Adoption Court

We were able to see Dema yesterday and play with him for an hour in the morning and about half an hour in the evening before court. I swear he was looking around for Daniel as he was constantly scanning the area. He was waiting for his big brother to pop out. He was much more mellow that we remember and we all really enjoyed each other greatly. We heard his cute little deep laugh for the first time as he loved to be held time and then spun around in my arms. It was awesome because he would give me tight hugs and put his head on my shoulder (so I received the snuggles I so crave). He held my hand for most of our playtime (which we are finding is the secret to success- so he in not constantly running to danger). Then, at 5:00 we had court. There were a lot of people but we knew most of them: the social worker, the lawyer from the baby house, one of Dema’s caregivers, Olga and then there was another lady with a broken arm the judge and the court clerk that we did not know. We meet in his office because the courtroom was not available. After we started, the judge noticed that the prosecutor (which our interpreter calls persecutor) was not present so we had to leave the office and wait for them to find her. We finally got started again and it went quickly and smooth. Our request was granted and we were told to come back on the 13th to pick up the adoption decree after the 10-day waiting period. This is a time period where any Ukrainian can come and claim him before we legally adopt him. I understand the reasoning but it is just more time to wait before we can get him back home.