Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. We've had a lot going on. Christina is spending a night with a friend tonight and Rob is out fishing so I have a few minutes to myself for a change.I'll try to recall the highlights of the last few weeks. One of the biggest highlights was when Christina received a letter from the President of the United States welcoming her to America along with her citizenship certificate. We played it up and told her she got a special letter in the mail. When she found out it was from the President, she flipped out. We didn't have the heart to tell her it was a form letter. Anyway, her American citizenship is official as of May 12th, the date we arrived in America. She decided that's the day she wants to celebrate as her "gotcha" day every year. It's still hard to believe sometimes for her and for us that she's really our daughter now. She says she still feels like she's visiting sometimes and will have to return to Latvia with the host children when they head home next week.
We had a couple of fun days last week and went to White Water with Christina's close friend, Agnese, who is visiting from Latvia. I had the best time going on all the water slides with them. Finally, I decided to relax in the lazy river and let them go off by themselves. I was pleasantly surprised when they actually met me back at our meeting spot at the exact time I asked them to. Christina is still getting used to checking in with her parents. I told her that each time she does what we ask of her it helps us to trust her to do more things. She's slowly getting that concept down.
The day after White Water, we went to the Georgia Aquarium with Ineta, the chaperone who is here with the host kids. I was a little nervous about our time with Ineta because she doesn't speak English, only Russian. All my fears melted away once we picked her up though. Christina was able to translate and we had a really good time. Ineta is one cool lady. After the aquarium, we stopped for ice cream and got a "small" cone. Poor Ineta was already full from lunch and thought she'd be getting a little cone, but quickly found out that American "small" means "extra large" in Latvia. We had a good laugh about that. LOL! Our last stop was Marshall's so Ineta could do some shopping.Another highlight of the last few weeks was
our trip to Tennessee 
to visit my best friend, Missi, and her family. Christina calls her "Aunt" Missi. She lives way out in the country on approximately 35 acres so Christina got to experience country life for a couple of days. Christina especially had fun playing with Buckwheat, the donkey. Aunt Missi has two girls of her own, plus their cousin Katelyn was visiting. All the kids thought Aunt Missi was one cool mama when she gave us a thrilling ride in her Jeep Cherokee, jumping that poor vehicle over some of the steepest hills on their property and making us all dizzy doing donuts in the pasture. We were all screaming and laughing hysterically. Once we ran into some tree limbs, we realized it was time to stop though. LOL! [Hope this part doesn't get you in trouble, Miss]. :-)Father's Day was a special day. Robert and Christina were baptized together at church that Sunday. Christina had been asking about what it meant to be baptized so our pastor met with us so he could explain it in a way she could understand. It was so meaningful on so many levels to watch her get baptized with her daddy.
On June 23rd we had a fun time at a cookout with the host families and their kids. This was a celebration of Janis/Ligo Day, a holiday in Latvia to celebrate the longest day of the year. Christina had a great time with her Latvian friends. It's gonna be so hard when it comes time to say goodbye. We won't think about that now.
We went to Florida this weekend and Christina got to hang with her new 20-something cousins, my neices Kristin and Amanda. They are really good girls and Christina idolizes them and they adore her. It's just like Christina has always been part of the family. She's just one of the gang now.Oh, I can't believe I almost forgot the dentist appointment!! What a day! Christina was due for a filling (one of 5 that she needs) but after three shots and laughing gas, it still hurt according to Christina. It was a disaster because she was crying so much that she wasn't able to breathe through her nose to get the full effects of the gas. She has some serious fears of the dentist as a result of how they do procedures in Latvia. They don't use novocane there. Anyway, Christina had already made up her mind that it was going to be painful...even saying so when the dentist wasn't even touching her.
Our dentist, Dr. Hutchins, was so sweet and had so much patience but Christina was too upset. He even did another bitewing X-ray to see if there was a nerve close to the area he was working. In doing so, he found that her tooth will need a root canal so there was no way he could continue and try to fix that. He put in a temporary filling and referred us to a dentist that can put her to sleep in order to fix her mouth. However, once we called that dentist and found out the cost for that (they do that in a hospital), we called our dentist back and asked if he would be willing to try again. We're gonna throw some Valium into the mix this time so hopefully she'll be good and relaxed.
We had a long talk with Christina and explained that she has to get over her fear and this must get fixed. She won't get over that fear if we go to a place where they work while she's asleep. Plus it's not an option because it's too expensive!! The plan now is to work on the minor fillings first so it will build Christina's confidence and hopefully allow our dentist to perform the root canal down the road. That was Rob's idea and I think it's a great one. We'll keep you posted on this. Daddy is going with her to the next appointment so I'm hoping she'll be a little braver for Daddy. Next week she's going to the oral surgeon to get a different tooth pulled. She'll be asleep for that so I don't expect any panic attacks.
On a sad note, we had to put one of our favorite cats to sleep this past weekend. Maverick was 17-years old and a big part of our family. Rob gave him to me as a present when we first started dating all those years ago. It was sad for all of us and Christina was so sweet, actually comforting me through my tears by rubbing my hair and hugging me. Each day is getting better and we're gradually getting to the point where we can remember all of the good times and not focus on the end. Anyway, sorry to be a downer. I know those of you with animals understand.
