First Annual Family Day

Today is February 8, 2013

This is now a very important day in our family. 

Here are some highlights:

This morning our facilitator/translator came to our apartment to discuss what to expect in court today.  We were given a number of things to memorize and recite during court.  She asked us all sorts of possible questions and helped us with how we could best answer each question.  By the end of this meeting we felt like we had a pretty good idea about what to expect, but we were still very nervous!

We arrived at court about 45 minutes early and waited for everyone to arrive.  At around 1:00 pm we were taken into the court room.  There were 13 people in attendance (judge, 2 jury members, secretary/court reporter, prosecutor, 2 orphanage representatives, local representative, our facilitator/translator, James, Albina, Alina and I).

Court lasted for about 1 1/2 hours.  During this time we listened to the judge read over all our documents (That's a lot of documents and a lot of reading!) 

The judge asked the girls a few questions about how they felt about being adopted, why they wanted to be adopted, if they wanted to be a part of a big family and what they thought about us.  They both seemed quite nervous, but did beautifully!  (It was really sweet to hear them talk about how much they loved us and wanted to be a part of our family!)

Then she asked James and I a few standard questions.  There were none of the difficult questions we had been prepared for.  Phew!

After we answered our questions the judge asked everyone how they felt about the adoption.  Each person in attendance stated that they supported this adoption and felt it was in the best interest of the children.  They felt that because James and I already had 4 biological children we were capable of being good parents and providing a good home to these children.

The judge thanked everyone and left the room to make her decision.

About 15-20 minutes passed.

The judge reentered the room and stated that she supported our adoption of Albina, Alina and Maksym!

Announcing the addition of 

Albina Michelle, 

Alina Rose 

and 

Maksym Douglas 

to the Truax Family on 

February 8, 2013.

James and I getting ready to leave the court room.  The kids (along with almost everyone else) left before the judge returned, so we were left to celebrate alone.

Our amazing facilitator/translator.  She was awesome.

After court we went back to the orphanage and saw Maks briefly.  I was able to give them each a charm with their name on it to place on the chain that I wear around my neck each day.  I was really emotional all day, but this was an especially sweet moment for me.  Each of the kids put their charm onto my necklace and then I placed it back around my neck.  It's wonderful to know that these children (whom I've felt were mine from the moment I saw and met them) are now officially recognized as my children.  We are a family!

 

Then it was time to PARTY!  So we all (except for Maks who wasn't allowed to leave the orphanage) went out for pizza.  The kids love pizza, and fortunately there is a really great pizza place here that is very reasonably priced.  Yay for celebrations that involve adopting 3 awesome children!

Albina and Alina posing outside the pizza place.

Mom and Alina.

Mom and Albina.

Dad, Mom, Albina and Alina.  So very happy!

It's been a GREAT day!

And next year on February 8, we will celebrate again since it now becomes a major family holiday. Yes!  This is a pretty important moment in Truax Family history!

And now we just have more waiting and then more paperwork and then even more waiting.  The final step is figuring out how to pay for airfare for all of us to get back to America.  

Please remember that we haven't yet reached all our financial goals.  We are now here in Ukraine with the faith that we will be able to somehow come up with the money to get home.  We have been so hugely blessed and know that we couldn't have gotten this far without the generosity of many of you.  So...

  

Thank you!