Successful court day!

Wow, was today stressful! Both the Dellanos and us had court and we went first, taking a full hour and 15 minutes of drilling questions from both the prosecutor and the judge, then we were approved for adopting Marina. Evan was amazing. Of course Evan was also asleep though the entire proceeding...we are grateful for the coma of a nap that Jesus himself bestowed upon that child! What a day, but then we waited for John and Mel Dellanos to also be approved as Timothy's parents as well. We put on a shared mp3 and sat on the group W bench with various other cases still waiting to be heard...

Then the amazing happened. We were walking out of the courthouse and were able to meet Marina's birth parents. I would post the photos but we are at the mall rewarding Evan for behaving like a champ all day and Tully changed jackets walking out the door of the apartment, leaving the camera in jacket number one...so the photos will lag behind.
Anyhow I cannot say enough for VIktoria and her husband. Our greatest day is so bitter sweet for them as they know they let their only child relocate nearly 7 thousand miles away for her own good. It is so similar to letting Caylyn relocate to Heaven for the good of her life, and it hurt more than anything I could breathe into words. So my heart hurts for these beautiful people as they make the hardest decision of their lives. I promised the very best for Marina and I promised to keep her mother and father in the know for all they will miss first hand. I assured her that the mileage was really not as far as it sounded, and several other promises too intense to write but our facilitator was crying by the time she translated so I know she said the right words. My heart is rejoicing in an exhale of hope as I inhale the tears for her mother who went through the trouble to carry her after trying for 7 years only to birth a child in a country of pure unacceptance. And that is our day in this amazing eastern european country where the sun shone like crazy as the wind turned a bit bitter. A direct reflection of our day...
Thanking GOD for Miracles, for here we are, the parents of yet another beautiful ray of sunshine.