Court

Thanks for Grandma blogging again for us! We have learned that Internet is not free to use for the whole time when paid for. We have been e-mailing many pictures back home and I guess it costs Internet time to do this. We ate up all that time which we paid for the week before by sending pictures out. But thankfully wondeful Viktor went and paid to get the Internet back on again for us.
We had another long day yesterday, which didn't seem so long at first, but by the end of the day we were thankful to be back at Lela's. We arrived at the court house at a little after 12. We waited in one of the hallways as the room was prepared for us for the hearing. We then were asked to go in and have a seat in the room. We were all a bit nervous as we didn't know who the judge would be. He finally arrived and I was relieved to see he was a young judge with a kind face. He still had a serious look on his face however, but it wasn't mean just showing us that this was official business. Galina translated all that he said and he asked us both our full names and what Ted and I did for a living, how big our house was and why we wanted to adopt. He asked us twice if we were serious in persuing this adoption to completion and we both said yes. Then he had some questions for Natasha, if she wanted to come and live with us and why. She said yes, because they are so good to me. I tried not to look at her during this as I didn't want the judge to think I was influecing her answers. But then he said that he would then change her name and it would no longer be Natasha Rashkian but would now be Natasha Joy Carrizales and I had to look up at her then and she had such a big smile upon her face, I knew he could tell she was truly happy with this. Then he said who is this princess? looking at Ariana. He asked her what her name was. So she stood up(this is what we all had to do when we spoke to the judge) to her fullest and very boldly and loudly gave her full name ARIANA ASHELEY CARRIZALES! I think he was only looking for her first name but everyone in the court room started laughing even the judge. She is such a blessing to us. After a few more questions the judge left with the two people who sat by him to make a decision. When he was gone hugs were given to us all around by Dina, Svetlana, and Galina. Dina said it was like Natasha had won the lottery but I said it is like we have won, getting her as our daughter. It was overwhelming how happy they all were for us. We have been truly blessed by everyone we have met here in Ukraine. When the judge came back in he officially stated that he was in favor for this adoption and that after 10 days he would make it official. And some other things were said but it was just a blur to me and I can't remember it all. When the hearing was done he came over and shook our hands and congratulated us. This is when he asked who was taking care of our children back home. He was so kind and I wish we could have gotten some pictures but I didn't know if it would have been appropriate. Maybe when we go back on the 29th when it will be official.
After this we left to take Dina back to the Internot while Galina finished up things there at the court house. This was, I think, when she tried to see if the judge would reduce the time. When we came back to get her she said the judge allowed us to start the process of getting the birth certificate ready without having to wait until the official ruling on the 29th. We could also get started on the passport for Natasha. We left for the place where we would get the birth certificate in and have it started working on. Galina and Viktor said that this lady was very tuff and may not start it even if the judge said it was ok. Well, this is where we waited in the van for 3 hours! It was 2:15 when we first checked the time after they had been gone for a while and 5:15 when they finally returned. It wouldn't have been so bad but Viktor did not leave his keys this time as he usually does and it was cold outside so we just huddled together for the last hours. It gets dark here at 4:30, so when the sun went down it was worse. It took a few hours after we got home for our feet to get the feeling back into them. I felt bad for the girls because they had on skirts and tights. Papa gave them his coat to lay over their laps and we all squished together and took a little nap which helped pass the time towards the end. Finally, Galina and Viktor returned and said they were trying to find sometype of loophole to get us out of here quicker but could find none. Everyone they asked didn't want to help speed things up because it was a law and they weren't willing to bend the rules. We are ok with this and are thankful for all Galina has done to try and reduce our time. We know that this is what God has planned all along for us and we will remain here until God tells us when it is time for our return home. We just ask for prayers for our little ones at home who it will be much harder for while they wait. That their time will be so occupied that they won't even have much time to dwell upon this. That they will remain focused on God and know inside that these are His plans for them, plans to grow them through this experience and that this time for them has been planned for good and not to hurt them.
Thank you as well for all of your prayers for our health. We are all staring to feel better and I am finally able to hear a little better. Ariana woke up this morning without being sick as well for the first time in four days. Natasha didn't even need a tissue yesterday as well. Sorry this is such a long post but there was so much to cover and I know these next ten days won't be as detailed.
We now start to plan for Natasha's parties. The Becker's have graciously offered to have the teachers' party at their house. We will have the children's party at the Internot, probably toward the end of this week as Michelle has said that the kids' break starts on the 28th and some of the children go to their relative's homes to visit for a few weeks. Thanks for all your comments and verses they mean so much to us and we love to know people are interested in what is going on here. And thanks also for those taking our children and doing fun things with them we so much appreciate all that you are doing for them in helping them pass the time while we are away. You are all such a blessing to us.

Proverbs 16:9 " In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."

Pictures are of the court house, us waiting in the hallway outside the courtroom(Svetlana is in the photo with us), passing the time in the van with cross stitching, trying on Mama's sunglasses and Ariana trying to immitate Cole for Natasha. We also got a picture of a small boy getting a free ride on one of the many trolleys(which they call trains) He knew Ted was taking his picture and waved at us.