It's A Girl (or 2)

Not from our flesh or from our bone, 

but still miraculously we call you our own.

 It's with great joy
that we announce the adoption of

Anastasia Grace Maurin, 15 y/o and Olena Victoria Maurin, 14 y/o.

This afternoon the Judge granted us official permission to adopt our daughters. We couldn't be happier.
We started out the day with a trip to the orphange to get Olena, she was coming to court with us. She was as excited as we were to be going. We were given a run down by Sasha about what would happen and the things we needed to say when asked specific questions. It all sounded a little scary but we were assured that it was just a formality and that while occasionally things come up we had done everything needed and there was nothing to worry about.

We arrived at the court house and sat patiently to be allowed in. There were 2 other families there and we all entered the court room together to greet the judge. We then exited and went in one family at a time. We were second and we entered to see the judge and two jury members along with a prosecutor, a representative from the Ministry for adoptions in Izmail and a representative from each of the 3 orphanages. It was a little intimidating.
We were asked to tell a little about ourselves, where we worked, our birth years, where we lived and how many other children we have. Mike was then asked how we met the girls and why we wanted to adopt them. After he was done they asked me if I had anything to add, since I was the person that most of this was going to fall on! I laughed a little and told them that I supported my husband and the decision to adopt the girls and that I had been raised in a home with 10 children and that I was pretty used to having a lot of children around. One of the men sitting next to the judge was grinning at me while I was telling them about that. Who would have thought that the fact that I was from a large family would be so useful! Thanks Mum and Dad!! They asked the representative if thy had any problems with the adoption to which they said no and then the prosecutor asked us about Nastia (since she wasn't with us). Once he was satisfied with how we had made contact with her he also agreed to the adoption. Then they asked Olena a couple of questions. The judge then thought about it for a minute and made his final judgement, allowing us to adopt them. The whole thing took about 15 mins. I was a little emotional (shocking, I know!) but I held it together pretty well.
The took a couple of family pictures and then went out to eat Pizza for a celebratory lunch. Sadly Olena apparently doesn't like cheese so we tried to have her pick something else to eat, but it was a little overwhelming for her. We found something and had a great lunch together.

Sasha Called Nastia to tell her the news and Olena spoke with her for a while. I wish I could tell you what they were saying but the one thing that Olena told us afterwards was that Nastia has a boyfriend that she said she was going to break up with tomorrow, because she knows it will be better in America.I don't know for sure if that means she thinks she will be better off in America or if she thinks there will be better boys in America?? I hope its the first one :)

While we were sitting in the orphanage after court, the three of us were playing angry birds. I know, weird right. But angry birds is a game that transcends language! Anyway, we had a group of about 5 other children come and watch with excitement while we were playing. They were offering help, laughing when we didn't win, and just having a good time with us. A young boy came over and said hello and handed us some candy. He then came back a few minutes later and handed me this

It was so cute. We asked him his name and he told us it was Sasha and that he is 7 years old. He was very smart and acted like he was much older than 7. I wish I could take this boy home with me as well. I think he said he was coming to America in the summer but we couldn't figure out if it was with a hosting group or if a family was coming for him. I hope it is the latter!

Sasha watching Mike play angry birds

Sweet little Sasha

He wanted to keep playing. It was funny because he didn't understand the concept of aiming the birds. But he would laugh every time he missed, and rejoice when he hit something. Such pure joy!!

He kept asking to take picture with me.

So I let him!

All three taking turns playing!

We also got to meet a 14 year old boy named Dima. He came and sat with Olena and I this morning. He was trying to ditch school. He would jump up out of his seat every time an adult would come by and hide behind the columns in the walkway until they were gone. He was also a super sweet boy and quite funny. He let me listen to some of his music and he Olena sang along to some songs for me. He even made a joke about making himself look good when we asked to take his picture. 

I wish I could find a family for him. 

We also had the privilege of finding out after court that Svetta, Olenas very close friend that also came to America last summer, is being adopted. She had just found out and was overjoyed and couldn't wait to tell us. We all hugged her and told her how excited we are for her. Olena was especially excited to know that 2 of her friends will be living in Utah not far from her!! 

What an amazing thing it is to see that pure joy in a child. To see them so excited knowing that someone loves them and wants them. I wish you could all experience it. I wish you could all meet these amazing children. Your lives, like ours have been, would be changed for the better.

We will travel back to Kiev first thing in the morning and then start some paperwork at the Embassy on Wednesday and fly HOME on Thursday!! I can't wait.

Last day in Rome.

Since we missed seeing inside the Colosseum yesterday, we decided that before we left Rome we had to make sure and do that. So we woke up early and packed all our stuff into the Panda and headed one more time back into Rome. 

The Colosseum was AMAZING! It was everything you would expect it to be. I am so glad that we made time to go back and see inside. We walked around the upper floors but didn't want to pay for a tour of the underground, so just took pictures from above. It made me want to go home and watch Gladiator.
Warning: there are a lot of pictures of similar stuff. Mostly its for me because I loved it!

We found this piece of marble that looked like there should be a statue on it, so we improvised!

Selfie!!

And another

He made his decision!

I thought I would try and climb the fence! But I think I just injured myself.

Mixing it up with a Tebow moment

My turn as the statue

This was a plaque that used to be attached to the wall

The whole outside was fenced off so this was as goo as it got to touching the outside!

The underground tunnels were so cool. The ground was covered in moss.

Double Kaila!

After spending the morning looking at the coolest place on earth, we made our way to the airport and hopped on a plane to Paris!

More Rome

Today we visited the Vatican museum. It was beautiful, and we saw some of the greatest works of art. We saw so many different things in the Vatican Museum, there were exhibits on display from all over the world including some miniature boats from many cultures including Australian Aboriginals.

There were of course lots of sculptures from all over but mostly form Italy.
There was also a lot of cool Egyptian items on display (which we knew Talon would love)

A mummy with all its body part jars!

Yep that is a real mummified person. He was gnarly!!

We saw a room filled with animals and another filled with busts. Mike's favorite was a sculpture called Laocoon the artist who created it is unknown. It is a sculpture of a man (Laocoon) and his two sons as two snakes try to kill them.

We went into the Sistine chapel. It was beautiful. The combination of Roman mythology and Christian imagery is really interesting. Michelangelo chose to paint Jupiter and Juno side by side with Adam and Eve. His paintings really cannot be compared with anyone else's. It was magnificent.

We were told not to take photos but everyone seemed to be ignoring that rule and taking photos all in plane sight, so I started to sneak a few. Just when I started Mike tapped my shoulder and told me to put the camera away. A guard came up right next to me and started yelling at a group of kids who were taking pictures. They had a woman with them who might have been a school teacher or tour guide and he threatened to kick them all out of the museum if they took any more. Exciting.
We waited until he was gone then we took some more.

With the current Pope about to retire this is the room where the cardinals will hold their secret conclave to choose a new pope. It was pretty cool.
There were hallways so long you could not see the end and every inch of the hallway was covered with paintings, even the ceilings!

After we had seen everything (and by everything I mean a little bit, but all we thought we could remember) we left and went over to St Peter's Basilica.
ST Peters is the main square of Vatican city. It is pretty huge. Not as big inside as the Duomo in Milan, (but I might just be scarred for life by the sheer size of that church and not remember clearly) The craftsmanship inside is amazing, everything is a work of art. If they had drinking fountains they would be "Drinking Fountains by Bernini" and they would be priceless.

Mike had told me about the three colors of marble intertwined in this holy water basin for years. It did not disappoint.

Even the drain covers are awesome!

These marble statues were outstanding to look at. its hard to believe they were all made so long ago!

outside the Basilica

The Basilica

The construction of these buildings is breathtaking. I wish things were built to look beautiful now.

This is one of the confessional booths in the Basilica. I took a random of it because when Mike and his friend Jared visited 15 years ago, they were allowed to get close to them. We have a picture of Jared sitting in this one. But it was all roped off.

Swiss guards outside the Vatican.

 After the Vatican Museum and the Basilica we just started walking to see where we would end up. There is so much to see in Rome, in every direction. So we just let the wind take us! :)
We ended up at one of the parts of town with Old Rome pieces. Probably one of my favorite places to visit. Who knows how many hundreds of years these have been sitting there. We were enjoying our stroll around the relics and came across a small tour group (about 4 people). The tour guide was telling them a story about how the Jewish synagogue came to be in Rome. It was very interesting, so I stood and listened, while I pretended to take more pictures. Apparently the man that built it, I can't remember his name, but he was someone with a lot of power. He was in some kind of conflict with the Pope. He was excommunicated from the church and in retaliation he gave religious freedom to the Jewish and built the square domed synagogue to annoy the Pope. There was a rule at the time, that all dome were supposed to be round. He also built it on a slight hill which made it look taller than the Basilica, this was also to annoy the Pope. While it cannot be checked it is also supposed the be clearly visible from the Popes bedroom window!

The three columns of an old building. Very cool to look at. The square dome is in the background

This is an old arena

Foundations from old buildings

Marble artifacts. I wanted to put one in my bag to bring home!

One of the columns of the arena

Il Vittoriano

We left the Il Vittoriano and the Old Rome part of town and headed to San Pietro in Vincoli to see another of Mike's favorite statues, Moses by Michelangelo. You can read about it here. Next we went to see the Colosseum. Unfortunately it was closed for the evening. So instead of going home, we hung around and enjoyed the atmosphere of Rome in the evening and took some cool pictures of Rome at night!

Inside the church San Pietro in Vincoli (St Peter in Chains)

This is a sculpture of Death. It was big and a little intimidating.

This is the church from outside.

Moses. It was amazing

Selfie with Moses

The full statue

These are the chains that bound St Peter.

Wall art!

Colosseum right after it closed!

hopscotching along the giant cobble stones

The arch of Constantine next to the Colosseum.

There were many different kinds of cobble stones in Rome!

Across from the Colosseum there is a huge garden full of pieces of old Rome. We walked up the path alongside of it and came upon a little tiny church. This was the confessional in the church. Notice that there are no doors on it, so the whole congregation can watch you confess!

Colosseum selfie!

Looks like the Colosseum has great cell phone coverage. 8 bars!

I couldn't help but pirouette :)

Mike couldn't help but Tebow

Miranda this is just for you! Your street even overlooks the Colosseum!!!

Old Rome