Daniel Anatoly Karlen

It's official!! We are parents!!!!! Sorry no post yesterday. The internet at the clinic is down and we knew you all would be dying to find out so we stopped at an internet cafe to give you the news.

We felt totally covered in prayer yesterday and court was a breeze. We both stood up and spoke our intentions. We requested to adopt this boy, have his birth certificate updated to list us as his mother and father, and change his name to Daniel Anatoly Karlen. (we are retaining his given name for his middle name) Once all of the petitions and legalese are read in court, then they send us out to deliberate (there were 2 jurors present). They called us back in, and read the decision.......Jason Richard Karlen and Kelly Ann Karlen are now the parents of Daniel Anatoly Karlen. I have to tell you, we both choked up when the judge said it. At that very moment we became parents. WOW!! Praise God for all of His wonderful blessings. We are so humbled to see His hand moving in our lives and feel so blessed to have this little boy.

I turned to Jason and said, 'Well, you're a papa now!' They all understood that, and then there were laughs, hugs, handshakes and congratulations all around. What a day! The whole proceeding was over in about 45 minutes.

I know you are scrolling down and feeling gyped right now. Where are the pictures?? Well, we need to wait until he is ours - just to make sure nothing can go wrong. (I know - worried mama) We will definitely post at the end of the waiting period! (2 weeks) Just trust us when we say - he is a cutie! We are such proud parents.

After court, we went out to celebrate. We tried a new restaurant by the bowling alley. (yes - we are planning to try our hand at bowling later) It was kind of a bar and grille type of place. Jason and I were both in the mood for a burger and fries. They don't really have the same thing as a hamburger here (except at McDonalds) but we got something similar. I don't have my card reader with me, so I will post a photo tomorrow.

Due to court, we missed our morning visit. When we went at 4:00, we had Oksana tell Daniel that we went to see the judge this morning and he said that we are now his mama and papa forever! He said, 'good' and then ran off to the playground. Not quite the excitement that we had. We think he already thought that we were his mama and papa - so what's the big deal? And what's a judge anyway?

Oksana went home to be with her family for the next 2 weeks so we are flying solo. We only had to call her 3 times today for translations. Not too bad! I am speaking more and more Ukrainian - it's kinda scary!

So, what do you think of the new name? His nickname is 'Tolic' so we have been calling him Daniel Tolic, to get him used to it. (and sometimes just Daniel - to see if he will answer) Today I asked him, ' Coch Tibeya Zavoot?' (what's your name?) and he said, Daniel Tolic. We were so proud. (we haven't told him about the Karlen yet - one name change at a time!)

Jason is chomping at the bit for me to tell you what happened today..... When we arrived at the orphanage this morning, he came running - all smiles as usual. He always gives us BIG hugs, which we love. First mama and then papa. We cover him with kisses and he laughs. Today he actually kissed Jason on the cheek first. How about that? What a sweetie! No, mama didn't get a kiss, but I fully expect it tomorrow!!

We are hoping that the internet at the clinic will be back up soon and we can post with regularity and share some more pictures of our adventures. If we are silent for awhile - you will know what's going on.....

THANK YOU for all of your prayers and encouragement. We are having a great time and are so excited about our new son. We can't wait to share him with you all. We love and miss you!