We would like to introduce to you..

Its official!! We are the proud new parents of beautiful Grace Olga Polen. We are now a family of five Tim and I, Sarah (13), Emily (12) and Grace Olga (5). We had our court appointment at noon. We picked up Olga's caseworker (Andrei's mom) and Maria, the director of the institution and we were off. We met our translator Nadia at the court house and shared our adoption story with her in the hallway as we waited. They often referred to us as hero's. We are not hero's, far from it. It is God who deserves the glory in this. We explained that it was God who put this desire in our hearts. This was the first adoption out of this institution and this district. Maria, hoped that there will be more. Tim, said if anything we want people to know about these children.

Well it was time to go in and stand in the gap for our Olga. The room was very small with a cage to the right, I guess for criminals. Two rows of benches, a desk for the court reporter and a desk for the case worker. The court session began by asking us our personal information. Then the judge wanted to know why we wanted to adopt a child with special needs. Tim spoke and did a great job explaining why. They asked how our visits with Olga had been going. Then the caseworker and Maria were asked about our visits. They both agreed that our contact with Olga had been good. We treated her like an individual and they could tell by our eye contact with her. Maria, said Olga was always happy to see us. After going through the formalities the judge and her assistants left the room so the judge could make the decision.

The judge returned and announced her decision. They were allowing us to adopt Olga from the Ukraine and change her name to Grace Olga Polen. Was there any doubt? Finally! It's official!! I whispered to Tim, I can't believe we're sitting here in this little court room in Krivoy Rog, Ukraine. I would never have guessed what God had planned for us.

The judge then stated enough with the formalities and removed her black robe. She came over to congratulate us and began showering us with gifts. She began to cry which caused everyone in the room to cry. It was amazing! You can tell that God touched her heart. She was blessed that we were adopting a child with special needs. She gave us a vase with landmarks of the Ukraine, a doll with customary dress for Olga, a blanket with roses (symbolizes love) that is given to people when they leave the Ukraine and a bouquet of mums. She asked Tim if he would be offended if they gave us an icon. Tim said no, she left and came back and gave it to Tim telling him this was for Olga's protection. We thought it was a nice gesture. We know that Jesus and only Jesus was and will always be Olga's protection.

The waiver of the appeal process....well we are still waiting on God. We're not sure what He has planned for us but so far it has been amazing.

We didn't get to visit Olga this morning because of our court appointment but we were able to visit her this evening. We were now bonding with her as the official mama and papa. We played a little but did a lot more hugging. It was really nice. Kinda like saying it's done, we are now officially a family.