Goodbye for a while

We said goodbye to Nicholas today. Assured him that I would be back to bring him home soon. Through Sveta, our translator, who has been so sweet these past few weeks, we told Nicholas that we were going home to get his things--his suitcase, with his clothes, toothbrush/toothpaste, pjs. I asked him if I should pack a swimsuit for him for playing in the water ("da"/yes), shorts? ("da"), markers ("da"), a puzzle ("da"), candy ("da!").

We also put the light blue, silky blanket that Grandma Barbie sent, on his little cot. The caregiver, my favorite one (Mama Vieira), was in the dorm room when we were doing this and warned us that when it goes thru the laundry, it would get the orphanage stamp on it. All the better, another memory for him.

Anyhow, got to pack now, very hard to leave, and not much for writing. We did have a lovely Kazakh lunch today at a round low table outside with shear curtains draped all around us and exquisite food. We, including Sveta and Aidar, the driver, were all reclined afterwards on the pillows and could have easily gone to sleep but Isabelle was prancing about like a fairy, in and out of the shears.

I really hate to leave. The weather is beautiful, flowers in bloom everywhere, the city is bustling... but I have so much to get done at home, beginning with Nicholas' health insurance, 3 weeks of mail, and wrapping up the school year for the girls. And we miss our friends dearly.

Thanks for all the love and support. Tomorrow we're off to Astana, Kaz (the new capital of the country), then connect to Frankfurt, overnight in the airport hotel (whoopie), and on to our beloved Chicago where we arrive shortly after what is midday there and midnight here!

Next post will take about a week is my guess. Thanks again for all the comments and prayers!

Mission Accomplished

Oh dear, perhaps I should start with a better title since W has jinxed this one. How about: Court Hearing Success



Stephanie and I cleared the greatest hurdle on our way to adopting Nicholas today. We also made an impassioned plea for the court to waive the 15 day period during which the judge’s decision is subject to challenge. We were told these requests are almost never granted, except in the case of a life-threatening medical condition. Still, we’d been prepared for stiff opposition from the prosecution (unreal, I know, but they fight for deadbeat parent rights, even if it means keeping kids in the orphanage) and we thought it a good idea to make the request. If nothing else it would give the court something to refuse.

It turned out I think we benefited from providing a face-saving opportunity for the court. The judge still refused our request to waive the waiting period, but we ran into another problem...

We had a very tense few minutes in the middle of the hearing. The prosecutor took exception to our claim that the police had gone to reasonable lengths to locate Nicholas’ birth mother. She demanded the judge postpone any ruling until a thorough search for the boy’s mother could be conducted. This would have been heartbreaking--the cultural and geographic divide would have been very difficult to fight from Chicago.

With our translator providing the play-by-play to the judge, Stephanie and I were each allowed to say our piece before he ruled. Stephanie was at her best here, referring to the British family who’s daughter was recently abducted in Portugal. “Anyone losing a child wouldn’t sleep until they’d done everything possible to find him. No one has made a single call to a police station or visited the sole orphanage in town during the 15 months since Nicholas was found.”

The judge agreed and after a short recess we were told of his decision. The prosecutor was salty, and had words for the folks representing us before storming out. It was almost like something out of a movie.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. We honestly believe that it’s been these prayers that have pulled us through and brought us one terrific step closer to getting Nicholas home.

PS: Holy Cow! You North Siders will be thrilled to see Harry Caray is alive and well here in Kazakhstan… Here we’re with two other adoptive parents we’ve met at Harry’s Central Asia eatery.

Court date set for Thursday!

"God will either give you what you ask, or something far better." -- Robert Murray M'Cheyne

Our court date will be on the 17th, at 4:15 pm, about 2:15 am Chicago time—so if you can’t sleep (I have a couple of friends who share my tendency to insomnia) pray for a miracle—that they waive the mandatory 15 day appeal period.

This poor little boy has had a hard start in life, but the day that his mother or father, aunt or uncle, whomever, left him at a bus stop in what was surely freezing temperatures (Feb. here is worse than in Chicago), was actually the day that he caught the bus that would take him home. We don’t think he should have to wait any longer.

Justin gave our facilitator a hardy lecture on the responsibility of a judge to interpret the law. It was awesome. He did me proud. The facilitator was saying that the law is the law. The 15 day appeal period is “the law.” Justin said that he totally supports the grace period, but that in this case, where the child’s parents are unknown and no one has come for him in 15 months, plus the fact that the other party (we) have made a substantial investment of time, distance, and money, the judge can be assured that there is no chance of either side appealing.

Our facilitator was speechless, literally! It might be the first time that she’s ever heard reason undermine practice. I was relieved though when he didn’t finish up with the GE mantra, “I am the CUSTOMER.” We tried that at the start of this adventure, like when the four of us were seated in the back seat of the car because we’d been told we were going somewhere, and then the driver, translator, and facilitator stood outside chatting for 10 minutes. Meanwhile the raindrops on our jackets began evaporating and as the car got steamier by the minute, Justin and I raised our eyebrows at each other.

We are not customers. We are pons! But knowing that we'll one day come home with Nicholas, we just keep plodding ahead to "check mate!"

Mother's Day in Kaz

Today was Day 14 of visiting, my first Mother’s Day without Sophie (missing her!), and my first one with Nicholas. Never thought I’d celebrate Mother’s Day in an orphanage. Seems like an oxymoron doesn’t it?

We had an indoor visit because it was raining and were allowed to visit downstairs, in the Directors waiting room. It was a nice change because there is a small yurt (traditional Kazakh round tent) and Russian and Kazakh dolls dressed in traditional attire that the girls were allowed to play with.
The room also has a short hallway that leads to a cavernous laundry room with industrial size washers and dryers. The pipes are on the outside of the wall and I had my first break-thru in teaching Nicholas a couple of English words without the interpreter’s help. We touched the cold pipe and I said, “cold.” He repeated something like “cole,” and when I said “hot,” he said “haw.” Good enough for me!

But officially his first English word was “football.” It came easy since it’s related to the Russian, “futbol.” ;) Hmmmm, ok, we’ll enter it in the Baby Book…first word: football.

For lunch, we went with two other couples to a traditional Kazakh restaurant. Our private room was like a Genie bottle, round, full of cushions, round table with huge, lazy susan, no shoes. Very comfy. Yes, horse was served; no, we did not eat any. I don’t need to be trying any funky type of meat—I have a hard enough time with beef. Food was quite good and champagne was really good. Much better than the Kazakh wine we poured down the drain the other night.

That was after I had spit out some cheese that tasted like it was completely soured. Katrina thought it was so funny to see Mom spit (because I’m such a lady), that she started cracking up and inadvertently inhaled her mouthful of pasta. Good thing I’m an experienced Heimlich administrator (Sophie, 2003, cheese stick). I did the Hymlich and pasta shot into the living room. Never a dull moment.

Tomorrow we turn in our request to adopt Petr Petrovich Ivanov as Nicholas Peter Holland. On Tuesday morning, we will be notified of our court date. We can leave right after court so we’re praying that will happen miraculously soon.