I’m going to try to move rooms before Leah gets back to the
By popular demand we’ll leave you with Leah and the ‘caterpillar shuffle’
Philip, Amanda & leah.
The Caterpillar Shuffle
Poor sick Leah
Thursday, 21 February 2008
Appeal - 12 days to go
In true ‘Davidson Girl’ fashion Leah celebrated becoming a Davidson on Monday by contracting a virus and ear infection, we have only been able to visit her for a short time, once a day up until today when we have been able to visit twice again. She is a lot better now but still not her normal self. We’re counting down the days till we can take her back to the hotel.
I’m going to try to move rooms before Leah gets back to theShiny River
By popular demand we’ll leave you with Leah and the ‘caterpillar shuffle’
Philip, Amanda & leah.
The Caterpillar Shuffle
Poor sick Leah
I’m going to try to move rooms before Leah gets back to the
By popular demand we’ll leave you with Leah and the ‘caterpillar shuffle’
Philip, Amanda & leah.
The Caterpillar Shuffle
Poor sick Leah
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Appeal - 14 days to go
Wow, 800 page views yesterday, that's a little above average!!!!
We have now entered the annoying but necessary stage known as the 'Appeal period'. After the court decision Kaz law states that there must be a period of 14 days when anyone can come forward and appeal the courts decision to grant the adoption. We are not concerned about this and in the past the period was normally waived but for the last year or so they have been stricter in enforcing it. Once the 14 days has elapsed Leah can finally leave the baby house and come back to our hotel for a week or so while all her passport, visa docs, etc are sorted.
The court process itself was very straightforward, we entered the room and sat down till we were called forward by the judge. Once we were called he spoke for a few minutes explaining our rights and why we were all there. We then gave our petition to the court, basically asking permission to adopt Leah and explaining our reasons for coming to Kazakhstan. Then the lady from the MOE and the High Doctor from the baby house spoke about how wonderful we were and how that it would be in the best interests of he child to be adopted by us. After all this the judge asked the court appointed prosecutor (who is there to speak for the child) if she had any protests to make, thankfully she had none. We then all stood up and left the room to allow the judge to reach a decision. 10 years (4mins) later the door opened again and we all filed in for the verdict. The judge, resplendent in his purple robes stood and very formally announced that the court of the Republic of Kazakhstan, sitting in the region of Ust-Kamenogorsk had decided to grant our petition to adopt Leah. All in all it was a quite fantastic experience!!
Jeremy and Elaine from South Africa had court right after us and thankfully it went well for them also. We all went out for a slap-up meal in a fancy Ust restaurant afterwards with our wonderful translator Ragul and the one and only Victor. They both made very touching toasts at dinner wishing us good lives, health and happiness with our new children. We were slightly concerned that while the rest of us were drinking fruit juice Victor was toasting us with Vodka however we think it actually helped his driving as its difficult to imagine anything that would make our bus rides with victor more terrifying!!!
Phew, that was long winded, well done if you made it this far. If you just skipped straight down to look at the photos, shame on you!! I'm looking at you john!
Philip, Amanda & Leah
.JPG)
After court.
Happiest child in Kazakhstan.
"I love the dolly!"
Kiss from mummy.
We have now entered the annoying but necessary stage known as the 'Appeal period'. After the court decision Kaz law states that there must be a period of 14 days when anyone can come forward and appeal the courts decision to grant the adoption. We are not concerned about this and in the past the period was normally waived but for the last year or so they have been stricter in enforcing it. Once the 14 days has elapsed Leah can finally leave the baby house and come back to our hotel for a week or so while all her passport, visa docs, etc are sorted.
The court process itself was very straightforward, we entered the room and sat down till we were called forward by the judge. Once we were called he spoke for a few minutes explaining our rights and why we were all there. We then gave our petition to the court, basically asking permission to adopt Leah and explaining our reasons for coming to Kazakhstan. Then the lady from the MOE and the High Doctor from the baby house spoke about how wonderful we were and how that it would be in the best interests of he child to be adopted by us. After all this the judge asked the court appointed prosecutor (who is there to speak for the child) if she had any protests to make, thankfully she had none. We then all stood up and left the room to allow the judge to reach a decision. 10 years (4mins) later the door opened again and we all filed in for the verdict. The judge, resplendent in his purple robes stood and very formally announced that the court of the Republic of Kazakhstan, sitting in the region of Ust-Kamenogorsk had decided to grant our petition to adopt Leah. All in all it was a quite fantastic experience!!
Jeremy and Elaine from South Africa had court right after us and thankfully it went well for them also. We all went out for a slap-up meal in a fancy Ust restaurant afterwards with our wonderful translator Ragul and the one and only Victor. They both made very touching toasts at dinner wishing us good lives, health and happiness with our new children. We were slightly concerned that while the rest of us were drinking fruit juice Victor was toasting us with Vodka however we think it actually helped his driving as its difficult to imagine anything that would make our bus rides with victor more terrifying!!!
Phew, that was long winded, well done if you made it this far. If you just skipped straight down to look at the photos, shame on you!! I'm looking at you john!
Philip, Amanda & Leah
.JPG)
After court.
Happiest child in Kazakhstan.
"I love the dolly!"
Kiss from mummy.
Monday, 18 February 2008
Court!!
21st April 2007 Irina was born, 2 months premature. 18th February 2008 she became a Davidson!!
Waiting outside the court room was terrifing but once inside everything went so well, but lets talk about that another day, lets get to the pics!!
Also if you want to see anymore you better leave lots of comments!
Philip, Amanda & Leah Davidson.
Mummy, Daddy & Leah
Blue eyed girls!
Daddys girl!
Leah's Caterpillar book.
Leah's fav chew!
Waiting outside the court room was terrifing but once inside everything went so well, but lets talk about that another day, lets get to the pics!!
Also if you want to see anymore you better leave lots of comments!
Philip, Amanda & Leah Davidson.
Mummy, Daddy & Leah
Blue eyed girls!
Daddys girl!
Leah's Caterpillar book.
Leah's fav chew!
Pre-Court Post
Just back from our morning visit to the orphanage, we've now got 3 hours to kill before Victor picks us up to take us along to court. We are anxious understandably but are sure that it will all go well, thanks to all who are continuing to pray for us.
The orphanage is getting a little more crowded now, 7 families from the USA all arrived last night to adopt from the baby house, some of them we have 'met' already from yahoo groups and blogs, its nice to finally meet them in person!
T-minus 5 hours till Leah pics hit the blog!!!!
Philip, Amanda & Leah
The orphanage is getting a little more crowded now, 7 families from the USA all arrived last night to adopt from the baby house, some of them we have 'met' already from yahoo groups and blogs, its nice to finally meet them in person!
T-minus 5 hours till Leah pics hit the blog!!!!
Philip, Amanda & Leah
Sunday, 17 February 2008
Bonding - Day 20
Phew, tomorrow is the big day!! We were practising the court speech last night in the hotel room unfortunately my master plan of giving the speech in exchange for Amanda changing one years worth of dirty nappies isn't going to work, both parents have to speak in court. Amanda can't wait! Leah was in fantastic form today, she must be on her best behaviour in case we change our minds tomorrow!
Appreciate your prayers.
Philip, Amanda & Leah
Mural from the baby house.
Appreciate your prayers.
Philip, Amanda & Leah
By popular request!
These little guys meet us every morning outside the orphanage.
Mural from the baby house.
Friday, 15 February 2008
Bonding - Day 18
18?!? Did I really just type Day 18??!?
Ah well only 3 days now to court! Leah was really good again today, can't wait to be able to show you all some pictures of her! She is starting to move around now, when we first met her she was quite weak but the difference in her strength in a couple of weeks is amazing! She hasn't quite got the hang of this crawling lark yet but she gets around by getting up unto her hands and knees, then flops forward on her belly, up unto her hands and knees again then another belly flop until she gets her hands on what she wants, we call it the caterpillar shuffle, very cute!
It also snowed today for the first time since we've been here, the place is looking very festive!
Keep praying that all will go well in court on Monday. We will see the judge 3.30pm here which is 9.30am GMT.
Hope you're all looking forward to the photos!! ;)
Philip, Amanda & Leah
Leah's Favorite book, just like her Uncle John!!!
Workmen brushing up snow, poor guys!
Ah well only 3 days now to court! Leah was really good again today, can't wait to be able to show you all some pictures of her! She is starting to move around now, when we first met her she was quite weak but the difference in her strength in a couple of weeks is amazing! She hasn't quite got the hang of this crawling lark yet but she gets around by getting up unto her hands and knees, then flops forward on her belly, up unto her hands and knees again then another belly flop until she gets her hands on what she wants, we call it the caterpillar shuffle, very cute!
It also snowed today for the first time since we've been here, the place is looking very festive!
Keep praying that all will go well in court on Monday. We will see the judge 3.30pm here which is 9.30am GMT.
Hope you're all looking forward to the photos!! ;)
Philip, Amanda & Leah
Leah's Favorite book, just like her Uncle John!!!
Workmen brushing up snow, poor guys!
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
Bonding - Day 16
“God has a plan for our lives”. Its an easy thing to say but a lot harder to trust and accept when we’re living through the disappointments and setbacks that life throws at us. We have been on this journey for over three years now and on many occasions have tried to understand why God has allowed us to experience so many delays and trials during this whole process.
Even recently when things seemed to be going well we experienced more delays, we were committed to travelling out to Ust back in October but for some reason the LOI didn’t arrive, we were sure we were going in November but no news. We thought there would be no way we’d still be in Northern Ireland for Christmas but more disappointments and delays. Surely the first week in January then!?! Still no LOI, why was God letting this happen…
We found out today that Leah was only made available for adoption within 3 days of us arriving in Ust, if we had arrived even one week earlier, if we had come out when we wanted then we would have never met ‘our’ Leah!!! It is very humbling to see God answering our prayers so clearly in guiding us to the child we were meant to have.
Many people go through their entire lives not knowing why God has moved in a particular way, living through disappointments and trials without knowing the reason why! God in His goodness has let us know exactly why we were unable to come to Ust until now!
Does this mean we will never doubt God again and that in the future our faith will be perfect??!? Would be nice to think so!
5 days to court.
Philip, Amanda & Leah
Even recently when things seemed to be going well we experienced more delays, we were committed to travelling out to Ust back in October but for some reason the LOI didn’t arrive, we were sure we were going in November but no news. We thought there would be no way we’d still be in Northern Ireland for Christmas but more disappointments and delays. Surely the first week in January then!?! Still no LOI, why was God letting this happen…
We found out today that Leah was only made available for adoption within 3 days of us arriving in Ust, if we had arrived even one week earlier, if we had come out when we wanted then we would have never met ‘our’ Leah!!! It is very humbling to see God answering our prayers so clearly in guiding us to the child we were meant to have.
Many people go through their entire lives not knowing why God has moved in a particular way, living through disappointments and trials without knowing the reason why! God in His goodness has let us know exactly why we were unable to come to Ust until now!
Does this mean we will never doubt God again and that in the future our faith will be perfect??!? Would be nice to think so!
5 days to court.
Philip, Amanda & Leah
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