Judge Makes It Official!

Hello from Mariupol, Ukraine. It's been a bit difficult to get on line here, and trying to log on through our apartment or a hotel is sort of a laugh. So, I walk 20 minutes to the only internet cafe within 50 miles, where the prompts and Windows text is in Cyrillic. Makes for interesting "guessing" on commands that one normally takes for granted, such as "reply," spell check," etc.! So, forgive me if my spelling is off--funny how much we all depend on the spell checker...

We are officially the proud parents of 6-year-old Cory Yevgen Duncan. Here in eastern Europe, folks have shortened, familiar names based on their birth names. Cory's "nickname" is Jhenya, as I have mentioned, pronounced with a soft J sound like Gigi. He's awesome - we are already in love. He's our son! We have had about 8 visits to the orphanage over the past 8 days, and he has really grown on us, including the three girls. Yesterday, Friday, we went before the judge who officially ruled that we were fit parents and that Jhenya was now our son. A powerful moment.

This morning the girls boarded an early flight back to Kiev on an old Soviet Aeroflot craft, which made me a tad nervous, but I then was able to speak to them at mid-day from their new apartment in downtown Kiev. All is well, thankfully. They fly home Tues, and other than a couple of hours of official paperwork on Monday for Suz, their time is their own. They are hoping to actually see a little bit of the beautiful sites of Kiev.

I have about 11-12 more days here in Mariupol, most of which is simply cooling my jets waiting out the mandatory 10-day waiting period before international adoptions can be approved. This period is no more than a formality, as yesterday, by the judge's decree, Cory became our son. It was a great day. The courthouse was interesting. Actually there was a 1,000 square-foot room with broken tiles, a few benches, and a table and chairs for the judge and his assistant. He asked Suzanne and me a few questions, and seemed genuinely interested in Cory and in our desire to make him our own. It was a simple, fairly quick, yet profound process. There were smiles and hugs all around afterward. Cory was not present in the court, so later we went for our daily visit to the orphanage. Unfortunately, he could not come out and play with the girls as he was struggling with a bit of a fever. So, it made the girls visit more difficult as this was the last time they were to see him until he and I arrive back in the States sometime in mid August. My time is basically my own now, and between visits with Cory, I may visit the Crimean Penninsula for a couple of days. It's called the Greece of the Black Sea.

In retrospect, it's nothing short of amazing to think of how fast the process of finding and adopting Cory has been. We began the process on Wednesday 7/18 with our appointment with the adoption center, and finalized the adoption on Friday, 7/27 - just nine days. Both Igor (our translator) and Yuri (our Ukrainian adoption coordinator) say they've never seen a more stream-lined, fast process. And we KNOW it is a credit to your prayers and the skill of our team here in Ukraine.

Please pray:

- After two intense weeks of paper chasing, etc., please pray that Suzanne and the girls (Emily, Hannah, Kylie and Zoe) have a relaxing, enjoyable time in Kiev and a safe return to U.S.

- health Cory has he recovers from a fever

- health and safety for me as I remain here to wait out the 10 days, and then quick processing of birth certificate here in Mariupol for Jhenya, transportation back to Kiev with Jhenya, and final paperwork "smoothness" with the U.S. embassy

- Bonding time across the language barrier between Jhenya and me as I continue to visit him at the orphanage and travel home with him in a couple weeks.

You have no idea what your prayers and love have meant to us. This has been an amazing journey, and we have seen God's love and guidance so clearly throughout.

And finally: I just learned online that in the late 90s, the National Geographic Society named Mariupol the second most polluted city on the planet. I'm not surprised :)

Love and blessings from the Duncan family.