Our Day in Court

On Tuesday, Feb. 3, we went for our formal court appearance. In addition to the judge, in attendance were a doctor from the B.H., a social worker, our attorney, our interpreter, a prosecutor, and the judge's secretary. Early on in the proceedings, John gave his eloquent (memorized) speech regarding our background, why we wanted to adopt, and how Ayazhan would be raised. Then I was permitted to say a few words about how we had grown to love Ayazhan and how humbled, grateful, and thrilled we were to be entrusted to care for her. During our presentations, the judge did not look at us (which was just as well, as it made for fewer nerves); he busied himself by flipping through the small photo album we had prepared for court. After our presentations, the doctor and social worker gave their professional endorsements of us. The judge then proceeded to go through ALL of the documentation, page by page, in our dossier! Having never seen our dossier, you cannot imagine the amount of information that had to be reviewed, but if you envision a stack of papers approximately 4" high, you get the picture. The judge reviewed, out loud (which was interpreted for us), our birth certificates, marriage certificate, home study, bank information, employment records, finger prints, EVERYTHING! Throughout the 45 minute review, he continued to not make eye contact with us (we tried not to take this too personally even though we thought we deserved at least a glance, as we looked quite dapper dressed in our "Sunday best" suits). During this time, our attorney text messaged his buddies (or so we're guessing), while the prosecutor and secretary took a couple notes and looked blankly into space.

Meanwhile, John and Sherri were occupying themselves with their own thoughts. Sherri began thinking about how we had begun this journey almost TWO years ago, attending an informational session on adoption at The Cradle in Evanston, and here we finally were...in Kazakhstan, at the last step of the legal process! How should one be feeling at this time? Over-joyed? Over-whelmed? Humbled? Grateful? In shock? During this time, she felt a little bit of all of the above, but for the most part, realized she felt exhausted, as she had only gotten a couple hours of sleep the night before. John was thinking "My God? Is this judge going to be going through each and every page of our dossier? If so, we'll be here forever!...Is this attorney, who's never introduced himself to us going to be able to do his job?...Will the judge ask us any questions?"

After the review of our documentation had concluded, the prosecutor stood up and recommended we be granted permission to adopt. We were then told that the judge would deliver his decision in an hour. We went into the hallway to sit and wait. Of all the buildings in Karaganda which we have been inside, this courthouse was the only one that did not have heat. Go figure. About the time Sherri's toes were numb and John's nose was red, we were called back into the judge's chambers. He read his decision and when we heard each of our names read, along with "Samantha Ayazhan Blix" it was a beautiful moment indeed!! As is typical in times of great joy, Sherri started to cry and John was at the ready with a tissue. While we had hoped to take a photo of the happy parents following this auspicious moment, we were told photos were not allowed inside, nor outside the courthouse.