Great News!

Well gang, great news! The court has declared Martynas Licko to now be Samuel Martynas Huey and that he does not have to stay in Lithuania during the 40-day wait period. We're stoked. (By the way, this is Chip. I'm being allowed to blog unsupervised.) The court session ended less than an hour ago. We are now at the Family Law Center, HQ for the good folks who walked us through this process.
Actually, Kristin is out with Sandra, one of our guides, en route to a bike shop in hopes of getting parts to repair the jogger we brought with us to transport Sam. I'm in the rear with the gear pushing our status report out to you all.
We had our final court session at 1300 local time today. Sam was the centerpiece of the action. The judge wanted to hear from him. We were kind of nervous; you never know what a kid will say. However, in response to the question of whether he wanted to go home with us, Sam answered that he's looking forward to riding on the airplane to the US with his Mama and Testa... uh, Daddy. (Being with us is apparently secondary to the plane ride.) When asked how he'll communicate with us (the judge really seemed to be wrapped around the axel over the language barrier issue - talk about missing the bigger point! Uh, orphan who desperately needs a family and immediate, advanced medical help, US couple in love with the kid and possessing the resources to care for the kid, kid wants to be with the couple... plus, most kids learn the new language in a matter of months anyway... hmmm... let me get my strainer to get that gnat!) Martynas replied, "I'll learn English." Then, the really important moment came: as the judge continue to question him, Martynas apparently looked over her shoulder at the Lithuanian national flag and said, "Look, the police flag!!" As far as he was concerned the conversation was over.
We were then allowed back in the court room, final statements were taken from all parties and the judge took a recess until 1600 local. We returned to the court at the appropriate time (actually Kristin had us there an hour early) and the judge rendered her judgement. She approved the adoption and the waiver of the in-country requirement for the 40-day wait period. We got all this from the translator who translated while the judge spoke. We're happy.
We're going to the orphanage when K returns to pick up Sam. We'll have him home with us for the remainder of our time here in Lithuania. Technically, Sam's not ours until the documents are completed on next Monday. However, he gets to live with us and for all practical purposes be our kid until it's official. Now that's good, Reformed already and not yet theology!
We have to wait five working days for the documents to be processed. After that we'll be here for a couple more days getting his passport, etc. Then we'll fly to Warsaw to go to the US embassy and see a doc there: required stuff. After that, God willing, we should fly home on or about 7 February.
By the way, the folks here at the Family Law Center have been TERRIFIC!!! Egle the lawyer, Elona the, well, I'm not sure what her title is, but she makes everything happen, and our two guides, Sandra and another girl who's name I'll never get right, have all been magnificent. I cannot say enough good about them.
In closing, thank you all for your prayers. God has been pleased to grant them. God be praised for His kindness in granting us the desire of our hearts. His sovereign work is truly a wonder to behold; great is His faithfulness to His people. He truly is the hero here. Along with a little boy named Sam!
Gotta go, K is back, and she's chomping at the bit to get out to the orphanage.
Peace.