Pictures....

Here are some pictures that we took...

Another child that asked me to advocate for him and find a family.

Denis, who is 13 years of age really wants a family who would adopt him and love him! He does not have any brothers or sisters, his father died and his mother does not visit. He is very kind and loves to help with everything. He loves small children and they love him. Please email me if you are interested in adopting him.
Boys and our baby playing around after court today....by the courthouse.

Our daughter playing with the cat at Father's House...

Isabella with Aleks goofing around as usual!

Aleks with his friends in our room, looking though their New Year's gifts.

Our dear son Dmitri...I love his smile!

Aleks playing with his baby sister!!

Playing again....she absolutely adores her brothers~!

We are finally a family!!!!

TODAY,
DECEMBER 31, 2008 at 9AM, we added two more children to our family!

Please welcome, Aleks Viktor Grigorov and Dmitri Markus Grigorov!!!


(This is a picture of us after the hearing by the courthouse)


We had court today...it went by fast..maybe about 5 minutes total. We all came in and set down in the office where the judge was. She asked us to state our names, where we worked and lived. Then she asked why we wanted to adopt these particular kids and how we knew them. My husband told her that the reason we want to adopt these kids was because they are OUR kids..they were just out of place and now we found each other! The judge was laughing. I added that we hosted them and wanted them to be a part of our family and they had the same desire. Then she told Dmitri to come stand by her and asked him how old he was and what were his grades in school. She also asked him when was the last time that his birth parents visited..Dmitri answered that he did not remember. She asked him if he was sure that he wanted to go to America. He said that he wanted to go and live with us. Then she called Aleks and asked him the same questions. He also said that he wanted to live with us and be a part of our family. Then she asked the representative from the orphanage if she agreed to this adoption, she said yes. Then the judge jokingly asked the boys what would their reaction be if she did not let them go....they both said that they would not leave her until she let them go... Everyone laughed... So she said that her decision was to let them be adopted by us!!! We are so excited that God is with us throughout this process and that we were able to have court before this year is over!!! We start the 10 day waiting period countdown tomorrow...right before the holidays...what a great God we serve...He is never late!

Court date tomorrow...hopefully... :)

We got news today from our attorney that she picked up the paper that we needed from SDA today in the morning and went to set up a court date. Our court is set for 9AM tomorrow, December 31, 2008!!! I wrote (hopefully) in the heading, because we are still in Ukraine and until something actually happens, something can change, but we are praying and know one thing for sure, that God is in control! The good thing is that if we do have court tomorrow, and if it happens as planned the countdown for the 10 days after court will start the next day. That will mean that after the holidays, we will start paperwork for new birth certificates, passports, medical exams, and visas....the process if moving again!
We had tickets back to US on the 8th of January, but will need to change them...
Blessings to all and thanks for praying!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Finally!

Our attorney finally picked-up the paper that was needed for the SDA on Friday... Although it was not that simple....there were many people involved; our attorney, director of Fathers House and assistant to the director...
So they were all there because who ever was to sign the paper, thought that he had more important things to do. So after meeting with everyone, he finally signed the paper we needed. Our attorney took it to SDA that same day and they wrote out the paper that we needed from them. Our attorney told us that it will be signed and she will pick it up on Monday at 9AM from SDA. Then she told us that we should have court either Monday afternoon or Tuesday. So this is the plan...hopefully it will all happen this way with no delays... This is Ukraine though, and everything is unpredictable here...
Thanks for all you prayers, we definately feel your support and God's love with us!
Today we are going with another American family to see another concert performed by the kids from this orphanage...
It is still snowing here...and beautiful white Christmas!

A little update...

Earlier in the week, we had another visit with the boys' grandma and mother J. It went well... After the visit we went ot McDonalds and ate there... The kids love McDonalds!
Yesterday I took Aleks to the dentist and after that we met with another couple from America who is here to adopt. We spent great time together...
Today we are going to see a Christmas program that we were invited to by the kids at the orphanage here.. It will be from their school and many of the children are involved.
As to our adoption process... the meeting was finaly done on Wed., but we are only supposed to get the paper that we need from them, today.. So basically the boys are no longer under foster care.. we just need the final paper to prove this to SDA. Then our attorney will take the paper to SDA today...so at lease finally the process started to move again...slowly...but at least its moving...
Even though we are not home, are really miss our family and our girls, we will still make the best of the holidays here... We have some events planned with our frinds and also some fun stuff for the kids... It is beautiful here...with A LOT of snow all around us! It's a very white Christmas!
Merry Christmas to everyone, we love you and want to wish all the blessings to you from our Heavenly Father above...

Another visit with the boys grandma...

Today we had a very interesting visit with the boys' grandma again. We bought some bread and fruits, like g. Luda requested and Aleks, Dima and I went to meet with her at her home. A day before we went, g. Luda called me and told me that she already told the boys' mom J that they were going to be adopted. She also showed her pictures of our family. I was not sure how the whole meeting would go today because mom J lives with the grandma in the same apartment. Well usually mom J is not at home for days and sometimes months, drinking.
When we came in the house and walked into g. Luda's room and set down, mom J came in. It was a very interesting meeting, but she was calm and not drunk (which is really rare we were told). So g. Luda was asking me questions about our house and what it looks like and then asked Aleks to draw a layout of the house and asked what trees where growing in our yard and what flowes we had. Mom J was just listening and smiled from time to time. The interesting thing was that Aleks, even in front of mom J, still called me mom...
Then g. Luda told mom J to make us tea...so she went. While mom J was making tea, g. Luda asked me to help her with some personal stuff for her and boys....so we will try to help her during the time that we have just waiting.. Aleks, Dima, myself and mom J went into the kitchen to have tea with some crackers. To my surprise, it was not unconfotable. The boys also felt very comfortable. After that we were off, g. Luda still wanted us to stay, but we had plans for the evening and had to go. While the boys went to say goddbye to their grandmother, I was standing in the hallway with mom J. I told her that she is welcome to write letters to the boys and that we will still stop by to visit them before we go. She just smiled.
I am glad that God made this possible...I have never in my wildest dreams would think that I would meet the bio mother of the children that we were adopting. This was a wonderful meeting and we will continue to pray for her because she is very sick and needs Jesus in her life.

Some more complications...still waiting

Well, we are still waiting...
The SDA will not give us an agreement to the adoption until the foster parent relinquishes her care..(if that makes sense). Basically the SDA is giving us the run around. There is no law to this, since the kids will automatically be released from foster care after court (after we adopt them). But the word out is that the SDA is trying to send international families home without kids...so they are making stuff up and requiring documents that are not even requiered by Ukrainian law. This is done because the SDA is trying to prove that the "quota" system for 2008 worked and that statistically more Ukrainian citizens are adopting kids and less international families. These statistics are not correct, so they are trying to keep international adoption to minimal. This is pretty much where we are at...but we are not giving up and we will fight for our children..God is on our side, what can man do? They are our kids!
So we are waiting for some kind of gathering hopefully on Tuesday to take the foster parent rights away and then we will hopefully get the paper that we need for SDA...
This is Ukraine, so all this is expected...they like to change their laws everyday and request documents that dont exist. We are kind of used to this from our previous adoption.
So we keep praying together with the boys for God to lead us through this together. We will spend holidays here in Ukraine and spend them with our boys.
Other then the document stuff, we are having a great time here...we are getting to know more and more of the children here and many of them ask us to advocate for them and find a family. So I have more pictures of kids and info., if anyone is interested please let me know.. These kids need families! There are also kids here that are 16 or older and would love the opportunity to study abroad. If anyone is insterested in having a child live in your home and study, that could be set up as well.
In particular, I had a wonderful opporunity to communicate and spend time with a girl named, Anna. She is already 19 years of age and has been here at the orphanage since she was 13. Her mother died, then her father died and then her older sister died...she has no one and for that reason the orphanage still provides a living space for her. She is a shy but very smart and bright girl who absolutely loves horses! I dont think I have ever seen anyone love horses as much as she does and dream about training horses and being a jockey. She currently attends a university here in Kiev to become a horse trainer... She spends most of her free time with horses and this girl knows everything about them! If someone has a desire in their heart to help this girl in someone, maybe invite her to learn English in USA and do work around horses....just email me.
Thanks to all who pray for us, please continue and please pray for these kids that are left here and desire a family so much...some of them are older then 16, but they are still kids and want a family...if not through adoption, maybe just a family that would be in their life and they could visit...so that they could have a place to call home...