No Court Yesterday

The cold weather has led to a rash of illnesses in Gorlovka, including (unfortunately) our judge who is currently in the hospital with "pneumonia".  We showed up for court yesterday, only to find no judge and to be rescheduled for Monday afternoon.   Our hope now is that she is up and around soon, feeling better, and ready for a speedy court!!!  It was heart-breaking to watch our girl tear up as she learned that court would not take place.  She is so ready to come home.  We were in the courthouse less than 10 minutes. 

While Monday is only 4 days away, the disruption has an impact on bringing our girl home.  The end of the 10-day wait now falls squarely in the middle of Ukrainian holidays, and we will not be able to get a new birth certificate or passport issued during that period.  We are likely facing a return in January to pick up our girl.  And just 24 hours ago, we were planning to celebrate New Years at home together.

We tried to make the best of it.  We spent the rest of the day at the orphanage playing with our girl and one of her friends.  We had planned on being busy all afternoon with court and passport photos and parties, so we didn't bring any new games or crafts to do.  We spent a lot of time just looking over all the pictures of home again (which was surprisingly comforting for all of us). After that, I was amazed at the ingenuity of the kids.  They were bored with our standard games, so they took the colored pieces from Trouble and made a game out of a magazine maze discussing different occupations.  We were bored with Uno so we made houses of cards.  We played tons of Tic-Tac-Toe. The kids outside smoothed an ice track for "skating".  It was really fun to watch.

The kids are amazing and we are so lucky to have good friends, family, and coworkers that make it possible for us to be here for this extra time.  We are hoping to get back on track soon everyone.  Be advised, though - your Christmas presents and cards will be on Russian Orthodox schedule this year!

Just like the people inside, the dogs formed a line at the courthouse.

One of the kids at the orphanage finds new things to do with a deck of Uno cards