Court was a success!

We were picked up by our driver and taken to the court house where we waited for all the other participants of the court to arrive 

Inside the building was not the typical court room, instead it was a regular office room , fairly small and 9 of us walked in and sat around a desk where the judge sat. We were given lots of instructions beforehand from our facilitator such as .... Don't cross your legs, don't put your hands in your pockets , stand when spoken to, always look at the judge even when the translator is speaking .... 

Needless to say we were a little nervous !

 In the room with us was the facilitator, the orphanage director, the social worker and other representatives from social services and childrens services, the judge and a secretary.

Each person had to speak on their recommendations to the court on our adoption.

First I had to stand and tell about our family and home life and explain why we would want to adopt and why we would want to adopt a child with down syndrome.

I explained that we already had two children with down syndrome, one biological and one adopted in 2011, and I explained that down syndrome is not scary to us, and that we have many resources and much support for special needs children where we live.
I explained that we have witnessed what love can do for a child and that we want to give that same love to Noah.
The judge was then looking at our picture book of our family and asked Kris if he had anything to add and he said  "we have many friends and family ready to love this child.......and I want a boy" He got laughs from the whole room for that one ha ha!

Then we sat down and the director shared his petition.
He said Noah is a very pretty boy and will do very well with love and a family and helpful services 

He said he stays in contact with other families who have adopted from his orphanage from our state and he sees how well their children are doing and knows that we will provide that same opportunity for Noah. He said no one in Ukraine ever asked about him or wanted him. 

The birth mom would sometimes send diapers and food but never saw him because it was too hard 

She had planned for a second child but when this child was born with special needs she couldn't keep him. Her family all took one look at him and said they could not accept him because of his special needs and so she left him at the maternity ward at the hospital.

The social worker said she observed that we did not hesitate when we met him and did not need time to think about our decision , that she could tell immediately that we wanted him. She said that two days before we arrived his birth mom had contacted her asking if anyone had been interested in him, she said she had still been in mourning for him and praying someone would come for him. And when the social worker explained that we in fact were coming the birth mom started to cry and express her gratitude. The social worker expressed that they were all happy we came for him when we did.

The others all shared their satisfaction with our petition to adopt and then we were all escorted out of the judges office to wait in the hall for her decision. About 5 minutes later we were called back into the room and everyone was told to stand and the judge read her decision ....That we were approved and that this child would be an orphan no more and would now be known as Noah John Cox

Yahoo!!! 

We left the courthouse and headed over to the orphanage 

Ludmilla, another facilitator who is part of this amazing team taking good care of these proceedings for these children!

Then we took the girls inside to meet their new little brother!

And we all had to fight for our turn with our bundle of perfection!

They were smitten and my heart burst seeing another piece of this boys family with him!

We are all so thankful for those who helped them be able to be here 

He did not know what to do with all the attention......

little does he know this is only the beginning

He will go from never being held...

to never being put down

When we were debating what to name him when we met him we were certain we would change his name , Noah is not his given name but rather a name given to him to protect his privacy during the adoption, so we assumed we would change it but when we met him and tried all their her names they just didn't fit. 

And Noah did

Noah means peace or comfort and from the first time I saw his picture that was what I felt.....an overwhelming peace.... So it is fitting that he be named Noah. The middle name is a family name that every first son in kris dads line receives so it is kris middle name as well.

He was sporting a darling frogger outfit today over his 5 other layers....it made him appear much bigger then he really is. He is only 14 pounds and seems to be in a 3-6 month size clothing

Dad seriously has a magic touch with his boy...

He loves this position in daddys arms and he fell asleep today 

Initially they told us when we got there that we could only hold him for 20 min becuase he is sick but luckily they ended up letting us keep him for an hour and a half but they told us we were not allowed to come for our evening visit tonight because he is sick, and we have to call in the morning to see if we are allowed to come see him in the morning. He appears to have the same cold he had last when we were here but maybe a little worse , so we have no idea why we couldn't see him while he is sick, but pray we can because he needs his mama to snuggle him while he is feeling sick!

Noah John Cox we are one big step closer to getting you home! Today it was decreed that you are now a son, not an orphan , and in 10 days that decree becomes official and we will be able to bust you out of the orphanage for good!