Back to TN

Well, we made it home, and jet lag has thoroughly set in. Travel was easy (as easy as could be expected anyway) and uneventful. I felt unexpectedly proud and even a little emotional to hear over the flight intercom "Welcome to the United States of America" first in German, then in English. It was a little strange to be surrounded by conversation we could again understand but nice to be home at the same time. Above all, it was wonderful to see the kids again, and we got big hugs from each. It felt terrific to sleep a night in our own bed. We can't thank Julie's Mom and Dad enough for taking care of the kids for us during this time. 

When we awoke this morning, we had word from our facilitator that our court date has been set for February 12th, which means we will most likely travel on February 10th and back home February 13th. For those unfamiliar, I'd like to discuss, in general, what the rest of the process will be like. At court, there will be a judge, a jury, and a prosecutor for the state, while our facilitator will be our advocate. Like many aspects of Ukrainian adoption, the process can be easy or enormously difficult. Some prosecutors and judges simply don't like foreign adoption, which can lead to costly delays. Some families have even had to start over. Some communities can even push to reject an adoption. In most cases, however, the court session will last for about an hour, during which time we, the orphanage director, and A will be questioned by the judge. Although evidence has already been committed to the written record, we understand that A will have to affirm verbally that she wants to be adopted by us. If all goes well, the judge will declare A to be our daughter. Immediately thereafter, there will begin a 10 day waiting period during which appeals to the decision can be filed. We plan to return to the US during this time. If there are no appeals after 10 days, A is officially ours. She would then legally be our daughter, so the rest of the process (the third trip) involves getting her a new birth certificate with her new name, a passport to the US, travel visa, and medical clearance. This will require 10 to 14 days to complete. The best part about the third trip is that A will be with us for the duration. We'll be living and traveling together as a family. We hope to be able to see much more of Kiev to allow her some fond memories of her country and pride in being Ukrainian, even as she becomes an American. 

Until we return to country, I've decided with each blog to share some additional pictures and relate some additional stories about our first trip. One thing I observed is that fish are important in Ukraine, and they probably consume more per capita than we do. There is a much wider variety of fresh fish for sale in grocery stores. For example, in our girl's we had this type of selection:

Fresh fish 

More fresh fish. This time, they have taken the liberty of removing the head. One less thing to worry about. 

Freshest fish.

This fellow took a flying leap out of the fish tank seen in the background. It was so odd I could only stare and take a picture. Shortly thereafter, a lady started shrieking something in Russian, and one of the attendants calmly walked over and placed the fish back with his buddies, thereby ending his near death experience. 

Did you know that death once had a near Chuck Norris experience?

We took a few silly pictures as well.

Silly moment in her room. 

A demonstrating what she learned from Ukrainian former heavy weight champion of the world Wladimir Klitschko.

These two are alike on so many levels.

Thought about it, but the equipment probably isn't designed for super-sized Americans.

Finally, I wanted to post a video that A made to our kids (her brothers and sister). For those of you who haven't met A, consider this a mini-introduction. This falls into the non-silly category:

That's all for today, but much more to come tomorrow. We love you all. Thanks for taking the journey with us, and thank you for sharing your time and resources. 

Michael and Julie