A new name and a new life

We just returned from court to become the parents of Oksana Valerie Loraine! As I was typing out my Facebook status it occurred to me that what we just went through was adoption childbirth. We walked in parents of 2 and walked out parents of 3! And my pants still fit :). I told Larry that each birth involved pain...physical pain with the boys and emotional with Oksana. It's been a hard journey and it's not over yet.

Court was very...interesting. This is what the court house looked like:

I had these ideas in my head that it would be this very formal...well...court room. Nope, it was just the judges office. She sat behind her desk, we sat behind another desk piled with papers. Nadiya and the social worker were there with us as well as 2 other people who I'm sure had some sort of job that I didn't understand. Anyway, the judge began by reading off everyone's name, birthdate, and address to verify that they were the right person. Then she read information about Oksana. She asked if we knew that she was abandoned at the maternity house and told us that she had never been visited by any family member since then. I almost cried at that point although I'd suspected as much. She then said "You are young and beautiful. Why don't you want children of your own?" We almost started laughing but managed to answer her. She asked if we believed in God which I thought was interesting. Nadiya said it's because most of the people who adopt special needs children are believers. She asked if we understood how severe her disability is and wanted to know what our plans were for her care after we get home. She wondered if we had already spoken to a doctor and/or therapist about her and if we had insurance that would cover any future surgeries. Throughout this time she would often pause and look as if she was thinking very carefully. I had to remind myself that she had no good reason to say no to us because she sure was pondering this quite a bit. Finally she said something and Nadiya said "She says congratulations you are now the parents of 3 children. I wish you luck. This is a good thing you are doing. This girl needs a family." WHEW! As we left Nadiya said the judge was very cranky today and at one point she was actually scared because of how she kept stopping and thinking. She said she'd probably just had a bad day.

Nadiya and Oleg then told us that they were taking us to Vorzel. They had some things they needed to do there. When we got there the doctor said she screamed for 40 minutes after we left yesterday. Great. We didn't think we'd get to see her but then she said the would bring her out for about 15 minutes. We were surprised since we all now know what happens when she leaves us. Nadiya looked in her room to ask for her and I bet you'll never guess where she was....in her bed of course. They brought her out and she was so excited to see us. They said she'd been asking for us all morning. She immediately wanted us to take her outside but no such luck today. I hadn't been prepared to see her and she was looking for fun stuff to do so my sunglasses became the toy of choice.

After our time was up they told her it was time for a nap and let Larry take her to her bed to lay her down. Of course she started crying again. The doctor commented that it was best that we not stay for the 10 days because this was getting difficult for her. We couldn't agree more. Since we got that time with her we won't be visiting her tomorrow as planned. They took our photo book and promised us that they would talk to her about us and reassure her that we are coming back.

We aren't sure what we are going to do tomorrow but we head out at 11am Friday!