And Here She Is!!!

Let us introduce you our new daughter Julia Sophia Brooker!!! She is ours now!!! We had our court today and our facilitator, Oles Sukhetskyy, arranged the immediate execution (NO 10 days waiting period!) which the judge gracously granted us. So, we got our court decree AND the new birth certificat TODAY! We are SO happy and we thank our God for this miracle.



Ok, I will tell you from the beginning. On Monday we got our last paper from SDA but we didn't know if we would have the court on Tuesday because we heard that the judge buried his mother on Monday and nobody knew if he would work. We found out about our court this morning about 1.5 hours before the actual court. The courtroom is on our street so we took a 5 minutes walk. It was kind of funny: Julia called me on the phone and without any beginning she said, "Are you comming?" I said, "Where?" I guess she thought she dialed a wrong number and said, "Oh, I'm sorry" and hung up. We had to wait for a little bit then were asked into the room. There was the judge, the prosecutor, two jurists, the lawyer, and the person from adoption authorities. The judge started reading our papers. I don't understand Ukranian language much so I tried to listen to Oles translating everything for Bob into English. We were asked some questions about us like our names, birthdates and places of work. Then the judge continued reading and started asking me all kinds of questions about us, our extended family, about Anastasia, the school, the reason for adoption and others. I started getting nervous and my mouth was getting dry. He asked Bob maybe a couple of questions, then he asked Julia some questions. She was answering all his questions with strength in her voice and without any doubt. I was so proud of her! Then the director of the orphanage said his part, followed by the lawyer and the person from adoption authorities. The prosecutor didn't have any questions. We were asked to leave the room. We didn't have to wait too long: we were asked back in the room in 1 minute! The judge read their decision and I had tears in my eyes. This girl is our daughter! After he was done he told us "congratulations". Then I saw Julia come up to his desk and said, "Thank you, your honor!" It brought tears to judge's eyes and he hugged her. I think all the women in the room had "wet" eyes that moment.

The rest of the day we spent doing some paperwork and walking around down town. When we were in the taxi Julia told me, "I feel like a new person and it feels good!" Oh yes, you are a new person - a new daughter, sister, grandaughter, neice, a girl with a new life starting from today. She has a new family and is an orphan no more.