Tuesday, July 15, 2008

We are officially new parents!!!

We went to court today. We were finally allowed to take Misha from the camp today. We took him shopping for some new clothes which was quite an adventure. We went to store after store, but we couldn't find any clothes for teenage boys, and the clothes are very expensive here. We wish we had brought more clothes with us. The court actually went quite smoothly. I was more nervous than anyone else. Court takes about an hour, they ask you a lot of questions about the family in Ukraine to make sure that no one would take an interest in keeping Misha here. It was hard for me as they went over and over why no one here could take him and that no family in Ukraine had shown any interest in him. They also had a lot of questions about our contact, how often we wrote and called. They also asked us about our income and home. A woman from the jury was worried that we were going to make Misha change religions. The sent us out for five minutes and then announced that our petition was successful. Misha wanted to change his name from Mykhalo to just plain Misha Jorgensen. So we have our son!! We were invited to go and celebrate, but Misha was anxious to get back for his soccer game. They have a fierce competiton going with the neighborhood Roma men. Because it is the Roma men's territory they get to choose which side of the field and they get to decide if the ball is in or out. It is kind of frustrating because our boys have to play facing the sun and many calls are questionable, but they are excited to play against tougher competition. They had already easily beaten the boys in the surrounding camps. We attended a singing talent competition that was a lot of fun, all of us got to vote for a winner and Misha's girlfriend won by a landslide. We are pretty sure that it was rigged!! For all the other competitions the kids vote for the children from their own orphanage, but they were all convincced to vote for her. Misha was the one collecting votes for her and almost everyone put their vote in his cup. We've been teasing him that he is running a little mafia organization here. In actuallity he is very well liked and respected by all the children. Kent organized a game of softball using ping pong balls and paddles. We have to get creative here! The kids thought it was a lot of fun. We have gone to church twice now. The church members were very warm and welcoming and patient with our lack of speaking ability. We continue to enjoy the city, but it is shocking how expensive the cost of living is here when the incomes are so low. Nothing is cheap. FYI for those of you coming later, I bought the converter adaptor set from walmart and it has worked great with all our plug in stuff. I haven't been able to plug in our computer at the internet cafe, so I am just downloading pictures from our camera. My kids back home are somewhere in the middle of Wyoming , close to Yellowstone at a family reunion. We are missing them like crazy!!!!



4 comments:

The Rogers Family said...

Congratulations to you and your new son, Misha Jorgenson! I'm so incredibly happy for you. What a journey it has been. You all look so happy.

Which one is Misha's girlfriend?

The pictures are great! Thanks.

Andreas said...

You finally have your boy...we are ALL so excited for you. You can bring him the the next luncheon Arrianna puts together.

Thanks for the pictures...reading your story is so interesting.

Anonymous said...

Excellent news - We are so happy for you and Misha.

tjchick said...

I have another brother!!!!!! Ask him how he wants his room and when are you guys coming back? I want the whole family to be together again. I love you Mom, Dad, and Misha!