The Nitty Gritty on Court

Hey- So some people were asking for more details about court. I'll give you the play-by-play both for our families who are curious and for those soon-to-be adopters out there reading this. Our appointment time was 9:30 so we got there a few minutes before with Gulsanna, Baheet, and our Ministry of Education representative in tow. At 9:20 I was really nervous sitting on the bench outside the courtroom and the butterflies in my stomach were going insane. At 9:30 I started going over my speech in my head. At 9:45 I started going over Peter's speech in my head. At 9:50 I started going over my grocery list in my head. At 9:55 I asked Gulsanna what we were doing and she informed me that we were waiting for the prosecutor who then walked by us on his way to the courtroom. At 10:10 I asked Gulsanna what we were doing now. She said we were waiting for the court secretary who then walked past us into the courtroom. Game On. We went into the room and sat on the front bench and Baheet told me to stop smiling. It is bad to smile- I should cry instead. Well, let me just say I was not the first of our family to break down. We stood as the judge read our petition to adopt Rinat. Then it was Peter's turn to give his speech and my sweet, strong hubbie got about 2 sentences into his speech and his voice started to crack and he got all choked up. Which of course made me cry and Baheet had to give me a tissue. Peter talked about us, about our families, jobs, marriage, why we wanted to adopt, why we chose KStan, and most of all how happy we are that we came here and that we met Rinat and that we just want to give him a good home. And when we come home we will tell everyone what a wonderful place Kaz is and how they should come here. And that we want to come back for another child. Then the judge asked him a couple of questions about why we did not adopt from US and if we knew about all of the rules and regulations of adoption in Kaz. Then it was my turn. I was already crying from Peter's speech and then I had to get up and talk with my face all red. Embarrassing. Oh, and I was shaking like a leaf. You know how sometimes in a book it describes how some one's knees were knocking together? Well, I never really knew what that meant until today. My entire body was going into spasms and I really couldn't help it no matter how hard I tried. I couldn't even really read the notes I had written out and I had to sort of wing it. I talked about how we had waited a long time to have a baby (sob) and we were so happy to have met Rinat (sob) and we adored him and wanted to have him with us forever (sob). And how we would make sure that he was healthy and happy (OK I am getting myself together at this point). And I would make sure he had a good education. And our family and friends are very happy for us and there will be a link for all of us to Kaz forever and we would be thankful forever to Kazakhstan for the opportunity (I had finally gotten myself together by this point). And how we looked forward to sending all of the post placement reports that we have to send for the next 18 years so they can see how happy he is. Then the prosecutor asked me who was going to take care of Rinat and judge asked if I thought that raising him would be difficult (aren't all kids difficult?). Then the Ministry of Ed rep got up and read this big four page document with all kinds of attachments and papers with stamps on them that Gulsanna translated as she read. It was all about how they had attempted to find the mother and were unable to. I'll give you the short version: Rinat was born in the Maternity Hospital in Astana. The mother left him there and when they tried to locate her they found she had give the wrong address. They also tried to find her by tracing her by her name but there is no one by that name in Astana or the surrounding areas. There was a whole lot more but I didn't really catch or remember all of it. The prosecutor and judge asked some questions but she seemed to be able to show the correct documentation and they were satisfied that every attempt had been made to find her. We then all left the courtroom for approximately 1 and a half minutes and then came in and the judge read her 2 page decision that came down to "he's yours as long as no one contests it in the next 15 days". And then we were almost-parents. Whew! It was such a relief. We went out into the hallway and chatted (and waited some more for the next couple to go so we could then give everyone their gifts- they are very big on gifts here). Gulsanna told us the judge said we sounded like political advisers for Kaz tourism because we mentioned many times how much we loved it and how much we wanted to come back. And she said the judge must have liked us because she smiled at the end and she never smiles for anyone. Yay us! So that is the very abbreviated version of our court experience. I know some of you out there are wondering what version of the truth we are going to tell Rinat about his parents. We are going to tell him the absolute truth. I cannot fathom how hard it would be for a mother to give up her child and I can only imagine that it must have been the most difficult decision that she has ever made. The only reason I can think of to do that is that she thought that he would have a better life with someone else than she could have given him herself. I'm sure it will be hard for him not knowing where he came from but I know we will give him a loving home and I hope that we can give him all that his mother wished for him to have. I would like to imagine his mother out there somewhere thinking about the family he might have gone to and seeing a family like us. Alright, I think my adrenaline is finally wearing off and I am getting tired. Peter, Mr. I'm-not-nervous-at-all, didn't sleep a wink last night and went to bed hours ago so I am off to join him. Have a great day! -m