And Then There Were Three....

Real Blog Disclaimer: Today was such an exciting day and as you can see from all the comments it was an exciting day for ALL of us. Laura and I can not tell you how important your comments and just knowing you are all reading our blog means to us. It can be a bit lonely here and it is certainly an experience we would want to share with all of you in person so this is the next best thing…well at least until video phones really start working well. I figured today’s big news is about all you needed to hear so I will try (yes, dear uncle, try) not to put in a big narrative but a sense of what happened. At the end of the blog you will find the statements Laura and I read in court before the judge made his decision.

We awoke today at our normal time but feeling a bit nervous. I still had to recopy my speech for court and do some science work which was a good distraction. One of things which was to be different today from the pre-court we did a week or so ago was that I needed to enumerate the points of our application for adoption by memory. These are: (1) Wanting for the approval of the adoption (2) To change his name to Joseph Maxim Roman (3) To maintain his date and place of birth (4) To have Laura and I registered as his parents. In addition to these points I needed to memorize a list of reasons we were requesting that a 2 weeks waiting period be waived (too long to write here). The speeches we were to do could be read so those would not be a problem. So after preparing, we got dressed and Igor and Aleea picked us up and brought us to the court house.

We had a chance to go over our speeches with Aleea as she would be the interpreter in court and she wanted to make sure she understood the meaning, as of course, Russian and English construction are not the same. Soon everyone arrived, Olga, the baby house director, the representative from the Ministry of Education, a representative from the records office, the prosecutor and the judge. This all took place in the judge’s chambers with him, the court reporter (I would guess) and the prosecutor in front of us and Aleea between the two of us. We had to stand during our parts and answerwhat were we asking?, what were we petitioning?, when were we married?, who would take care of the child when we were at work?, who would take care of him if something happened to us?, what were our professions and why did we select this specific child?. questions – all of which we knew were coming: After the director of the baby house spoke and the other representatives the judge asked if we wanted to add anything and this is where our speeches came in. We both did very well and you can read them at the bottom of this blog. The judge then announced that he had made his decision. He announced that the adoption was approved as well as the petition for immediate execution! I think both Laura and I could not believe it and as I said early yesterday we were teary eyed and so happy our day had come! As if lunch was announced, they all gathered their things and high-tailed it out of there and the judge turned and got on his computer! I guess we were looking for a bit more feedback but really did not expect anything.

We left the court building where Igor was waiting for us and we went back to the apartment toe and then to the city building where we were to sign the official papers. chang The photo here shows both Laura and I signing as the parents of Joseph Maxim Roman! We were also given the official papers of the adoption and his birth certificate which were all written in Kazakh and Russian. We only had a few minutes to stare atuse the courier was leaving today for Astana to have them processed and then meet us in Almaty. them beca We were so excited but as they had to leave us I took this photo showing his certificate of birth (by the way, it comes in a really nice hard cover book). When we exited the building of course we were met by Igor and Misha who is one of the other drivers and was there to drive Olga (II). Igor presented Laura with a long stem rose and Olga said it was from the whole team! It was very nice of all of them and we added it to the lilacs Igor gave Laura for Mother’s Day’s on Sunday. Here are all the flowers in our apartment kitchen. Now all of the paperwork was finished, the adoption finalized and we could go for lunch before our afternoon visit.

Igor dropped Laura, Aleea and I off at our favorite cafeteria and had another good lunch. We had a great conversation with Aleea about Kazakhstan, about people, about philosophy etc. We really enjoy our time with her and her openness and curiosity about our opinions on different subjects. It was a beautiful, sunny and warm day and it was a great walk back to the apartment. We only had a little while to wait before Igor would take us back to the baby house for our LAST visit. Tomorrow we would get him and so today was the last visit! When we arrived, Aleea went to get him and brought him back all smiles. We had so much fun with OUR SON! It almost seemed like he knew it because he was dancing and smiling the entire hour. (Laura said he was showing off for Aleea.) I have said it before, but this time the hour just screamed by and it was time to say good-bye until tomorrow and the party.

Dinner was at 7pm tonight so we had some time to relax. Aleea met us the apartment and weAlmaty restaurant for our celebration dinner. walked over to the Soon afterwards Olga (II or big Olga) joined us with her 2 year old son Kirill. The Almaty is one of the restaurants which serves the traditional Kazakh dish called “Five Fingers” (I forgot to get Aleea to write down the name of it so I will guess it is Basbarrakh). The photo here shows you this dish. It has noodles, onions and carrots plus an assortment of meats including beef, mutton, and horse…yes, I said horse. Horse is very important in Kazakh culture including as a delicacy. We ordered two of these dishes so that one could be just beef in case the horse was too much for us. It turned out that both were incredible! We also ordered a cured sausage made from horse and it too was great. We ordered some Georgian wine to drink and although it was good, it was a bit too sweet. We made toasts, our guests made toasts and it was a great evening with two people who did so much to help us become a family. During the meal I made a toast to Laura for being such a great wife and now a fantastic mom. I then gave her this necklace which I brought from Chicago for having a baby – our son Joseph. It is a silver heart with a blue sapphire stone in the middle. Sapphire is Joseph’s birthstone and silver is prominent in Kazakh jewelry as it brings you health. I got this at home and only knew of the birthstone part not the silver and health part. What is also interesting to us, is that Laura’s engagement ring that I gave her does not have large center diamond but a sapphire…who knew. This next photo is a ring which is one I bought here in Uralsk to represent our family ring. It is also silver and has an expression on it which was literally translated to me as “God help me” but aftero others it seems that it is part of a prayer to the Virgin Mary. speaking t Most of you know the importance of The Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii to us and so having this turn out to be the meaning of this ring is something special – just like the entire day…this Gotcha Day.

Da Zaftra! (the blog entry below contains our speeches from court if you want to read them.)

Laura and I were asked to each give a speech and here the husband makes the primary speech hence its length compared to Laura's speech (the preceeding was mentioned for my dearest Uncle!)

Brian’s Speech:

Your honor we are asking your permission for this adoption and immediate execution of our petition and, would like to thank you and the People of Kazakhstan for this opportunity.

For the past 24 days we have visited and deeply bonded with Maxim. During this time we have learned and have seen for ourselves the excellent care he has received at the baby house. For all of these things we are grateful.

Our time with Maxim has been life changing. We have seen Maxim develop physically and mentally as we have interacted with him each day. Although we have had a place in our hearts for a child, we never knew how wide and how deep this place was before we met him. It is impossible to describe the feeling when the music room at the baby house was filled with the sound of the three of us laughing. I never knew my wife could smile so big!

If we are granted this adoption we would provide Maxim with endless love and also many practical things. We live in a large city with world class medical facilities to meet all of his health needs. I work for a prestigious university which provides education for children of all ages starting at age 3. As Maxim gets older, he will have the opportunity to attend this or any university of his choosing. Living in our city he will have access to all types of museums and diverse cultural experiences. Maxim will also experience many outdoor activities from the beach to the forest. We will provide him with the shelter of our house but more importantly the love and security of our home. We will encourage and support him in realizing and fulfilling his dreams.

We come here today to ask for your permission and for something that no doctor in the United States could give us and something the doctors at the baby house said Maxim needs most of all – a family.

Over these 24 days, the gift of joy that Maxim has given us by the look of his smile and the sound of his laugh would take us an entire lifetime to repay him - with your approval, we would like to try.

Thank you.

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Laura’s Speech:

Your honor I support my husband’s speech 100% but if I may I would like to add a few words of my own.

While we have been in Uralsk we have spent most of our time forming an everlasting bond with Maxim whom I can honestly say we have come to love and care for very much. But during this time we have formed an everlasting bond with your beautiful city and the country of Kazakhstan.

Since we have been here, we have had the privilege of celebrating Easter with the people of Uralsk, we have been able to show support for your workers on May Day, we have remembered our parents and deceased relatives with you on Parents Day and we have even honored your veterans on Victory Day.

We will hold these memories in our hearts forever and we would very much want the opportunity to share all of these experiences with Maxim as he grows up. We would not only consider it our duty but our deep pleasure to teach Maxim of the wonderful traditions of his homeland.

Thank You.