I wasn't exactly sure when court was gonna be, and what was happening there - Kevin and MIL were w/o Internet for a while and for some odd reason SMS doesn't seem to work between their location and mine...
But now I'm happy to report that I'm dad to two sets of twins, a set of virtual twins (with 6 months between them - they won't be in the same grade, and we'll have 6 months between her bat mitzvah and his bar mitzvah, more on that later) and Craig! Between Victory Day and the May 28th holiday we weren't sure if things would go as smoothly as they have been. For sure, having a cousin in country who is the family law expert helps.
Our facilitator has found a way to be helpful, even if er don't rent her whoever's apartment/car/whatever. She has been chasing down some records about the kids' borth mother (Kevin's second cousin once removed) in both Yerevan and Moscow to determine the halachic status of the children. Kevin's Armenian side of the family is a mix of Russian and Armenian Jews and Armenian Christians, and we were never quite sure about his cousin's mother's status. She was born in Moscow, but she moved to Yerevan as a young child. It appears, however, that she actually was Jewish, making birth mom Jewish, making our new kids Jewish, even though Noa was Christened by her foster family. This is very important for us, and not only because we want to raise our children Jewish, but because of immigration and family law in Israel.
It seems that P, too, is actually dedicated to become a Jew. I still want him to wait and consider it when he is a bit older, because, you know, for a boy it's a little more than just going to the mikveh. So we will just wait and see. He is treated like every other kid at shul and at school, and that, for now, is enough for him and for us. Eventually, though, as other girls and boys start to have their bat and bar mitzvah celebrations, I know the issue will come up again and again.
