Rob and I can’t believe that Olegs and Kristine will be here in less than two weeks now for the Christmas hosting! We are so excited we can’t stand it!
This has been the week for GOOD news! First of all, we called to talk to Olegs yesterday and he told us that Kristine was there with him. When Kristine got on the phone, she told us that she’s now living at her own children’s home again. She is so happy to be back with her friends.
Later in the day yesterday we got the most important email from the Ministry of Children’s Affairs in Latvia!!! They sent us an official invitation to come to Latvia to meet Kristine. Normally, in adoptions like this, the adoptive parents have not already met the child. The government must invite them to meet the child. Once the adoptive parents reply and say “yes” that they do wish to meet the child described, the government will then release additional information such as medical records, etc. In our case, we obviously know Kristine but the government must still officially invite us to “meet” her. In the Ministry’s letter to us, they did not mention her name, but they included the most precious picture of her and provided a brief written description. Rob and I chuckled when we read the description that said “sometimes she cannot finish what she started to do.” That’s our Kristine alright…all over the place. LOL! The description also said she’s a “joyful, creative and active child” who has experienced some sadness in connection with a longing for a family. Talk about melting your heart.
In the picture they sent, Kristine appeared to be about 7 years old. That would’ve been around the age she was when she began living in the children’s home. Her hair is very short, with a choppy boyish haircut (almost like she cut it herself…LOL!) and dark brown. She’s wearing a rust color turtleneck sweater and sitting in front of a drab gray background. It’s almost like a very drab school picture. We still can’t stop staring at this picture. She is just so beautiful. We just look into that little face and wonder what all this sweetheart has been through in her life. We can’t wait until we are a family so that we can start making happy memories that will replace the bad ones. Rob and I replied with an emphatic “YES” we want to “meet” this child! This is our daughter!
This morning we got another email from the Ministry granting us official permission to visit Latvia to “meet” Kristine and get more information about her. This means our next step is to schedule our trip to Latvia for our court dates!!! Agnese, our attorney, thought we might want to travel in December so she would have scheduled dates then, but that just won’t work. We have both kids coming here for Christmas and we just can’t disrupt that visit. We want to enjoy and savor these three weeks with them. We will be taking them on a short vacation to Florida to meet our families and see the beach. We’ve told them about it and they can’t wait so we’re not about to disappoint them.
We’ve asked to travel to Latvia at the end of January so we will have time to prepare after the kids return home after the hosting. We’re told that shouldn’t be a problem so now we’re awaiting confirmation of the scheduled court dates. Our friend, Ilga, helped us decide on a place to stay so we’ve asked our attorney to see if this particular flat is available during the time we hope to be there. When we’re in Latvia, Kristine will live with us in this flat and a social worker will make visits. We will be responsible for getting Kristine to and from school everyday. This makes us a little nervous because it will be the dead of winter there AND we have no clue how to get around. Believe it or not, the children’s home director said Kristine could take public transportation by herself to get to school. She would have to take a tram for 10 mins. to get to a bus stop to catch a bus for the additional 15-20 min. ride to school. The thought of putting an 11-year old on a tram by herself sounds a little scary to us. We’ll probably ride with her. Hopefully, she can help us make sure we get on the right tram and bus so we end up in the right place. We don’t want to screw things up by making her late for school. Not a good impression of the Americans!
We hope to get confirmation within the next day or two of our court dates. Now that we’ve been officially matched with Kristine, we are confident that, once the dates are assigned, they will not change. Finally things are moving again! Thanks for all of your prayers. We are so thankful that things are starting to come together. FINALLY!
Okay, that’s about it for tonight. Now I have to go deal with my retarded 1-year old lab who is snarling at his reflection in the mirror. He can’t seem to understand that he’s looking at himself. The big dummy!! Good night all!!!
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