Our new daughter.....

We proudly introduce our new daughter~

Anna Grace Williams

born into the world May 23, 2005

born into our hearts and family June 10, 2011

We had our court appointment on June 10, 2011 and the judge granted us permission to adopt our sweet girl.

 It was very frightening to me to have to go to court and plea for our little girls life.  I was so afraid of possibly being badgered by the judge and prosecutor but it was actually quite the opposite. Before court our facilitator told us that we would probably be in court for 2 to 3 hours and that made me even sicker and more afraid.  When we came out of court we realized we had been in there for 4 hours!! Wow, what an experience.  After the process started I began to feel more and more comfortable and I thought this judge must really want for Anna to have a family :)  The orphanage director was the only person who objected to our adoption. I was told ahead of time about this and I realized why she objected and it made me sad.  It had nothing to do with the fact that she didn't like me or Mike, but instead she was afraid for Anna to be adopted and taken to America.  She kept saying in court she was so scared, so afraid and it's so far away.  We really feel that she cares for Anna and was afraid of something bad happening to her.  She had told our facilitator that she couldn't approve our adoption because if we adopted her and then something bad happened to her that she would feel guilty for giving her approval. Vita in turn asked how will you feel if something happens to her in your institution? Good question!

A lot of people were angry hearing that she objected to our adoption but I could feel her heart during her speech in court (we had a translator) and it made me cry.  I knew before going back to her country for court that the orphanage director was going to object to it so I put together a photo album full of pictures of our daughter Ashlyn, who also has Down syndrome, for her to see that she has a good life.  I added pictures from when she was infant up until now and she is 11 years old.  In my heart I *really* wanted to convince her that we would give her a wonderful life and love her like our own. That's a hard thing to do when you don't know the people or even speak the same language. So I just pray that God gives her peace that we are the right family for Anna and that we love her with all of our hearts.

At the end before the judge gave us the outcome he asked us if we had anything we would like to add to everything that had been said.  I quickly said no as I was all questioned out, LOL.  My husband stands up and I am thinking "oh my gosh what is he doing"?  Well bless his sweet soul....he too wanted to convince the director and everyone in court that we love her and that she WILL have a good life.  He stated that it would be hard for others to understand why we would want a child like "this", meaning disabled.  He said that people who do not already have a child with DS may not understand the love we have for our biological daughter and how much joy and love she gives us. But we do love her so much just as she is and that adopting Anna into our family is also a gift.  Yep he had me crying again.  :)  He also told the court that he understood the fear of Russians against Americans adopting their children since there have been cases of abuse and even death of Russian children adopted by Americans. But he promised them that no one would need to lose any sleep over Anna being adopted by our family and that she is already loved and VERY wanted.  Gosh, I love this man!

The judge takes a short break and while he is out the prosecutor, who looked very young, started talking to the orphanage director and told her that he had friends who lived in America for about 2 years.  He told her that they had told him of all the advantages that children with disabilities have in America.  I wanted to go and give him a hug but I just there smiling and saying thank you. It seemed that EVERYONE in the court was out to change the mind of the director, but I really don't think we did.  We were told before court that the opinion of the orphanage director would not keep us from adopting Anna but she still had to give her opinion.  Now if she had valid reasons other than being scared, the climate change and language barrier, then the court would have taken her issues more seriously.  But thank our God in heaven, the judge felt her reasons were not very good ones and granted us permission to adopt Anna. Ohhhh happy day!!!  So as of right now she is ours, in our heart and on paper, but there is also a 10 day waiting period where someone could come forward and object to our adoption. So please pray with all of your hearts that no one comes forward and we are able to go back to her country and bring sweet Anna home with us!   

We thank each of you from the bottom of our hearts for helping us in all the ways that you did! Without you, this would not have happened for sweet Anna!  What an awesome gift you have given this dear, sweet child of God!

Love, the Williams family

Oh I love you too!

Ohhh, this is my new family?

She remembers *this* bag...she is digging for the candy, LOL

There are more pictures and videos that I will download later.  I am sorry that it has taken me so long

to post our announcement but we are as tired as can be.  Hopefully I will post more about our trip and sweet pics of Anna soon!