Today we took Grandmother downtown to the immigration office for her sworn statement. Luckily, the background check we had already done for her was sufficient so the sworn statement was the last step in this insane process. Rob and I got a little nervous when we woke up to hear rain coming down in buckets. Our appointment wasn’t until 1:00 so we were praying the rain would subside just long enough to get this done. We were determined to get this done TODAY.
Rob and Grandmother picked me up at work downtown for the drive to the immigration office. Luckily we found the place on the first try. I thought for sure we’d have to circle around the block a few times to find the entrance but that wasn’t the case. We had Grandmother’s wheelchair so we had to find the handicapped entrance. We found the drive that had a ramp entryway to the building, but the parking there was for government employees only. The guard at the gate was extremely nice though and allowed us to pull our car close to that area so we could at least get Grandmother out near the wheelchair ramp. The rain had subsided at this point, by the way. WHEW! Even so, we bundled Grandmother up in a rain jacket with hood and put an afghan blanket across her lap just in case. She always thinks we overdo it with the layering and bundling and she isn't thrilled about riding in the wheelchair. She doesn't want people to think she's an invalid and she's quick to tell everyone that she can walk just fine. LOL! If she had her way she would walk up the stairway to the building and she probably could. It would just take an entire day, time that we did not have at that point. Thank goodness for wheelchairs.
Rob had to park across the street but returned shortly to meet us. We made our way up to the correct office and found ourselves in a huge waiting area surrounded by immigrants from many different countries waiting to take their citizenship tests. This really put things in perspective for us as we arrived at the office pretty irritated by the process we were being put through. In that moment, we were reminded to be thankful that we were born citizens in this great country. We have freedoms that many of these people probably never had in their native countries. We really do have much to be thankful for and should never take it for granted.
After checking in at the reception window, we waited about 10 minutes before the immigration officer called us back to her office. She took one look at Grandmother and we could tell she felt bad about putting us through this, but whatever. She tried chatting with Grandmother and we had to tell her she’d have to raise her voice a few decibels for Grandmother to be able to hear her. Once she did, the blank stare on Grandmother’s face was replaced with a smile. The oath was very official. Grandmother had to raise her frail right hand and solemnly swear that she would answer the following questions truthfully. We all got so tickled at the questions Grandmother had to answer. She was asked if she had ever committed a crime, ever been on parole, ever had to pay a fine or ordered to community service, ever had a traffic ticket, etc. This tiny 4’ 11” woman in a wheelchair was being grilled about her criminal history…absolutely absurd. Obviously, her answers were “no” to everything. It was a surreal moment, just so ridiculous. At one point I got so tickled I almost had to excuse myself. Rob and Grandmother also got tickled but kept it together long enough for us to finish with this nonsense.
The bottom line is that we walked out of that office with our I-797 approval letter. The immigration officer printed it out for us right then since we had been through so much trouble. The I-797 letter is what we will need to take to the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw when we immigrate Kristine & hopefully Olegs too. After all of the court sessions in Latvia are completed and the adoptions are granted, the children will be U.S. citizens once they hit U.S. soil.
It’s great to have all of our paperwork in order. If only we could get our first court dates scheduled in Latvia. Now that the kids are coming here to stay with us for Christmas, we have asked to travel to Latvia immediately after they leave to head back home. Our attorney says that should not be a problem. At this point, we’re not getting our hopes up since we’ve been disappointed in the past. Not much we can do about the timeline of events anyway. We’re just anxiously awaiting the arrival of our kids for Christmas. We’re so excited!! They’ll be here in 2 ½ weeks. We can’t wait!!!!
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Friday, November 24, 2006
11/24 - The Never ending Wait!
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Rob and I stayed home with Grandmother and had the traditional Thanksgiving meal. Rob smoked the turkey to perfection and I fixed the sides. I actually made homemade dressing and giblet gravy without screwing it up. We cooked up a feast so we’d have tons of leftovers. It was funny to see Grandmother chow down. She normally doesn’t eat much but she had worked up an extra big appetite for this meal. She gnawed on a whole turkey leg and ate pretty much everything on her plate. When it came time for pie, she had two slices!! I told her we were impressed and she just grinned from ear to ear. I’m still amazed at times that we have a 98-year old living with us!!
Okay, back to adoption news…
We heard from our attorney today and she says that now we’re waiting for the Ministry of Children’s Affairs in Latvia to receive the written ruling from the Riga orphan court telling them that Kristine can be adopted internationally. Once that happens, the Ministry will officially match us with Kristine. Next week there is a big NATO summit in Riga so the government offices will be shut down for a few days. That means even more waiting! At this point, we’re almost hoping to travel in January instead of December. Olegs and Kristine will be here with us during the last couple of weeks in December, so things would get a little complicated if we were to get travel dates in December. However, we’re still a little nervous about waiting until January because our attorney is due to have a baby sometime in January. She’ll be out of commission for a few weeks when that happens. It’s possible our court dates could be pushed to February. We can’t think about all of this or we’ll go nuts. Right now we’re just focusing on the fact that we’ll have the kids with us for Christmas and we’re grateful for that.
Rob and I are both tired of being on an emotional roller coaster. We can handle the wait if we at least know why we’re waiting. The information about our case is coming very slowly now and that continues to be frustrating. We have felt strongly that our case isn’t getting the appropriate amount of attention. Even if that’s true, there’s not a whole lot we can do about it. We’re trying to remember that things will happen in God’s timing. Still isn’t easy, though!
We talked to Kristine on Wednesday and got to tell her that she and Olegs will be coming for Christmas. She was ecstatic. We had planned to tell her when we talked to her earlier in the week on Sunday but that conversation got cut short when a friend of hers grabbed the phone and made a vulgar comment using a really bad 4-letter word (use your imagination and you can figure it out). Kristine thought it was a little too funny so we told her we were not happy and we would talk to her later. The friend probably didn’t understand what he said, but just knew it would get a big reaction if he said it. Whatever! We were not amused. We heard Kristine yelling at her friend once she realized we were hanging up, so at least she understands that what he said was wrong. When we talked to her the next time on Wednesday, all was forgotten and we were able to talk about Christmas. Much better. We’ll just be so glad when we can all spend time together. We miss Kristine and Olegs so much.
Okay, back to adoption news…
We heard from our attorney today and she says that now we’re waiting for the Ministry of Children’s Affairs in Latvia to receive the written ruling from the Riga orphan court telling them that Kristine can be adopted internationally. Once that happens, the Ministry will officially match us with Kristine. Next week there is a big NATO summit in Riga so the government offices will be shut down for a few days. That means even more waiting! At this point, we’re almost hoping to travel in January instead of December. Olegs and Kristine will be here with us during the last couple of weeks in December, so things would get a little complicated if we were to get travel dates in December. However, we’re still a little nervous about waiting until January because our attorney is due to have a baby sometime in January. She’ll be out of commission for a few weeks when that happens. It’s possible our court dates could be pushed to February. We can’t think about all of this or we’ll go nuts. Right now we’re just focusing on the fact that we’ll have the kids with us for Christmas and we’re grateful for that.
Rob and I are both tired of being on an emotional roller coaster. We can handle the wait if we at least know why we’re waiting. The information about our case is coming very slowly now and that continues to be frustrating. We have felt strongly that our case isn’t getting the appropriate amount of attention. Even if that’s true, there’s not a whole lot we can do about it. We’re trying to remember that things will happen in God’s timing. Still isn’t easy, though!
We talked to Kristine on Wednesday and got to tell her that she and Olegs will be coming for Christmas. She was ecstatic. We had planned to tell her when we talked to her earlier in the week on Sunday but that conversation got cut short when a friend of hers grabbed the phone and made a vulgar comment using a really bad 4-letter word (use your imagination and you can figure it out). Kristine thought it was a little too funny so we told her we were not happy and we would talk to her later. The friend probably didn’t understand what he said, but just knew it would get a big reaction if he said it. Whatever! We were not amused. We heard Kristine yelling at her friend once she realized we were hanging up, so at least she understands that what he said was wrong. When we talked to her the next time on Wednesday, all was forgotten and we were able to talk about Christmas. Much better. We’ll just be so glad when we can all spend time together. We miss Kristine and Olegs so much.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
11/21 - Fingerprinting Nightmare Continues
Today was Grandmother’s 2nd appointment for fingerprints. Since her prints didn’t take the first time, we are required to try again before the USCIS will let us do a sworn statement and be done with all this nonsense. Again, we got to the immigration office early, so we sat in the car and waited while we watched all of the others line up at the door. Like last time, it was all I could do to fight the urge to get out and jump in line. We had no choice but to wait until they opened the doors and the line moved inside. I had bundled Grandmother up in my super warm “puffy” coat with a hood over her head but even so I just couldn’t subject her to sitting out in the cold to get a primo spot in line.
Finally, I saw the doors open so I quickly loaded Grandmother up in her wheelchair so we could make our way up the sidewalk. We were greeted by a nice officer at the door and he held the door for us so I could push Grandmother inside. He had to hold the door longer than expected because I couldn’t get the blasted wheelchair over the doorstep until the fourth try. UGGGHH! Grandmother is a good sport and jokes that the bumpy wheelchair rides help keep her awake. LOL! For a second I thought the officer might let us go to the front of the line, but no such luck. He allowed me to wheel Grandmother into the waiting area to sit while I went back and waited in line. I told her to sit tight and I’d come get her when it was our turn. Bless her heart, she didn’t move an inch. She even kept her coat buttoned up with the hood over her head until I came back for her. I called her my little eskimo.
Eventually, our turn came and we filled out the same paperwork again and then got in another line to wait. They assign numbers much like they do at the grocery store deli, so we still had to wait for them to call our number. I was hoping we could get out of there before the need for a bathroom break but before they called our number, Grandmother let me know nature was calling. Of course, by the time we came back, they had already called our number and were now three numbers past ours so we had to get them to work us back in. AARRGGHH!! They finally worked us in, did Grandmother’s prints, and we were on our way.
This afternoon, I called and found out that the second set of prints didn’t take either. The next step will be the background check and sworn statmement. The person who does the sworn statements is out this week so we can’t take care of it until next week. So it seems we will have to bring Grandmother downtown yet again to finish the last steps of this insane process. In case you’re wondering, I did call our local congressman’s office to complain about this. They were very nice but said I’d have to put something in writing for them before they can try to help. I figured by the time I do that and wait for them to contact somebody, we’ll have taken care of it. I will probably send a letter to him after the fact. Who knows. Maybe the law can be changed so others who have elderly people living with them won’t have to go through this.
Finally, I saw the doors open so I quickly loaded Grandmother up in her wheelchair so we could make our way up the sidewalk. We were greeted by a nice officer at the door and he held the door for us so I could push Grandmother inside. He had to hold the door longer than expected because I couldn’t get the blasted wheelchair over the doorstep until the fourth try. UGGGHH! Grandmother is a good sport and jokes that the bumpy wheelchair rides help keep her awake. LOL! For a second I thought the officer might let us go to the front of the line, but no such luck. He allowed me to wheel Grandmother into the waiting area to sit while I went back and waited in line. I told her to sit tight and I’d come get her when it was our turn. Bless her heart, she didn’t move an inch. She even kept her coat buttoned up with the hood over her head until I came back for her. I called her my little eskimo.
Eventually, our turn came and we filled out the same paperwork again and then got in another line to wait. They assign numbers much like they do at the grocery store deli, so we still had to wait for them to call our number. I was hoping we could get out of there before the need for a bathroom break but before they called our number, Grandmother let me know nature was calling. Of course, by the time we came back, they had already called our number and were now three numbers past ours so we had to get them to work us back in. AARRGGHH!! They finally worked us in, did Grandmother’s prints, and we were on our way.
This afternoon, I called and found out that the second set of prints didn’t take either. The next step will be the background check and sworn statmement. The person who does the sworn statements is out this week so we can’t take care of it until next week. So it seems we will have to bring Grandmother downtown yet again to finish the last steps of this insane process. In case you’re wondering, I did call our local congressman’s office to complain about this. They were very nice but said I’d have to put something in writing for them before they can try to help. I figured by the time I do that and wait for them to contact somebody, we’ll have taken care of it. I will probably send a letter to him after the fact. Who knows. Maybe the law can be changed so others who have elderly people living with them won’t have to go through this.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
11/18 - Looking Forward to Hosting Again
Olegs now knows he’s coming to see us for Christmas and he’s so excited. Our friends who were in Latvia this week took him a letter and some small gifts from us. In our letter, we told Olegs that we had gotten permission for him to visit us over Christmas. Our friends told us that he was all smiles when they gave him his bag. We can’t wait to see his precious smile again. What a little cutie pie he is! We told him that Kristine will be coming too. We’re not sure if Kristine knows that she’s coming yet. At the time we wrote her letter, we weren’t sure if we would be hosting her. We’re hoping her children’s home director has told her by now.
When we talked to Kristine earlier this week, she told us that she had also received her letter and gifts. She sounded so happy. She also informed us that she would like us to call her “Kate” now. That is her new American name. Rob and I had decided we would let her choose whether or not she wants to change her name when we adopt her. Before we make the final decision though, we’ll give her a few more options to choose from to make sure we can all live with it.
When Kristine and Olegs were here during the summer, we played a game and asked them what American name they would each like to be called if they had a choice. At that time, Kristine wanted to be called Morgan. Since we have friends with a cat named Morgan and other friends with a daughter named Morgan, we had already decided that she’d have to choose again. Luckily, she picked something else on her own. Olegs had decided his American name would be “Batman” so we’ll have to convince him to choose again. It’s hard to explain to him that having the name “Batman” on his resume will probably limit his future career opportunities. LOL!
We continue to wait to hear when we'll be traveling for our first court dates in Latvia. As time goes by, it's looking less likely that we'll be traveling before Christmas. We're actually okay with that now that we know our kids will be here for Christmas. We can't wait for them to get here. It's gonna be one awesome Christmas.
When we talked to Kristine earlier this week, she told us that she had also received her letter and gifts. She sounded so happy. She also informed us that she would like us to call her “Kate” now. That is her new American name. Rob and I had decided we would let her choose whether or not she wants to change her name when we adopt her. Before we make the final decision though, we’ll give her a few more options to choose from to make sure we can all live with it.
When Kristine and Olegs were here during the summer, we played a game and asked them what American name they would each like to be called if they had a choice. At that time, Kristine wanted to be called Morgan. Since we have friends with a cat named Morgan and other friends with a daughter named Morgan, we had already decided that she’d have to choose again. Luckily, she picked something else on her own. Olegs had decided his American name would be “Batman” so we’ll have to convince him to choose again. It’s hard to explain to him that having the name “Batman” on his resume will probably limit his future career opportunities. LOL!
We continue to wait to hear when we'll be traveling for our first court dates in Latvia. As time goes by, it's looking less likely that we'll be traveling before Christmas. We're actually okay with that now that we know our kids will be here for Christmas. We can't wait for them to get here. It's gonna be one awesome Christmas.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
11/15 - Fingerprinting Nightmare!
Yesterday was fingerprinting day for Grandmother at the immigration office. Our appointment was at 8am near downtown, so we had to leave pretty early since we would have to fight rush hour traffic. Bless her heart, I thought Grandmother would take forever to get ready so I got her up extra early so she’d have plenty of time. She was ready in a flash so I could’ve let her sleep another 45 mins. Oh well! She was just as happy to spend that extra time napping in her Lay-Z-Boy.
Anyway, we got to the immigration office about 15 mins. early. The place didn’t open until 8am so people were lining up outside the door and I, being the person with no patience, was ready to go jump in line too. I had a 98-year old woman with me and I was NOT going to be last in line! Even though it was very cold, I contemplated wheeling Grandmother up there so we could secure our place in the line. My sensible side won over, however, and I figured that a good space in line wasn’t worth risking her getting a case of pneumonia.
Once they finally opened the doors, the line actually moved very quickly. People were there for different reasons so they were directed to different areas for processing. I wheeled Grandmother up there just as the line was dwindling at the door and the officer let us right in. After filling out our preliminary paperwork and waiting for a few minutes, we were called back to the fingerprinting area. The guy doing the fingerprints was super nice and took his time with Grandmother. She was pretty quiet but when he got to her left ring finger, she boldly told him to be careful with that finger. On that finger, she wears the now thin wedding band that my granddaddy put on her finger 76 years ago. He has since passed, but she has NEVER had that ring off of her finger since their wedding day. The fingerprinting guy was very sweet and told her how special that was that they had been married for 73 years.
Yesterday was actually a piece of cake. The nightmare part started today when I called to follow-up and was informed that Grandmother’s prints are “unclassifiable” which means they must be redone. Apparently, this happens with older people since their skin is thin and their hands are wrinkly. The procedure is that they will attempt to take the prints twice and if they are still unsuccessful the second time, they will allow her to do a sworn statement. Of course, I asked why we can’t just skip to the sworn statement part and the girl I talked to told me this is the law and they can’t change their procedure. I talked to the head of the adoption unit and she wouldn’t budge either. I asked them what they do in cases where someone is bed ridden or homebound. They had the nerve to tell me that in those cases they arrange for a caregiver to get that person to a fingerprinting place. Are you kidding me???!!! Of course, I told them that this makes no sense and is plain STUPID. Well, the person helping me was super nice and felt awful about it. I told her that I know this isn’t her fault but it’s still STUPID. She agreed but said there’s nothing she can do. So the next step is to have the prints taken all over again. At least, I know I can let Grandmother sleep a little later this time. Gotta see the glass half full you know. AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!
Anyway, we got to the immigration office about 15 mins. early. The place didn’t open until 8am so people were lining up outside the door and I, being the person with no patience, was ready to go jump in line too. I had a 98-year old woman with me and I was NOT going to be last in line! Even though it was very cold, I contemplated wheeling Grandmother up there so we could secure our place in the line. My sensible side won over, however, and I figured that a good space in line wasn’t worth risking her getting a case of pneumonia.
Once they finally opened the doors, the line actually moved very quickly. People were there for different reasons so they were directed to different areas for processing. I wheeled Grandmother up there just as the line was dwindling at the door and the officer let us right in. After filling out our preliminary paperwork and waiting for a few minutes, we were called back to the fingerprinting area. The guy doing the fingerprints was super nice and took his time with Grandmother. She was pretty quiet but when he got to her left ring finger, she boldly told him to be careful with that finger. On that finger, she wears the now thin wedding band that my granddaddy put on her finger 76 years ago. He has since passed, but she has NEVER had that ring off of her finger since their wedding day. The fingerprinting guy was very sweet and told her how special that was that they had been married for 73 years.
Yesterday was actually a piece of cake. The nightmare part started today when I called to follow-up and was informed that Grandmother’s prints are “unclassifiable” which means they must be redone. Apparently, this happens with older people since their skin is thin and their hands are wrinkly. The procedure is that they will attempt to take the prints twice and if they are still unsuccessful the second time, they will allow her to do a sworn statement. Of course, I asked why we can’t just skip to the sworn statement part and the girl I talked to told me this is the law and they can’t change their procedure. I talked to the head of the adoption unit and she wouldn’t budge either. I asked them what they do in cases where someone is bed ridden or homebound. They had the nerve to tell me that in those cases they arrange for a caregiver to get that person to a fingerprinting place. Are you kidding me???!!! Of course, I told them that this makes no sense and is plain STUPID. Well, the person helping me was super nice and felt awful about it. I told her that I know this isn’t her fault but it’s still STUPID. She agreed but said there’s nothing she can do. So the next step is to have the prints taken all over again. At least, I know I can let Grandmother sleep a little later this time. Gotta see the glass half full you know. AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
11/8 - Frustration Subsides, Blessings Emerge!
New information about our case has been slow to come and that’s been pretty frustrating. Our attorney has been so busy and stressed that she hasn’t taken the time to keep us updated. When we’ve attempted to ask for status, she has replied to say she’s been very busy and does not have time to explain what is happening. All Rob and I want at this point is the assurance that our case is getting the appropriate amount of attention. We don’t want our paperwork collecting dust on someone’s desk somewhere.
We finally sent our attorney a polite but very firm email to ask why our case is taking so long and to find out exactly what we are waiting on now. Other adoptive families are coming and going for their court dates, while we’re still sitting in limbo. We tried to explain to her that we simply need answers which will help us make certain decisions on our end. Some of her prior responses to our questions almost made it seem like we were bothering her. This was frustrating also because we were purposely making every attempt to limit our questions and emails so we don’t bombard her too much. Rob and I tried to remind ourselves that there is lots of room for misinterpretation in emails anyway and the language barrier doesn’t help. Still, it’s hard not to take certain comments personally at times.
Anyway, our email hit home and our attorney was very kind in her response. She basically apologized and confessed that she was hesitant about giving us any information because of the problems we experienced when we got our court dates assigned prematurely back in October. So instead she opted to tell us nothing, which only fueled our frustration. She said she only wants to give us “concrete” information. This time she told us that there is a court date scheduled next week to officially clear Kristine for international adoption. Well, why didn’t you tell us that before??!!! (whining here). At least now we know why we are waiting. That’s all we want. We appreciated her honesty and expressed to her how grateful we are for everything she’s doing for us. She truly is a good person at heart, just stressed.
Our attorney also suggested that we might want to consider hosting Kristine at Christmas. She can’t tell us whether we’ll be traveling before or after Christmas. As you can imagine, all of the fees associated with the adoption and hosting are adding up and we have to make our money last. There are so many “what if’s.” Rob and I had pretty much ruled out being able to afford hosting Kristine for Christmas. The thought of Olegs being here while she stayed in Latvia was tough to bear, but that’s just how it had to be. That is, until we received an email telling us that some donations had been made to Simple Obedience in our name to help with our hosting expenses. The total amounts donated have been enough to drop the hosting cost significantly. We can now afford to host Kristine too!! Happy tears started flowing when we got this news. God is SO good! Things like this don’t just happen. This was divine intervention at work here. If you are one of the ones who donated, please know that words just can’t express our gratitude for your generosity. We pray the Lord will bless you abundantly for your kindness!
We’re praying that by some miracle we’ll be able to travel to Latvia in early December so we can return before the hosting group comes. When we are in Latvia for our first court sessions, Kristine will need to stay with us so the Latvian social worker can make observation visits. If the timing of our travel & hosting dates doesn't initially work out exactly right, it looks like we’ll have the option of changing the dates of Kristine's plane ticket. Rob and I decided we're not gonna stress about it because there’s nothing we can do to change the timing of things. We are just trusting that everything will work out.
We finally sent our attorney a polite but very firm email to ask why our case is taking so long and to find out exactly what we are waiting on now. Other adoptive families are coming and going for their court dates, while we’re still sitting in limbo. We tried to explain to her that we simply need answers which will help us make certain decisions on our end. Some of her prior responses to our questions almost made it seem like we were bothering her. This was frustrating also because we were purposely making every attempt to limit our questions and emails so we don’t bombard her too much. Rob and I tried to remind ourselves that there is lots of room for misinterpretation in emails anyway and the language barrier doesn’t help. Still, it’s hard not to take certain comments personally at times.
Anyway, our email hit home and our attorney was very kind in her response. She basically apologized and confessed that she was hesitant about giving us any information because of the problems we experienced when we got our court dates assigned prematurely back in October. So instead she opted to tell us nothing, which only fueled our frustration. She said she only wants to give us “concrete” information. This time she told us that there is a court date scheduled next week to officially clear Kristine for international adoption. Well, why didn’t you tell us that before??!!! (whining here). At least now we know why we are waiting. That’s all we want. We appreciated her honesty and expressed to her how grateful we are for everything she’s doing for us. She truly is a good person at heart, just stressed.
Our attorney also suggested that we might want to consider hosting Kristine at Christmas. She can’t tell us whether we’ll be traveling before or after Christmas. As you can imagine, all of the fees associated with the adoption and hosting are adding up and we have to make our money last. There are so many “what if’s.” Rob and I had pretty much ruled out being able to afford hosting Kristine for Christmas. The thought of Olegs being here while she stayed in Latvia was tough to bear, but that’s just how it had to be. That is, until we received an email telling us that some donations had been made to Simple Obedience in our name to help with our hosting expenses. The total amounts donated have been enough to drop the hosting cost significantly. We can now afford to host Kristine too!! Happy tears started flowing when we got this news. God is SO good! Things like this don’t just happen. This was divine intervention at work here. If you are one of the ones who donated, please know that words just can’t express our gratitude for your generosity. We pray the Lord will bless you abundantly for your kindness!
We’re praying that by some miracle we’ll be able to travel to Latvia in early December so we can return before the hosting group comes. When we are in Latvia for our first court sessions, Kristine will need to stay with us so the Latvian social worker can make observation visits. If the timing of our travel & hosting dates doesn't initially work out exactly right, it looks like we’ll have the option of changing the dates of Kristine's plane ticket. Rob and I decided we're not gonna stress about it because there’s nothing we can do to change the timing of things. We are just trusting that everything will work out.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
11/7 - We FINALLY talked to Olegs!
Today we called Olegs’ children’s home and were ecstatic to get Olegs on the phone. We got a little nervous when the person who answered the phone asked us to repeat what we said a couple of times. We were bracing for the moment they would disconnect us, but they didn’t. Finally they understood that we wanted Olegs so they hollered for him. He came to the phone right away and sounded so happy. Since so much time had passed since our last chat, it was important for us to let him know we haven’t forgotten about him. He had gotten the letter we sent him with some baseball cards, so he was happy. We’re thankful he’s at least getting our letters if we can’t always reach him on the phone. He still doesn’t know that he’s coming for a visit at Christmas. We have to wait for a few more details to be worked out before we can talk about it. He’ll be so excited when he finds out.
One of the other adoptive families is traveling to Latvia this week for their first court. They are taking a couple of small gifts to Olegs & Kristine for us. We also wrote the kids letters that were translated into Latvian by another hosting family’s son (thank you, Josh!!). We wanted to explain to the kids why we haven’t come to Latvia yet. Since the letters are in Latvian, we can be sure they’ll understand. We basically told them that we are still waiting for the Latvian government to give us permission, but that we will be there as soon as we can. It’s important to us that they understand what is happening.
One of the other adoptive families is traveling to Latvia this week for their first court. They are taking a couple of small gifts to Olegs & Kristine for us. We also wrote the kids letters that were translated into Latvian by another hosting family’s son (thank you, Josh!!). We wanted to explain to the kids why we haven’t come to Latvia yet. Since the letters are in Latvian, we can be sure they’ll understand. We basically told them that we are still waiting for the Latvian government to give us permission, but that we will be there as soon as we can. It’s important to us that they understand what is happening.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
11/1 - More Latvian Phone Games
Today, we tried calling Olegs again and found ourselves playing a slightly different game with the children’s home staff this time. Today’s game was called “set the phone down and walk away.” Again, we called and asked for Olegs. The woman who answered the phone sounded like she was going to go look for him but of course we had no clue what she rattled off to us in Latvian. We were just so thankful that she didn’t hang up on us this time. It soon dawned on us that she simply set the phone down on the desk and went about her business. We could hear people coming and going, kids screaming and laughing, the office staff cutting up, etc. (all of this very entertaining by the way). So Rob and I were together on the line wondering if we should hang up or wait. We kept hearing footsteps coming closer to the phone but then they kept on going. I finally started whispering and then shouting, “Sveiki, Sveiki, Sveiki!” (“hello, hello, hello!”) hoping some kind soul would pick up the phone. After about 25 mins. of wasted calling card minutes we hung up.
Rob and I decided we’d better find out what’s up with Olegs before we try calling the children’s home again. We don't want these "games" to escalate further. We emailed Ilga and asked her to call the children's home to see what the deal was. She was able to find out that Olegs was away longer than we originally thought, so he wasn't there when we called. The children’s home staff was probably trying to tell us that when we called before, but of course we didn’t understand a word. I’m sure it drove them crazy when we kept calling back. Oh well. Ilga found out a good time for us to call Olegs so we will try again and hopefully talk to him next time.
Since we couldn’t reach Olegs, we tried calling Kristine again. We got through to her very easily and she was a totally different girl this time. She was giggly and playful. We told her how much it makes us happy to hear that she’s happy. Her friend, Agnese, was there visiting her today so they were typical giggly girls. Kristine put Agnese on the phone and we got to say “hi” to her. She said “yes” to everything so we don’t know how much she understood of what we said. We could probably have asked if she liked to eat dirt and she would’ve said “yes.” LOL! We later heard from Ilga that Kristine was just in a bad mood the last time we called and that’s why she was so quiet and sad. Another adoptive family will be traveling to Latvia next week to go to court for their future daughter, who is a friend of Kristine’s. Ilga said Kristine is down about that and is wondering why our case is taking so long. We were thankful that Ilga could call Kristine and explain everything to her in Latvian so she’ll understand exactly what is happening.
We hope things will start moving faster with our case. We will contact our attorney again next week. There were two other adoptive families in Latvia for court dates this week, so our attorney was pretty busy. We’re hoping things will calm down for her a little now that those families are heading back home. Maybe she’ll have time to focus on our case again. We just want to bring Kristine home by Christmas. We’ve still got time, so hopefully that will happen.
Rob and I decided we’d better find out what’s up with Olegs before we try calling the children’s home again. We don't want these "games" to escalate further. We emailed Ilga and asked her to call the children's home to see what the deal was. She was able to find out that Olegs was away longer than we originally thought, so he wasn't there when we called. The children’s home staff was probably trying to tell us that when we called before, but of course we didn’t understand a word. I’m sure it drove them crazy when we kept calling back. Oh well. Ilga found out a good time for us to call Olegs so we will try again and hopefully talk to him next time.
Since we couldn’t reach Olegs, we tried calling Kristine again. We got through to her very easily and she was a totally different girl this time. She was giggly and playful. We told her how much it makes us happy to hear that she’s happy. Her friend, Agnese, was there visiting her today so they were typical giggly girls. Kristine put Agnese on the phone and we got to say “hi” to her. She said “yes” to everything so we don’t know how much she understood of what we said. We could probably have asked if she liked to eat dirt and she would’ve said “yes.” LOL! We later heard from Ilga that Kristine was just in a bad mood the last time we called and that’s why she was so quiet and sad. Another adoptive family will be traveling to Latvia next week to go to court for their future daughter, who is a friend of Kristine’s. Ilga said Kristine is down about that and is wondering why our case is taking so long. We were thankful that Ilga could call Kristine and explain everything to her in Latvian so she’ll understand exactly what is happening.
We hope things will start moving faster with our case. We will contact our attorney again next week. There were two other adoptive families in Latvia for court dates this week, so our attorney was pretty busy. We’re hoping things will calm down for her a little now that those families are heading back home. Maybe she’ll have time to focus on our case again. We just want to bring Kristine home by Christmas. We’ve still got time, so hopefully that will happen.
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