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