The Court

Well today was our court hearing. It went really well, the judge was kind. It only lasted about 30 minutes. Of course the orphanage was there saying they did not approve it, but the city inspector said that we had met all the requirements and therefore they approved. The prosecutor asked how many children we had and how would we be able to take care of Katia, we explained that most of our children were living on their own. Then he said that he approved. The Judge asked Katia why she didn't go with her brothers and she said that she loved us and want us to be her mom and dad. Her courage to stand up and say what she wants is what has carried us through all the people that don't want this adoption to take place. She has never wavered. The judge asked us how we would communicate we told him sign, pantomime and he just laughed. Then we told him that Nadiya and Stephen would help, he said now that you will have three children maybe you need to learn Ukrainian. The Judge and his helpers left the court room for all of 5 minutes to make their decision. When the judge came back he declared us her parents and that her birth certificate would be changed accordingly with the name Sara Kateryna Fuhriman. He shook our hands and congratulated us and then we got a picture with him. When we got in the car Natasha called the director of the orphanage to see if Katia could stay with us now. She told her no, the region lady is keeping an eye on us, she knows when we go to the camp, what we do there and where we go when we are there. She still thinks Katia shouldn't have been separated from her brothers. She is really causing problems, all the children are still in the camp after their court hearings. The region lady is meeting with the orphanag3 director about twice a week to stop her from internatioanl adoptions. Actually international adooptions have increased this year in this region despite her. So we will just play along and not cause anymore ripples. By the way one of the people who sat on the board of guardians, she voted against separation, had a heart attack on Monday, she was worried about her job. so we took Katia back to the camp after she had been with us most of the afternoon. She was not real happy about it but she understood.