Day 25 - Gotcha!

Hello friend and family who continue to follow along with our blog.  We appreciate you all so very much and we don't know how we would have made it without all of your prayers, support and encouragement.  We love and miss you all.

Well...

Our second court hearing was scheduled for today in Ivankive at 2:30 p.m.  I woke up a little grouchy because I had not gotten much sleep at all last night.  I woke up this morning and hung out with Ang for about 30 minutes describing my sleepless night.  Now, many of you probably don't know what a "huggy pillow" is but that is the term Angelia and I use for the spare pillow we have here in the bed with us.  Typically, it is grasped as one is dozing off to add to the comfort level and promote sleep.  In America, we each have a spare (or "huggy") pillow of our own.  But here we have only one between us... only one.  I didn't get in bed until after 1:30 a.m. or so.  As I crawled into bed, I saw the "huggy pillow" unattended.  I snuggled up on that thing like only a husky man can.  Little did I know what was waiting for me later in the night.  A few hours later, the "huggy pillow" was snatched away from me with such force that I thought I was being mugged.  I quicky gave up the pillow to whomever the freaskishly strong person was that was ripping it from my grasp.  I didn't sleep well after that... but I think Angelia did.  Just another reason why it's important (and safer for me) that we get home soon.

Since I had not gotten much sleep, Angelia was nice enough to get up first and leave me some quality time with the "huggy pillow" all to myself.  Angelia had a big day coming up and had to prepare accordingly.  Court appearance number two awaited us.  Now, any Southern girl is not going to show up in court without fixed hair, make-up just right, and fully presentable (at least not on a Thursday afternoon).  She washed hair.  Enough said.  As I crawled out of bed to the smell of a great breakfast (choice between grilled cheese or PBJ), I saw the apartment go eerily dark.  Yep, that's right - the electrcity went out.  Angelia's wet hair coupled with no electricity (and thus, no hair dryer) shaped up to be quite the challenge for the morning.  She handled it with the grace and great, cheerful you would expect from someone who spent most of the night embracing the "huggy pillow".  I, on the other hand, took my first ever bath in complete darkness.  That's speaks for itself... :-)

So, we jet for Ivankive at 12:00 p.m. with our trusty facilitator (insert "Mission Impossible" theme music here).  It normally takes about 1.5 hours for us to get from the apartment to the court building.  Today, we stopped at the bank so I could withdraw some real money (U.S. Currency).  When we were about 20 minutes away from Ivankive at 1:45 p.m., we got a call that the orphange director needed a ride.  To pick her up would have been about 25 minutes each way in normal traffic.  So, you can see that all of a sudden, we were in a time crunch.  If the car we were riding in had one of those big red buttons (that you don't mash unless it's an emergency) it was mashed.  We rocketed forward into a groove of speed that would have made any Formula One driver envious.  I can't tell you the actual speed because someone over here decided that the speedometers should all read in KM instead of MPH.  But, my wife can calculate speed of a car (unless she is driving it) within .00002 mph based on the rate at which trees, bushes and shrubs pass by the rear passenger window.  We literally came around one corner at an impressive rate of speed to a scene of about 20 geese running for their very lives.  No animals were injured by our car but I did ask as we sped past them if people in the village eat geese to which I was told "yes".  I decided not to distract our facilitator / driver with any more silly talk. 

We made it to court about 10 minutes late but the judge had not yet entered.  This was literally a prayer answered.  The second proceeding was presided over by a different judge so all parties involved (Angelia & I, each of the children, the prosecutor, the social worker and the orphange director) were all asked a battery of questions by the judge, jury and prosecutor.  I don't want to divulge the details because they are lengthy but it was a roller coaster of emotions as we related why we wanted to adopt, why from Ukraine and why these children.  Also, I was heartbroken for the kids to have to sit and listen (and even answer questions) about why their own mother and family does not want them or hasn't come to see them, etc.  I was proud of my 14 year old daughter for her strength to answer difficult questions and endur others discussing the details of why she and her brother were orphans.  The court recessed for about 15 minutes for the judge and jurors to go into a different room and make a decision.  When they returned, the court issued it's favorable decree that Angelia and I become adoptive parents for Anna Victoria Taylor and Charles Anatoly Taylor.  As the judge and jurors were leaving, the lady juror who asked the most questions told us via tranlsator that she was happy for the kids and us and that she hope for a bright and better future for them and she admonished us to take care of these precious children.  We hugged, shook hands and thanked everyone involved as needed and then exited the courthouse.

Gotcha!  Outside courthouse after the court decreed us as parents.  Pictured (from left) are: Orphanage Director Nela, Angelia, Tolya (aka Charlie Anatolya Taylor), Mickael (social worker), Vicka (aka Anna Victoria Taylor), and Tim

When we took the orphanage director back to the orphanage, we spent a few minutes with other children whom I haven't seen since last Christmas in America or my earlier visit in September 2009.  Vicka and Tolya... I'm sorry.. .Anna and Charlie spent a few minutes with their friends and then we headed back to Kiev.

When we returned to the apartment, we still didn't have electricity.  Now, I have made light of some areas where Ukraine might be lacking compared to the USA but I challenge any of you to pick up a phone and call and electrician and him arrive within 20 minutes and repair the problem.  Props to Ukraine electricians!  Now plumbers still have work to do in my sight... LOL!  We finished the day by walking down the mountain and enjoying pleasant family dinner at a new pizza place.  We were pretty much the only people in the place and no one was smoking.  I think God prepared a quite little family dinner for the four of us to enjoy each others company.  I look forward to many more nights like this at my own home in America.

We still have lots to accomplish.  Things aren't finished until Anna and Charlie set foot on American soil and thereby become American citizens.  We hope to wrap up and fly home before the end of September.

I had a conversation with Tolya this morning and he asked me something several times that I was able to piece together as being (paraphrased) .. "Are we going to the village today?" and "Are you wearing your suit".  When I told him "yes", he asked me about the suit again, to which I replied "yes".  A few minutes later, I had to take out some trash and he asked me again if I was going to wear my suit.  Again, I replied "yes".  This made his little face light up with a great big smile.  Later, I asked Angelia her thoughts on why Tolya would have asked me this.  And she said, "he wants to show his Papa to his friends"... "he wants to say to his friends, "This is my new dad".  That realization was quite a moving experience for me.  But, as I continued to dwell on this as the morning went by, I realized that that's how all of us who have accepted Jesus Christ are supposed to be.  We should joyfully set aside our thoughts or concerns about our own abilities, how we look, what we wear, whether people wll like us or not, and instead be excited and full of joy to show our Father in Heaven to everyone around us.  We should be overjoyed to show our deliverer, our provider, our protector, and our loving Father to others so they may come to know Him as their God.  As I have said before, after all, we were once orphans too. 

Another lesson came today during our court appearance.  We hosted children last December and had the priveledge of the orphange director staying in our home during that time.  At the court proceeding today, the director was asked to give a description of what she observed while in America.  She said, "I saw this family and another family for three weeks.  I lived in their home and watched the two families interact with each other many times.  These are Christian people and they did not argue, drink alcohol, smoke cigarrettes or raise thier voices to each other at any time while I was there with them".  The judge asked, "are you telling us that you were there for three weeks and you never saw these people argue or drink alcohol?" to which the director replied, "yes, that's what I observed".   I don't share this to make it seem my family is better than any other.  I just feel that the orphanage director gave a testimony to the fact that choosing to live in a manner that shines the light of our Savior, Jesus Christ is very important.  It certainly seemed to be today.

I am so thankful to God for answering yours and my prayers about our adopting Anna and Charlie.  They are such great kids and I'm thankful that God has used Angelia and I to impact their lives.  We have a ways to go before this is all done but we place our faith in the One True God, the God of Abraham, of Issac, of Jacob.  The God who walked among us in the flesh, whose blood atoned for our sin.  To Him we lift words of praise, honor and worship today and everyday. 

We love and miss you all!