It's a Red Letter Day

A major hurdle is now behind us. The judge here yesterday proclaimed that Maxim Christopher Spencer will be legally (legal from the Ukranian government’s point of view) our child once the mandatory waiting period ends. (The waiting period is time for anyone to object to this ruling—though this rarely happens, we need to keep in mind that it could.) Following the minimum ten day waiting period on Day 11, we can go look over the ruling to make sure there are no mistakes and that all names are spelled correctly (it becomes a huge deal later on if the names are not spelled correctly). Then, then next day we can go back and pick up these official documents. The day after that, I believe, we are able to pick up Maxim and he will then live with us while we finish up the U.S. documents. After we have him in hand, then we can take him for passport pictures and to apply for the passport. We are unsure how many days it takes to get his passport back, but once we do get it, we can apply for Maxim’s visa. The visa doesn’t take as long to issue, as we understand it, but there is one other Ukranian holiday in this time span somewhere that may cause a day or two delay. We also have a mandatory medical exam to get Maxim here in order to be able to take him to the United States as well as an interview at the U.S. Embassy. Once all these minor hurdles are passed, the U.S. government will also consider Maxim as our child and once his foot hits American territory, he is a legal American Citizen!! We can choose to or choose not to readopt when we get back in Kentucky so he will have a Kentucky sort of birth certificate. We’ll make that decision later; we have way too many pressing ones to make right now to give that more than a passing thought. I realize everyone wants to know when we’ll actually be back home; believe you me, we want to know that very same answer! The best guesstimate is by St. Patrick’s Day, but the way things work here, we may not know our actual return date until the day before we are to fly home.

Maxim was quite nervous at the meeting with the judge, though she was kind to him. She used legalistic terms to ask him questions; some of them confused me when translated, so no wonder the little guy was a bit shaken. However, we were very proud of how Maxim responded to all the questions. The gist of their conversation was that, no matter how she worded and reworded the questions, Maxim kept responding he wanted to live “with them,” meaning John and myself. He walked closer to her to try to hear what she was saying; the judge had bronchitis and so was talking quietly. Other than that move, he stood by my side holding my hand. I started to turn loose of his hand once, thinking he might be tired of standing there like that and was going to just put my hand on his shoulder, but he held on more tightly and so I of course never did let go—I let him take the lead there. : )

Another cute story: The judge and the others in the room—her secretary, the prosecutor, the Social Worker (called Inspector here)—all greatly enjoyed looking at our family album. They took interest in our children and the room for Maxim of course, but they were most impressed by our yard. We had pictures in the album from late last summer when all the flowers and bushes were in full bloom, and from the angle of the camera , it make our yard look enormous—it isn’t , and we hadn’t even tried to make it look so, but I digress. John spoke up and said he did all the flowers and took care of them all. Poor John. He (other than little Maxim) was the only male in the room. The women all kind of smiled and nodded. Alla later told us that none of them believed him anyway. Then John said that I did just a little bit of work on the flowers too, jokingly. They all laughed and it made for a good feeling in the room.

The judge asked Maxim how he would tell us on the plane if he was hungry or thirsty or needed to go to the bathroom. He responded that he would tell us in Ukranian, very matter of factly. She also queried if he knew he now had brothers and sisters. He said yes. She asked how he would talk to them; again, he responded in that matter of fact tone, “In Ukranian.” Of course, he was speaking Ukranian so I am quoting what our translator told us he said. The judge thought that was pretty cute. Guess we’d better work a little harder on teaching the lad English. : )
The judge soon thereafter ruled in our favor, telling Maxim to be a good boy, to be happy, and to do well in school.

Never will I be convinced that just because a child passes his seventh birthday he should be put through this very stressful court date where he or she has the huge responsibility of deciding their future, of deciding where and with whom he or she should live. Can you imagine your seven or eight year olds being given such a daunting responsibility? But this part is past, for us anyway.

Last night, we met up with Chan, another person here adopting, and her two year old new son, Alex. We all had a good time comparing war stories and holding and playing with little Alex. He is small for his age, but, my, did he enjoy eating! Makes a person feel good to see someone appreciate food like that. We greatly enjoyed getting to know Chan in person after following her odyssey online, and we wish her safety on her flight home today and a happy future with her husband and her son.

This weekend we have no real plans, though we might finally get to go see the Chernobyl Museum as well as a larger groc

ery store so we can buy some cheaper food items. After the larger than expected expediting fee for the judge, we have to watch every penny, plus, I like finding bargains anyway. And I need to find so

me food I can cook and eat because I am still losing weight. My belt just doesn’t have room for any more holes to be put in it. The weather is still cold for today, though it is no snowing as it has been the last two days. It’s the largest snow we’ve seen since being here; John says it’s been more like the Ukraine he expected.

Thanks to all of you who are commenting or e-mailing or somehow responding to our blog and our journey.

Charlene