2/9 - Okay, It's Bitterly Cold & We're Ready to Come Home!

The weather here is freezing now!!! All of a sudden my puffy goose down jacket and Land's End boots aren't cutting it. Every time we go outside, we feel like we're slowly morphing into ice cubes. We're just ready to get back home to our nice warm house and our dog and kitty cats.

Today has still been a great day despite the freezing temperatures! We just returned from taking Kristine back to the children's home. She wanted to go back a little early because she has missed her friends. Robert and I were actually a little happy because it seems like we haven't had much time to relax together. Finally, no more running to and from the bus and no more appointments to go to. Our final task will be to make it to the airport on time tomorrow. We took a cab to the children's home today because Kristine had her suitcase and we weren't sure of the bus schedule during the middle of the day. It's entirely too cold to be waiting for a bus! Our cab driver was Russian and didn't speak a word of English so thank goodness for our little translator, Kristine. ((Oh, by the way, she has decided that her new American name will be "Christina Michelle" so I need to get used to writing "Christina" now. We just loved her name so much that we didn't want her to change it altogether. She came up with the new spelling herself. It's actually because she likes Christina Aguillera but that will be our little secret. We're just thankful she finally gave up on being "Britney Spears")). Anyway, back to our taxi ride. Our cab waited outside for us while we went in and said hello to Christina's children's home director, Ilga G. About all we could say to her was "hello" and "thank you" but that was all we needed to say. She gave us a big smile and wished us well. We can tell she really cares about Christina and all of the kids under her care. We can imagine her job isn't an easy one for sure.

This morning at 9:45 we had our second orphan court session where the four court panel (two of the four women were different this time) asked us additional questions about our time with Christina and if we still intended to adopt her. They also asked us to leave the room so they could talk to Christina. Thankfully, they were also satisfied with her answers so we were relieved about that. You never know what that girl will say! The women on the panel were much friendlier this time (they gave lots of smiles) and were happy to tell us that they approve of our adoption and will recommend that the district court grant our adoption of Christina. The social worker from Christina's children's home forgot all about the session and missed it altogether. Luckily, it didn't affect the court's decision or delay things. Thank goodness Daiga, our translator, was there. WHEW!

After our court session this morning, we had to go to the notary office again to have a Power of Attorney document drawn up for Daiga to handle certain matters for us. Our attorney just had a baby so she isn't able to handle as much right now so she's delegating. We have nothing but great things to say about everyone who has helped us so far. This trip has been problem free from the moment we hit the ground at the airport.

Here's a recap of the time since my last post...

2/7 - Our attorney, Agnese, came by to meet us and brought her newborn baby, Esther Anne. This is the first time we've met Agnese in person. Agnese is a beautiful young woman (maybe early 30's) with jet black hair and gorgeous blue eyes. She speaks a little English so we were able to communicate just fine in person. The phone calls are a little more challenging though. We went over some specifics about our case and talked about the procedures for our next trip. She assures us that all should go as planned. Agnese has taken care of every detail for us and even though we won't see her much during this trip, she's behind the scenes working hard to make sure that the correct documents are submitted on our behalf and that our translator is there when we need her, etc. Little Esther Anne was bundled up in the cutest little puffy white snow suit. The cold didn't seem to phase her one bit. We all kept our distance from her since we've been fighting the sore throat bug lately and didn't want to pass it along.

Robert was feeling really sick today with the painful sore throat that we've all had at some point on this trip. He stayed in while I went to pick up Christina at the bus stop, but was able to participate in the meeting with Agnese. We had all made plans to get together with Ilga this evening but Robert just wasn't up to it. Christina and I went on our own to meet Ilga. Our original plan was to go walk around the Art Nouveau district but since Robert couldn't go (and it was too cold anyway!), we changed plans and Ilga took us to the Laima chocolate store (chocolates made in Riga) and the special honey store. We had mentioned that we wanted to get a few gifts to take back to our friends. Our first stop was the aptieka or "drugstore". Each time I mention that one of us is sick, Ilga insists on taking us to get just the right medicine. We've accumulated various herb teas and cough drops, bee pollen etc. LOL! This time, we got some kind of throat spray that has antibiotic in it and as of this moment it seems to be working. Robert's feeling much, much better.

We set out on our walk to the chocolate store first. As we passed each block I thought surely it will be at the next corner. Well it was all the way across town and my feet were practically frozen solid!! I was so jealous that Robert was at the flat all warm and toasty in bed. The cold didn't seem to phase Ilga as she shuffled us down the sidewalk at a brisk pace. She and Janis have been so sweet to us. They have done so much to help us learn our way around and have shown us so many things. They are truly great friends that we know we'll have for a lifetime. Finally, we made it to the chocolate store where I was overwhelmed with all the choices. Robert wanted me to pick up this certain candy that he wanted and all he remembered was that it was in a blue wrapper and was a chocolate covered wafer. I tried to describe to Ilga what a wafer was and ended up saying "cookie." I think I got everyone confused. Well, I ended up getting a different candy in a blue wrapper that turned out to be the wrong one and was the one that we remembered we didn't like. The wrapper looked familiar to me so I thought it was safe. Oh well! While at the candy store, Janis showed up to meet us since his work is nearby. Both he and Ilga kept recommending various kinds of candy so they kept putting different things in my basket for us to try. I finally said I'd better not get anymore because I had no idea what it all would cost and had no clue what I was getting. It turned out not to be that much so we were fine.

Our next stop was the honey store. Once Ilga and Janis found out we like honey, they insisted we go to this special store. I just like basic natural honey. I wasn't prepared to choose from the many varieties at this store. We walked in and there were just too many choices. I just wanted a basic jar of honey. They were treating it as if we were picking out a fine wine or something. I'm just as happy with the plastic honey bear with the squeeze top that you can get at Publix. Finally, I just picked a couple of jars that were on the cheaper side and Janis said they looked like good choices to him. He also suggested I get this special bee pollen for Robert. It's supposed to have lots of vitamins, etc. Robert's taken it once or twice since then, along with the herb tea, etc. and he's feeling better. The last thing we want to do is be sick while we're here.

We began the long walk back towards our flat and I asked them if they knew of a good bakery. The walk back was just as agonizing as the walk to the stores. The company was great, but the weather was FREEZING! Poor Christina refused to wear the long johns we brought her so she was especially cold. We were in the middle of Riga's rush hour so the sidewalks were just full of people weaving in and out in between each other and walking a million miles per hour in all directions. All of a sudden we came upon some kind of accident. We couldn't tell what had happened but saw a police officer interviewing people and writing up some sort of report, his tiny police car pulled up on the sidewalk. Next thing we knew, the crowd we were in the midst of was slightly detouring and shuffling past something on the sidewalk, still walking at a million miles an hour. Well, as we came upon it, Ilga turned back to us (while still walking) and said, "Be careful. It's dead." It didn't register what was happening until we were almost past a dead body lying there next to our feet and covered by a tarp. I don't know if this person got hit by a car while walking across the street or what but it was just such a disturbing experience to see. Someone lost their life here and people were just shuffling by without skipping a beat. It seemed like we should be having some moment of silence or something...a human being just died here!! Ilga and Janis continued guiding us towards the bakery and tried to make us feel better by changing the subject to what we wanted to get at the bakery. We got some fresh pastries at the bakery, said our goodbyes and Christina and I headed back to the flat. When we got back to the flat, Christina and I just hugged each other, taking deep breaths and trying to make sense out of what we saw. Sometimes we don't understand why things happen the way they do. Robert and I only wish we could have somehow protected Christina from witnessing this. She has already seen and experienced so much hurt in her life. I think we were officially ready to go home at this point.

2/8 - The main event for today was our second inspector visit. The inspector, Arte, and another woman named Ruta (a very nice older woman...maybe Arte's supervisor) arrived before our translator, Daiga. Arte and Ruta began asking Christina questions while Robert and I sat there not understanding a word. I did understand when Christina told them her new name "Christina Michelle" so that was good. If she's picked out a new name, that tells them she wants to be adopted. They all kept looking at us and smiling so we felt they were either laughing at us or Christina was saying nice things. Thankfully, it was the latter. Arte was the same woman who came the first time and she was very warm and friendly. She assured us that they support our adoption and that they are just going through their procedures so that everything will be in order. Ruta was also very friendly and at times took the lead asking us questions (Daiga had since arrived by this time to translate). Christina was so interested in Ruta's hair which was a deep burgundy color, a bob style with bangs. The questions we were asked weren't too difficult, much like those we were asked in the beginning. They mainly want to confirm whether we still want to adopt Christina and confirm that we're all getting along. We were all so relieved when it was over and we got our official invitation to come to the court session on Feb. 9th. WHEW!

Please keep Olegs in your prayers. We didn't get to see much of him since last weekend. He has some relatives in town that he's been spending time with. We've been okay with it since this trip we're supposed to be focusing on Christina anyway. We're always happy if he's getting attention whether it be from us or from his relatives. It's been hard on him to see things happening with Christina now while he has to wait. Since we saw him last, he has said he doesn't want to take our calls. He obviously is trying to distance himself from us because he's hurting. We mentioned this to our friend Helen and she offered to take him a letter for us. She is so busy herself but took the time to drive all the way to Olegs' children's home and read our letter to him herself, translating it for him. Now that is a true friend! We just wrote Olegs a heartfelt letter telling him that we are happy that he's getting to spend time with his family and that we will always love him and be his American family no matter what happens. It's just hard because we still don't know which way the court will rule in his case. As time passes, he may decide he doesn't want to be with us. Robert and I have just given it up to the Lord to sort out. We can't control any of it anyway. All we can do is keep writing and trying to call Olegs. We just want him to really understand how much we love him.

Other random things...

I made the mistake of buying water w/gas (as Latvian's call it) or what we'd refer to as sparkling water at the store. The bottled water is either spring water like we're used to or the sparkling water. Well, I just grabbed a bottle and got the wrong kind. Very frustrating!

We also tried Kvass which is the drink people here try to pass off as Latvia's version of Coca-Cola. Well, let me tell you it is NOT anything close to Coke. It is just plain NASTY and tastes like some kind of licorice tea or something!! We're told that most Americans don't like it and Robert and I are now officially on that list. We did have a friend of ours describe it as tasting like dirty, sweaty gym socks. We should have just taken her word for it and left it alone. Christina insisted that we try it so we did. She loves it. YEEEEEUUUKKK!!!

I don't know if I mentioned that when you purchase things at any store here, you don't just hand the money to the cashier. You have to put your money or credit card on a small tray at the check-out counter. You'll get funny looks if you try to hand the money directly to the cashier. It seems inefficient to me, but what do I know. They must have a good reason for doing things this way but I can't figure out what it is.

With that, this is will be my last post from Latvia. Tomorrow, Ilga and Janis are coming over for a goodbye breakfast and Evita (the woman who helped reserve the flat for us) will be taking us to the airport at 1:00. We're flying to London and will spend the night in a hotel this time before traveling the rest of the way home on Sunday. We are so thankful we've survived our two weeks without problems! We know that's in large part due to your prayers! Stay tuned for the next post from American soil! Boy do we appreciate and miss our country!