Cause for Celebration_Yipee!!!

Today we got a very happy call from Sveta (our Kiev facilitator) that she had our long-awaited SDA (Ukraine Central Adoption Governing Office) approval!!! Originally we had expected this approval to be easily given early last week, but instead we had been met with the discouraging news that we needed a new background check from the agency Interpol, with the possibility that we could have to wait up to 7 weeks for it to be processed - ugh!! But no, instead it only took a little more than a week, and for that we are eternally grateful. Thank you to each and everyone of you who kept pulling for us, and for all those powerful prayers!!!

We were so happy we were almost skipping to the orphanage today to spend our precious time with the girls:) All this drama with the paperwork is luckily impossible for us to discuss with the girls because of our limited Russian, so they don't have to worry about deadlines and governmental agencies!!! Instead we found them quietly at work making barrettes and other hair decor with the kit we had given as a birthday present the night before. We were so impressed with how quickly they had figured out how to make the items and how adept they were with tools, glue and glitter. We watched for awhile as they made a few more items and laughed at the glitter on the girls faces. Soon we both had a touch of glitter on our cheeks too:)

While we are thrilled to get our SDA approval, we are far from being ready to come home...

The next step is to reconvene with the judge and all the others (social worker, orphanage director, prosecutor, and our translator) that were at the court hearing we had a week ago Monday, again at the courthouse this Friday at noon. Fortunately, the children do not have to be in attendance. We are hoping this will be a fairly straight-forward affair, but are ready to answer any and all questions asked of us. Our prayer is simple, that the judge will rule in our favor and we can start the 10 day waiting period to make the adoption legal. Now that we have the SDA approval all the decision-making power lies with the judge. Wish us well, as I know you all will!!!

But wait, there's more good news!!! We also learned today that the labor dispute with the passport booklet employees has been settled and they have resumed making passport booklets!!! Double Yipee!! What wonderful news!! A funny irony is we learned that the reason the employees had gone on strike was not for higher wages but simply that they were tired of working without any pay at all. It turns out that they resumed work when the government finally sent them some money (as the government is the major purchaser of passports I imagine - at least legally!) and so now the workers have been paid and are happily back at work...

So today we are savoring all this good news, feeling deeply grateful in our hearts for our lovely girls, and the most wonderfully supportive and loving family and friends!!!