The Court Says Yes!

Greetings from Paltava!  The street pictures below were taken in Paltava, where we are currently staying and visiting with Ben.  It is a beautiful city and we are just in time for their 300th anniversary of the famous Battle of Paltava which, in case you didn't know, was fought in 1709 between Sweden and the Russian armies of Peter the Great.  The weekend promises to be eventful with reenactments and celebrations.  

We traveled 1 1/2 hours to Gadach  today to attend  and petition the court for permission to adopt Ben.    The courtroom was small and most of the time the judge read the documents out loud.  He did ask us a few questions, like, "Do you have a house? How will you support this child?  Why did you choose Ukraine? " All very appropriate questions.   The judge didn't wear a black robe...too hot we suppose.  Poor Giles was roasting on this 95+ degree day in his formal black suit and tie!  

So the court officially gave us permission to adopt Ben (Yay!) and told us (as is the law) that we must wait 10 days.  Then we can finish the paperwork and bring him home!

The car rides to and fro consist of passing lots of trucks, dodging potholes, slowing for cows, and passing scooters ridden by babushkas.  

So we celebrated after returning from Gadach by walking across the street to the air conditioned supermarket and picking out some readymade salads and main dishes (like Wegmans :-).   I thought I picked out chicken but it was fish!  Bleeeaahh!  Oh well, the skinny cat who lives in front of our flat got a tasty snack. 

Today after the court decision,  we told Ben (officially) that we love him,  that we will be his parents forever, and that he would be coming home to America with us.   He was pretty shy but he seemed to understand.

Then, he just wanted to feed the birds.  :-)  So we went across the street bought more bread and had a nice time.  A clown appeared out of nowhere and invited us to a children's program tomorrow so that should be interesting.