Trip 2, Day 3: COURT!

The judge said YES! Now we have the 10 day waiting period and can pick him up Saturday the 26th!

It turned cold again during the night--something like -20 when we left our apartment this morning. I didn't realize how nice those +10 temps had been! We arrive at the courthouse at around 9:15AM. Doug is armed with his index cards of notes since he'll be having to answer the majority of the questions. The court house is not like that in the US where you have people walking in and going wherever they need to. Here you check in with the "guard" and then sit in the waiting area for whomever it is you are waiting on. The court secretary comes to get us about 9:45, we all run through a turn stile and metal detector, and then head up a flight of stairs, down a long hall, and down a flight of stairs, and into the court room. Doug, I, and our translator sit at a table facing the judge's bench. At another table is a representative from MOE and the psychologist from the orphanage. The prosecutor comes in dressed head to toe in a light blue military looking suit and sits near the judge's bench. The court secretary sits to the side of the judge's bench. And so we wait for the judge to appear. Then I notice the bars at the side of the court room. This is where the criminals go during their court appearances. They are literally in a cell inside the court room. It is very intimidating to say the least.

The judge comes in and we all stand. Doug and I each have to state our names, occupations, birth dates, and address. Then we submit our photo album and medicals and state that we elect our translator to translate for us. Then the "interview" begins. The questions are mainly for Doug. He does a great job, and I am thankful they want him to do most of the talking! The judge and prosecutor go through their questions which takes about an hour. Then I get my turn; I only get about 5 questions and then our part is over. The lady from MOE goes through the parental background of our little boy and how he came to be in the orphanage. Then the psychologist from the orphanage describes our meeting with him yesterday and gives her recommendation for him to be adopted. We then all leave the room except for the judge and wait in the hall for about 5 minutes. We're called back in, and the judge announces that she believes it would be in the best interest of our little boy for him to go home with us!

The orphange doesn't want us to visit him today since he is sick. Our coordinator will call us in the morning if we can go see him tomorrow. I'm just in awe thinking about how this judge's decision has changed the course of this little boy's life.

Outside the Krasnoyarsk Court House after our court appointment!


On a side note, I think we're getting the hang on the Russian way of sitting around at the restaurant table for quite a while after you finish eating. We've decided that we really don't have anything else to do in this frozen tundra!