Jon made his statement, the director gave a statement, the social worker gave a statement. Then the judge started looking through our dossier (for the first time). He did ask a few things. He asked about Jon's annual salary, which Jon told him. Then he asked Jon's monthly salary. Uhhhhh....anyone have a calculator? Jon did a quick figure and we moved on. Towards the end, the judge asked about our current children and what they think about us adopting Vera. Jon told him they are SO EXCITED and that we've been able to show them pictures and videos of our visits with Vera.

I was so teary through this whole thing. It was so surreal to finally be there...in the courtroom...to beg for Vera. Some of her history was repeated for the judge and it is just so sad. No one in Ukraine has ever inquired about her. It was even mentioned that several foreign families have come to meet her and turned her down. We are literally Vera's last hope.

Then the judge left to make his decision, which Sasha had told us 'which just means he's going out to smoke.' She told us yesterday that the decision has already been made. It sounded like the court hearing was more of a formality than anything.

While we waited for 'Judge Devito' to come back, the others in the room enjoyed looking through our photo album and Sasha told them about all of Vera's questions yesterday (I still need to blog about that...it was awesome!). The judge and jury had looked at the photos as well during Jon's speech.

So, after a few minutes the judge came back, we all stood up and he said that he would grant our petition to adopt Vera. Oh, I wanted to cry so badly! Glory to God!! The judge left and the others all shook our hands and congratulated us. There were lots of smiles and laughter and jokes about Mama and Papa.

So, now we have a 10 day waiting period that starts tomorrow. During the wait, anyone in Ukraine can contest the adoption, including family members, orphanage workers, anyone. If no one contests the judge's decision during that time, then on the 11th day we get to bust her out. But wouldn't you know it, the 11th day for us is a holiday here which means we won't be able to get the necessary paperwork. So, Lord willing and as long as there are no surprises, on Wednesday, June 29 Vera will be legally ours and we will go get her. We don't anticipate that anyone will contest the adoption. No one's been interested in Vera for the past 6 years. What's going to change over the next 12 days? We'd still appreciate your prayers, though, that there are no surprises.

After court

Us with Sasha