IT WAS A MIRACLE

The plan was to meet with the Chief Judge on Tuesday, to ask her to tell Judge Stepanova (and I know I spelled that name wrong) to accept our documents. We had a meeting scheduled yesterday with the Chief Judge, and today with Judge Stepanova.

The miracle started when Judge S. accepted an appointment from us. She only accepts adoption cases and/or appointments every 2 weeks, and this is not a week she was accepting appointments.

Yesterday, we went to the Chief Judge’s office, and within a 2 minute meeting, our documents had been officially submitted to the courts, Judge Stepanova’s assistant got the documents, and the Chief Judge told Judge S. to expedite the review of our documents. The Chief Judge also made sure we knew that all cases are reviewed the same, regardless of nationality. The Chief Judge also said that in the future, if we need to submit changes to our documents, we can do it through her office, and they will be accepted.

When we walked out of the Chief Judge’s office, our lawyer and interpreter both turned to us with looks of awe on their faces. When we got outside, they both said, “that was a miracle”. They did not expect the Chief Judge to accept our documents.

The Judge now has 5 days to review our documents, and give us a written legal response. The response will be those things in our documents that need to be changed, or additional requirements she might have. We will then have 2 ½ weeks to resubmit any changes she has.

Our lawyer will check with Judge Stepanova’s office tomorrow to see if she has reviewed our documents yet. Because the Chief Judge asked her to expedite the review, our lawyer doesn’t think she will take the full 5 days.

We are continuing to pray for miracles. We are praying that Judge Stepanova reviews our documents, and finds no changes or additions. Now THAT would be a mracle!