SDA Approval!!!!

As we headed back to Kherson from the orphanage this afternoon, Igor got a phone call from one of his colleagues in Kiev. Our papers have been approved by the SDA. Praise God. They will be on tomorrow night's train back to Kherson, in plenty of time for our preliminary court date. Having these papers in hand, we are hopeful there will not be a long wait between the preliminary court date and the final hearing. Igor is hopeful they can both be finished next week. We have approval to post M.'s full picture after our final court date. We are so looking forward to that.

Today's visit with M. was much more pleasant than yesterday. He is not confined to bed now and overall was much happier. One issue that comes up repeatedly is that he wants us all to himself. This can be good or bad, depending on the context. We love that he feels so comfortable with us and looks forward to time together, and of course it's important for us to do everything we can to strengthen the bonding between us. However, many times if another child or children come into the room where we visit him, he is very rude to them and wants them to leave immediately. Although encounters with some of the other boys have not always been pleasant, overall we enjoy meeting them and know they crave time with someone new just like M. does. We want to prepare him for the fact that he does have siblings who he will have to share us with. Hmmmmm. Any thoughts from those of you who've walked this road? As I mentioned yesterday, it's just plain tricky right now trying to develop respect when we don't have official parental authority yet.

We laughed a lot together today, and weathered issues that came up quickly, so that was encouraging. Overall, M. has a delightful personality and is loved by the caretakers and director (who spoil him some, presenting part of the challenge to us). It will take time to establish boundaries for him in a family setting, and of course right now we have the language barrier, but we are confident that over time, M. will be a wonderful part of our family.