Court went well! We had our court appearance this morning and after two hours of time the Judge recommended that Vasa be our son. We now have to wait the 10 days to have all the processing period and objection period over. As we understand it, we can pick Vasa up on June 15th (one day before Claire's birthday!)
The court was interesting. There were several Government employees from the Baby Home, the Warden's office, his pediatrician and a prosecutor who all spoke. The Judge had questions for each of us. I was questioned first. I tried to look confident, but didn't want to look too confident, (which I wasn't). It was hard to listen to the Judge then listen to our translator and then formulate an answer. She probably questioned me for close to 20 minutes, maybe more, all they while Claire was unsure she was going to be questioned so she tried to enhance my answer. I had to sweetly ask her to wait until I asked for her support (which I did) to give her meaningful and so important input.
Don't worry though, Claire got her 15 minutes. She shined while she was up. We didn't have to take the stand or anything just stand up from our table while speaking. Claire was confident and well spoken addressing the Judge directly while speaking. Claire made the Judge laugh and thru everyone her beautiful smile which as usual, disarmed everyone!
After the questions, which all came from our home study, so we had read over the content each day while waiting and nothing came as a surprise - we listened to the others give a report of Vasa's history, medical report and the story of him coming to us. The prosecutor didn't have any questions for us, which we thought she would, but only had sweet things to say about us. The Lord's favor was absolutely upon us in the court room today! Praise our Father for his love and grace!
The Judge asked (I didn't understand what I was saying) if we would like to have a decision on the case immediately. Which I thought meant she would rule on our request this morning. I answered yes. The Judge said I hear your request and we will come back to it later. The Prosecution opposed our request for an immediate decision.
What we came to find out was that I was requesting that Vasa be released to us today. I really would have loved that but the Judge said she could not agree to overrule the State's 10 day objection period (wait) because Vasa is healthy and not in any major medical need. I am absolutely thankful for that and could not disagree. The Judge ended with sweet things to say about Claire and I. We brought Vasa's shutterfly book from our first visit and showed all the court including the Judge. We also showed her the pictures of our family. She seemed pleased by this.
After the court was complete - the Social Worker (basically our lawyer) gave us four pictures of Vasa from the past. One was February 2009 on his first day in the Baby Home. Sweet baby Vasa! The others look like our boy. Eating soup and playing.
After nearly being arrested for taking a picture of Claire in front of the Court house - we rushed off for possibly the most exciting part of our trip. We took Vasa on a car ride! A worker from the baby home came with us but Vasa rode in my lap. He held on to the window with a death grip. He seemed to be alright and looked as if he might go to sleep. He stayed up from nap time to go with us. We took him to have a picture made for his passport. I had mine taken as well as I will sign for him on the passport next trip (in like 11 days!) On the ride back to the baby home he seemed to relax a bit in the car. He half sat in my lap and half in Claire's while laughing his head off as we bumped down the road. We acted like we were steering the car and beeping the horn. He would wave to the passersby and say paka.
We had our pizza to celebrate and just walked back to our room for a rest. We will get to play with Vasa for a couple of hours this afternoon. We can now begin to count down the days until we pick up our boy. While that is fun to think about...I'm excited to hold three little girls tomorrow night in my own home! I am certain they have had fun with their cousins but I'm ready to see my squirrels.
When I got to hold Vasa as we got into the car I said, "Tee moi sihn" which means "You are my son". He said "Dah".
We love you all and thank you for your sweet prayers! Praise to our Father who has united a child with his family from across the Ocean! He is to be praised! Josh and Claire
The court was interesting. There were several Government employees from the Baby Home, the Warden's office, his pediatrician and a prosecutor who all spoke. The Judge had questions for each of us. I was questioned first. I tried to look confident, but didn't want to look too confident, (which I wasn't). It was hard to listen to the Judge then listen to our translator and then formulate an answer. She probably questioned me for close to 20 minutes, maybe more, all they while Claire was unsure she was going to be questioned so she tried to enhance my answer. I had to sweetly ask her to wait until I asked for her support (which I did) to give her meaningful and so important input.
Don't worry though, Claire got her 15 minutes. She shined while she was up. We didn't have to take the stand or anything just stand up from our table while speaking. Claire was confident and well spoken addressing the Judge directly while speaking. Claire made the Judge laugh and thru everyone her beautiful smile which as usual, disarmed everyone!
After the questions, which all came from our home study, so we had read over the content each day while waiting and nothing came as a surprise - we listened to the others give a report of Vasa's history, medical report and the story of him coming to us. The prosecutor didn't have any questions for us, which we thought she would, but only had sweet things to say about us. The Lord's favor was absolutely upon us in the court room today! Praise our Father for his love and grace!
The Judge asked (I didn't understand what I was saying) if we would like to have a decision on the case immediately. Which I thought meant she would rule on our request this morning. I answered yes. The Judge said I hear your request and we will come back to it later. The Prosecution opposed our request for an immediate decision.
What we came to find out was that I was requesting that Vasa be released to us today. I really would have loved that but the Judge said she could not agree to overrule the State's 10 day objection period (wait) because Vasa is healthy and not in any major medical need. I am absolutely thankful for that and could not disagree. The Judge ended with sweet things to say about Claire and I. We brought Vasa's shutterfly book from our first visit and showed all the court including the Judge. We also showed her the pictures of our family. She seemed pleased by this.
After the court was complete - the Social Worker (basically our lawyer) gave us four pictures of Vasa from the past. One was February 2009 on his first day in the Baby Home. Sweet baby Vasa! The others look like our boy. Eating soup and playing.
After nearly being arrested for taking a picture of Claire in front of the Court house - we rushed off for possibly the most exciting part of our trip. We took Vasa on a car ride! A worker from the baby home came with us but Vasa rode in my lap. He held on to the window with a death grip. He seemed to be alright and looked as if he might go to sleep. He stayed up from nap time to go with us. We took him to have a picture made for his passport. I had mine taken as well as I will sign for him on the passport next trip (in like 11 days!) On the ride back to the baby home he seemed to relax a bit in the car. He half sat in my lap and half in Claire's while laughing his head off as we bumped down the road. We acted like we were steering the car and beeping the horn. He would wave to the passersby and say paka.
We had our pizza to celebrate and just walked back to our room for a rest. We will get to play with Vasa for a couple of hours this afternoon. We can now begin to count down the days until we pick up our boy. While that is fun to think about...I'm excited to hold three little girls tomorrow night in my own home! I am certain they have had fun with their cousins but I'm ready to see my squirrels.
When I got to hold Vasa as we got into the car I said, "Tee moi sihn" which means "You are my son". He said "Dah".
We love you all and thank you for your sweet prayers! Praise to our Father who has united a child with his family from across the Ocean! He is to be praised! Josh and Claire
YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! joshua vasa dunlap!!!!!!! thank you Lord.
ReplyDeleteCongrats :-)
ReplyDeletePraise God! So happy for y'all! It's amazing to think about how God had this all planned out from the beginning! What a blessing Vasa will be to your family and John Dale was right...Vasa hit the lottery becoming a part of your precious family! I can imagine how Claire's smile lit up the courtroom! And if Claire is "Chicken" and the girls are "squirrels", what will Vasa be? :)
ReplyDeleteLove y'all! Praying for a safe trip home!