A Day We Will Never Forget

Wow...what a day it was.  This is going to be a day that Tina and I will remember for the rest of our lives.  We truly feel that we are the most blessed people in the world right now.  Yep, we are now a Mama and Papa!

We had our official court hearing at 12:00 today, a day we have been anxiously awaiting.  The procedings went very smothly.  The judge asked me most of the questions and Tina had to do very little talking...lucky her!  To those families coming after us, don't sweat it!  We were well prepared by our facilitator/attorney Svetlana...she did a phenominal job.  What we were not prepared for was what an emotional journey the one hour hearing was going to be.  As I sit here at the computer trying to put my emotions into words, I don't know where to start.  I do know that no matter what I write, I will not do it any justice.

We both were overcome by so many emotions today.  For me, I held it together pretty well until the orphanage director stood to speak...now this lady, although a nice lady, seems to be hardened to the feelings of the kids (on the outside anyway).  Young boys are taught to not show emotion, and people around them are expected to do the same.  However, when she stood to address the court and speak about Dima's past, she became very emotional and had a hard time making it through what she was saying.  She basically said that Dima has been an orphan since he was an infant.  He came to her orphanage at about 4 years old, and she said one of the first questions he asked her was if he had a Mama and Papa...it completely broke our hearts to imagine a little 4 year old boy saying that.  That was the first of a few very emotional moments for us.  Next, the judge returned for her recess and while standing to read her decision, she started to cry...of course, so did Tina and I.  This is something that, from what I understand, is not very common for a judge to do.  Then, after reading her decision, she stepped down from the bench and gave Tina, Dima, and I a gift.  She gave me a hand painted vase, Tina a bunch of roses and a windchime that has several things depicting the Krivoy Rog region...which is also Dima's birthplace.  Then she gave Dima his gifts, a cross stitched piece of material that her mother made and a windchime.  When she explained the windchime to him, she said that two parts of it were angels that represented Tina and I.  She said these two angels have been sent to him to take him and give him a better opportunity.  Well, needless to say, the tears started flowing again. Little does she know, that Dima is the angel here...more than he could ever know.

I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that this little guy has never had anyone or anything to call his own.  Nobody to say "I love You", nobody to kiss him goodnight, or nobody ever call Mama or Papa.  It truly does break Tina's and my heart, however we feel so blessed to be able to provide that for him.  Some say to us that what we are doing is so kind and that Dima is so lucky, well we feel that WE are the lucky ones here.  He is more than a gift to us than he will ever know.

We had a celebratory dinner tonight with Russ and Lori Walk (who adopted Lena and Edik, a brother and sister who are wonderful kids), Cindy and Eric Noel (who got to see their soon to be son Dema today), and Svetlana.  Svetlana said that after the hearings and back at the orphanage, the director and orphanage inspector were both still talking about how emotional our hearing was.  It gives me a good feeling that these two ladies thought such kind things of Dima that they were both emotional during the hearing.

We have found out a little about Dima's past.  As I mentioned above, he was orphaned when he was about 6 months old.  His mother was 17 when she gave birth to him.  His father was never in the picture, but was listed as "Pitor"...I think that is Peter in English.  His mother or anyone else has never made contact with him since he was orphaned.  As I said, I am having a hard time wrapping my head around this....how could anyone just let this kiddo go?  He is so much fun and has so much love to give...  I guess some things just aren't meant to be understood.

Dima's birth name is TOLSTIKOV Dmytro Pitor (thats how you write your name in Ukraine...LAST, First, Middle)  As I mentioned, Dima's father's name was listed as Pitor on his birth certificate...in Ukraine, your middle name is your fathers first name. So, with that being said...Dima is now, Dmytro Dustin Kunstbeck.  He seems proud to have that name, and I am even prouder.

Here are a couple pictures from today:

Dima and Dusty discussing something before court.

Dusty, Orpahanage Director, Dima, Tina and the Judge after the hearing.

The celebratory diner.