A very dear friend of mine sent me mail today, asking me questions about the process and why Pa and Little Person will have to travel after Na and I leave. So I got to thinkin’ that maybe some readers would like me to elaborate about the process and why we need to go to court and why we need to wait after that. Pull up a chair and I’ll write in between cooking Mr. Na some fries.

We applied to court on Tuesday, which entailed going to the orphanage and saying “we would like to adopt Little Person.” They signed a document that said “If the judge agrees, we will release Little Person to PaNaMa.” The orphanage also included a document that had a summary of Little Person’s health. We went to the notary’s office and had official documents drawn up for the court that said “We want to adopt Little Person” and “We are aware of Little Person’s state of health.” There was an additional document that said “We have adopted a little boy in Ukraine before and we have the means to provide for two children.”

So we went to court and our translator talked to the judge and handed her those documents, along with a copy of our dossier so she could become familiar with PaNaMa. She penciled us in for next Wednesday at 10 a.m. to appear before her, where she will likely ask us questions about who we are and why we want to adopt. She might want to meet Mr. Na and ask him how he likes his Ma and Pa. She’ll likely tell us that Little Person is delayed and ask us if we understand that. Court lasts for about 10-15 minutes and last time, there was a plaintiff who kind of spoke on behalf of the state–but he didn’t say anything except “ok”. That was kinda weird.

Anyway, once the judge makes her decision, she will draw up the documents that will include Little Person’s new name and that LittlePerson is now our child.

Sounds good so far, right? Like–why can’t we swing by the orphanage, pick up Little Person and head home? Not so fast. The written “decision” has to rest fo 10 days which means we cannot take custody of Little Person just yet. During that time, a family member can come forward and claim Little Person and say they would like to take custody. This rarely happens, but it does happen. I’ve just read a case about two girls, 13 and 16 whose Aunt just came forward during the 10 day wait. We’re not worried because Little Person’s situation is verrrrry different…but it’s still law and the judge will not waive the ten days.

So..Na and I will fly home on August 15, just before the 10-day waiting period ends. We planned this because we knew Na would begin to get all bored and squirrelly. This is already starting to happen–especially with his dog dying. He’s very homesick, he craves his routines and his Legos and his friends…and personally, I don’t blame the kid. So we figured a month was going to be hard enough on him. Pa volunteered to stay here. We were worried this process would take a lot longer and if it did, Pa was going to go to Paris for a business trip for a week, in between all of this. But since the timeline has been pulled in for him, he won’t. Na and I don’t want to change our plane tickets because it costs $500 for each of us to do so…and like I said…this is rough on Na for being so far away from home.

We also planned for Pa and Little Person to come home later…by around August 28, which is the date on his plane ticket. But since the ten day waiting period ends on Sunday, August 16, he’ll be able to bring Little Person home later on that week. The Decision cannot be picked up on a Sunday and for some reason Monday’s out too. So the soonest would be Tuesday, August 18. Once the Decision is picked up, Pa swings by the orphanage, picks up Little One–they wave paka-paka-paka to a teary-eyed staff and he and Little Person travel to Donetsk to get Little Person’s birth certificate and passport. I can’t tell you how long those will take, but it would be a few days. Once he gets those two things, they take an overnight train to Kiev and then Little Person has a thorough examination at the Medical Center for the American Embassy. The next day, Pa and Little Person go to the embassy and apply for Little Person’s visa. They get it that afternoon and fly home the next day.

And that is what we call “Labor and Delivery” in the adoption world. It’s less physical but more emotional, I’d say.

I’m anxious to come home, too…especially since I have yet to tell my Mom about Oatie. I can’t. My Mom cannot handle the news alone (and I’m thankful she doesn’t have a computer!) The news is going to be pretty tough on her since she loved that dog with a vengenance. And I can’t stand it because I’m keeping it from her, and it’s killing me.

Yikes, gotta go…fries are burnin’ Curse this gas stove. It has only two settings: off and frickin’ hot!

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