Day 21 - Court and saying good-bye

Well it’s official – but we have to wait 10 days before it’s really official! Everyone at the hearing agreed that it was in Sasha’s best interest to be adopted by us. But in Ukraine they make you wait 10 days to pick up the official court decree so we can get busy getting her a new birth certificate and passport and get her home. I’ll be back on the 21st to finish things up and bring her home. We get picked up in a few hours to fly home.

Sasha did great in court – and Beth did a great job reporting what happened. The stuff she said in court was precious – and Beth already reported on it below. Saying good-bye at the orphanage was tough. I’ll be back in a week so the girls were making all kinds of plans for stuff for us to do and fun things for me to bring back with me. We couldn’t find Viktor – that was hard for Anastasia not getting to say good-bye to him. Zhenya came up to say good-bye. That was very hard. He hugged all three of us and just stood there looking at us. He knows I’m coming back in a week – but he wanted to know how long would I be there before I left again.

Luda wanted me to count out the days till I would be back (maybe cause I’m bringing her stickers and gum). The art teacher came up to see us and asked us to come to the art room. She is a sweet lady who knows a little bit of English. She said Sasha was “very good painter,” but the last few weeks (and she pointed to her head) – and said not in Ukraine. Then she pointed to her head again – and said Sasha “head” in America. We can’t wait to have her body there too!

We went over the calendar several times showing her when we’d be back. She walked us out to the street to wait for the cab. She stood there and waved as we drove away – with her little chin quivering. That made me and Anastasia start blubbering in the back of the cab – okay we were already blubbering before that. We watched her till we were out of sight, then the cab driver did a U-turn and we passed the orphanage gate again. She was still there watching.

The kids in the orphanage were very excited for Sasha. But you could see it in the eyes of many of them - why her and not me? Anastasia doesn’t understand why someone doesn’t adopt them all. We asked her who she would really want to get adopted – she named every kid there. Our prayer has been that this orphanage is empty – that every kid there comes to know first hand what it’s like to be part of a family. That is still our prayer.

Here’s some pics from today.


After court. Ilona our facilitator is on back row. The orphanage attorney is standing by Mark.

One of the orphanage workers was yelling at the girls to get busy raking the grounds. Sabina hid behind Mark. Some of the others thought that was a good idea so they did it too. I wish each of them had a daddy to hide behind.

Luda - she was playing all kinds of pranks on us today. But she was sad to see Anastasia go.

The girls were adorable today - and WILD. They were all sort of giddy. Don't know if it's because they were excited for Sasha. Veronika was even yelling out the window at Mark as we walked to our cab.


Sasha and Zhenya love soccer. Sasha was showing off her pictures of Angela Healy - a friend who used to be goalie at NKU. Look at the difference in the looks on Zhenya and Sasha's faces.

Saying good-bye to Zhenya. This was very very difficult. Anastasia has known Zhenya longer than she has known us. This kid is an amazing kid. I hope he gets the opportunity to be loved and and encouraged by a family.