Court Day.

Alright, now I have some time. I'll do the best to relate our experience in court. Yesterday we sat in the office at the family law center and our court lawyer, Egle, gave us the sequence of events. It is pretty formal and I knew we were just going to have to blunder through. We stayed up a little late last night playing card games. Kornelija is pretty competitive. We have been playing a lot of UNO. My favorite part was when Kornelija looked at me with a smug little grin and dropped a draw 4 card. Followed closely with a little high pitched Ha Ha. We all laughed and I grabbed her by the ankle with my right hand and lifted her into the air and gave a little high pitched Ha Ha of my own. We all had a good laugh at that too. Especially Kornelija, hanging up side down by one leg. She loved it. After the games were over everyone went to bed. We let the girls sleep as long as they wanted this morning. It's better to be sleeping than waiting for court. So they finished their breakfast at noon and then started to get ready. We met Elona just before 2 and took a taxi to the court. When we got there we met Egle our lawyer and she introduced us to a very nice woman who would be acting as our interpreter for the hearing. Also there was the social worker from the girls orphanage, a woman who it sounds like is in charge of all the social workers in the region where the girls live, and another woman who is from the Lithuanian Adoptions Services the larger over all agency. The girls left to have a private conversation with their social worker and we waited. After the girls returned we were brought into the court and seated at a large table to wait for the judge. The room was not to big and just consisted of mainly two tables arranged in a T shape. On the top of the T were 3 chairs. The judge sat in the middle one. Then down one side sat our lawyer, Michele, our interpreter, and then me. The 3 ladies I wrote about above sat across from us. The hearing started with some formalities where we stated that we do not object to the judge we were assigned and then it was my turn to speak. At the base of the T shaped tables was a lectern. So standing at the base of the tables facing the judge I put my left hand on a copy of their constitution and swore to tell the truth or pay a 1000 lita fine. At 2.5 lita's to the dollar not much of a fine for lying in court but that's not really the point. I then gave my speech about how we decided to adopt and chose these girls, also how we are able to provide for them and why we are asking to have the 40 waiting period waved. She asked me a couple of questions. She wanted clarification about the names we chose for the girls. In Lithuania middle names are not common. We kept their first names and used their current family name as their middle name and gave them our family name. This seemed to be a little confusing to the judge that they could have 2 family names. But after clarifying that they would only have our name as their family name and that we chose to keep their family name as their middle name to help preserve their identity and heritage she understood. She then asked about how we chose these girls because only Kornelija was up for adoption. Audrone had consented to be separated from Kornelija because she knew that Kornelija stood a much greater chance of having a family if she was not tied to a 16 year old girl. She didn't think anyone would want them both. So only Kornelija's picture and profile went out. When we explained that originally we didn't know about Audrone but that when we heard that they were going to split the sisters we asked it we could adopt Audrone as well. Then I sat and Michele took the stand. She stated that she agreed with everything I said and elaborated a little more on their schools, our experience with the youth at our church and that we are very excited to have them as part of our family. She did great and was calm, cool and collected. After Michele sat we heard from all 3 of the social workers sitting across from us and they all gave their consent to the adoption. They talked back and forth with the judge for quite a while and then we were asked if we wanted to remain in the court while the judge spoke with the girls or if we thought it would be better if we waited outside the room? I said that it would probably be less intimidating with less people in the room so our lawyer, interpreter and 2 of the ladies across from us left and the girls went in. We all waited in the hallway. Their social worker stayed and they discussed their feelings. Audrone told us later that the judge asked them some unexpected questions as well as the expected, do you want to go, questions. She asked them what we have been doing while we are in Vilnius and did they know if we had any pets? The girls also told the judge that they are nervous about coming to America and that they would like to maybe wait the 40 days so as to be able to spend some more time with their friends. This is in our opinion not the best choice for us or them but we understand that they don't see that this wait will cost us additional thousands of dollars to come back and get them later. But they did understand why it would be a good idea to come back with us now to start school. When they were finished they left and we came back in. We weren't briefed very well on what the closing statements needed to consist of. I knew that I needed to re-affirm our desire to adopt the girls and ask the court to approve their name changes but I didn't get that I needed to ask the court to approve me as their father. So the interpreter is whispering instructions to me and I'm fumbling for words. It was all very awkward. Michele just got to stand up and in essence say "ditto what he said" and then she was done. Then the judge made some closing remarks and stated that she would give her decision on the 40 day waiting period on Friday. So even though the girls were a little apprehensive about leaving in a couple of weeks the judge may still rule to waive the 40 days because it is in the best interests of everyone involved. Court was adjourned and everyone stood as the judge left. We weren't even sure what the verdict was until we asked Elona. She told us that the adoption part was complete and in our favor and that Friday we would find out when we can bring them home. Then we returned to the apartment and changed into some more comfortable clothes. We were all hungry and we decided to go to an Italian restaurant not to far from where we are staying. The Gorgonzola pasta sounded good to me but the girls couldn't find much of anything they wanted to eat. So I asked if they wanted to go somewhere else and then after a big sigh of relief they said yes. So we went to the Can Can Pizza place that we have eaten at several times now. Lithuanian pizza is really pathetic but they love it and as hard for us as court was it was much harder for them. They definitely deserved to choose what they wanted to eat after all that. They did great. After we ate we headed to the little grocery store and picked up a few supplies then back to the apartment for some more UNO and Fill or Bust. Tomorrow we start all the visa application paperwork and medical stuff. This adventure is not over yet. Keep praying.
Thanks for all your support.
KC.