Kemerovo-day 7

Today was our Court Day. It was a chilly and overcast day. We ate breakfast this morning about 8:30 and then talked to Sam and Callie for a few minutes on Skype. We left our hotel at 9:30 and drove the short two blocks to the court which we were scheduled to begin at 10. The other couple had asked to go first in the court proceedings as they wanted to get it out of the way. Chad and I agreed that would be fine. However, once we were seated waiting Anna the coordinator came and told Chad and I that it was our turn first. So much for our plan! We weren’t in a court room but rather had the meeting in the judge’s office. The judge sat at a desk with the Russian prosecutor on the judge’s right and the court reporter and social worker on the judge’s left. The prosecutor was representing the Russian government and the social worker was there in the interest of the boys. Anna our caseworker was representing us in the proceeding. Initially the judge read through some things from our court dossier (she actually looked at everything during the proceeding and seemed to have read through everything thoroughly). All of that hard work we did putting our court dossier together was actually reviewed. Chad was then asked to rise and identify himself before the judge. I had written down all of the answers to the questions we had been informed we would be asked. He was really nervous about pronouncing some of the words but the translator kept winking at him to make him feel better (or maybe she was flirting?). They told us Ruslan had been declared as “incapable” due to his medical diagnoses. Every time they mentioned it I cringed. I guess it is their way of saying “special needs”. I am not sure if something was lost in translation but “incapable” and “special needs” seem very different to me. After they went through and asked him some questions about why we wanted to adopt from Russia and how did his family feel about the adoption I was allowed to stand up and answered a few more questions. The judge laughed when I described Callie’s personality and desire to have younger brothers that she may play with at home. The rest of the time she was very serious. The prosecutor was asked to add her comments. She stated we had met all of the requirements of the government and since one previous Russian family had declined to adopt the boys after meeting them that they were free for a non-Russian family to adopt. The social worker then was asked to speak. She told about her observations from our first visit with the boys, noting she saw how the bonding went well as it appeared that initially both the boys and us were nervous but we quickly began to play with them and they didn’t cry. She then went on to say (remember this was all through a translator so probably a shortened version) that we seemed to have a lot of experience parenting children. I wondered where that experience was yesterday when we were trying to tell them to stop swinging the play phone around their head and they told us “no” while smiling? At the end of the proceeding I asked to speak and in doing so I expressed our gratitude to the Russia in allowing us to adopt two children. We were escorted out while the judge made her decision. In less than five minutes we were called back in and informed that she granted our request to adopt Ruslan Paul and Pasha Michael Gipson.
After our turn (which took 45 minutes) we waited with the other people in the hallway. During this time we watched everyone come and go. The shoes the women wore were amazing. They were mostly black and all had extremely high heels. One of the women we think was working at the courthouse. We were all in agreement that she was gorgeous (supermodel status) but she really needed to wax her moustache! After we were both done with court we had to wait about a half hour for our documents. During this time we talked about our experiences and found out that Anna didn’t wink to the other husband that had to speak for his family’s court hearing. We decided that maybe Chad had appeared really nervous to her and she was really trying to make him feel better. We had our picture taken outside of the courthouse and returned to our hotel for a few minutes before we took off for a celebratory lunch with the other family. We ate at a restaurant with an English menu. Chad had a pancake with ham and cheese inside it (it is really a crepe). I had a chicken Kabob. Both of our entrees were really good and the price was great too. Things here in Kemerovo are much more affordable in comparison to Moscow. They seem to be very similar to prices back home. After lunch we walked and did some shopping. Everywhere we have been we have found people to be very helpful and for the most part friendly. Younger Russians tend to want to practice their English if they know any. When asked why we are visiting Kemerovo we tell everyone we are on vacation as the Russians do not look favorably on Americans adopting. As back home, they only hear in the media the terrible stories of Americans adopting children and then being abusive with the children. So, at this point we begin the ten days of waiting before we may pick up the boys. We plan to go to the orphanage once during the wait. I think I will work on preparing for my courses in the fall since I won’t have any time this summer! I hope to post some pictures soon but want to wait to make sure it is okay to do so.