Decision Day

Today was the big day! We started off at the courthouse again at 10:00 for the meeting with the judge. All of the same people that were present yesterday were there again today, but today our coordinator was there as well.

The judge asked us a few questions, but mostly it was the same stuff as we talked about yesterday. I felt like perhaps I should answer the questions a little differently or with more detail, but I figured yesterday seemed to go well enough, and if she wanted more information she would ask for it. At about 10:45, the judge said we were done with this part, and she didn’t see any reason why she should not grant the adoption. Then we were off to the baby house.

The doctor brought Symbat to us in an office where everyone was. There were so many people and she was tense and nervous. After a few minutes, we were told to go to the music room, so Kara, Symbat, and I went there. Once we were there, Symbat loosened up and was her usual smiley self. We played for about 15 minutes, and the full contingent of people walked in. They saw us playing with her and stayed for just a few minutes. From the judge’s smiles (and everyone else’s), it seemed that the session went well. The court contingent left, and we stayed for another 15 minutes or so, then headed back to court ourselves.

Back in court, the judge reminded us of her medical conditions and asked us if we wanted to reconsider the adoption. Of course, we said no. She then asked me to make a final statement. I wasn’t quite ready for this, so I basically reiterated some of the stuff I said earlier about us always wanting to adopt, why we chose Kazakhstan, and that we would take good care of Symbat. When I was done, she asked Kara to make a final statement as well. I could tell that it took Kara by surprise, but she added a few words of why we wanted to adopt Symbat as well. The judge then asked if wanted to keep her birth date, which we did, and then she asked if we wanted to change her name to Docter Alina Symbat. We said yes, and we were basically done. The judge said she would have a verdict at 5:00, and we were free to go. That was at about 1:00.

We grabbed some lunch and headed back to the baby house at 3 to play with Symbat. We were in the music room with the Robey’s, and it was very hot in there even with the little window air conditioner they have. It was raining outside so we couldn’t go out. At 5:00, we took the kids back to their groups and headed back to the hotel.

Only our coordinator needed to go back to the court to hear the verdict. We still haven’t heard it yet, but we’re waiting patiently. We haven’t heard anything negative yet; the court has all of the necessary paperwork, our answers appeared to satisfy the judge, and our visit went well. So we hope for the best. In the meantime, we’ll sit in our hotel room and enjoy the air conditioner!

(Note: it's now 7:30 PM and we still haven't heard anything yet. We don't have any reason to believe the decision was not favorable, but not knowing for sure is still tough. We'll update when we know more!)