We Passed!

We passed court today!  We are so relieved and so excited at the same time! Yana is such an amazing little girl! Today I got to see a glimpse of Yana beginning to believe that we truly love her and that she is our daughter. Court  has to be so difficult for an older child because they have to sit and listen to their story being told out loud for everyone to hear. They also have to re-live their history and how they ended up in an orphanage. In Yana's case she has been in this orphanage since she was 6 years old. Yana had no control over the choices that her parent's made and had to live a life that was full of hardships that you and I can't even begin to understand. Here's the good part, after hearing the woman from the child services department audibly state that there is no one in Ukraine willing to adopt Yana then Bryan and I were asked some questions by the court. We stood up in front of Yana and in front of everyone in court and explained our deep love for her and that we desperately want her as our daughter. We stated that we are committed to help her learn that she is worthy and deserving of reaching all of her dreams. We got to look in her eyes and say that we are committed to love and support her for the rest of our lives. Yana was emotional today in court and I think that is such a healthy response to all of this. I have been concerned from the start about Yana not feeling comfortable enough around us to show her emotions. God is transforming this right in front of our eyes. After the judge read his ruling out loud declaring us as her parents she just laid her head on my shoulder and said over and over that she loved me! God is so good! He is equipping all of us as we go and it is just awesome! You know that there are many good books out there to prepare you for adopting but I learned today that God is totally in control of Yana's healing and bonding and that He is going to finish an amazing work in this little girl. Thank you God that You are in control and going to equipt this very imperfect mom to learn how to love Yana as my daughter and that You are going to heal her wounds in time and teach me how to be there for her when she needs a mom. Thank you all for your prayers! God has truly blown me away by this journey! I pray that we continue to be open to His calling so we don't ever miss being a part of seeing His presence so clearly in our lives. I can tell you that my life began with experiencing the loss of some pretty amazing people but God is so faithful that He continues to bless me in ways that I truly don't deserve.

She's getting ready for court!

Pretty sweet!

I love this girl!

Waiting for court!

She's ours!

She's ours!

Now it's time to relax!

A friend of mine and her small group sent us with bags of stuff for the kids! They all loved it!

Hanging out with friends showing them her new sisters!

It doesn't get much sweeter than this!

 Now we go back to San Antonio and wait 10 days. This time period is for any appeals that may occur on behalf of our adoption of Yana! Please pray that Yana have a safe and peaceful 10 days and nothing change regarding the court's decision. We will be back on the 11th day to get our Yana's passport and birth certificate. Yana Sims sounds like a good new name to me! Then it's home for good in the great state of Texas! Can't wait!