By the GRACE of GOD.......

We are now the proud parents of 4, count them, FOUR boys!!! Yippeeee!!!

And of course without fail the afternoon was simply comical. God gave us such a peace and we just laughed and sailed through it all. Thank you Lord!

So we were picked up from the apartment at 2:15pm. I was wearing what I had brought for court which included an ankle length skirt and some short pumps. Well a snow storm blew in today and the pumps weren't going to work. So Tatianna suggested I wear my boots. I'm so glad I did cuz I would have regretted it. Anywho, we have to go to the orphanage to pick up the orphanage lawyer. There were two other vehicles used to get people to court on our behalf, usually just one other but the prosecutor was understandably upset that she was having to work on her day off and refused to ride with the guy from local administration on the grounds that they were on different 'sides' of the case. So yes it was very expensive.

We get to court about 3pm and we wait and wait. While we are waiting a cat coming trotting out of a room in the court house and jumps up next to the orphanage lawyer. It was hysterical! A CAT in the courthouse! I realize now they are smart boogers cuz we are in the airport and there is a cat in here too. They know where it is warm. Edward, Valentin, Tatianna, Josh and I just talk and laugh about stuff until we are called into court around 4pm.

Court goes smoothly, no big deal, just the regular questions. The prosecutor was worried about the size of our home but we were able to show pictures and ease her mind. So the judge and two guys sitting with him left to make thier decision. While they were gone Tatianna was apologizing for us being late and siad the judge promised her 4 times to be done with court at 4pm. We told her that we have all done all we can and the Lord will take it from here. Little did I know what that meant. :o) The judge returned and granted us our petition to adopt the boys and change their names, sur names and dates of birth. (Younger they are the more one on one therapy I can get for them.) They left again and the judge walked past but the other two men shook our hands and said congratulations. I thanked everyone else, we walk out of the room, Valentin and Edward shake our hands say congratulations and LETS GO!!

So while we were waiting on the judge to decide, Valentin was calling the bus station to ask them to wait or meet us somewhere. The lady on the other end was not willing to us help. So we are in the car and there is ice on the windshield so we are having to drive very slow. We got the ice off but the wipers were iced so we couldn't clear the windshield of the moisture. Slowly we drove and got on the road going the way the bus was going. We went down a ways and turned around sitting on the left side of the road facing oncoming traffic.

We figured out that we were bus hunting. Every bus or big rig that came by we were all glued to the window trying to figure out if it was the one. Then a cop came, Valentin and Tatianna told him our situation and he said he would help us!! So after quite a while here comes the bus and we have a cop in the middle of the road waving him down, Tatianna waving, Valentin flashing his lights all to get us on this bus.

Tatianna speaks to the driver who agrees to let us on. We put our luggage in the underneath compartment. I try to give that guy our tickets he says to me "Go sit down." So I hug and wave goodbye and get on the bus. It was now 6pm. WOW!! How crazy is that! While we were bus hunting we were all laughing and giggling. Tatianna said "I'm only laughing cuz you are, but this is the last hope to get to the airport tonight." I figured that's what made it so funny!! How cool is GOD! He even brought a cop along to help us bus hunt!!

Anywho, we are now at the airport and are getting ready to fly out at 5:35am. I will update you all again when I have internet. Thank you so much for all your prayers! support!! EVERYTHING! Thank you for walking in faith with Josh and I through this, we really do serve an awesome God!!!

Josh, Autumn, Asher, Caius, Yuri and Bohdan!

Day 22- 1 MORE SLEEP!

Just sittin on the floor feeling yucky. :o(

Cuties, I wish they would have felt good enough to play today.

Pink again but blue booties!

Ok Josh I and were talking about how blessed we are to have all of you following, praying, supporting us through this journey. Thank you so much you have been such a blessing to us. We were figuring it out and we think if we mapped everybody on a map of the world the pins would wrap all the way around! I'm amazed how BIG our God is!

So here is some commentary...

10pm- Aut "I'm going to bed"

11pm- Josh "Did you set the alarm?

Aut "yes" (I double check it is set for 8:45am our driver picks us up at 9:30 am).

12am- I have a headache and can't sleep stay up till 1 am.

8 am- Josh "What time is it?"
Aut barely awake looks at phone "8am"

unknown time to us...... do you see where this is going?

Josh "What time is it?" Aut gets phone "9:37am Oh MY GOSH!!!!"

The bed explodes and we aren't in there anymore.

9:40 am phone rings is Tatianna.

Josh in his rush accidentally hangs up on her! Ugh!

9:42 am mad run down 5 flights of stairs to the car. Oi! Gotta love it.

We don't know what happened cuz the alarm is still set on the phone. ? We felt awful! Tatianna and Valentin were very understanding and laughed with us.

As we found out upon arrival, the orphanage has been closed due to the flu. They went ahead and let us see the boys but you could tell they weren't feeling well. I don't think they have the flu but something was up. Yuri was self soothing before he even got to us. Usually he won't start until later in the visit. Neither boy wanted to play so we just sat and tried to comfort them. Tatianna came and went over some questions that might be asked during court tomorrow.

So even though it was a hard decision we decided not to visit the boys tommorrow. I think it will be good since the orphanage is closed anyway and they aren't feeling great and since we have court and have to get packed up to head out afterward. So today was the last day we will see the babies for a few weeks, yuck.

Here are a few answers to some of your questions, sorry if I leave anything out.

- yes, Josh and I will both be coming home for the 10 day wait period.

-yes, both boys are on a bottle, neither eat solids

-Only I will be coming back to get them accompanied by my wonderful Sister-in-law, Robin

- I think Bohdan is wearing a 6-9 month and Yuri is in 18 month.

What a ride! Only one more sleep till court, Yippeee! This is quite a long time coming! Plese continue to pray for the Judge and for Tatianna. Thank and love to you all!