Our meeting with "The Guardians"

Whew...what a day!  We awoke very early today even though we had no idea if/what time we would be going before this "tutorial panel" today, but we wanted to make sure we were ready to go at a moments notice.  Of course, they were calling us before we were ready saying, "be ready in 15 minutes".  We panicked a little; but then, no panel for 3 hours. But, apparently, they wanted more paperwork for K, so the director took us back to the orphanage with him while they completed the documents they requested.  K was not there because she had an appointment with the doctors today for some medical tests.  We visited with one of the caretakers for a couple of hours, had some coffee & cookies.  (These cookies are hilarious.  They are 2"x4" and have multiplication tables imprinted on them.  But, they are delicious!)  The caretaker told us more about K's birth mother (K doesn't really talk about her a lot).  Apparently, she does not "live" anywhere, but is homeless & the last time that she saw her mother, she was rummaging through the garbage, looking for food.  Unfortunately, this is the reality for many people here, and sometimes, children become the "innocent by-stander in the drive-by".  But, we must remember that G-d has a plan for every person & for K, she is destined to be our daughter.

So, back to "panel"...

We were told to be at the SDA office at 1:00pm for our "tutorial".  It was more like the "Spanish Inquisition".  There were a panel of 9 people (1 came in late, making it 10), me & R, and our translator.  The translator had prepared us prior to the proceeding, saying that they were going to ask us 5 questions, mainly about why we want to adopt K, why Ukraine, why an older child, etc... Roughly 10 questions into this, they asked R about how much we pay for water in America (keep in mind that we had to submit this information in our paperwork, so they know how much we pay in one year).  There must have been 6 questions surrounding this one subject.  It had nothing to do with adoption, but more because the questioner was curious.  Bottom line, he wanted us to tell him how much we pay per gallon of water. How the heck should we know?

After all of this, they all start talking to each other for maybe 45 seconds, then say that they are happy to APPROVE us to proceed to court for the adoption of K!!!  Whoo-Hoo!!!

After that, the Inspector-lady kissed my cheek & congratulated us.  It was very nice.  We were just happy to have passed.  Our dream could have stopped here, but it did not!  We asked our translator, "do they normally ask so many questions?", she said, "No...I don't know why they ask you so many. This is not normal." I guess we look like suspicious people.  ^_^

Anyway, we left & went to the orphanage, where we spent the remainder of our day with the children.  They always ask us many questions about America, and how we like Ukraine or do not like Ukraine. Sometimes, they ask about schools, sometimes about food, and other times about silly stuff.  But, no matter what they ask, we are very interested & we know that it is very important if they are asking.

Also, we have figured out why the process takes so long to adopt here.  I think that secretly they hope the more time we spend at the orphanage, the more we will take home with us.  It's already working on us!

So, that's about it for today.  "The Guardians" approved us to move forward & we're hoping to be in court next Tuesday, the 13th, and maybe heading home by the 22nd.  And, at this point, please let me say "Thank You" for all the support & prayers...they are definitely working!

Tomorrow, we go to K's school, where we will be "on display" for all the children.  We are looking forward to it!  Then, we will go shopping to buy gifts for all the children at the orphanage & their caretakers.

Until tomorrow.