Tentative Dates

We have some dates, and since I know there are people who want to know, I'll pass them on. We will get Julia on July 9th, which is her 6th birthday. Our court decree will become final on the 10th, and we should be able to pick Nadia Angelica up on either the afternoon of the 10th or the morning of the 11th. We will be sitting here waiting for paperwork to go through until about July 20th. Then we will be able to go to Almaty and do our embassy stuff. We should be able to get out of here on July 26th. Which will put us home on the 27th, one week after our original estimate. All of this could change if we have any snags, but it shouldn't change much. Oh, cute story...Nadia Angelica's caregiver was telling us this morning that when she was washing her yesterday, Nadia Angelica said that she wants Mama to wash her. Soon, baby, soon... Love you all, Angie

One More Thing

I don't know how I forgot to mention it earlier, but we received even more good news today...we received a $6000 grant from Shaohannah's Hope Adoption grants. Happy dance everyone!!!!! I think it's a really seriously God Is Good kind of day!

Court Day 2 Continued

Sorry for the extra short post earlier, but we were meeting friends for a celebration dinner. So we had our last bit of court today and the judge asked Nicholas to come to court to speak, and she asked him a few questions and he did really good at answering all of them (thereby earning himself a prize) and was actually just getting warmed up when they were done asking him questions. For those of you who know Nicholas, I'm sure that's not hard to imagine. We heard more testimony from everyone involved and then the judge made a positive decision, but it was just informal because their law states that she has to type up a summation of her decision and read it out to us before it is final. But since she had cases all day, we didn't get to go back until 6pm to hear the final verdict. But we were about 99.9% sure that it was positive. Still it was nice to go back and hear the final summing up and get it in writing. Now we start the 15 day waiting period before we get to take custody of them, but the 15 days doesn't start until tomorrow. So we were excited and saying to Nicholas how great it was that now we get to have his sisters for sure and he was asking, "They get to come home now?" So we're like, "No, it will still be a while before they get to come home with us." So then it was no big deal to him--he doesn't know the difference--they were his sisters who have to keep living in the orphanage before and they are still his sisters who have to keep living in the orphanage. Big deal. Anyway, then we took some of the people who spoke on our behalf in court out to lunch and gave gifts to them. And then we came home and took a nap. In the attached pictures, the judge is the lady in the maroon robe. The doctor from the babyhouse is the woman in the parking lot with the black shirt on, and the lady from the Office of Guardianship and Care is the lady with us in the white shirt. They were all very nice and helpful! The woman with us in the black shirt in the picture with the judge is our lawyer, Svetlana Belogur. If you ever need a lawyer in Kazakhstan, I highly recommend her! Also, I'm throwing in a few pictures from our last visits with the girls and from the Pavlodar river cruise we went on. We love you all and thanks so much for your prayers! There's another family here that really needs prayer too. They have had 4 days of court and have not yet received a positive verdict--the judge keeps asking for things their lawyer is not prepared for. I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but everyone keeps saying how weird it is and unlike anything they've ever seen before. They are wonderful people and we want so badly for them to finish and get a positive verdict tomorrow. Please pray that they will get through tomorrow and that God will go before them and give them favor. I know they have people praying for them back in Florida, but they obviously need a little extra boost at this point. Thanks guys--we love you all! Angie

Court Day 2

Everyone please welcome Julianna Faith Pampell and Nadia Angelica Pampell to the family! Fuller details later--right now we're going to go celebrate! Love to all! Angie

Court Day 1

Well, we are through with day 1 of court. Everything went well, but we didn't finish. We simply ran out of time because we are adopting 2 children instead of one. Our court started at 4:30, so we did not have enough time to finish for both girls. We have to go back to court at 9:30am in the morning to hopefully finish things up. Pray for us and we will call those who gave birth to us later today.

Greg

Going to Court

We have court tomorrow at 4 pm. If all goes well, Olga (the director at the Kachiry orphanage) said Julia may be able to spend a few nights with us. That would be so great for us. So we're hoping that will work out. Anyway, everyone keep us in your prayers and keep your fingers crossed for a great court date and quick resolution tomorrow. Blessings all! Angie

Court Date

We have confirmed our court date with our lawyer for Monday June 23rd at 4 pm. The people who had court this week did not go very well, since some of their stuff was left undone. We have been scrambling with our lawyer since she heard about their court session to try to make sure we have everything we need. They have to go back to court tomorrow for a second day of court. Things are expected to go better this time. We are going to Kachiry to see Julia again tomorrow. I'm ready to get them and go home. Pray for us that our court will go smoothly and that everything will be fast and easy the first time. I don't really want to have to have 2 days of court. If all goes well, our decree will be for June 23 and we'll have to wait until the 16th day after that to pick up the girls and start on our way home, with a few days stop in Almaty for US Embassy stuff. I don't know what date that will actually put us on, but very close to our original estimate. Love you guys! Angie

No News Is Good News???

Well, we still don't know our court date. Our lawyer went to the judge today and she couldn't tell her until tomorrow. So hopefully we will find out tomorrow that we have a court date SOON! Please pray hard!!!!! Like prayer and fasting kind of prayer until tomorrow.

We took some cute pictures of Angelica in American clothes today. The top picture is actually a dress and scarf I bought for her here. I think it's adorable!!! Got to visit Julia and Angelica today so we had a good day! Enjoy the pictures and pray for a fast court date! Love you all! Angie

We're Still Here

We're still here, waiting for court. We had a great Father's Day and shopped in the afternoon and went to a house church tonight. It was wonderful!!! We bought stuff at an outdoor bazaar and at a little mall right next to the bazaar. And we all ate lunch at a yummy cafe for less than $5. We felt like we hit the jackpot today! Greg and Nicholas both got shoes and Greg got a hat and some sunglasses. I bought the girls each a dress at the same set of shops the other day and Julia's looks so pretty on her! I haven't tried Angelica's on yet, but I plan to tomorrow. We didn't get to see her on Saturday because we went out to Kachiry in the morning and the orphanage was closed in the afternoon. But we tried clothes on Julia and had a great visit. It was nice and long. And we were out of the van! Hallelujah! We showed her pictures of our house and talked about coming to live there and she liked the clothes we brought. Then we got our pictures developed for court. Pray pray pray for a soon court date and for our I-171H to get here FAST! It's at our adoption agency in Virginia finally! For those of you who don't know adoption lingo-that's a REALLY important piece of paperwork that we need before court. So pray hard! We should find out our court date tomorrow. Until then--love you guys! Angie

Pictures

Here are the pictures from the last 2 days. We didn't get to go to Kachiry today. I think it's just so far that now we're done with our 14 days, they don't want to take us there every day anymore. I guess I understand that, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. The lady in the pictures with us and Julia is the lady from the Office of Guardianship and Care. She will tell the judge whether she thinks it's a good idea for Julia to be adopted by us. She seems to like us, so that's good. We have had good visits and Angelica learned how to drink out of a sippy cup, because I'm not thinking I want to give her glasses to drink out of, which is what they do here. But I'm afraid of spills. We're still having fun, and very ready for the girls to be able to come home with us! We love you all and can't wait to bring our whole big family home! Love, Angie

One Step Down...

Well, our paperwork went to the judge today to request a court date. One step down, several to go! We took Julia to take passport pictures today, only after we took them we found out that they won't work. So one day after Julia gets out of the hospital we will get to take her to Pavlodar to take pictures for her passport. She is supposed to be out of the hospital on Friday. We are seeing improvement every day in how she looks and sounds. We had good visits with both of the girls today, but I am opting out of posting pictures today because I have to load them one at a time and it takes such a long time to do each one that I'll just save it. The suspense will make you all want to see them more tomorrow. :) Anyway, sorry for the short post, but I'm typed out tonight! Love you all!

Bonding days 12-14

So has it really been that long since I posted? It doesn't seem like it should be. We are on different days at different orphanages, though, so it sounds like more days than it really is. We finished day 14 today at Kachiry (which is kind of funny since we have seen Julia fewer times than Angelica) and we finished day 13 at the Pavlodar babyhouse. So yesterday was day 12/13. Yesterday they started out telling us we might not be able to go see Julia again. So we went in the morning to see Angelica. Then after we had seen Angelica for about 30 minutes, our translator got a phone call and when she got off she said that if we wanted to see Julia we had to go immediately to Kachiry. So we left at once for Kachiry and got to sit in the van with Julia again for about 20 minutes before they said she had to go in and take a nap. She also loves to draw and color and is very good at it. Yay for 2 artists for Mommy! Today we went to Kachiry in the morning and sat in the van again. Julia's caretaker came with us and she said the doctors expect Julia to be able to leave the hospital on Friday. She is getting antibiotic injections right now. She looked much better today. Still pretty congested in her chest, though. We had the lady from the office of guardianship and care with us today and she sat and watched us color. It was a really full van! Julia's caretaker was saying how unusually quiet and shy Julia was; she said she is one of the 2 leaders in her group and usually very talkative and energetic. We have definitely not seen that side of her yet. I'm sure she'll open up more as she gets to know us and feel safe and comfortable. Then we went to see Angelica this afternoon and she wore the sunglasses I brought her and looked hilarious! We had lots of fun and I feel like we see more and more of the real her every day. When we went to take her back to her group, the translator was telling her to tell Papa bye because Mama was going to take her back to her group now, and she was saying "Nyet, nyet!" (no, no) the whole way up the stairs. Tanya (the translator) said to her that she shouldn't be sad, because soon she will get to go with Mama and Papa and Nicholas and not go back to group any more. And she said she did not think that was true. I guess that just seems weird to her that we are always bringing her back and then one day we just won't and she's too little to understand any of the why's of this situation. It was kind of sad, though, because when I went to her group to get her, all of the other kids know I am Angelica's mama and they all ran up to me saying "Mama! Mama!" and lifting their hands to me and stuff. So I played with all of them while Angelica got dressed to come with me. They were all happy and smiling and playing, but it was sad anyway. And yes, we are outside in sweatshirts today because it's that cool outside. Hallelujah! And incidentally, as I feared, my straightener died yesterday morning. Rats! But I bought a new one here this afternoon and I feel very happy now that I didn't bring my CHI. Love you all! Angie

Back to Kachiry

Friday afternoon we went to a kid's amusement castle. It's named after a Russian cartoon character and is sort of like Chuck E. Cheese. It was lots of fun, and we plan to go soon again together with the other family here who has their sons with them.

Saturday morning we got to go back to Kachiry to visit Julia. She is still in the hospital, and the orphanage assistant director said we would draw too much attention if we went in (it's the Kachiry village hospital and very small and not used to Americans). So she went up and got Julia and she came and sat in the van with us. She was very quiet and looked like she was still feeling pretty bad. She definitely still has a lot of chest congestion. But we had a good visit and talked to her a bit through our translator about coming to live with us in our house in America. I don't think she really has any frame of reference for that, and she was really quiet like she was just trying to take it all in, but when the assistant director of the orphanage brought her back up, she said that she was telling the other girls that her family had come to visit her and that she was going to get to go and live with her mama and papa after she got better. She is definitely less comfortable with us than Angelica is, which is probably in part because she's older and in part because we've seen her a lot less.

Then we went to visit Angelica and it's getting pretty funny to watch how much more okay with us she is each day now. She talked to Nicholas for the first time today. Before she would look at him and point and say Nicholas, but Saturday she was coloring (don't mess with her coloring book!) and Nicholas came and started trying to color with her, and she grabbed the colors out of his hands and fussed at him. "Nicholas, Nicholas, nyet Nicholas!" Nyet means no. I think I foresee a referee job in my future between those two!

Last night we went to a really good restaurant with the other adopting families. It was lots of fun and we were so loud we thought we might get kicked out of the place! We had like a four hour dinner! Luckily it was an outside restaurant, so the boys all just ran around playing and collecting pine cones.

We are going to go to lunch at the apartment of the family who is from Australia and are volunteering in the orphanages here. She works at the babyhouse and he teaches English in the school at the Kachiry orphanage. They have a 4 year old son, so the boys should have a good time playing together.


Blessings and love to all of you! Enjoy the pictures!