Friday, July 1, 2011

Oh What A Day!


At 2:00pm June 10 standing in a real court room with a real judge and real judges chairs we became the parents of Inna Jean Fritz. This was the first time that the room we had court in was a real live court room. It had very old benches and chairs and stands. It was really cool! The judge sat in the middle on the tallest chair and two jurors sat on each side of her in the same exact but shorter chairs. The court lasted about 1 hour and then 1/2 later we stood as the judge reentered the room with her decision. After the judge was done reading her decision, she put her papers in a pile and started talking to us. She said how happy she was that Inna had a family and how wonderful we were for taking Inna and helping her. She said that she wished there were more people in the world like us. Then she started to cry along with the two jurors and she said she loved us. WOW! The hardest but also best part for me to hear was when the director was talking. First what she said, that broke my heart, was how she tried to convince the SDA and our facilitator for us not to come visit Inna. When the SDA called the director to make sure that this was where Inna was transferred to, the director told the SDA that we will not want this child that she has to much wrong with her. That we should not even come see her because it will be a wasted trip. The child is not a child to be adopted. It was then explained to the director that we already met the child last year and that we wanted to come. After she heard that she welcomed us to come. But the BEST part came when the director said this in court........When they arrived and were sitting in the room waiting for Inna to come in, I thought why are they here if they have met the child already and know what she is like. Why would they come for such a child. Then Inna walked in, Nance fell to her knees to grab and hug and kiss Inna. Nance pulled out a photo album of their family and Inna remembered the family as she saw the book of family photos from last year. I could not believe she would remember and I had tears in my eyes at the love I saw Inna get. I just could not understand it but it did not matter that I could not understand it because I knew right then that Inna's family had found her.
Her heart had been changed! She saw that we didn't look at Inna as a child with a HOST of problems but only as our daughter! Inna cannot write so she was in the court room to be asked if she wanted us as her mama and papa. Da was her answer. They asked her how old she was and when was her birthday but that was pretty much all. Inna started getting squirrely which I don't blame her, it was getting long for us too! After court we went and had a celebratory drink with our facilitator and went over a few things that will happen on our trip back after the waiting period. The three of us came home on June 11 and Ken and Roc will return on June 19/20 to bring our girl home.
Once Ken and Roc get home from Ukraine, Ken and I will travel to Chicago to get our visas for Colombia. You have to get visas when adopting from Colombia and you have to get them in person now!!!! Ugh!!!!!! We are hoping to leave around the 11th of July to go get our kids from South America.
And now, FINALLY, after 1 year of not being able to post our daughters photo, here she is.......

INNA JEAN FRITZ

Inna in 2010

Inna 2011



9 comments:

  1. Oh! She is just too beautiful!! Congrats!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, I had no idea you were adopting Inna - she is beautiful! Congratulations!! I can't wait to see who you are adopting from Colombia!

    ReplyDelete
  3. She's gorgeous!! I cried when I read about the director!

    ReplyDelete
  4. EEEKkk!!!! What a beautiful soul that little girl has! I can see why you were drawn to her. Sorry to hear things have been delayed for the other kids, but I'll be stalking your blog for updates, and look forward to clicking that family picture (OMG!) later this summer!!!
    -Tracie Bea

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nance, I KNEW it was her!! I just knew it!! Even before I read her name. She is beautiful, so beautiful! I'm so happy for you, so happy for her!! So happy!! Praise God!! Mel

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow! I did not know you were adopting Inna!! I just saw her on RR the other day and was thinking, "wait a minute? I thought they said a while ago that she had passed away?" Now, to see she has a family is just amazing. I am so happy for her and for your family. Actually found out from Leah's blog comments ;o) Just can't say enough how happy I am for her and for you all!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. So wonderfully awesome!..God has really blessed you guys with a great bunch of children. Hugs to ya! ♥

    ReplyDelete
  8. She's BEAUTIFUL!!!! Oh my!! I am so excited that you finally got her. I knew you'd make it possible!! :) Well, I hope her picture is finally down from RR... hehe

    xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  9. I saw her listed for a long time! I am so glad she has a family now! She deserves it!

    ReplyDelete

About Me

I married my high school sweetheart 26 years ago. Ken and I and have ten of the greatest kids from different parts of the world. We are hoping to bring a few more kiddos home! Throughout the years in our adoption journeys it has made us want to bring some kind of hope to these kids. This blog will hopefully allow us the opportunity to advocate for some of the orphans in the world. Join us in our journeys and the day to day happenings in raising 10 kids.....and counting.