5/31 - Adjusting to American Life

It's hard to believe that Christina has only been with us for 2 1/2 weeks. It just feels like she's always been with us. You may notice that I've gone back and added some pics to the blog. Now that she's officially ours, we are free to share pics with you now.

Christina is adjusting so well but, of course, has those moments where she's really homesick for Latvia. She's concerned that she'll lose her ability to speak Latvian and Russian, but at the same time wants to learn to speak English without an accent so no one will know she's from Latvia. At times she feels overwhelmed but we just tell her that we're here to help her every step of the way. She's been working really hard on her reading and studying of English words. I have no doubt that she'll do well in school. If only she could feel that confident about herself. We're working on that.


During these past couple of weeks, we've done a lot. We took a trip to Florida and spent some time with family at the beach. Christina already knew most of the family members so she felt right at home. Rob's mom surprised her with a "Welcome Christina" cake and a beautiful necklace with her initials on it. Christina thinks her new family is very cool!

Over Memorial Day weekend, we spent some time with friends. We are friends with another adoptive family who are in the process of adopting one of Christina's friends from her children's home. They also have a bio daughter Christina's age so we had fun hanging out with them on Saturday. Christina enjoyed jumping on their trampoline for hours and spending time at their neighborhood pool. On Monday, we went to see different friends who have the pool where Winston loves to swim. Christina thought it was funny how Winston would jump into the water, but that quickly got old when he accidentally scratched her on the back while trying to swim after her. Then he wouldn't let up and barked at her continuously to make her play fetch with him. She says he is "hyperactive" and "crazy."

We have also quickly found that we have a little entrepreneur in our midst. Christina said she really wants an Ipod so we told her that those are expensive and she would have to earn the money herself. I took her to Michaels Arts & Crafts and got her an inexpensive bead kit to see if she might like to make bracelets to sell. She made a few to show us and we were blown away. They are beautiful! Once she sold the first one, that was it. She made business cards and everything. Her title on her cards is "Business Woman". Too funny! She's selling the bracelets for $4 and the rings for $2. She's quickly learning that it feels good to work hard for something. Plus, she's learning about money and how to make change, etc. Thanks to all of you who have bought bracelets and rings. Christina is so excited that she almost has all the money she needs to buy her Ipod.

Other miscellaneous things we've done over the past two weeks include shopping for clothes/shoes, going for a physical at the doctor, etc. We found a doctor in our area who has a Russian nurse. At her doctor visit, Christina and the nurse just talked and talked in Russian. It was so good for her. Yesterday we got her officially signed up for school so that's another thing we can cross off the list.

We're spending lots of time with Christina now, but we're also wishing Olegs were here. We got to talk to him last week and he sounded happy to hear from us. The conversation was short because Christina's friends ran to the phone and wanted to talk to her. We're still waiting to hear when the court date will take place to see if he can be cleared for adoption. We just don't want him to think we've forgotten about him. We will wait for him as long as it takes. We only hope that he still wants to be with us. The Lord will have to work it all out.

5/17 - A Visit at Our New School

Today we got to visit the school Christina will be attending next year. The school was having their year end closing ceremony outside. The plan was for me to stay with Christina for the closing ceremony and then let her go to the classroom by herself to attend class with some students her age. On the way there, of course, Christina was adamant about not staying there by herself. According to her "rules", I was to stay with her the entire time. Well, sorry but no can do. It was hard but I had to tell her this is what we're doing and that mom's aren't supposed to go to the classroom with their kids. There were tears and at one point I actually was a little nervous she might try to run for an escape. Thank goodness that didn't happen.

On the way to the front door, she kept saying, "I don't like this school." I just had to remind her that she had no way of knowing that without even entering the front door yet!! Everyone was so nice and welcoming to us. At the closing ceremony outside on the field, we sat on our towel along with all of the other students, parents and teachers. Christina continued to say she didn't like it and made up her mind that all the kids were babies. LOL! We watched as the students gave awards to some of their favorite teachers and sang songs. The grand finale was the "cha cha" dance which was hilarious. It was so funny to see all of the other kids, parents and teachers stomping their feet and twirling around to the cha cha. Christina stood with her arms crossed as I did the moves, but finally joined in and showed that beautiful smile towards the end.

The principal arranged for 3 students Christina's age to show her around. Once the girls introduced themselves to her, she seemed to feel better about me leaving. We all told her that when she was ready to go, they would call me on my cell phone to come pick her up. I left and kept waiting and waiting for that phone to ring. It was about 3 hours later that they called for me to pick her up. When I came to pick her up she was in the school office with a soda in her hand. She was with one of her new friends and had a big smile on her face. When we walked out of the building, the first words out of her mouth this time were, "I like this school." WHEW! I wasn't sure what to expect. We were so relieved that she had a good experience.

She just talked and talked about her day. The kids at school had gotten their new yearbooks today and they all wanted Christina to sign theirs. She also said she met a boy from the Ukraine and a girl from Russia. She had been so scared that they would laugh at her, but quickly found out that instead they all wanted to be her friend. They asked her to say different words in Latvian and Russian. We had a good talk about how sometimes we're scared of things because we imagine bad things happening in our mind. If we go ahead and do the thing anyway, we usually find out that it isn't nearly as scary as we thought it would be.

We just told her that we were so proud of her because she did something she was scared to do and saw that it wasn't so scary after all. It took lots of courage for her to go to that new school where everyone speaks a different language. We're just hoping that she'll still feel good about school in August when school starts.

5/15 - Parenthood is Awesome!

I know we're in the honeymoon phase after being home just 3 days, but so far things are awesome. Christina is such a great kid and we're truly blessed that she is officially our daughter. I was so happy to celebrate my first Mother's Day on Sunday. We were exhausted after staying up till 2am the night before but made it to church in spite of that. Christina was happy to see many familiar faces at church, friends she made when she was here last summer and at Christmas. Our church friends also surprised us with a huge card signed by everyone to welcome Christina home.

As promised, below is a recap of our last few days. I'll go back to the day we left Riga and catch up from there. (Boy, you people don't play around. I've gotten a few emails politely but firmly requesting that I update the blog. LOL! :-)

5/9 - Today was the day we left Riga for Warsaw. Ilga L. came by in the morning on her work break to say goodbye. She gave us a beautiful ceramic bell as a memento of our time in Riga. We had a good visit with her, reminiscing about the events which led up to where we are now. It's sad to say goodbye but we all know we'll see each other again one day. The flat owners gave us a ride to the airport and we had a good flight, except for the fact that it was an hour late.

When we got to Warsaw, we felt so important to have a special driver awaiting us holding a placard with my name on it. Christina half joked that this man might be dangerous and take us off somewhere and steal our organs. It sounds funny, but many children really believe that taxi drivers and Americans especially are out to steal the children's organs and that's why they want to adopt them. I'm happy to say we made it to our hotel with our organs intact! LOL!

5/10 - Today was the day of our embassy appointment to obtain Christina's immigration visa. The embassy was just a short walk from our hotel (Sheraton Warsaw) so we got there early. There was a long line of people outside waiting to enter the building, but we were waived to the front of the line since we're U.S. citizens. Everyone we dealt with at the embassy was so nice and helpful. The first lady we dealt with had the checklist and asked for the various documents one by one so she could check them off the list. The feeling of relief was overwhelming as I watched her check off each item. WHEW!

After we submitted the documents, we waited for a few minutes before being called up to the counter to talk with a different agent. She was so nice and told us how she loved this part of the process because she got to meet so many happy families. She went over a few things with us and said Christina's visa would be approved and could be picked up after 3:00 that afternoon. There was another adoptive mom there who was adopting two boys from Poland. She had a facilitator with her to help her with the paperwork. It made me feel good to know we gathered our documents ourselves and actually did things correctly.

Christina and I walked around Warsaw after our morning meeting and looked for a place to eat. We finally found a sign for a place called Mommo Pizza and there was a Pepsi logo in their window. I just wasn't in the mood to be adventurous and look for Polish cuisine. I needed something familiar to eat! We each got a slice of pizza and a cold Pepsi. The people at the pizza place also spoke some English so that was nice.

After eating lunch, we walked around some more before heading back to the hotel. We found a small bakery where we were able to get some pastries. We stopped by the small grocery market on the way back and picked up some groceries. One of the things we thought we got was milk. The bottle had a cow on it but when we opened it later, it tasted and smelled rotten. I don't know if we got rotten milk or if it's some other Polish version of milk. Whatever! We both just wanted to go home at this point. If only they had a Publix here!!

We went back to the hotel and watched a movie before heading back to the embassy to pick up Christina's visa. I was constantly having to grab the remote because Christina's favorite channel was MTV. Luckily, there was a channel showing kids' movies so we were able to watch those instead. If she had her way, she'd watch music videos all day. I let her watch some of the few tamer videos but she knows the first time I see someone dancing in their underwear, the channel gets changed!

At 3:00 we began our walk back to the embassy and the place was pretty vacant. We walked right back to the back counter and got her visa packet. What an awesome feeling! The paperwork was done and we were free to go home!

5/11 - I had scheduled an extra day in Warsaw in case there were any problems with the visa process. The embassy computers have gone down before, so we wanted to have extra time just in case.

Today was a day to explore. We slept late and ate our pastries in the room for breakfast. Then we walked for awhile and made our way back to Mommo Pizza for lunch. It was the closest thing to home that we could get and it felt could to go back there. On the way there, we noticed a sign for the Narodowe Museum (a National Museum) so we decided to check that out after our pizza. It was a beautiful museum with huge paintings and sculptures from Polish artists, as well as other European artists. Christina really loves art so she actually appreciated the works we saw. I thought she would be bored. There were also some art students in various places in the museum painting pictures while we watched. Christina now wants to get some paints now and learn how to paint like they do.

We spent a good portion of the day at the museum and went back to the hotel afterwards. I worked on a puzzle while Christina watched a couple of kid's movies. We finished off the sandwiches and soup we got from the market and enjoyed some more of the pastries for dinner. We went to bed early because the next day we've got a big travel day ahead.

5/12 - We got to the Warsaw airport extra early because I just wanted to get checked in so we could relax. We were so early that the check-in counter wasn't even open yet. They opened soon after though and we got checked in with no glitches. Afterwards, we looked through a few of the shops and I got a couple of souvenirs.

We made our way to our gate and hung out there until it was time to board. Then out went the power and all the lights!!! Not sure if the power went out in just our area or the whole airport. The place went dark for a minute and then the generator lights came on. I was just thinking to myself...this is classic, here we are ready to board our plane to come home and the stinkin' power goes out! So it took awhile for the airline workers to get things sorted out. I was worried that they might say our flight was canceled or something, but instead it just made us late.

Overall, our flights were uneventful. They didn't have enough TV screens on our flight from Warsaw so we couldn't see the movies too well. Christina let me know that she didn't like our plane because it didn't have TV screens at every seat. Oh well. Too bad, so sad! People were up and down walking in front of the screen...very frustrating. We played lots of Uno to kill the time. I tried to sleep but my sweet daughter kept nudging me every few minutes to ask me if my ears were stopped up. It became a game to her. I had to keep telling her that "no, my ears are the same way they were a few minutes ago when you asked me the last time!" LOL!

We had to change planes and go through customs in Chicago. Christina got her visa stamped which means that she is now officially a US citizen. She gave me a big smile when I told her she was an American girl now. We finally got to the Atlanta airport and boy was that the best feeling ever! We were home! Our excitement was short lived, however. Our pilot made an announcement that we couldn't get to our gate because another plane was occupying it. There had been some bad weather in Atlanta, so some of the plane schedules were off. It was so frustrating to be home and not be able to get off the stupid plane!! It was ONE HOUR later that we finally got to our gate and were able to get off.

We walked around looking for Robert and he snuck up behind us with a beautiful bouquet of flowers for Christina. He wasn't sure what was going on because he had seen that our plane was supposed to be here but then the information for our flight was taken off the board. It was the most incredible feeling to have our new family together for the first time. Christina fell asleep in the car on the way home but woke right up when we got home. We stayed up late talking and unpacking, just basking in the moment of having our sweetheart home.

5/10 - Greetings from Warsaw!

I don't have much time to write the details of the past couple of days. I'm at the business center at our hotel (the Warsaw Sheraton) and their rates for computer access aren't the cheapest, so I have to make it quick. Just wanted to let everyone know that Christina and I had our immigration appointment at the American embassy this morning and all went well. We had all of the required documents and her immigration visa has been approved. We just got back from picking up the immigration packet from the embassy, so we're officially finished with all of the adoption paperwork. Now we have to kill time until we catch our plane out of here on Saturday.

We're both homesick and ready to get back home. We can't understand Polish and trying to figure out the currency conversion is a big pain. It's rainy today so we haven't done much exploring. We did manage to find a pizza place after wondering around looking for a cheap place to get a bite to eat for lunch. As you can imagine all of the places near the hotel are expensive. There is a grocery market across the street so we've picked up things from there to fix meals in our room. Not sure what we'll do tomorrow. If the weather is nice, we might do more exploring. It's frustrating that we can't read any of the signs so we could be right near some cool places and not know it. I'm just too tired to figure it out. All I want now is to get our girl home and see my husband.

This will probably be my last post until we get home. I'll post more details about the last part of our trip when we get back to the states. Right now, I'm just so happy that all went well with our immigration appointment. You never know what can happen when you're dealing with government bureaucracy. Thanks again for all of your prayers!

5/8 - Saying Goodbye to Olegs

Today was pretty rainy but later in the day the rain subsided. Christina and I went to the Maxima grocery store first thing because she didn't have any cereal and we also needed a couple of other things. On the way back we hit the french bakery and picked up some croissants. Christina loved them and said she hadn't eaten them before. She was happy to hear that we can get them all over in America.

After we ate our breakfast, we went on a walk to find a bookstore. Christina wanted to have something to read on the plane. We finally found a store that had some educational books and there was one that had children's stories like "Little Red Riding Hood" etc. in Latvian and English. We decided that would be a good choice because it would help her to learn English. Next we went on a search to find a Christian bookstore because Christina lost her Latvian bible that we had given her last summer. After walking and checking bookstore after bookstore (none of them had bibles), we had to break down and call our friend, Helen Vipass, to ask her where one was. It turns out there was one right near our flat but we had walked almost to the other side of town. Christina was happy to pick out the bible that she liked and she also picked out a bible story book and a small card. I wasn't sure what she wanted the card for but when she asked if we could get it I just said "yes." I thought maybe it was for one of her friends.

A short time after we got back to the flat, she came up to me and gave me the card. It had 3 red roses on the front and was blank inside, but she had written that the 3 roses represent her, me and Robert. She also wrote "I Love You" and said the we are a new family of three. Talk about melting my heart. Of course, it made me cry. I told her it was so meaningful because it came from her heart. I said I will keep it with me always and she lit up with that beautiful smile of hers. I think it's so good that I came by myself on this trip. By that I mean without a travel buddy. The perfect situation would be for Robert to be with us too. Christina and I are having some really good bonding time and we're able to really talk about things as they are happening.

When we got back to the flat, Daiga came by and brought the school documents. It was basically one or two pages which really amounted to almost nothing so I felt bad that we were all scurrying over town for this. Oh well. At least I have it now. She also brought a document that the director, Ilga G., needed me to sign when I was at the children's home but she also forgot to ask me about that.

Soon after Daiga arrived, the doorbell rang and it was a soaking wet Olegs with a huge grin on his face. It had started raining again. I'm glad I was at the flat because he arrived at 3:00 but was supposed to arrive at 5:00. He got there 2 hours early! Daiga visited for awhile and then had to go. The rest of the afternoon, the kids and I played Uno. Olegs also painted with his sun catcher art kit that I brought him while Christina read her new book out loud to all of us. It was just a great day for us to just be together.

When Ilga finished work, she and Janis came to pick us up and we went to dinner at a place called Pica. I had a spinach and cheese lasagna. It had a dill sauce on it which I had to scrape off, but otherwise it was delicious. I'm finally branching out a bit on this trip. I think I'm over Lido now. LOL! We had a great dinner and Ilga was able to help me talk to Olegs again just to make sure he understands that there will be children from his children's home coming to the U.S. for the summer hosting, but he won't be coming this time because other kids deserve to have a turn. Plus, we're waiting to see what the court will say about the possibility of us traveling for his adoption case. We expect it to take a few more months before any decision will be made by the courts but you never know.

After a great dinner together, we walked Olegs to his bus. I gave him a big hug and kiss and put him on that bus. It was so hard. The bus sat there for awhile before it left, so I kept clowning with him and walking back and forth in front of his window and waving. He kept trying to hide from me and smiled. Then the time came for the bus to drive away and my tears started flowing. I tried to keep my smile on my face but my huge red eyes gave me away. I think Olegs could tell and I hope it didn't make him sad. When we got back to the flat, Christina saw my eyes were read and said "Why you cry?" I said, "because I miss Olegs" and then it made her tear up too. She said, "You cry and it make me cry." Then we laughed that I looked like an alcoholic with my big red face and eyes. That isn't really funny but it was funny at the time and helped make me stop crying and start laughing. LOL!
As you can imagine, I am very homesick. I call Robert everyday but it isn't the same. I want to be home. At the same time, I'm sad about leaving Riga because I don't know when we'll return. This city has really grown on me and I hope we can come back every now and then for a visit. This place will always have a special place in our hearts.

Christina and I will be heading out the Warsaw tomorrow. I hope to have internet access there. If it doesn't cost an arm and a leg, I'll try to keep the blog updated. Please say a prayer that our meeting at the U.S. embassy goes well on Thursday.

Atta ("goodbye") for now!

5/7 - Goodbyes Are So Hard!

We started our day today in a frenzy because the girls' alarm didn't go off. Agnese was supposed to catch the 8:56 a.m. bus and her alarm didn't go off. I just happened to wake up at 8:30 and noticed that the girls were still sleeping. I dashed to the living room to wake them up and they jumped up and started getting dressed. I'm still amazed at how quickly they can get ready to go. Agnese was ready with a few minutes to spare even. Christina ran her to the bus and she made her bus to school just in the nick of time. WHEW! That was close!

Christina and I hung out at the flat most of the day. Daiga, our translator, came over around lunch time to bring all of our translated documents, many of which I'll need to give to the embassy in Warsaw. She had Christina's new passport, new birth certificate, translated copies of all court decisions, etc. It is so strange to see mine and Robert's names on this new birth certificate. I spent a good amount of time combing through each document to make sure we have everything we need. One thing I have to say is that our attorney, Agnese, and Daiga have taken care of everything for us. I don't expect any problems in Warsaw.

When Ilga finished work, she came and picked us up for the drive to Christina's children's home. They had already had a party for Christina last week, but today she had to pick up her things. I also needed to deliver gifts for the director and social worker and donations for the children. Thanks again to all of you who donated clothes, games, toothbrushes, etc. The director was extremely grateful for these items. When we got there, Ilga G., the director, was all smiles. She is such a nice lady. She gives the biggest bear hugs and when I went to hug her I felt like I was a rag doll almost being swept off my feet. She also gave me a couple of hard smacks on the back afterwards...the kind that knock your breath out. LOL!

Christina went to her room to pack her things and came back soon after with a trail of friends following her. We got many pictures of her and her friends. They even brought the children's home resident dog into the director's office so we could take pictures with the dog too. That also tells you the director is a nice woman. Any person who will allow a dog in their office is alright in my book. The children were all smiles during picture time. I've gotten to know a few of the children since they've seen me before and some visited the U.S. during the hosting time. They come up to me and give me hugs now. Ilga G. says they all want to come to America now. I've heard a couple of Christina's friends will be hosted this summer but it's a secret right now. The kids don't know it yet and Christina doesn't know. We'll probably tell Christina at the last minute too so it can be a big surprise. She'll be so excited when she finds out.

When it came time for final goodbyes, the mood changed. There was a trail of sad girls following Christina. I was the last out the door and had to stop when I saw Christina's best friend, Agnese, off by herself in the corner crying and crying. I just went up to her and hugged her tight for the longest time, brushed her hair out of her face and gave her a kiss on the forehead and told her all would be okay. She grabbed onto me and didn't want to let go so I started balling. I told her that we would not forget her and that we would write her letters. I didn't want to let her go, but finally had to because Ilga was ready. WHEW! We were all emotionally spent after that visit. I well up just thinking about it.

Christina was understandably upset on the ride back to the flat and of course, that made me cry again. Then I realized I forgot to ask the director for Christina's school documents. I was supposed to pick those up and pass them on to our translator later this evening so she could translate them for me. So poor Ilga had to turn the car around and go back in rush hour traffic. Yes, they have traffic jams here too and they are equally as frustrating when you're trying to get somewhere quickly. Ilga was so understanding and we were able to laugh about it. The frustrating part was that we made the trek all the way back to the children's home only to find that no one knew where the documents were so we couldn't get them anyway. I had to call Daiga and cancel our meeting. Daiga was also understanding and said she'd take care of it the next day. Oh well.

Our attorney, Agnese, came over tonight to deliver documents so it was good to see her one last time. We got to talk a little about Olegs' case. There is still no news there and we still don't know what he will ultimately want to do. He is receiving pressure from his Latvian family to stay in Latvia. However, the poor guy is living in a children's home. As we've said before, we'll be fine if he stays in Latvia if that's what is meant to be. We just want his Latvian family to take him out of the children's home and give him a home. It's not fair for him to have to grow up in a children's home when he has family. It's so hard to understand.

After Agnese left, it was just me and Christina. It hit me that she had all of her things in one suitcase...her whole life was basically in that suitcase. We fixed something to eat and later she wanted to show me her things in her suitcase. She showed me a couple of pictures from when she was little and I just lost it. I couldn't stop crying. I told her that I was crying because I missed out on so much of her life. I only wish I had known her then so I could have been taking care of her when she was little. I told her those pictures are precious and we have to save them forever. Then that made her cry so we just sat there and cried together. Then she showed me some mementos that her parents and other family members gave her to keep. She cried again as she told me about them. We talked about how it was good for us to cry. It was a good experience because I feel if we can let out all of this emotion we can move forward in our new life together. I told her that this is such a happy time for me and Robert because we're so happy to have a new daughter, but we realize that this is also a time of loss for her so it's normal if she's not happy right now.

We promised Christina that we won't share her personal information about her Latvian family and life in Latvia. That story is hers to tell if and when she chooses to. Even children at school don't need to know she's adopted if she doesn't want them to. I think in that way she feels good about being able to wipe the slate clean and start a new life.

5/6 - Tooling Around Riga!

Ilga and Janis picked us up this morning and we took a tram ride to church. The Jamison family met us there so we could all attend church together. I love their church but the service is a little long...3 hours. It was good for the kids to be able to go and Christina and her friend, Liza, enjoyed going to Sunday School. Olegs stayed with the adults and seemed to be really listening to the sermon so I hope he received the message.

After church, we took a tram to the Lido down the street from our flat and had a delicious lunch. I can't leave Latvia without eating at Lido at least once more. Olegs, Christina and Liza sat together while the adults sat at a table closeby. I ordered my old favorite of potato pancake with pork shish-ka-bobs and my all time favorite "herring in a coat". Ilga is supposed to have a cookbook for me which has recipes for many of these dishes. Hopefully, the recipes will be easy enough so I can make them taste the same. We'll see.

After lunch, we all (Ilga, Janis, Jamison family & Liza, and my kids) went to the honey store to do a little shopping. I got a few different varieties of honey. There are so many choices to choose from that I still get overwhelmed. The lady in the store was real nice and let me take her picture while she was pouring our honey into jars for us. Janis and Christina also got a kick out of trying on part of the beekeeper outfit that beekeepers wear over their heads. I got some good pictures of that too.

The Jamisons saw an advertisement that said Cirque de Soleil was going to be in town so they thought it might be neat to get tickets. We walked to a place at the central station to see if any tickets were available, but it turns out they were sold out. While we were there though, we looked in some other shops and I was able to do some candy shopping. Christina picked out some candies that she likes. She knows just about every variety of candy there is. Whenever she has any money in her pocket, she wants to go spend it on candy. I keep telling her that her teeth will fall out but she's not buying it. LOL!

After we went to the central station, the Jamisons headed back towards their flat and I went with Ilga and Janis back to the Reval hotel on the way back to my flat so we could take the elevator ride back to the top to see if I could get more pictures. Again, it was a beautiful day. I got a few pictures but there was a glare again so I couldn't get all of the angles I wanted.

After the elevator ride, the kids decided they wanted to go to the children's home for a few hours. Christina wanted to spend some time with her friends. It's really hitting her that she's leaving and may never see some of them again. Olegs has to stay the night at the children's home because he has school tomorrow. He'll be able to come back on Tuesday evening to spend one last evening with me before we have to say our goodbyes. I don't want to think about that now.

Well, Christina was supposed to be back at the flat at 8:30 p.m. but she showed up early. I was impressed when the doorbell rang at 8:10. I asked "who is it?" and got the reply "it's Christina and Agnese." It took me a minute to process what was happening. She had brought her friend with her to spend the night. This is "old Agnese," by the way. Apparently, they are best friends again. At first, I started to say "no" because I wasn't sure that the children's home was informed of this and the last thing I need is to get into trouble with the director. Christina assured me that they told their teacher and they it was okay. This is a very difficult time for Christina so I caved and said Agnese could spend the night with us. The thing is that each time you meet one of these kids, you find that they each take a part of your heart. It can be very emotional at times because they each have very troubling and sad stories. I don't know all of Agnese's story but I could see such a sadness in her eyes. There are so many children like this and it gets so hard. We're saving one child but there are so many more who need love. It's heavy stuff! I find myself wanting to adopt all of them.

We had a great night together. I had some paint by number sets so I gave Christina and Agnese one to work on while I sat with them and worked on my puzzle. They talked and giggled and it was so sweet to see them enjoy each other's company. At bedtime, Christina asked me to tell them a bedtime story and I made up an adventure to continue the story of the "doggies and kitties" from the night before. It was totally silly and dumb so I'll spare you the details. It made the girls laugh so that was what counted. They also talked me into scratching their backs while I told the story so that was kind of our bonding time together. We had our goodnight prayers and they each prayed for people they wanted to pray for. It was really sweet. It was about 11:00 by this time so I was pooped and went to bed. I heard them laying in bed laughing for awhile longer but I didn't have the heart to tell them to go to sleep. They needed this time together and I hope it helped them both to be able to have this special time...just the two of them.

Tomorrow we'll be saying goodbyes at the children's home. I expect lots of tears to be flowing.

5/5 - Fun With American Friends in Latvia

After having leftover pelmeni for breakfast (the kids had cereal :-)), we went to meet our friends, the Jamisons, and their soon-to-be daughter, Liza, at a local outdoor market. This market was pretty small, but had many varieties of food for sale. I ended up purchasing some lamb sausage which was delicious. We tried many other food samples but I couldn't tell you what they were. One thing I really liked was this juice with floating berries in it. It looked like cranberry juice but they said it was some different berry and it was sweeter.

The kids all decided that they wanted to see a movie so we went to check out the movie times. We parted ways for a little while so the Jamisons and Liza could go pick up Liza's brother at his children's home and come back. We all met back at the theater at the set time and got in line for the tickets. Trying to get our kids to make a decision on which movie to see was like pulling teeth. Christina was holding out for Mr. Bean while the rest of the group wanted to see Spiderman III. The decision was made for us when we found out that Spiderman was sold out. Christina was happy that she won and everyone had to see Mr. Bean.

The Jamison's and I went to a pizza place next door while the kids were at the movie, so we got to visit and compare our adoption stories. We have many of the same issues to face since our girls are the same age. We also walked around the nearby shopping mall and looked around. The prices here at the mall are outrageous. You'll find Nike shoes here for $99.99 LVL which is about $200 US dollars. This is a society of either "the haves" or the "have nots". There is no middle class here. Needless to say we didn't buy anything at the mall that day but it was fun to look around and compare styles and prices.

After the movie was over, we met up with the kids and parted ways with the Jamisons. Olegs, Christina and I went back to our flat so we could relax for awhile. Olegs helped me work on a puzzle while Christina took a nap. Later that evening, our friend, Helen Vipass came over for a visit. We gave her a couple of bags of the donated shoes we brought. Helen is the one who runs the Hope for Children day center. She was very appreciative, so thank you all once again for your donations!

Helen was also able to translate and help me talk with Olegs about his situation so I could make sure he understands what is going on. I had to let him know that we won't be hosting him this summer. It's such a hard decision, but Robert and I really need to focus on helping Christina adjust now. I told Olegs (through Helen) that we're waiting for the court to decide whether he will be free for adoption and we don't know when we will travel for his court date. I also reminded him that other children deserve a turn to come to the U.S. and he's been twice. He understands but you can see in his face that he is very torn. He says that his family here doesn't want him to go. We just want him to know that whatever he decides is okay. It's such a hard decision for someone so young to have to make. This decision he makes now will affect the rest of his life.

We visited with Helen for a little while and decided to go out for dinner since none of us had eaten yet. I told her that the only place we've eaten out has been Lido so I was eager to try someplace new. She thought long and hard and came up with a place called "I Caramba". It was a cute little place near the embassies and a local college. Luckily, it wasn't crowded on this Saturday night. It wasn't your typical Mexican food but was delicious. I got the chicken fajitas which were good. They didn't have as many toppings as we have in America but they had plenty of sour cream and the seasonings used on the meat were perfect. We all left there with "happy bellies."

After dinner, Helen took us on a drive to the port to see if any cruise ships were there. This night there weren't any but there were many smaller tourist cruise boats coming and going. We also saw the remnants of a beautiful sunset over the river. The weather here has been beautiful. I only brought sweaters and I could actually be wearing short sleeves at times. The days are much longer now too which is hard to get used to. The sun comes up around 6:00am and doesn't go down until about 9:30pm. It's nice to be able to stay out later and not worry about it getting dark.

The highlight of this evening was our ride in the elevator to the top of the Reval hotel. Helen took us there before she dropped us off at the flat. The view from the 26th floor is spectacular and you can see all of Riga from there. The elevator is surrounded by windows all the way up so you can see for miles as you slowly rise above the city. I tried to get some pictures but there was a glare on the windows and they didn't turn out. Oh well. It was a fun evening and good to spend some time with Helen.

The kids got their second wind later in the evening so we didn't get to bed until about midnight. I just hate to make them go to bed early since these are their last couple of days together. I'm trying not to think about the day we have to say goodbye. Before they went to bed, Christina asked me to tell them a bedtime story. I am the worst at coming up with stories but I managed to come up with a story about these doggies and kitties that could sing and dance. They formed a band and traveled the world together. They seemed to enjoy my rendition of doggies and kitties singing. They laughed hysterically! I told how the animals traveled the world and had a concert tour and everything since people were so amazed that doggies and kitties could sing. Things changed when the animals got so full of themselves because they made lots of money. People began to not like them anymore because they were too snobby, so they went back to being regular doggies and kitties. They still sang but only for fun and not to be famous. It was very silly, but it satisfied Olegs and Christina. They went right to sleep.

Another thing they love is having their backs scratched. That was something I always loved as a kid. They call it "back massage." They've gotten to where they'll just come stand with their backs in front of me so I'll give them a good back scratching. They both said no one ever scratched their backs before. That was sad to hear. One thing I must say is that it's a great way to get them to calm down if they get too hyper. One good back scratching does wonders. LOL!

It was a great day with good friends!

5/4 - It Was a Long Trip but I Finally Made It To Riga!

Just a quick post to let everyone know I made it safely. It was an exhausting trip with two layovers (in Chicago and Warsaw) but I'm here now so all is good. When I checked in at the Atlanta airport, I got the news that one of my bags was over the weight limit by 5 pounds. For a moment I panicked, trying to figure out what I should do. However, I think the nice lady at the counter saw the look of desperation on my face and took pity on me. Next thing I knew she gave me a wink and put the bag on the conveyor belt without charging me one extra dime! At that point, I let her know that the bag was full of donated items for a children's home in Latvia and that the Lord would surely bless her for her kindness. Whew! That was a close one!

The kids came to the flat a couple of hours after I got there so they helped me do some shopping at the grocery store. We got our favorite pelmini for dinner. Olegs wanted bread and cheese so he could make sandwiches. We're having a great time so far and everyone is happy at the moment. It's hard to tell how it will be when we say our goodbyes on Wednesday. I had a good talk with Olegs today and was able to explain that we're still waiting for the court to free him for adoption and that we won't forget him when we go back to America with Christina. I sure hope he understands.

I think Ilga and Janis will be coming to see us for a few minutes tonight. We'd better get going so we'll be there when they arrive. I'll try to post more later.

Atta (goodbye) for now!

5/3 - I'm Off to Latvia!

I'm flying out to Riga today to go pick up our girl. We still can't believe this day is finally here! I have two short layovers in Chicago and Warsaw before I'll get to Latvia but it shouldn't be too bad. Not much I can do about it at this point anyway.

Rob and I want to thank all of you for your donations of shoes, clothes, games, etc. We were overwhelmed by your generosity. I'm taking the maximum baggage items allowed and I've got those bags jam packed. Not one crevice is empty! Now we just need you to pray that all of the bags make it! :-)

I've checked and rechecked all our documents so I think we're good to go. I'll be arriving in Riga at 1:55 Latvian time. Olegs and Christina are supposed to take the bus to come meet me at the flat after I arrive. I can't wait! Plus, we have friends who are there for their first adoption visit, so I hope to hook up with them at some point. Will keep you posted.

I'll post again as soon as I can from Riga. As always, thanks for your many prayers as we continue this life changing adventure.