Well we survived our trip in one piece and arrived back at the house around 10pm Sunday evening. Upon arrival at Dulles Airport the Captain announced that due to a glitch in the baggage handling software at Heathrow on Sunday most of the bags for the flight did not make the trip. We thought,"great, way to end the nightmare of our journey home with having our bags not arrive with us." Well, we were one of the lucky few who's bags did manage to get transferred and loaded onto our flight to Washington, DC. Whew!
Seeing as we are both still adjusting to the time change we were both up early, before the alarm, and headed to work early. Not sure how long each of us will make it on our first day back but we'll see.
After looking at a calendar, we will probably arrive back in Almaty on July 20th for our final trip. We are looking forward to the last trip being done.
We will keep everyone posted on when Lukas will be arriving state side. I know several people have asked about what Lukas needs for when he gets home. He is registered at Myregistry.com for all the things a 3 year old needs to be spoiled and pampered. There is a link to the site under the links section of this blog on the lower right hand side. It can be accessed by either parent's name.
Thanks to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers. They obviously were at work for our trip home.
Lynda and Wayne
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
The long, long trip from hell!
28 Jun 2009
We left Taraz around 3:30pm on Saturday, June 27th. Wayne still wasn't feeling well, I was starting to feel poorly as well (sore throat, ears hurt)and Ernur's car wasn't feeling well either. I quit counting the number of times we stopped to add water and antifreeze to the radiator. He called Zema to have her tell us what was going on and to make sure we weren't worried about getting to Almaty. Considering our flight didn't leave until 7am the next morning my only concern was not getting stranded on the side of the road in the middle of no where. He finally got the car fixed at the gas station in Kordai. It took 8 hrs with all the stops. He left us at the airport at 11:30pm. We camped out on a bench at the far end of the terminal until it was time to check in for our flight on BMI (the airline from hell!)
They never did post a check-in time so knowing the issues we had in Heathrow we decided to get in line early. The passport check let us through and we headed to the checkin counter. They had an eticket for Wayne but the one for me was locked. The showed we both had reservations but only one ticket. He asked if I had my bording pass stub from the London trip which I happened to still have. It had my name on it but came up as being Wayne. We were about to buy another ticket just to get me on the plane which would have meant I would have to go back out and downstairs to the ticket counter. God was with me and the manager gave the checkin agent permission to print me a new boarding pass and they would work it out with my travel agent later via email. He, however, put me 3 rows back. I guess he couldn't issue my original seat because the ticket was locked (whatever that means). Fortunately the plane wasn't full. We opted to keep our newly assigned seats since it gave us more room. I slept most of the way but Wayne says he wasn't able to sleep very well.
We are currently sitting in Heathrow Airport waiting for our British Airways flight home. We figured since the tickets were purchased through BA we wouldn't have a problem with my boarding pass in London. Wrong! He couldn't locate an eticket for me. Just Wayne. Fortunately I had the receipt from my agent showing I had paid for two round trip tickets. Again a call to a supervisor. God was again with us because she said to go ahead and issue a boarding pass and note a comment in the computer regarding my eticket and they would work it out with my agent later. Eldo is going to be getting a great deal of international calls this week about my ticket.
Fortunately both of us seem to be feeling better although very tired. We have had a bite to eat and rehydrated. I hear the stores calling my name and some British pounds saying they need to be spent because we plan on using Lufthansa for the next trip even if it is more expensive. We don't want to have to deal with these types of issues with Lukas in tow on the next trip.
Time to shop!
Lynda and Wayne
We left Taraz around 3:30pm on Saturday, June 27th. Wayne still wasn't feeling well, I was starting to feel poorly as well (sore throat, ears hurt)and Ernur's car wasn't feeling well either. I quit counting the number of times we stopped to add water and antifreeze to the radiator. He called Zema to have her tell us what was going on and to make sure we weren't worried about getting to Almaty. Considering our flight didn't leave until 7am the next morning my only concern was not getting stranded on the side of the road in the middle of no where. He finally got the car fixed at the gas station in Kordai. It took 8 hrs with all the stops. He left us at the airport at 11:30pm. We camped out on a bench at the far end of the terminal until it was time to check in for our flight on BMI (the airline from hell!)
They never did post a check-in time so knowing the issues we had in Heathrow we decided to get in line early. The passport check let us through and we headed to the checkin counter. They had an eticket for Wayne but the one for me was locked. The showed we both had reservations but only one ticket. He asked if I had my bording pass stub from the London trip which I happened to still have. It had my name on it but came up as being Wayne. We were about to buy another ticket just to get me on the plane which would have meant I would have to go back out and downstairs to the ticket counter. God was with me and the manager gave the checkin agent permission to print me a new boarding pass and they would work it out with my travel agent later via email. He, however, put me 3 rows back. I guess he couldn't issue my original seat because the ticket was locked (whatever that means). Fortunately the plane wasn't full. We opted to keep our newly assigned seats since it gave us more room. I slept most of the way but Wayne says he wasn't able to sleep very well.
We are currently sitting in Heathrow Airport waiting for our British Airways flight home. We figured since the tickets were purchased through BA we wouldn't have a problem with my boarding pass in London. Wrong! He couldn't locate an eticket for me. Just Wayne. Fortunately I had the receipt from my agent showing I had paid for two round trip tickets. Again a call to a supervisor. God was again with us because she said to go ahead and issue a boarding pass and note a comment in the computer regarding my eticket and they would work it out with my agent later. Eldo is going to be getting a great deal of international calls this week about my ticket.
Fortunately both of us seem to be feeling better although very tired. We have had a bite to eat and rehydrated. I hear the stores calling my name and some British pounds saying they need to be spent because we plan on using Lufthansa for the next trip even if it is more expensive. We don't want to have to deal with these types of issues with Lukas in tow on the next trip.
Time to shop!
Lynda and Wayne
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Passport Photo Do-over Day
27 Jun 2009
Well Lukas Anton appears to have made a full recovery. He was quite the handful today. We went to find him with his group and as soon as he saw us he came running over and reached up for mama to pick him up. We brought shirts for all the children in his group today that Mama bought in St. Michaels, Md. We put Lukas’s shirt on him for his second attempt at a passport photo. The phrase on the shirt was appropriate and we think we got a good photo. See for yourself. “sometimes crabby, but always cute”
He paraded us all the way around the baby house today before settling in at the gazebo. He had a few choice words for his group as they came by. Zema said he was basically telling them, “don’t come here, you keep moving.”
We watered the ground and plants again today. Ate every bit of food Mama brought. Walked out the gate to see the dogs and share part of a cookie with them. He didn’t give it directly to them just through it on the ground after one ran past him. We pitched coins again today, splashed in the fountain in the courtyard, and found a new way to ride the merry go round.
Symbat was still the challenge for taking more passport shots. We think we finally got one that will do. Kara- I’ll email you the whole series separately later.
Mama and Zema took Lukas up to his room for lunch and give the nana the t-shirts for his group. We said good bye for now and blew each other a kiss. It is still hard to say good bye and leave him but much easier this time knowing he is ours and we will be back in a few weeks to pick him up.
Wayne is still a little under the weather but feeling better, just tired. It may be a long, long trip home for him. Hopefully he will sleep in the car on the trip to Almaty.
We have a long lay-over in London so I may try and post some from Heathrow.
Paka,
Lynda and Wayne
Well Lukas Anton appears to have made a full recovery. He was quite the handful today. We went to find him with his group and as soon as he saw us he came running over and reached up for mama to pick him up. We brought shirts for all the children in his group today that Mama bought in St. Michaels, Md. We put Lukas’s shirt on him for his second attempt at a passport photo. The phrase on the shirt was appropriate and we think we got a good photo. See for yourself. “sometimes crabby, but always cute”
He paraded us all the way around the baby house today before settling in at the gazebo. He had a few choice words for his group as they came by. Zema said he was basically telling them, “don’t come here, you keep moving.”
We watered the ground and plants again today. Ate every bit of food Mama brought. Walked out the gate to see the dogs and share part of a cookie with them. He didn’t give it directly to them just through it on the ground after one ran past him. We pitched coins again today, splashed in the fountain in the courtyard, and found a new way to ride the merry go round.
Symbat was still the challenge for taking more passport shots. We think we finally got one that will do. Kara- I’ll email you the whole series separately later.
Mama and Zema took Lukas up to his room for lunch and give the nana the t-shirts for his group. We said good bye for now and blew each other a kiss. It is still hard to say good bye and leave him but much easier this time knowing he is ours and we will be back in a few weeks to pick him up.
Wayne is still a little under the weather but feeling better, just tired. It may be a long, long trip home for him. Hopefully he will sleep in the car on the trip to Almaty.
We have a long lay-over in London so I may try and post some from Heathrow.
Paka,
Lynda and Wayne
Friday, June 26, 2009
Feeling Better and Passport Pictures
26 Jun 2009
We arrived at Umit today to find Lukas Anton was outside with his group. We figured that was a sign that he must be feeling better. When we found his group and called to him he turned around and gave us a great big grin. He was back to the boy we remembered as you can see.
We spent a few minutes with his group during which a couple of them attempted to sneak into my backpack while it was on my back. They all came over to show us the toys they had and get some attention.
We headed around to the gazebo out front for some one on one time with our boy. The Nana told us he still had a fever last night and he ended up having 3 antibiotic shots since we left him yesterday. No wonder he was feeling better. His appetite was back in full swing as well. He went through every bit of tamook I brought with me today.
Since he was sick I didn’t want to give him our shared water bottle that we typically use. I brought what was left of one of the 1 liter bottles of water. He got quite the mouth full the first time he tried to take a drink. Then we decided it was more fun to play with the water than actually drink it. Good thing there was a nice breeze and it wasn’t as hot today since he used all the water up playing. He would hold the bottle up and blink his eyes at us while filling his mouth with water. Then he would proceed to water the plants around the gazebo by spitting or spraying the water at them. He also thought it was fun to pour the water in his hand and through it out of the gazebo.
During our visit the doctor came out to check on Lukas and see how he was doing. He behaves very well for the doctor while she examines him. He should be doing much better considering it cost us $55 US dollars for all the medicine Janette bought at the doctor’s instructions. We have a feeling not all of it is for Lukas which we don’t mind as long as it is going to the children. We didn’t have exact change so we told Janette to keep the change. She said she would use it to buy vitamins for Umit. That is fine with us.
Lukas decided since he was out of food and water he would rummage through Mama’s purse. He may have been planning a shopping spree since he took all the plastic out of my wallet. Then he decided to play with the change. He thought it was great fun to throw the coins up in the air and then try and find them all. That was fine in the gazebo but then he decided to throw them in the driveway and they went rolling everywhere. Amazingly enough I think we only came up 20cents short of what we started with. Some where on the ground are 2 stray dimes.
Janette asked us to take Lukas Anton and Symbat’s passport photos today. Neither of them was very cooperative. They are very picky about how the photos are done. They have to be against a white background, looking straight at the camera and so you can see both ears, all of their head and the upper half of their torso. It was hard enough to get our 3 ½ year old to stand still and cooperate, try getting a 13 month old to pose like that! Kara and Quentin, the price just went up on you daughter’s photo session! We thought they came out pretty good but we have been told we have to try again tomorrow. Hopefully we will do well enough since it is our last visit until we come back in July to take him home.
When it came time to go Lukas wasn’t too happy about going inside. He kicked off his shoes that were about 2 sizes to big and threw his hat and shirt on the ground. At least he didn’t cry or scream when I carried him and his belongings up to his room. All the other children had finished eating and were getting ready for their afternoon nap. As soon as I set him down and showed him his lunch at the table he had a sudden change of heart and ran over to the table to sit down and start eating. Mama barely got a good bye.
Tomorrow we will take our gifts to the baby house and visit one last time with our son before heading to Almaty in the afternoon. At least this time we have an idea of when we will see him again and that he is actually ours now. We will have plenty to do in the short time before coming back to get his room finished. His furniture should be arriving the day before we get home and we still need to get some sort of window treatment for his room or he will be up at 5am every morning with the sun shining in his room.
We will try and make a quick post tomorrow before leaving Taraz around 3pm. It sounds like we will have a nice overnight stay at the Almaty airport since our flight to London does not leave until 7am on Sunday.
Paka for now,
Wayne and Lynda
We arrived at Umit today to find Lukas Anton was outside with his group. We figured that was a sign that he must be feeling better. When we found his group and called to him he turned around and gave us a great big grin. He was back to the boy we remembered as you can see.
We spent a few minutes with his group during which a couple of them attempted to sneak into my backpack while it was on my back. They all came over to show us the toys they had and get some attention.
We headed around to the gazebo out front for some one on one time with our boy. The Nana told us he still had a fever last night and he ended up having 3 antibiotic shots since we left him yesterday. No wonder he was feeling better. His appetite was back in full swing as well. He went through every bit of tamook I brought with me today.
Since he was sick I didn’t want to give him our shared water bottle that we typically use. I brought what was left of one of the 1 liter bottles of water. He got quite the mouth full the first time he tried to take a drink. Then we decided it was more fun to play with the water than actually drink it. Good thing there was a nice breeze and it wasn’t as hot today since he used all the water up playing. He would hold the bottle up and blink his eyes at us while filling his mouth with water. Then he would proceed to water the plants around the gazebo by spitting or spraying the water at them. He also thought it was fun to pour the water in his hand and through it out of the gazebo.
During our visit the doctor came out to check on Lukas and see how he was doing. He behaves very well for the doctor while she examines him. He should be doing much better considering it cost us $55 US dollars for all the medicine Janette bought at the doctor’s instructions. We have a feeling not all of it is for Lukas which we don’t mind as long as it is going to the children. We didn’t have exact change so we told Janette to keep the change. She said she would use it to buy vitamins for Umit. That is fine with us.
Lukas decided since he was out of food and water he would rummage through Mama’s purse. He may have been planning a shopping spree since he took all the plastic out of my wallet. Then he decided to play with the change. He thought it was great fun to throw the coins up in the air and then try and find them all. That was fine in the gazebo but then he decided to throw them in the driveway and they went rolling everywhere. Amazingly enough I think we only came up 20cents short of what we started with. Some where on the ground are 2 stray dimes.
Janette asked us to take Lukas Anton and Symbat’s passport photos today. Neither of them was very cooperative. They are very picky about how the photos are done. They have to be against a white background, looking straight at the camera and so you can see both ears, all of their head and the upper half of their torso. It was hard enough to get our 3 ½ year old to stand still and cooperate, try getting a 13 month old to pose like that! Kara and Quentin, the price just went up on you daughter’s photo session! We thought they came out pretty good but we have been told we have to try again tomorrow. Hopefully we will do well enough since it is our last visit until we come back in July to take him home.
When it came time to go Lukas wasn’t too happy about going inside. He kicked off his shoes that were about 2 sizes to big and threw his hat and shirt on the ground. At least he didn’t cry or scream when I carried him and his belongings up to his room. All the other children had finished eating and were getting ready for their afternoon nap. As soon as I set him down and showed him his lunch at the table he had a sudden change of heart and ran over to the table to sit down and start eating. Mama barely got a good bye.
Tomorrow we will take our gifts to the baby house and visit one last time with our son before heading to Almaty in the afternoon. At least this time we have an idea of when we will see him again and that he is actually ours now. We will have plenty to do in the short time before coming back to get his room finished. His furniture should be arriving the day before we get home and we still need to get some sort of window treatment for his room or he will be up at 5am every morning with the sun shining in his room.
We will try and make a quick post tomorrow before leaving Taraz around 3pm. It sounds like we will have a nice overnight stay at the Almaty airport since our flight to London does not leave until 7am on Sunday.
Paka for now,
Wayne and Lynda
Thursday, June 25, 2009
A little under the weather at Umit
25 Jun 2009
We arrived at Umit this morning for our first visit as Lukas Anton’s actual parents. Zema brought him in from playing outside. He was a little quieter than he had been in previous days but went straight to the back pack to see what was inside. He pulled out some food and had a few bites and then appeared to be mad because I was paying attention to Symbat. I played around with him a little and he seemed to snap out of it.
We decided to go out side with him and he suddenly didn’t seem interested an anything which is very unusual for him. When I picked him up I noticed he appeared to be warm. Fever warm not because it was hot outside. I basically carried him outside to the gazebo and all he wanted to do was sleep. Wayne and I took turns holding him while he slept for about an hour. Janette came out and was surprised to see him sleeping. She agreed that she thought he might have a temperature. She fetched the doctor who came outside to check him out. She agreed that he was sick and took him inside to check him further. End result, the little guy has strep throat which several other children in his group also have. At least I am assuming it is strep because she gave him an antibiotic shot and gave the new parents their first prescription for more antibiotics and something for his appetite. Definitely not like our son to not want to eat. Janette is getting the prescription filled and will bring us the bill this afternoon. Yes, since we are his parents now, we pick up the tab. The doctor promised to have him good and strong for us when we return to pick him up to take him home on our next trip.
The adoption decree becomes official on July 10th as long as no one appeals it during the 15 day appeal period. Once it is official Janette will submit all the paperwork she has filled out to begin collecting all the new documents we need before we can take him home. Since our visas are only good for one month she will have to wait until our return with our next visas to file some document so we will be in Taraz for around 5 days on the next trip instead of just 2-3. She surprised us today by telling us that we can plan to come back on July 18th or 19th because Lukas will be ready to be set free from Umit around the 20th or 21st. That seems to be record time to us considering other families’ timelines but we aren’t complaining. So we might make it back to the USA before July is over.
We were going to take his passport picture today but he was in no condition for that as you can see by the two photos we took today.
Here are a few pictures from around Umit and Jackie the last one is especially for you. Wayne captured a shot of this tiny hummingbird in the Bee Balm.
(If you click on the photo it will enlarge it so you can see it better.)
Paka,
Lynda and Wayne
We arrived at Umit this morning for our first visit as Lukas Anton’s actual parents. Zema brought him in from playing outside. He was a little quieter than he had been in previous days but went straight to the back pack to see what was inside. He pulled out some food and had a few bites and then appeared to be mad because I was paying attention to Symbat. I played around with him a little and he seemed to snap out of it.
We decided to go out side with him and he suddenly didn’t seem interested an anything which is very unusual for him. When I picked him up I noticed he appeared to be warm. Fever warm not because it was hot outside. I basically carried him outside to the gazebo and all he wanted to do was sleep. Wayne and I took turns holding him while he slept for about an hour. Janette came out and was surprised to see him sleeping. She agreed that she thought he might have a temperature. She fetched the doctor who came outside to check him out. She agreed that he was sick and took him inside to check him further. End result, the little guy has strep throat which several other children in his group also have. At least I am assuming it is strep because she gave him an antibiotic shot and gave the new parents their first prescription for more antibiotics and something for his appetite. Definitely not like our son to not want to eat. Janette is getting the prescription filled and will bring us the bill this afternoon. Yes, since we are his parents now, we pick up the tab. The doctor promised to have him good and strong for us when we return to pick him up to take him home on our next trip.
The adoption decree becomes official on July 10th as long as no one appeals it during the 15 day appeal period. Once it is official Janette will submit all the paperwork she has filled out to begin collecting all the new documents we need before we can take him home. Since our visas are only good for one month she will have to wait until our return with our next visas to file some document so we will be in Taraz for around 5 days on the next trip instead of just 2-3. She surprised us today by telling us that we can plan to come back on July 18th or 19th because Lukas will be ready to be set free from Umit around the 20th or 21st. That seems to be record time to us considering other families’ timelines but we aren’t complaining. So we might make it back to the USA before July is over.
We were going to take his passport picture today but he was in no condition for that as you can see by the two photos we took today.
Here are a few pictures from around Umit and Jackie the last one is especially for you. Wayne captured a shot of this tiny hummingbird in the Bee Balm.
(If you click on the photo it will enlarge it so you can see it better.)
Paka,
Lynda and Wayne
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Court Part 2
24 June 2009
This will be a very short post. We started court at 10:00 am this morning and finished at 6:30pm. We are exhausted both mentally and physically. Pending a 15 day appeal period, we are now offically the parents of Lukas Anton Robey.
The day was full of surprises and drama, much more than we expected, but in the end we were sucessfull.
We are tired and we are going to sleep.
Paka
Lynda and Wayne
This will be a very short post. We started court at 10:00 am this morning and finished at 6:30pm. We are exhausted both mentally and physically. Pending a 15 day appeal period, we are now offically the parents of Lukas Anton Robey.
The day was full of surprises and drama, much more than we expected, but in the end we were sucessfull.
We are tired and we are going to sleep.
Paka
Lynda and Wayne
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Hazy, Lazy Day of Summer
23 Jun 2009
First we would like to wish Ashley Marie a very, happy 21st birthday.
Since we were scheduled to see Lukas Anton in the afternoon we had a lazy morning. We decided to go for a walk around 10am just to get out of the room for a while. We ended up walking down to the bazaar. We still have yet to find the area where they sell local handicrafts. We did find the building with the meat vendors though and a building where they sell all kinds of dried fruits and spices. It was quite colorful.
After wandering around the bazaar for a while we headed back to the room to cool off. It is expected to be in the 90s again today with possible thunder storms. We can only hope they are right about the rain. They can use it here. Everything is very dry. Being from the Baltimore area we find it very humorous that they think it is humid here. It isn’t even close to back home!
When we got to Umit this afternoon, Lukas Anton was still napping. During the bonding trip that usually meant he was going to come in to the music room sleepy and grumpy. What a shock when they opened the door and he came in smiling. He went straight to the little trikes they had stored in there and went for a ride with the help of mama. He was full of energy this afternoon and wore mama and papa out.
Tomorrow we head back to court for part two starting at 10am. We will answer questions, go visit at Umit and then come back to court to wrap things up and make closing statements. Keep us in your prayers and we will let you know as soon as we find out what the judges decision is.
Until then, here are some photos of Lukas...
Paka,
Lynda and Wayne
First we would like to wish Ashley Marie a very, happy 21st birthday.
Since we were scheduled to see Lukas Anton in the afternoon we had a lazy morning. We decided to go for a walk around 10am just to get out of the room for a while. We ended up walking down to the bazaar. We still have yet to find the area where they sell local handicrafts. We did find the building with the meat vendors though and a building where they sell all kinds of dried fruits and spices. It was quite colorful.
After wandering around the bazaar for a while we headed back to the room to cool off. It is expected to be in the 90s again today with possible thunder storms. We can only hope they are right about the rain. They can use it here. Everything is very dry. Being from the Baltimore area we find it very humorous that they think it is humid here. It isn’t even close to back home!
When we got to Umit this afternoon, Lukas Anton was still napping. During the bonding trip that usually meant he was going to come in to the music room sleepy and grumpy. What a shock when they opened the door and he came in smiling. He went straight to the little trikes they had stored in there and went for a ride with the help of mama. He was full of energy this afternoon and wore mama and papa out.
Tomorrow we head back to court for part two starting at 10am. We will answer questions, go visit at Umit and then come back to court to wrap things up and make closing statements. Keep us in your prayers and we will let you know as soon as we find out what the judges decision is.
Until then, here are some photos of Lukas...
Paka,
Lynda and Wayne
Monday, June 22, 2009
Court Part 1
22 Jun 2009
We awoke to another hot day in Taraz. High is supposed to be about 94. Not the best day to be dressed in formal wear, but that’s the way it goes.
We were picked up by Kural for court about 9:30 am for our 10:00 hearing time. The Docters went first so Lynda and I sat in a waiting area until our name was called at about 11:00am and we headed back to the hearing room. Janette waited with us, but was not allowed to be present in the courtroom.
The judge was a middle aged women dressed in a red robe. Also present were our translator, a court secretary, prosecutor, a member of the guardianship board, a representative of the Ministry of Education and the Umit doctor.
The judge explained what would be taking place today. Just some basic questions and she would hear from the doctor and Ministry of Education representative. I was asked to stand and would end up having most of the judges’ questions directed at me. I think Lynda only got asked one or two questions.
She began with why we wanted to adopt, why we did not adopt from the US, why we wanted to adopt a “sick” child, could we care for a sick child, who would look after Lukas since we work. I will not go into the answers I gave as some are personal matters that Lynda and I share, but I can only say I was honest with the court and in the end I think the judge was satisfied.
The doctor gave a brief history of how Lukas came to the baby house, his medical prognosis and that she felt we were good parents. The Ministry of Education representative was next and she said that she had observed us with Lukas and thought we would make a good family. The member of the guardianship board simply stated that they had met with us and recommended the adoption.
We were then advised by the judge that we were to return for a formal court hearing at 10am on Wednesday the 24th of June, after which we would all go to Umit and she would observe us with Lukas. We then would head back to the courthouse for a wrap up, then she would consider and deliver her judgment.
All I can say is that I have worked in the court system for 22 years and feel very comfortable in that setting. However when you sit before the judge and it sinks in that the last 2 years of work come down to how you answer questions and her decision, it’s a pretty uncomfortable spot for us to be in.
We did not get to see Lukas today, we will go to visit him tomorrow at 2:30pm. So for now we are just trying to keep cool mentally and physically.
Sorry, no pictures today.
Paka,
Lynda and Wayne
We awoke to another hot day in Taraz. High is supposed to be about 94. Not the best day to be dressed in formal wear, but that’s the way it goes.
We were picked up by Kural for court about 9:30 am for our 10:00 hearing time. The Docters went first so Lynda and I sat in a waiting area until our name was called at about 11:00am and we headed back to the hearing room. Janette waited with us, but was not allowed to be present in the courtroom.
The judge was a middle aged women dressed in a red robe. Also present were our translator, a court secretary, prosecutor, a member of the guardianship board, a representative of the Ministry of Education and the Umit doctor.
The judge explained what would be taking place today. Just some basic questions and she would hear from the doctor and Ministry of Education representative. I was asked to stand and would end up having most of the judges’ questions directed at me. I think Lynda only got asked one or two questions.
She began with why we wanted to adopt, why we did not adopt from the US, why we wanted to adopt a “sick” child, could we care for a sick child, who would look after Lukas since we work. I will not go into the answers I gave as some are personal matters that Lynda and I share, but I can only say I was honest with the court and in the end I think the judge was satisfied.
The doctor gave a brief history of how Lukas came to the baby house, his medical prognosis and that she felt we were good parents. The Ministry of Education representative was next and she said that she had observed us with Lukas and thought we would make a good family. The member of the guardianship board simply stated that they had met with us and recommended the adoption.
We were then advised by the judge that we were to return for a formal court hearing at 10am on Wednesday the 24th of June, after which we would all go to Umit and she would observe us with Lukas. We then would head back to the courthouse for a wrap up, then she would consider and deliver her judgment.
All I can say is that I have worked in the court system for 22 years and feel very comfortable in that setting. However when you sit before the judge and it sinks in that the last 2 years of work come down to how you answer questions and her decision, it’s a pretty uncomfortable spot for us to be in.
We did not get to see Lukas today, we will go to visit him tomorrow at 2:30pm. So for now we are just trying to keep cool mentally and physically.
Sorry, no pictures today.
Paka,
Lynda and Wayne
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Happy Father’s Day
21 Jun 2009
First we would like to say Happy Father’s Day to our dad’s Al and Jimmy. We love you both and are proud to call you Dad. And to all the rest of you fathers out there reading our blog, Happy Father’s Day to you as well.
Lynda spent the morning wrapping gifts and preparing for our visit to see Lukas Anton. Janet (Wayne’s mom) had a special surprise for Wayne on his first official Father’s Day. With Lynda’s help she had a card for Lukas to give him. While Wayne was busy with the video camera I helped Lukas Anton sign the card. Of course Lukas had to add a little personal art work as well and scribbled a bunch of circles on the card. We’re assuming they have been showing him the photo album we left because he has been calling Wayne Papa instead of “Dadee” which is just some guy.
The older groups of children were all outside again when we arrived. The first group we met up with was the 4 yr old group. I am always amazed at how the children seem to know who the adults are there to see. We were met with a bunch of “Anton’s Mama and Papa”. After saying hello to all of them we headed on around to the side of the building to find the 3 yr old group. Lukas was in the front of the group and looked up when the girl next to him called his name. He hesitated until the girl gave him a shove and said, “Anton’s mama and papa” and then he came running over with a big grin on his face and held his arms up for me to pick him up.
He then proceeded to walk us around the baby house the long way again. We met up with the 4 yr olds and Lukas started pushing on one of the children. He was not happy with mama when she shook her finger at him and said no. He turned and faced the wall to pout. We pouted all the way to the play hut. He came out of it when I gave him his banana. He started to eat some of the peel and Wayne intervened, that brought on more drama and pouting. It took a cookie to snap him out of it again. He was a bit moody most of the visit but it was very hot and I think that was affecting his demeanor. He got a kick out of watching himself on the video camera. He sat there looking at the screen eating his puffed rice treats. You would have thought he was at the movies.
We played a little with the balls and he found his phone in my bag and was quite excited about that. All and all we spent most of the visit just sitting in the shade of the play hut.
One of the funniest things for the day was when Koral pulled my back pack out of his car to give to me and he discovered the water bottle I had hanging on the outside. I had placed it in the freezer of the mini fridge early in the morning and some of the water froze. He commented on how cold it was and touched his throat. Farida explained to us that they do not drink cold beverages with ice because it is thought to be bad for the throat and will make you sick. She asked me later in the morning if the water I had given him yesterday was cold. I assured her that by the time he drank it, it was no longer cold.
Tomorrow is the first of our court series and Koral will pick us up at 9:10am to drive us to the court house. Supposedly a member of the Guardianship Council, the MOE representative and the Umit Director will all be in court with us tomorrow. We don’t know who will go first, us or the Docters. We are hoping to visit Lukas tomorrow afternoon after court. We will be sure to fill you all in on our court experience in our post tomorrow.
Until then, Paka,
Lynda and Wayne
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
