How Great thou Art

My friend Deb sent me this song and it's wonderful!!!  I think Carrie Underwood has a phenomenal voice and this song says it allJ

Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” 

It's official!  Inna Anastasia Bottorff will be our legal daughter in 10 days!!!  Court today was held in a large room with the judge, 2 recorders, 2 jurors, a social worker, a lawyer, the prosecuting attorney, our translator/facilitator, and us. 

Everything went well...we were asked many questions by the judge, which Todd mostly answered.  Then, we were both individually "cross-examined" by the prosecuting attorney.  This was not my favorite part but Oksana told us we both answered well.  Here are some questions we were asked:

1.  Why do you want to adopt in Ukraine?  2. Where do you work?  3.  Is your house paid off?  4.  Why would you want to adopt a child with special needs?  5.  What happens if you have a biological child....will you still want her?  6.  Your homestudy said you wanted a boy, will you be happy with a girl?  Explain.  7.  How do you plan on paying for her medical needs?  8.  Are you going back to work?  If so, how long will you be at home before going back to work?  9.  Have you contacted any doctors to care for her medical needs?  10.  Explain why you feel comfortable adopting a child who is not developmentally on track?

There were more questions but these are just a few.  We were done in about 40 minutes or so.  Better than the 3 hours our friends endured last week!!  We also took them pictures of Inna and the three of us and everyone thinks she looks like meJ  I must say, I was a proud Momma!  ha

Here is how the process goes from here:

**Todd and I will enjoy every bit of the next 10 days in this giant city doing the same things we've been doing since April 21:) 

**We will HOPEFULLY get the court decree on Friday, May 27th AND the birth certificate changed. 

(this is a MAJOR prayer request because if we don't, we will have to wait until the following Tuesday because the offices are closed on Monday)

**We will travel back to Kyiv and wait for the passport paperwork and the Visa.  This can take about 6 days (I think)

**Then we come home to see our family and dogs and house and bed and electric toothbrush and a little person running around in our house!!  AHHHHHH!

The three of us after court!!

On a side note, to pass the time and calm our nerves, Todd and I went to the mall.  I decided to try on dresses, including a dress that was more expensive than my wedding dress!!!  I wouldn’t have tried it on if I would have checked the price first!  ha

I wanted to give our driver, Pavel, and Oksana an "American" dessert.  Since we don't an oven, I decided to make Oreo Balls for them.  We found a cheese store that actually sold Philadelphia cream cheese on accident...yippee!  They have Oreos in the store and this chocolate bar happened to be a bitter dark chocolate (yuck).  But, both Pavel and Oksana ate all their dessert in one sitting so they liked them!:)  Any other ideas?  I really wish I would have brought KC BBQ sauce...but thanks to Ashlee, I didn't because I remember hers exploded in her suitcase on a trip!

Me slaving away on these Oreo Balls:)  ha

Last Monday was Victory Day in Ukraine.  Every city had a major celebration and Todd and I attended the beginning ceremonies.  They are celebrating the defeat of the Nazi Regime. 

Soldiers at the ceremony



Kids playing on a tank



Peek-a-Boo!  When we met with Inna, she had a scratch on her eye and under her eye.  We were told a little boy threw a block at her head:(  It didn't phase her at all though!

Are these like Dorothy's ruby red slippers?  There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home...

New hair-do!  I think I like 2 pony tails better than 4.