Court Day

This morning at around 11:15am, we went all dressed up to the orphanage to have Olga talk to the kids about Mama leaving for home and have a representative join us for the court hearing. Isabella sat listening and seemed to understand. Isaac was just too interested in the car that was there and obviously climbed in. We took the kids in as usual around 11:30am, Lori said her goodbyes and we then waited for the taxi.

At noon we had our court hearing. Everything went smooth and we were done in 45 minutes. We were explained our rights and they asked us several times if we fully understood the health issues of the kids etc. Of course if it wasn’t for our translator, we wouldn’t have a clue what was going on ;)

The big question was the last one, where they asked us what we expected from the court. Our answer was obviously that we wanted to be granted custody of the twins. So after probably less than 5 minutes of deliberation, the judge came out and declared Isabella Alina Baldacchino and Isaac Maxim Baldacchino as our new kids! Now we begin the 10 day waiting period, at the end of which we can pick up the court decree and make the whole thing official, which will enable us to finish up the rest of the documentation so we can fly back home and start our lives together.

Unfortunately the 10th day falls on a Friday, so we’ll have to wait till Monday the 22nd of June to pick up the decree and go get the birth certificates from the kids’ birth place. Then we’ll be able to apply for the passport and get back to Kiev to finish our paperwork at the Embassy before making final travel arrangements.

We rushed to have lunch at the “Penguin” restaurant and Carol joined us for a quick coffee and one last goodbye for Lori. Then it was off to the apartment to help Lori finish up packing. At around 3pm, Lori and Olga left for Dnepropetrovsk to catch the express train to Kiev and she made it fine by around 11pm. Tomorrow she’ll have to sign some papers at the Embassy, get a power of attorney for me and leave en route to Amsterdam at 5:30pm. It’s a short 3 hour flight, but a long 14 hour overnight stay at the airport before the flight to Houston, which leaves at 10:10am the next day! Hotels were really expensive and we decided to say “no thank you!", but I’m sure Lori will be very tired by the time she gets back in Houston at 1:30pm on Thursday.