Court is completed!! This is what happened!!

Just kidding.


Court was yesterday and it went great.  Everyone including the prosecutor was for our adoption.  When the judge questioned the girls about our family, Vera looked him straight in the eye and spoke with such conviction about joining our family.  It was awesome.  Lydia got a little shy when she was questioned but her "Dahs" were very clear.  She relaxed a little after the judge teased her.  It was such a blessing and such a long journey to get this point. 

After court we went to a nice little restaurant in Vil'nyansk.  Started off with this delicious cabbage salad that nearly every restaurant serves (I love it), then some tasty borsh (also I have come to love this awesome soup, never dreamed a beet based soup could be so yummy).  Then the main course was mashed potatoes and pork steak that was covered in some cheesy mixture.  To wash it down we had Ukrainian drink they call compote.  It is like a lightly sweetened fruit juice and tastes pretty good.

Here are some pics of yesterday!  The girls getting ready, they loved their new dresses and shoes Bon bought them.

 Poor Jonathon had to sit behind us by himself.

New family!!!

Photo with our regional facilitator Zhenia (part of Nastyas team).  He did an amazing job!!!

Lets celebrate!!!! Vera asked for champansky lol....

So now that part is over.  We all took Bon and Jonathon to the train station last night.  It was a very sad departure for all of us.  Vera cried so hard and was clinging to Bon, then she cried all the way home.  Jonathons new Ukrainian girlfriend also went with us.  She was crying because Jonathon was leaving.  Everyone was crying!!  Except me, cuz Im a dude and we dont do that :p. 

Bon and Jonathon made it safely to Kyiv this morning.  They are touring the city today and then their flight leaves tomorrow at 5:30 am (yes, AM!!!)  I feel sorry for them.  I really miss them so much already.  It is now even harder because I have nobody to speak English with.  Veras is pretty good but still pretty limited.  We sound like cave man speech.  Me go outside, Me go toilet, Me go magazina, Me go ulitsa etc...  I am going to stay with the girls and finish up the adoption.  There is a mandatory ten day waiting period after court where it could be appealed.  After that we need to deal with getting new birth certificates issued.  Lydias will be easy, Veras could be difficult.  Someone will have to travel to Russia as she was born there.  After that we go back to Kyiv for medical appointments, new passports and embassy stuff.  All in all I expect to be here another three weeks but hoping for less!  Please pray that the Russian birth certificate does not end up taking months or costing thousands of dollars (he have heard horror stories).  We keep trusting that God will provide, he has brought us this far after all!!