Dah Day, day 5

Court day!!!

We had court at 10 am this morning.  We met up with another family on their trip 1 from the U.S., they dropped us off at the court house and then they continued to the orphanage. 

The single lady that we were with went first.  She got her dah, and then it was our turn.  Camden waited outside with Stephanie, watching a movie, and we went in for our session.  We had to stand and state our names, where we live, and then we got started.  Randy spoke for the most part of our court session.

He was asked questions such as, can we afford another child, why not another biological child, and how are we going to overcome the language barrier.  He did an amazing job.  Then it was my turn.  He asked if I am okay with being a stay-at-home mother, and I said yes.  He asked if I have a driver's license, which was yes, and if I have transportation to go shopping, etc, or if in an emergency can I take the baby to the hospital, I said yes.  Then the really surprising question came.  He asked, you give $X amount of dollars to your church every month.  Why? 

I explained that our faith believes that we give back 10% of everything we make to the church, for ministry opportunities.  He then stated, that it was a lot of money, why do we do it?  So I went a little deeper, stating that our church sponsors orphans around the world and if we didn't give to the church, then they would not be able to impact the orphans lives like they do.  He seemed satisfied by that.  They also asked that if we ever were able to have another child would we want Peanut anymore.  I was like, she is our child, I would never not love her!

The Ministry of Education official gave her recommendation, and the prosecutor gave her recommendation, and then the judge left.  About 2 minutes later he came back and read his decision.  It was a DAH!!!!  He said congratulations, and we then went out to the waiting room.  We were packing up Camden's thing, when the judge came back with a beautiful Model car in his hands.  He then handed it to Camden, and told Lena, that he was such a good boy during court that he deserved a present.  We thanked him and then he left.  Lena was amazed, she said that he had NEVER done that before.

We left, and went back to the hotel, and changed, met the other families, and went to lunch.  After lunch back to the orphanage, for about 2 hours, and then back to the train.  Camden gave Peanut a hug and kiss bye, as did we, and we will see her again in 10 days.  Back to Moscow, for some adventures, and fun.

Right after our Dah! Outside the Courthouse!

Camden with his new car!