7/29 - Getting Down to Business

We’ve almost had to go through a grieving process since the kids left. We reached a pretty low point and have had to pull ourselves out of it. Each day is better though and now we’re ready to get back to the business of compiling our dossier so we can officially request to adopt them. We almost have everything we need. Yesterday we received our final homestudy documents in the mail. YIPPEE!!! We only have a few minor things to gather and then we’re ready to get our documents apostilled and send everything to Latvia. Now, if only we knew who to send it to. There is a wonderful attorney over there who has been helping some of the host families from the Christmas hosting with their adoptions. We’re praying that she’ll be able to help us as well. We had heard that she’s expecting a baby so we’re not sure how that will affect things.

Tonight we had our debriefing meeting with the other host familes. It was so great to see everyone again. We hadn’t seen each other since the airport and we were all pretty upset and emotional that day. All of the host families have such a special bond and I know we’ve formed life-long friendships through this experience. It will be so neat for us to all get together when our children come home and celebrate Latvian holidays together. One thing that was a little hard for Rob and me was to hear how many of the other famliles had been in touch with their children already. We found out yesterday through Ilga that our children are at a summer camp until August 21st!! It’s apparently way out in the country somewhere so that means we can’t contact them until they get back. It seems like an eternity. I only hope they don’t forget us. Of course we’re happy for the other families because we’re just as excited for them, but we can’t help but be a little jealous.

One bit of good news we found out was that Olegs did get his suitcase after all. We found out that he did receive it when the airlines said he would and everything was intact. Helen (one of the chaperones) was so kind to take it to him at camp so he’d have his things. We were so grateful to her. At least we can rest assured that he has his stuff. We only hope the other children haven’t taken any of his or Kristine’s things. Olegs had asked us for a small padlock for his suitcase because he said there were thieves (he pointed to the word “thief” in our phrase book) at the childrens’ home. Of course we gave him a lock, and Kristine too, because we just couldn’t face the thought of someone taking their things. That may or may not have been a good idea but it at least made all of us feel better.

At the debriefing meeting we exchanged emails with some of the other host families so we can keep in touch throughout the adoption process. Everyone seems to be at different stages of the paperwork gathering…some are just starting their paperwork and others are in the middle of their home studies. It’s just so good to be going through this at the same time so we can encourage each other and compare notes. Each day we’re trying to remember that we’re one day closer to bringing our kids home!

7/26 - Back to Reality

Today Rob and I both returned to work and it was a good thing because we kept busy and didn’t have too much time to sulk. I had done so much crying the evening before that I thought I was all cried out. I was okay until my friends at work asked me about the kids and then the tears would start. Luckily, I didn’t fall apart though and was able to control myself. It really felt good to be around friends who were so supportive.

Then the email came later this morning. The kids made it safely back to Latvia….but Olegs’ suitcase didn’t make it. Here came the tears again at the thought of my little boy in a big airport without all of his things. I thought of all of the clothes he had in there, his favorite superman doll, his trucks, etc. The airline said it would arrive the next day but you know how airlines are. We didn’t believe that and were trying to figure out how we could send poor Olegs a package to replace the things in his suitcase.

It was hard coming home from work to our quiet house and not being able to contact the kids just yet. We miss tucking them in at night, playing Uno, the daily pool visits, etc. Believe it or not I even miss the pouting and the neverending drink spills! LOL! We knew going into this that it would be a long process so it will require every ounce of patience we have to get through the long wait before we can bring them home. Rob and I will both feel better once we can talk to them so at least then they won't seem as far away.

7/25 - Saying Goodbye...At Least For Now :-(

When we first woke up this morning, for a brief instant I pondered what fun things we had planned for the day. It quickly hit me that this is the day we’ve been dreading. Today the kids must return to Latvia. Luckily, we had packed their things the night before so we were able to take the time to go out for a nice leisurely breakfast. While sitting there we cut up with each other as usual, but there was a sadness in the air. I had to try to focus on other things because I felt like I would cry at any second if I thought too much about them leaving. For the most part I held it together until we got to the airport.

On the way to the airport, we found a place to stop so we could say our official goodbyes. We had to tell them, “we say goodbye now, because we cry at airport.” Of course they laughed at us but we just hugged them and told them over and over how much we loved them. Then the tears started so we quickly composed ourselves and continued our drive to the airport. The whole way to the airport, the events of the past four weeks replayed in my mind like a movie. It was so tempting to just pass up the airport and keep on driving, but of course that wasn’t an option. We ultimately decided that the Latvian government would probably frown upon that and hold it against us in our adoption hearings. LOL!

At the airport it was so good to see the other families. We were all in this together and there to support each other. The inevitable moment of separation was quickly approaching and I only wished somehow we could stop time from passing so we could have just a few more moments with them. Soon they were all summoned to the security line to make their way to their gate. We both grabbed them and just hugged them so tight and kept telling them how much we loved them until we had to let them go. We weren’t allowed to accompany them to their gate but had to watch them walk away from a glass hallway that ran the length of the security line. We lined up along the glass with the other families and the tears just flowed and flowed. Olegs remained composed but kept looking back and waving at us until he was out of sight. Kristine, with tears flowing, held onto her girlfriend, Gertrude for comfort as she followed. The heartache seemed unbearable as we watched them walk away. For four weeks we bonded as a family and now it was like the rug was pulled out from underneath us. One thing that meant a lot to us was that our pastor took the time to come to the airport and support all of us. He led all of the families in a nice prayer that was really comforting.

The ride home was difficult as we dreaded going home to our quiet house. We couldn’t bear to hear the Kelly Clarkson CD that was in the CD player as that was Kristine’s favorite. That used to be my favorite CD but now it makes me cry. In time I know that will change. We got home and the house seemed so empty. Even Winston was looking for the children and seemed depressed too. Our hearts are broken right now, but we told ourselves we wouldn’t sink into a depression. We have to focus on the next steps in our journey and get our paperwork together so we can officially request to adopt them. We’ve got to get these kids back!!

7/24 - Kristine's Name Day & Our Last Day Together

Today is Kristine’s Name Day. It’s celebrated like a birthday. We had no clue there was such a thing until Ilga told us that it’s a big deal in Latvia and that we would need to get Kristine a gift. In Latvia, each day of the year has certain names associated with it and people with those names celebrate their day by receiving gifts. All their friends are supposed to call or visit them on that day. I’m not exactly clear on this but I read somewhere that the names are related to traditional feast days for saints or something. Kristine wasn’t about to let us forget either. She kept telling us over and over that the 24th was her name day.

Rob had to work today so we decided to wait until he got home to officially celebrate Kristine’s name day. The kids and I met him for lunch at a country buffet restaurant which had good home cooked food. Of course as soon as we sat down with our plates….WHHHOOOSSSHHHHHH!!! It happened again! This time Olegs spilled his drink!! AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!! Luckily there was a napkin dispenser on the table so we grabbed a pile of napkins and sopped up the spill. Kristine came close to spilling hers too but thankfully didn’t this time.

After lunch Rob brought the kids home and I went to the store to get a couple of special goodbye gifts for them. Aside from it being Kristine’s name day, we wanted to get them each a special going away gift. We decided that a couple of cross necklaces would be special. I found a really cute glass one with small green and red flowers for Kristine and then a masculine one on a leather necklace perfect for Olegs.

When I got home we presented Kristine with the princess cupcakes we got her and sang “Happy Name Day to you, Happy Name Day to you, Happy Name Day Kristine, Happy Name Day to you!!” to the tune of our happy birthday song. We had no clue what to do so we just decided to treat it like a birthday. We had gotten her a little scrapbook photo album, some earrings, lip gloss and a little pink ceramic dish with a cover that has ballet slippers on it and says “follow your dreams.” It’s hard to describe but it just looked like her to me. She loved all the attention and told us that she never had anything like this at the children’s home. We could see Olegs was looking a little dejected since he didn’t have anything. We had gotten him a new photo album as a little something so we gave that to him. Then we presented them with their necklaces and told them to keep them close to their hearts. We told them that we all needed to keep praying for each other when they go back to Latvia. They both tried their necklaces on right away and hugged us tight to thank us. We could tell that they understood those gifts were from the heart and very special.

This evening some of our friends came over and brought some small gifts for Olegs and Kristine. So many of our friends have gotten to know them and are just as sad to see them go. We spent the rest of the evening washing their clothes and packing their suitcases. They had to pick and choose which toys to take because everything wouldn’t fit into their suitcases. We just told them we’d get those things to them later.

Because this was our last night together, we stayed up late and played Uno until we couldn’t stay awake any longer. We got an extra Uno game so that they each could take one back to play with their friends in Latvia. It’s still hard to believe our time together is coming to an end.

7/23 - Goodbye Pool Party

Today we went to the goodbye pool party for all of the host families and children at one of the host family’s houses. Everyone brought food to share so there was lots to eat and it was a fun day. It’s always great to see the other families and see how much fun they’re having with their kids too. We are so excited that most of them have also decided to adopt.

A couple of families at the party are already in the middle of their adoption process. They had hosted kids at Christmas and had already been to their first court dates in Latvia. It was great to hear about their experiences and learn more about how the process works. We are so thankful to know of others currently going through the adoption process because they’re able to help us learn what to expect. While the children were swimming, Rob and I got to really talk to the other parents and the chaperones and get many of our questions answered about the next steps we’ll need to take. We are almost finished compiling our dossier documents so we’ll be ready to send everything to Latvia soon. It was just good to make sure we were doing things correctly.

The kids had a blast and stayed in the pool almost the entire time. They got out once or twice to get a bite to eat but quickly jumped back in. It was hard to get them to leave. This was kind of a sad day because we all knew the next time we’d see each other would be at the airport when we say goodbye. We tried not to think about too much.

7/22 - Rob's Mom Visits

Rob’s mom came up for a visit this weekend so she got to meet Olegs and Kristine. The kids were pretty quiet at first but soon opened up. They enjoyed showing her their picture albums and scrapbooks. I wonder if they understood that this person might be their future grandmother. We had a good time. This morning Rob had to work so Sharon, the kids and I went out for breakfast…or lunch depending on how you look at it. We got there just as they were beginning to serve lunch so the kids were able to get burgers and fries while Sharon and I got breakfast. All was well until WHHOOOSSSHHH…Kristine spilled her drink AGAIN! Almost every time we’ve gone out she’s either spilled her drink or come close to spilling her drink!! AAARRRGGGHHH!! She tends to be very animated when she talks and uses her hands a lot. Anyway, we got our stack of napkins and mopped up the table, got her a new drink and continued our meal without any further incidents. In the afternoon we ran a couple of errands and stopped by Target to get them some toothpaste, shampoo, soap, etc. to take back with them to Latvia. It’s really starting to hit us that they’ll be leaving soon. :-(

The kids were great until we decided to take pictures out in front of the house. We asked Sharon to take some pictures of the four of us since we don’t have many. We had 4 or 5 cameras by the time you counted up the kids’ cameras, ours and Sharon’s cameras so it took a little while to take all of the pictures we wanted. The kids grew impatient of course…Kristine huffed and puffed but put up with it for the most part. Olegs, however, got to the point where he had had enough and muttered something in Russian at us and ran off while Sharon was trying to get our picture. This is the point where Rob and I usually look at each other to decide who will go and talk to him. Olegs had run up to his room so I went up and tried to explain to him that his behavior was unacceptable. Since he was rude to Sharon, we’d have to put his camera away for awhile. He wasn’t too happy about that but he understood that he misbehaved and that there are consequences. After a time of pouting, it was bedtime anyway so he and Kristine got their baths and then we gave them their nightly hugs & kisses and tucked them in bed. We knew it would be like the movie Groundhog Day again tomorrow anyway. Once we woke up in the morning, we’ll all be friends again and start all over.

7/20 - Trip to Six Flags

We had some different friends donate 4 tickets to Six Flags and Rob got the day off so we all got to go together. I’m not a big Six Flags fan because I’m scared of 99% of the rides, but I was determined to have a good time. My friends used to love me when I was younger because I would hold all their bags for them when they went on the roller coasters. Most of the time today I spent watching Rob and the kids from the sidelines and taking pictures. I did ride a couple of rides like the flume ride, the carousel and the Thunder River ride. I couldn’t believe when the kids got on the big roller coasters with Rob. They weren’t scared of anything. When we were walking around we came upon a bunch of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters and Superfriends characters. Kristine and Olegs let us take a couple of pictures with them but not too many. They had to be cool, you know.

Once again, the heat was excrutiating. There’s nothing worse than sweating profusely while waiting in a long line for a two second ride. Luckily, we came later in the day to try to beat the heat. In the evening it wasn’t so bad because a lot of people started going home and it cooled off considerably. All in all it was a fun day. We stayed until the park closed. Everyone had fun, that is until we announced it was time to leave. Olegs understood and was okay with it but Kristine commenced to pouting and stopped speaking to us. We’re getting at least one pout per day. LOL! We tried to think of how they must feel. There was so much excitement all day and then in a flash it was over. They might wonder if they'll ever see anything like this again. Maybe that in itself was enough to make her sad. We stopped at Burger King on the way home for a late night snack so everyone was happy again after that.

This is our last big outing before the kids leave. I can’t believe all of the fun things we’ve crammed into just a few short weeks. It’s starting to hit us that they’ll have to leave in a few days. We know we’ll get through it but it’s gonna be hard.

7/19 - Trip to Stone Mountain & A Child's Prayer

On one of our prior outings with Ilga and Janis, Ilga asked about the “mountain of stone” near Atlanta. She had heard about Stone Mountain Park and really wanted to see it. A couple of our close friends just happened to donate tickets so we were able to take Ilga, Janis and the kids to Stone Mountain. Rob had to work so my friend, Jerrie, came along so she could meet the kids.

We decided to go later in the day to try to beat the heat but it was still stifling hot. Once there, the first stop was the water park…that is once we found it!!! Let’s just say if you have plans on going to that water park bring your compass because you’ll pretty much have to use your survival skills to find it. The one tiny sign I saw and the worthless map were of no help. Nothing like showing our new friends around and getting lost in the process. I’m not sure they knew we were lost but they probably sensed my frustration by my frequent sighs. Oh well, we finally found it and they all got to swim so they were happy. Jerrie and I sat on the sidelines and took pictures of everyone as they came down the slides.

After that we decided to see the dog show with the “Extreme” something or other canines. I’ll tell you right now…don’t waste your time on the dog show. I’m a big dog lover but this show was the most boring experience. Even Ilga and Janis said they could’ve passed that up and been happy. LOL!! The dogs didn't even do the tricks pictured in the brochure. It was a couple of border colllies running around and they were supposed to catch frisbies but they dropped more than they caught. They ran around the ring a couple of times, ran through a tunnel or two and “poof” show was over. Even the kids were bored to tears.

Of course the trip wouldn’t be complete without a skyride to the top of Stone Mountain. It was a perfect day to be able to see for miles. Ilga and Janis loved the view and so did the kids. Olegs got a kick out of throwing small rocks off the side of the mountain and watching how far they would go. Kristine enjoyed the view too but complained about it being too hot and about her new tennis shoes hurting. Ilga and Janis decided they’d like to walk the trail down the mountain so the kids, Jerrie and I all went into the visitor center and got something cold to drink. Even though there was a breeze on top of the mountain, it was still burning hot and it was good to hang out in the air conditioning for awhile.

We met up with Ilga and Janis a short time later down on the memorial lawn where people gather for the evening laser light show. We ate our burgers and hot dogs while the lasers and fireworks lit up the mountain. The show was set to music so it was fun to clap and tap our feet to the tunes. The kids were happy to get some glow in the dark keepsakes to take home. Olegs got some sort of light saber type thing and Kristine got this really cool glass ball on a wand that had multi-colored swirling lights in it.

During the ride home everyone was quiet except for Kristine and Ilga who were really talking intensely about something. I couldn’t help but wonder what they were talking about. It seemed like a deep conversation and I wasn’t about to jump in and ask Ilga to stop talking and translate for me. Ilga told me later that Kristine was asking her questions about God (while Olegs listened closely) and wondering if she was praying the right way. Ilga said she told her that God especially listens to children’s prayers and that it’s best to start a prayer by thanking God for the blessings He’s given you and then ask Him for what you want. Ilga next led Kristine in a prayer and then Olegs asked her to pray with him too. It was so touching because it was dark and all was quiet except for their sweet voices praying. Ilga said the prayer and each child repeated it after her. Ilga told me later that they both asked Jesus to come into their hearts. Kristine also told me that she and Olegs prayed for a family. If only we could tell them He’s already answered your prayers. We want to be that family!

7/18 - Paperwork Chase

Since Rob and I have no doubt that we want to adopt both Olegs and Kristine, we’ve already been gathering our dossier paperwork which is required by Latvia. One of those items on the list is a physicians report signed by our doctor. The form has a checklist of ailments that our doctor has to check off for us as being either "negative" or "positive." In order for our doctor to sign off on the report, we’re required to have some bloodwork done. Bascially, the Latvian government wants to feel confident that we’re not going to adopt these two children and then drop dead.

Because we needed our forms signed and notarized, Rob and I made an appointment to go together for the bloodwork and get our forms signed by our doctor and notarized while we were there. Then I would go back to pick them up once the doctor got our blood test results. Well, since we were both going we had to take the kids with us. Poor things…I think they thought we might have some serious health problems because we were both going for bloodwork. Of course we couldn’t tell them that we were going through all of this for them.

When it was time for the nurse to take our blood, we all got to go back to the lab together. When we got to the lab, we noticed a Russian calendar on the wall so of course we asked about it. It turns out the nurse taking our blood was Russian!!! AMAZING!! We shared with her that we are hosting the children and she was so excited for us. She understood that we hoped to be their forever family and she was just so kind and supportive. She immediately began speaking to the kids in Russian, asking them how old they were, where they live, how they like school, etc. I think Olegs and Kristine were a little shocked at first (didn’t expect anyone Russian to pop up in the doctor’s office) but seemed to light up as they got to talk with her in Russian. It was just too awesome. Sometimes I think the Lord places people in our path just to bless us.

The nurse wished us well and next we went to meet with our doctor to sign the forms with the notary present. We told the kids to wait in the waiting area while we finished up. We appreciate so much that our doctor took the time to fill out 4 copies of the forms for EACH of us (that’s 8 forms!!!) since we have to put together two dossiers. It was quite time consuming. The notary was another really nice lady and told us how much she hoped things worked out for us. Turns out that she has also adopted children so she could totally relate to what we’re going through.

After the doctor’s office, we had a late breakfast at Waffle House where we had the usual challenge of helping the kids decide what they wanted to eat. We had a little excitement when I somehow managed to knock Kristine’s drink over and it seeped all over the table. Seems like whenever we’re out eating, one of us spills a drink but it’s usually one of the kids. We quickly cleaned it up and finished our meal.

Rob and I dropped the kids off at the house to stay with Cheryl (Grandmother’s caregiver) so we could also go get our GBI prints done for our dossier. We’re not 100% sure that we need this done since we can get local background checks that check the statewide database and since we’ve already had FBI prints done. Nevertheless, we figured it was better to be safe than sorry and go ahead and get it done just in case. We also requested new copies of our local background checks while we were at the sheriff’s office. We had gotten these for the hosting program back in March, but we decided to get new ones now since we need 4 copies each for our dossier. Luckily, our county will do them for free if it’s for an adoption.

We have just a few more items to compile for our dossiers now. Our plan is to have our dossiers ready to send to Latvia as soon as the kids go back home. We know we’re gonna be heartbroken when they leave so we hope to bring them back as soon as possible afterwards.

7/17 - Dinner with Ilga & Janis

I had to work today so Rob stayed home with the kids. They helped him around the house and went grocery shopping with him to get ingredients for tonight’s dinner with Ilga and Janis. We had invited them for dinner since they hadn't been to our house yet and thought it would be fun to grill something out. I picked up Ilga and Janis on my way home from work. Ilga brought her video camera so she could take some pictures of our house and yard to show our kids’ childrens home director. She has offered to do whatever she can to help us through the process and we are so grateful.

Rob whipped up some steaks on the grill and they came out perfect as usual. We also enjoyed peel ‘n eat shrimp as an appetizer. I don’t think they had ever eaten shrimp before but they seemed to enjoy it. Rob also cooked corn on the cobb on the grill so Ilga and Janis got to try that for the first time too.

After dinner, we looked at pictures. Ilga brought some of her family and the kids shared their pictures with her. We ended the evening with a swim at our neighborhood pool. We had fun tossing a tennis ball around the pool to each other. It was just a fun evening with our new Latvian friends.

7/16 - The Lemons and Uno Drama

Today after church we spent the afternoon with Ilga and Janis. They are really great people and we have grown to be good friends. We decided to take them to brunch at Red Top Mountain this time and go for a short hike afterwards. Usually when we go there for brunch it’s a holiday so it’s crowded. Today was perfect. There were only a few people there so we didn’t have much competition for the food in the buffet. The scene couldn’t have been better. We were seated close to a window where a hummingbird feeder hung right outside. As if on cue, two hummingbirds came by to show off for Ilga and Janis. I think that was the first time they’d ever seen hummingbirds. Ilga quickly grabbed her video camera and got some pictures.

Taking the kids to buffets is the way to go because they can pick out what they like. You never know what they’re gonna pick either. Kristine picked out a few different things but her favorite was the sunflower seeds. She kept going back to fill her small plate with more of those. We kept joking and telling her that she was eating bird food. Then there was Olegs who confessed that he loves lemons so of course we had to order the little guy some lemons. He got his bowl of sliced lemons and commenced to eating them, rind and all!! UGGGHHH! He told us that he eats them like that at the children’s home so we just let him eat on. It all caught up to him by the time we were ready to leave though. He had to excuse himself numerous times to go to the “toilette”…he’d get up and go and then come back and go again and come back. We’d say, “Olegs okay?”…he’d say “Yes” and then a few seconds later “No, Olegs not okay.” We decided then and there “no more lemons” for Olegs. LOL!

After brunch we took a nice walk on the trail around Lake Allatoona and it was pretty but too darn hot!! Going for a hike sounded like a good idea when we talked about it in our air-conditioned car. Despite the heat, Ilga and Janis seemed to enjoy it because Rob pointed out the different types of plants and they discussed the types of plants in Latvia. The kids and I couldn’t wait to get back to the car. Ultimately, it was a fun day though.

That evening after dropping off Ilga and Janis, the kids, Rob and I decided to play a game of Uno. It was surprisingly easy to teach the kids how to play and now they want to play it every night. As you may or may not know, the goal of Uno is to be the first one to get rid of all your cards so it’s no fun to get one of those cards that makes you have to draw cards from the deck. We’ve all gotten to where we joke and pick on the person who winds up with the dreaded “+2” card or “+4” card (meaning that person has to draw either 2 or 4 cards). Our sweet Olegs particularly loves this and dances around and taunts other players when he’s able to play a card that makes the next player have to draw cards. Well, this particular day, he was the recipient of the dreaded +4 card so we kidded him about it like we’ve all done many times before. For some reason he didn’t take it too well this time. He threw his cards on the table and ran upstairs to his room. Rob and I looked at each other in astonishment as we each wanted the other to go up and resolve whatever the issue was.

I finally went up and was able to decipher that he was upset that we joked about him getting the +4 card. With my phrase book in hand, I was able to say “we no mean to hurt you…we just joke”. It was fine when he was the one joking about everyone else but when the joke was on him, it wasn’t funny. I think he understood and we all hugged in the end so no big deal. Rob and I joke about our lives being like that movie Groundhog Day. Remember how Bill Murray would wake up and start the same day over and over? Olegs wasn’t too happy with us tonight but in the morning we knew we’d all be friends again and start all over…like the slate is wiped clean every day.

7/15 - Horseback Riding Group Event

Today we had a fun group event with the other host families and their children. A family from our church has horses so they invited the children to come ride. Olegs and Kristine both love horses like I do so it was special to see how much they enjoyed riding. There were only 3 horses and 14 kids so the kids had to take turns being led around the ring. It didn’t seem to bother them though. Olegs found some boys to play soccer with while he was waiting his turn and Kristine had plenty of girls to hang out with so she was happy.

We all brought a picnic type meal for our families and hung out and visited with the other families after the kids finished riding. There were many adopted kids there with their adoptive parents as well. It was great for Olegs and Kristine to be able to hang out with other kids who had already been adopted from Latvia. When we got home, they named several of the children and asked us if they’d been adopted. We answered truthfully that “yes” they had but luckily Olegs and Kristine didn’t press us about their individual situations. They do ask us frequently if we like them and we tell them we not only like them, we LOVE them! They tell us they like us now too and once or twice have even said they love us. So sweet!

7/14 - FBI Prints Done, Hair Drama & A Traditional Latvian Meal?

Today was our appointment to get our FBI fingerprints done. We had sent in our I-600A application awhile back and got our appointment for fingerprints soon after. This is required since we plan to immigrate our children from another country. I had to work today so I went in early and met Rob at the INS office at 9:00. It was surprisingly painless. We walked right in and showed our ID's, filled out a short form and got fingerprinted right away. The kids stayed with Grandmother's caregiver, Cheryl, while we were gone. Rob came back home and I went back to work after our appointment.

Rob had scheduled a surprise appointment this afternoon for Kristine at the hair salon next to his shop. We had told Kristine that she would be getting a cut and style, however, she commenced to pouting once she found out she would not be getting color. When she doesn’t get her way, she crosses her arms and stops talking to us. Whatever! Rob pulled the car over and said “you pout, no hair salon”. She decided she’d rather have her hair styled so she quickly changed her mood.

That evening, I got home from work and the kids were out front waiting for me. There’s nothing better than having two children run up to you to give you hugs and kisses when you come home. I felt so special. However, they didn’t have time to give me hugs and kisses. They were running up to me because they couldn’t wait to tell me that Winston “pooed” on the front porch. So the hugs and kisses I’d been waiting for all day were quickly overshadowed by dog poo. LOL!

All day Kristine had been saying she wanted to fix us a traditional Latvian meal. Rob took her and Olegs to the grocery store and let her pick out her special ingredients. She picked out eggs, pepperoni, hot dogs, tomatoes, cherries and macaroni & cheese (if you’re like me, just thinking about this mix is enough to make you queasy…blaaaahh). I don’t know what we were expecting but our idea of a Latvian meal doesn’t contain those ingredients. I guess I was thinking something with potatoes. Kristine wanted to cook everything herself but I helped so I could make sure she didn’t destroy the kitchen. She fried the eggs one at a time and placed pepperoni slices on each egg. I finally had to convince her to put at least two eggs in the pan or we were gonna be there all night.

Rob and I quickly realized that there was no way out. She was so happy to make dinner for us that we knew no matter how it tasted we would have to eat it or risk hurting her feelings. She put the eggs on the plates with slices of tomato. Next we started the macaroni and cheese (yes, she wouldn’t start the mac n’ cheese until she finished the eggs…that was her system and it didn’t matter that the eggs would get cold while they’re sitting there waiting on the macaroni and cheese. Grandmother was smart. She didn’t bother waiting for the rest of the meal. She quickly ate her pepperoni eggs and tomato and high tailed it back to her room before she had to eat anymore. LOL!! We finished making the macaroni and cheese, cooked the hot dogs in the microwave and placed them on top of the mac n’ cheese. Kristine didn’t use just one or two hot dogs either…she dumped a WHOLE PACK OF HOT DOGS in there!!! She set the table for us and brought out a bowl of cherries and even served water in glasses with lemon slices on the edge.

Even though it’s not the traditional Latvian meal we envisioned, it was special that Kristine wanted to make it for us. It actually wasn’t that bad and it made her feel good to see us eat it.

7/13 - Dental Exams & A Trip to the Movies

Today we took the kids to the dentist for a check up. We had mentioned to Ilga (the children’s chaperone) that we were going so she offered to join us so she could translate. Kristine once again was very nervous about it (pacing and dancing around, biting her nails, etc.) since she thought it would hurt. Olegs wasn’t so nervous…at least he didn’t show it. Rob and I had already made our appointments for cleanings today so the children got to watch us and see that it wasn’t painful. Actually, they only watched for a few minutes. Once the hygenist put in the DVD of Spiderman, that was all they were focused on. It was a great experience for them. The exam room has a neat TV flat screen that hangs above the dental chair and a collection of kids’ movies so they switched back and forth between Shark Tales and Spiderman.

Surprisingly, Olegs’ teeth were in really good shape. He only had a few minor places that looked like the beginnings of cavities but nothing to worry about. Kristine’s teeth were in worse shape so she’ll require more dental work. Since we hope to adopt them both, we decided that we would wait so that we could get all the work done when they come back permanently so everything would be covered by our insurance. We would really like to say a special thanks to Dr. Stephen Hutchins and his staff (in Canton, GA) who were so great to us, providing exams even including X-rays. The hygenist also gave the children and Ilga bags of toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss and flouride. Before we left, the kids got to rummage through the goody bin located by the checkout counter. They each picked out a couple of items to take home…each got a set of “bubba” teeth and another small trinket. I got some really great pictures with the “bubba” teeth. Too funny!!

After the exams, we picked up Ilga’s husband Janis because he and Ilga had been wanting to go to the mall. I dropped them off to do some shopping and then the kids and I ate at Applebee’s where they got the usual hamburger and french fries. Kristine got Sprite to drink and for some reason kept calling it soap….maybe because it’s clear and had a lot of carbonation bubbles at the top. She kept saying how much she liked the soap. I think our server thought she was mentally challenged when she kept asking for more soap. You know that puzzled look that people give you when they’re uncomfortable and don’t know what to say. Well that’s the look he gave all of us before retreating to the kitchen. That was our cue to pay our bill and leave. LOL!

Next we went to see Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties. It really was a cute movie and the kids laughed hysterically during much of it so I’d say it was a hit. I enjoyed being able to sit still for a couple of hours. That doesn’t happen too often these days so that was a special treat. We ended our day with a trip to the pool.

7/11 - Eye Exams and White Water

Today was our day to have another outing with the children’s chaperone, Ilga, and her husband Janis (yah-nis). Rob arranged for the children to have eye exams at his shop in the morning so luckily Ilga was able to translate for us. Olegs was brave and had no problem with the exam, but Kristine was very nervous and paced around the office. She does this walk/skip dance when she’s nervous so she was hopping all over the place while waiting for her turn. When her time came, she did great and was so relieved when it was over. We had no idea what to expect from them. Thankfully, there was no crying or screaming. We were so glad that Ilga could be there to reassure them that the exam wouldn’t be painful.

After the eye exams we got to switch gears and have fun. Poor Rob had to stay at the shop and work but the kids and I took Ilga and Janis to White Water, a local water park, for the rest of the day. The kids were awed by the huge park. They said they have a water park in Latvia but it’s only a fraction of the size. It was SO awesome to see the smiles on their faces the entire afternoon. There were even a couple of lifeguards who spoke Russian so they talked with Ilga, Janis and the kids in Russian. Ilga spotted them right away when she noticed the Russian names on their name tags. I wish so much that I could understand their language so I could know what they are saying. Maybe someday I’ll be able to learn.

I couldn’t get over how Olegs wanted to go on all of the scary (at least scary to me) attractions. I’m usually the big chicken when it comes to any type of ride that throws me around too much. He and Kristine talked me into going on the Tornado which has a giant slide that shoots you out into this HUGE swirling drain type thing where you go around and around and around until you land in a big pool…UGGGHHH. While waiting in line I pondered how I could escape but there was just no way out. Everyone else wanted to go on it so I couldn’t have the kids see me as a big chicken (“vista” in Latvian…LOL!). Kristine, Ilga and I rode on one intertube and Olegs and Janis rode on the other. I didn’t have the courage to open my eyes while we were being tossed about. I just held on for dear life and prayed for it to hurry up and be over. I’m so thankful to have survived and I actually feel good about conquering my fear. Next Olegs wanted to go on the Cliffhanger, a huge slide that’s many stories high and makes you feel like you’re free falling. Since the fear of falling is one of my biggest fears, I told him there’s no way I’m doing that. That didn’t stop Olegs though. He went on that too and wasn’t scared a bit. He loved to rub it in that he wasn't scared at all and I was TERRIFIED. It was so awesome to see the HUGE smile on his face. Another fun day!

7/7 - So Far, So Good!

Well, Rob and I have survived our first week and a half as host parents. We had been told that in the second week the kids might start to test us and we’ve had a couple of small discipline issues but nothing too big yet. The kids have started to huff and puff some when they don’t get their way. We have school (“skola” in Latvian) every morning when we go over our English/Latvian flash cards and some days go better than others. Sometimes one or both of them won't want to participate so I have to say “no skola, no poola” meaning “we no go to pool if you don’t participate in school.”

Kristine is the drama queen and biggest pouter. We’ve learned to expect pouts if she can’t go to the pool at her specified time or if she’s not ready for bed when it’s bedtime. The other night she kept coming back downstairs after we put them to bed because she didn’t want to go to sleep yet. She’s funny…she’ll always drag Olegs with her and he’s more inclined to follow the rules but follows her just to see what we’ll do. They’re just like most kids their age, they laugh and giggle at bedtime and beg and plead for us to let them stay up. Each time I threaten them with no pool if they don’t follow our rules. So far, using the pool as leverage has seemed to work. I don’t know what we’d do if it was wintertime. LOL!!

Olegs & Kristine pick on each other just like brothers and sisters do. There was the time a few nights ago when Olegs filled up the bathtub for his bath and he left for a second to get his towel. In that split second, Kristine moved in and stole his bath so we had to break up a shoving match. We consoled Olegs and told him he could be first next time. Little things like that we can deal with. Overall, these are two really super kids and we have grown to love them so much. Our bathroom looks like a lake each time they take a shower or bath and we just don’t care. They leave the milk out on the table and the cereal box open after they eat and it’s okay (yes, we go back and ask them to put it away and they do). Having kids in the house is a wonderful thing.

Today was my first day back at work since Olegs & Kristine got here so Grandmother’s caregiver, Cheryl, watched them for us. It was a pretty hectic day and all I could do was think of getting home to see the children. What an awesome feeling to have them run up to me and hug and kiss me when I walked in the door. This is such an incredible experience!

7/4 - Happy 4th of July!

This morning the children and I went with our neighbors and some of their family to our town's 4th of July parade. In my mind it sounded like a fun idea but once we got there and were standing around in the 90+ degree heat waiting and waiting for the parade to start, I began to wonder. Kristine was a little bored but quickly perked up once she realized that people in the parade would be tossing candy her way. Poor Olegs was over it from the moment we got there. It was just too hot for him. I kept telling him that it would be fun once it started but he wasn’t into it at all. Poor guy…I had hyped it up so much and when it actually came to pass it seemed like a parade of mostly garbage trucks, tow trucks and candidates running for elected office. At least some of them were tossing out candy so it wasn’t a total loss. I made it up to them by taking them to the pool afterwards so we could all cool off. We use the pool as leverage when we want them to behave or if we want to reward them..."you no behave, you no go to pool." LOL!

This evening we went to the Braves baseball game with the same neighbors. Olegs and Kristine were bored on the drive there until we reached the city of Atlanta. When they saw the skyscrapers, they couldn’t snap pictures fast enough with their little disposable cameras. It’s just so neat to see things through their eyes. When I look at the city, I see the smog and the trash around, but watching them get so excited reminds me to see the beauty and wonder in things.

We had a really great time up until it started raining. Even once it started to rain we were fine at first. Our seats were just under the covered section which was great until the rain started to blow horizontally from behind our section and the sections above us. We heard a bunch of screaming from the people way up in the rows behind us. The rain and wind was drenching everyone. That sent our entire crew running for cover along with the rest of the thousands of people. It’s enough to make you panic even without having two Latvian children in tow!! Rob led the way with the kids behind him and I picked up the rear. There was no way we were letting those kids out of our sight for a second. We made our way to a covered area with the masses of other people and wound up crammed together like sardines as we waited to see if the storm would subside. Even though Rob and I were miserable, Kristine and Olegs were having a blast. They kept inching their way back out into the rain and we had to keep pulling them back. Every time there was thunder or lightning, they’d just yell WHHOOOAAA!!! Seeing those smiles on their faces made it all worth it even though we weren't able to see the rest of the game or the fireworks. The rain just kept falling in buckets so we knew there was no way the game would continue. We were all drenched from head to toe and laughing hysterically as we carefully made our way through the maze of people to get to our car.

We were very thankful to get back to our nice cozy home. It was actually nice leaving the game early because we were able to get to bed at a decent hour!!

7/3 - Fun Hike at Amicalola Falls

Today was our first visit with the children's chaperone, Ilga, and her husband, Janis (pronounced Ya-nis). We picked them up at about 10:30 a.m. this morning and took them to Amicalola Falls for lunch at the lodge and a hike down the trail next to the falls. They are such nice people and we were excited to share a place that we love to go since this was their first visit to the United States. We took two cars to the falls since there were six of us. The guys were in one car and the girls in the other. It was neat listening to Kristine and Ilga talk in Latvian. Their language is so beautiful. I only wish I could understand more. In time, I hope to.

On the way to the falls, we stopped at one of Rob's fishing holes on the Amicalola River. It was fun to hop along the rocks on the river and put our hands in the rushing cool water. It was just one of those perfect days.

We got back to the house around 5:30 and once again, the kids begged to go to the pool. It's funny, Rob and I had never even been to our neighborhood pool before the kids got here. Now we're there almost every day. This evening, our neighbors were shooting off some fireworks so we went over to watch. It was a long day and we're all tired so we didn't stay there long. We've got another big day planned for the July 4th holiday tomorrow. Ilga was able to explain to the children about July 4th being our Independence Day in America. They seemed so interested and eager to learn.

Now it's an early to bed night for us. This business of staying up until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning is for the birds. We're just having so much fun we don't want to miss anything by sleeping. It's finally caught up to us though.

7/2 - Feeling Like Kids Again!

Rob and I have been having so much fun that we've almost forgotten that we're adults. It's like having the kids around brings out the kids in us. We absolutely LOVE it!! We're barely getting any sleep and it's like our brains are so tired they barely function and can't compute the simplest of tasks. We wouldn't have it any other way!! This morning on our way to church we were joking around with the kids in the car, singing to the radio, etc. and ended up driving right past our exit. Then when we had to take a different exit we almost got lost!! We got to church just in the nick of time and got the kids signed up for Sunday school. WHEW!!

After church, I took the kids shopping again. We are going hiking tomorrow at Amicalola Falls with the children's chaperone and her husband so we had to find Kristine some decent shoes. If she had her way, she'd wear her little sandals. We found a cute pair of white and pink tennis shoes that will do just fine. Thankfully, I was able to get the point across that we're going hiking tomorrow.

Our communication with the kids is pretty funny. It actually reminds me of the days when I watched Tarzan or The Lone Ranger on TV as a kid (remember "me Tarzan, you Jane" and Tonto "no speak'em English"...LOL!). We talk to the kids in broken sentences..."you like chicken?"..."you have fun?"..."you want to go to pool?"..."me go upstairs, you stay here for minute"..."you no do that". HA!! We have to watch ourselves because we've started talking that way in public. I actually told the clerk at Eckerd's today..."we be back" (we've been there a few times already picking up and dropping off film to be developed) and asked the guy at the shoe store..."you no have kid's socks?" Come to think of it, maybe it's more like caveman babble we're doing. Whatever!! We get our points across and it works for us.

While we were out looking for shoes, we picked up some more food items. These kids can put away some cereal!! Once again, we hit the cereal aisle and they picked out some new Kellogg's (remember, all cereal is Kellogg's). Then we went through the fruit section and I gave them each a plastic bag so they could pick out the fruit they liked. Olegs picked some peaches and Kristine's choice was plums. This was in the Super Target so we also let them each pick one toy. Kristine found a cute Barbie doll after trying to convince me to let her get a scantily clad Bratz doll (that doll had two of the tiniest strips of strategically placed fabric that it might as well have been naked!!). Anyway, I sent her back to look again and she came back with a pretty Barbie in a full length evening gown so we got that one (much better!). Olegs found a semi truck that he liked.

Tonight, Kristine and I baked cookies so we can give some to her chaperone tomorrow as a gift. We're looking forward to another fun filled day tomorrow.

7/1 - We're Having a Blast!!

I'm sorry the updates have been so slow to come. We have been SO busy with activities since the kids got here. We haven't had a moment's rest because we're constantly on the go.

The first thing on the agenda after the kids got here was to go shopping for some clothes. We went to our local Super Target and it was a little overwhelming for them. Kristine is a "girly girl" so she loves skirts and sandals. I attempted to find her some tennis shoes but she wasn't having any of it. She kept going back to the strappy sandals so we let her get a cute pair of pink ones. She also found a cute denim skort and pink t-shirt with sequins. Olegs wasn't interested in shoes but he found a pair of denim shorts and a couple of t-shirts that he liked.

While at Target, we also went to the food section so the kids could pick out some cereal they liked (they call all cereal Kellogg's). Olegs picked a box of Cocoa Puffs and Kristine picked out a box of chocolate Lucky Charms. We also picked up some more bacon and eggs since they like it so much. Before the children arrived, we heard that they would probably prefer nectar to juice but ours actually like juice so we let them each pick out a juice they liked.

We also took the kids to the pool on their first day here and were totally taken aback when next thing we knew little Olegs jumped into the pool wearing nothing but his "tighty whities"!!! It took us a moment for it to register and when it finally did we didn't want to embarrass him by making a big deal out of it. We just let him keep on swimming but did our best to make sure his bottom half stayed under water as much as possible!! HA!! He was playing with the beach ball and a couple of times the ball landed outside the pool. I about tripped over myself trying to get the ball for him so that he wouldn't jump out of the pool to fetch it in his WET tighty whities!! We immediately went shopping the next day and bought an American swimsuit and now we check to make sure he has it on before we leave the house for the pool.

On Thursday night, our church was having their Street Reach family event and concert so we took the children to that. Some of the other host families were there along with the chaperones. Our neighbors came with us since they have a little girl close to Kristine's age. I think it was a little rough for Olegs being the only boy (other than Robert) in our group. He retreated into his shell at first. Luckily, there were some other Latvian boys there from church so he was able to make friends with them and play soccer. That precious smile soon returned to his sweet face.

Every morning before play time we go over our English/Latvian flash cards. Both of these children are so smart. They don't like having to have school ("skola" in Latvian) everyday but they're putting up with it for now. I don't know how much they're retaining but they're at least going through the motions and saying the words in English.

It's been a challenge getting the children to bathe everyday and change their clothes daily. They took a bath the second night they were here but the next night only wanted to wash their feet. Too funny!! We had to piece together the words in Latvian so we could tell them to bathe everyday and they finally did so I guess they got the message.

We haven't really had any discipline issues so far but I'm sure that's ahead. They had a little pouting session when I wouldn't let them go to the pool yesterday. They had gotten a lot of sun the day before so I told them we wouldn't be going. They didn't talk to me for awhile and gave me the dirtiest looks but I stood my ground and they soon got over it. Instead, I took them to get the pictures from their disposable cameras developed so they forgot all about the pool after that. We gave them each a disposable camera to take pictures and they were excited to show us the results their amateur photography. They were so proud of the pictures they took of our ceiling fans, cars, bedrooms, kitchen, etc. They even took a picture of me changing the garbage bag in the trash can. LOL!!!

Today, we had a group activity with the other host families at the Booth Museum in Cartersville, GA. It's a really neat museum with Smithsonian quality exhibits, but I think the kids were a little bored. We had promised them a visit to McDonald's afterwards so they were focused on that rather than the works of art.

Tonight, Rob and Olegs got to have their first guys' night out and went to a car race with a friend of ours and his son. [UPDATE: Robert and Olegs just got back home from the races. The look on Olegs' face (and Rob's) as he described the races to Kristine tells the whole story! It seems Olegs' favorite was the Demolition Derby, because that's all he talked about. He really seems to be letting down his defenses with every day that passes]. Kristine and I had a good time by ourselves and went over to our neighbors house to hang out. They have family here from out of town and they have children close to Kristine's and Olegs' age. We ended up going to the pool so all the kids could have an evening swim. Of course, Kristine had a blast. That was one thing that so impressed us. Both Olegs and Kristine swim like a couple of fish. Apparently, there are many lakes in Latvia where they go to swim.

It's been so great to be off of work so much while the kids are here. Rob has had to work a lot and I know it's hard for him not being home as much. Since this weekend is a holiday weekend we'll be able to do more activities together. We're having so much fun!!!

6/28 - They're Here!!!

We still can't believe the months of waiting are FINALLY over!!! We were up until about 1:00 a.m.the night before making our poster (we had to make it good...wanted to make a good impression you know!) and just unable to sleep due to excitement and nerves!! We got up early yesterday and finished our cleaning. Looking back on it, it's kinda funny...we spent hours and hours cleaning and those kids could care less!! We had lots of nervous energy to burn off so I guess cleaning was a good way to do it!

Rob and I were among the first to arrive at the airport. I had packed our bag of necessities...the sick bags, camera, toys, Latvian phrase book, welcome poster, etc. We were good to go!! It was such a weird feeling though when we pulled out of the driveway for the drive to the airport. We had been planning for so long it was so strange that this moment had actually arrived. Almost like it wasn't real.

The kids' flight was about 2 hours late but the wait actually wasn't that bad because we were so excited. We enjoyed hanging out with the other host families and chatting about our planned activities with the children. We also witnessed another group of children from another hosting organization (from Russia and Latvia) as they arrived and were united with their host families. That was fun to watch the reactions of those children and their host families.

When our children finally arrived, we immediately picked out Olegs and Kristine and waved to them to come over. Kristine had the biggest smile on her face from the very beginning and Olegs was much more serious. When we got to the car, they called it "super car" (everything is "super" or "beautiful"). We asked them if they needed a "throw up" bag for the drive home and thankfully they said no. WHEW!!! Then on the way home Kristine was singing to the songs on the radio. She said she likes Britney Spears, Beyonce, Gwen Stefani, etc. She showed us her Latvian teen magazine which is similar to the ones here in the U.S. Olegs was much more quiet, but smiled at us with the cutest smile that would melt your heart. On the drive home, they "ooh'd and aah'd" about various trucks and motorcycles we passed.

We attempted to ask them if they were hungry or tired and of course, butchered their language. Luckily, I was able to point to words in my Latvian phrase book and they would tell me the correct way to pronounce them. When we got home, we were able to piece together that they wanted bacon and eggs so of course we made it for them at 10:00 at night.

We gave them the tour of the house and introduced them to Grandmother who gave them both big hugs and kisses. They were such sweeties and hugged and kissed her back even though they'd never seen her before in their lives. We knew instantly that these were two special children. They are even more beautiful than their pictures and are so well mannered. We're told that will change though as the days progress.

6/26 - Weekly Recap and Last Minute Prep

Late last week we received our FBI fingerprinting appointment letters. This is the next step after filing the I-600A form. Our appointments are now scheduled for July 14th. One bit of good news is that Grandmother won't have to have her prints done after all. It seems that people over 70 are exempt from the FBI fingerprinting requirement. It's nice that they had the sense to realize that a 97-year old woman is not a threat!!

As you can imagine, Rob and I are beside ourselves with extreme excitement mixed with a little nervousness. The kids will be arriving on Tuesday so this weekend we did some last minute shopping. We aren't exactly sure what sizes Olegs and Kristine are so we only bought a couple of clothing items like socks, underwear and some cute pajamas for the first night. We bought other things too like bed linens and toothbrushes, hairbrushes & combs, etc. We also made sure to pick up some stickers and markers so we can make a fancy welcome poster to take with us to the airport. We're taking some toys with us to the airport to give to them right away too. Rob picked out a soccer ball for Olegs and I found a cute plush bear (the kind you can write on and wash off....those markers better wash off :-)) for Kristine. We had a couple of Target gift cards given to us by some of our good friends (thank you SO much guys!!).

The next stop was the grocery store. We were fortunate to have a Publix gift card donated to us as well (you know who you are...thank you!!!). I went through each aisle looking at almost every single product wondering if they might like it. After hearing from other adoptive parents, we know that fruit will be a big hit so I bought lots of bananas, grapes, etc. We were told not to be alarmed if we give them an apple and they eat the entire core!! I'm glad they warned us about that because I would DEFINITELY be alarmed!!! HA! We also got chicken and pork chops to cook out on the grill. From what we've heard it sounds like we'll be safe if we just don't use too many strong spices or heavy sauces. I also got some fruit rollups and frozen fruit pops which I hope they'll like. We'll go back again when they're here so they can pick out some things they like.

I feel so excited...it brings back the days when I believed in Santa and couldn't wait until Christmas morning (that is, until my sweet older sister crushed my dreams by telling me the truth when I was 8-years old....I've long since forgiven her but it's still fun give her a hard time about it!! :-)). As Rob and I have said many times, we're just gonna take things as they come. Our only real plan is to have lots of fun, love on these two little people and savor the next four weeks.

6/17 - Garage Sale & The Disappearing Shoe Mystery!

Today's sale was a big success and we made a little over $400 this time. We had more help this time around so things ran much smoother. A special thanks goes out to Grandmother's caregiver, Cheryl, who baked the muffins and brownies and helped us the day of the sale. Just when things seemed overwhelming, she came to our rescue to help with the set up (we had SO much stuff!!), collect money from customers, etc. At one point, there were cars parked up and down our street. Hopefully, our neighbors weren't too annoyed. Once again, we met some really nice people and neighbors we hadn't met before. One lady was there with her family and was excited about our plans. It turned out that all of her children were adopted. Many people wanted to know more about our plans so we were once again able to share information about the hosting program. We're hoping that as more and more people hear about it, they'll also want to host and possibly adopt.

Overall, things went smoothly but we did have a mystery as we were arranging the shoes to sell. We found that some of them didn't have mates. This seemed odd until I remembered that our cat, Mario, likes to EAT shoes!! I think he considers them prey for some strange reason. At our last sale, he hunted down a cute red and blue Speedo flip flop that had been donated for the sale. He gnawed on the wide plastic strap across the top until he had almost chewed through it completely. He kept taking his shoe prey into the woods so he could finish his "meal" and each time I had to chase him down to get the shoe back.

This time around, Mario stalked and devoured a brown leather sandal. All day, we couldn't find the mate to that pair of shoes. Later that evening, we found the sandal carcass under our car in the driveway. Of course, by then Mario was nowhere to be found. Maybe next time, we'll plan to have someone help guard the shoe section just to keep Mario away from the shoes!

6/15 - Home Study Almost Complete!

We had our third and final home study visit last night. We owe our social worker a couple more items of paperwork and then we’re DONE with that!! [WOOHOO!!...happy dance happening here!]. The next step will be for her to write her formal report. She said that process will take a couple of weeks after we provide her with the remaining paperwork she needs. She’s already assured us that we’re approved so that’s a huge relief. We always felt we would be but you never know.

Now we’re gearing up for Saturday’s garage sale/bake sale. It’s gonna be a lot of work but it should be fun. We have even more donated items to sell this time around so it should be a big success. Thank you to all of you who donated stuff!! The challenge has been to find enough tables to display everything. Thanks once again to those of you who loaned us tables. We still needed additional tables so we found a place where we can rent them pretty cheap so now that’s taken care of. Please think positive thoughts for good weather and lots of customers on Saturday!! :-)

6/9 - A Special Thank You to Someone Out There!

God has continued to bless us as we've worked to raise funds for the hosting fees and adoption-related expenses. In addition to our garage sale and Mary Kay fundraisers, we've had a couple of large monetary donations come in from out of the blue. This is a special day for us as we were just informed that an anonymous donor will be covering the remaining expenses for the hosting!! WOW!! We have no idea who the donor is and would love to let them know personally how much this means to us. This is a HUGE blessing!! The hosting fees are now completely paid for so we can focus on raising money for the adoption-related expenses (fyi, this means that Simple Obedience will no longer be accepting donations on our behalf since they are a hosting ministry only and not assisting us with the adoption phase of this). We plan to adopt independently without an adoption agency...basically, cutting out the "middle man." Thankfully, we have met many other adoptive parents who have adopted this way and they have contacts in Latvia (e.g., attorneys, translators, etc.) who can help us with the court proceedings. Adopting independently will save us a lot of money.

So, whoever you are, if you happen to see this, just know that your gift means so much to us and we pray that you will be richly blessed for your kindness and generosity!!

6/8 - Next Garage/Bake Sale on June 17th

Well, we've set the date for our next garage sale/bake sale fundraiser. The money raised this time will go towards the balance due for our home study ($600) and towards the fees associated with filing our I-600A ($755). We've scheduled this sale for Saturday, June 17th, so please think positive thoughts for a successful event and start praying for good weather. Once again, we have a garage crammed full of donated items to sell. We have kids' toys, kitchen items, books, clothing, furniture, tools, etc. Thanks SO much to those of you who donated stuff!! Since the baked goods were such a hit last time, we're gonna have a larger variety of muffins, brownies, banana bread, etc. Like last time, I'll be taking orders for my homemade banana bread ($15/loaf) and monster chip cookies ($10/dozen) for anyone who wants more than just a slice or individual cookie.

SPECIAL NOTE: We're in need of more tables to display things for the sale. If any of you have tables you can loan us, please let me know.

Next item on the agenda will be our third home study visit with our social worker next week. It will be a good feeling to have that completed. Then the kids will be here in 2 1/2 weeks! YIKES!!!

6/4 - Proud Parents (off topic)

This has absolutely NOTHING to do with adoption but I just can't help myself. Those of you with children know how important it is to capture those "firsts" as they occur. Well, our 6-month old "son", Winston, went for his first swim this weekend in our friends', Chris and Laura's, new pool...(sorry folks, but you'll just have to put up with us bragging about our "furry" children until we have human ones to brag about :-)). There were a couple of scary moments when Winston first jumped into the deeper water because he quickly sank like a cinder block. I was almost to the point of freaking out when luckily, his instincts kicked in and he was able to bring himself to the surface.

It was just neat to see our little boy progress from being frightened of the water to loving it so much he didn't wanna get out. We finally borrowed their dog's swim vest so we could relax and know he'd stay afloat and not get too tired and drown himself. Yes, our hearts swelled with pride as we watched our boy learn how to swim! He had a blast and we did too!

5/31 - Home Study Part Deux

Tonight we completed our 2nd home study visit with our social worker. Only one more visit to go and she'll be able to finalize her report!! Today she interviewed Rob and me separately and it was more like an informal conversation than a tense interview. She said that we had been so thorough in our answers on our autobiographical form that she already feels comfortable approving us. She is just the nicest person you'd ever hope to meet. We can't help but feel God's hand in all of this. Throughout this entire process, it's as if He's directing our path and putting us in touch with the right people.

We only have a couple more documents to turn in to our social worker and those are the septic tank inspection letter, our certificate of completion for our online adoption course and Grandmother's medical report form (still haven't heard if her doctor’s office is gonna try to charge $25 to fill out that form....THE NERVE!!! I'm holding out hope that it will miraculously arrive in the mail. We'll see). We meet with our social worker again in two weeks and then we can cross the home study off the list. WOOHOO!!

This week we're also submitting our I-600A form which is required by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service in order for us to be approved by the U.S. government to adopt children internationally and bring them back to the U.S. The fee for that is $755.00 ($545 application fee plus $70 per person for FBI fingerprints) so "ker-ching" [that’s the sound of more money flying out the window].

After sending in the I-600A, we’ll receive a letter in a few weeks telling us the day of our FBI fingerprinting appointment. Every person living in our household will have to be fingerprinted so that means Grandmother too. Not sure how that will work just yet. On long outings we usually take her wheelchair which makes things easier in some ways but more difficult in others. I'm not the best at navigating that contraption and have even come close to dumping my poor Grandmother out onto the pavement whenever there's the slightest bump in our path. A lot of it I’m sure is my fault because I walk really fast and push her a million miles an hour. I admit I need to work on that, but it's partly the chair's fault too. Even the tiniest pebble in our path will jam the wheels, causing the chair to come to an abrupt stop while I'm pushing her at warp speed. Not a good situation. Grandmother is a good sport though and just goes along for the ride, however bumpy it may be. :-)

Yesterday, we scheduled dental appointments in July for Rob, me, Olegs and Kristine to get our teeth cleaned. One thing we learned about Latvia is that most dental offices don’t use novocaine. Can you imagine getting a filling without novocaine??!! Since the kids are most likely frightened of the dentist, we thought it would be a good idea if we all went together so they could see us get our teeth cleaned first. They’ll probably need a filling or two so we’ll have to coordinate a translator to explain to them that things are much different here and it won’t be painful. Luckily, our dentist, Dr. Stephen Hutchins in Canton, is extremely gentle so his fillings are never painful at all. If you live in our area and need a good dentist, he is WONDERFUL! Once the kids learn about laughing gas, I have a feeling they’ll be wanting to go to the dentist every day. I know I love that stuff. I even tried to schedule an appointment for a “laughing gas treatment” but unfortunately they wouldn’t help me out with that. Oh well. LOL!

5/28 - Still Pluggin' Away

Things are quiet this afternoon. Winston is asleep at my feet, Grandmother is doing her laps back and forth on the porch and Rob is downstairs on the couch recuperating from a softball injury he sustained during last Monday night’s game. Seems he got a little overzealous in an attempt to make one of his diving plays and wound up hitting the rock hard Georgia clay on his way down, cracking his rib in the process. So needless to say he’s been in some intense pain for the last few days, so it’s good that we have this long holiday weekend for him to get some much needed rest. He just had to go through one of those realizations that we all must experience at some point. Even though we may feel in our hearts and minds that we can play sports like 20-year-olds, our bodies will always let us know otherwise. In my case, it's usually bruises sustained from bumping into furniture or tripping down stairs. Not much you can do except pick yourself up, hold your head up high, put a smile on your face and keep on moving forward through this journey called life.

Last week, we turned in our money to cover the airfare for Olegs’ & Kristine’s trip from Latvia, which came to about $2,300.00. The total fee to host them is $3,120.00 so airfare makes up the bulk of the hosting fees. The children now know that they are coming and have most likely seen a picture of us. We can’t help but wonder what they must be thinking about taking this huge trip to the United States. We’re allowed to write to them now, so Rob and I plan to send them a letter and some fun pictures of us with the animals. One of our friends let us borrow her Latvian picture dictionary so we could make flash cards to help the children with their English. We also found out about a neat website where you can actually listen to the pronunciation of Latvian words. In addition to the flash cards, we’re gonna also stock up on post-it notes so we can label things around the house.

This Wednesday we’ll have our second home study visit from our social worker. During this meeting, she’s supposed to interview Rob and me separately just to talk more about our individual backgrounds and our plans for raising our children. Thankfully, our social worker is a super nice person and we have nothing to hide so we’re not concerned. We’re still working on gathering some more of the paperwork she’ll need. Rob and I already got our medical reports completed, but now we're waiting for Grandmother's doctor to complete hers. I dropped Grandmother’s form off at her doctor’s office last week and they had the nerve to tell me that their office charges $25.00 to fill out a form!!!! I’m hoping they’ll find it in their hearts to waive this fee. The lady who handles the form processing is gonna see what she can do to help us out. Then there are the employment letters we need to get. I have to get one from my company and then Rob will have to have our accountant do one for him since he is self-employed. They just have to say how long we've been at our jobs, what our positions are and how much we make. These things aren’t necessarily difficult. It just takes time to gather certain documents.

In the next couple of weeks we’re gonna get back to focusing on our fundraising efforts. Our garage is overflowing with items we plan to sell at our next garage sale. Looks like our next garage/bake sale fundraiser will be on June 10th or 17th. We'll post the exact date once we know for sure. I think we’ve sufficiently recovered from the last sale so we’re ready to do it again. So many of you have already donated items for us to sell and still more of you have said you’ll be dropping things off!! We can’t thank you enough!! We'll be needing a bunch of tables this time, so if any of you have tables you wouldn't mind loaning us for the sale, please let us know. Also, I can’t forget to thank those of you who placed Mary Kay orders this past week so we can continue to add those profits to our adoption fund.

That’s about it for now. Hope you all enjoy the beautiful Memorial Day weekend and don't forget to fly your flags tomorrow in support of our veterans!

5/17 - Adoption Home Study Under Way

This evening we had our first adoption home study visit by our social worker. This is the first of three visits she'll make to our house before she writes her report. We were instantly put at ease when we met her as she turned out to be the most friendly and kind person. We had imagined some big rough and tough woman that was gonna tell us we were doing everything wrong. We got exactly the opposite!! She went out of her way to make us feel at ease. We'd spent days and days cleaning like mad so we'd be prepared for her to look in every nook and cranny of our house. She just did a walk through and thankfully didn't need to look through our drawers and cabinets. We were prepared just in case though.

The animals acted up a little bit as usual. I guess it's good practice for dealing with misbehaving kids, right? Midnight, our dear sweet Midnight, was his usual annoying self and jumped on the table and strolled right across the papers we were reviewing with the social worker. Ugghh! That was when we found out the social worker is allergic to cats...[sigh]!! We locked Midnight away upstairs for some much needed quiet time so we could continue with our discussion. Next, there was Winston, our black lab puppy, who barked and whined for attention every few minutes which was mildy distracting while it lasted. Then there was Mickey, our drama king, who appeared a couple of times to let out a bloodcurdling death howl which is his way of communicating that he's starving to death. Don't feel sorry for him though...he always thinks he's dying from starvation even though he has an endless supply of food. I guess our most well behaved feline "child" was Maverick who didn't make a sound. That's only because he's scared to death of anything and everything and was probably hiding under Grandmother's bed.

We introduced the social worker to Grandmother who immediately began telling her "cat suit" story before introducing the poor woman to her talking prayer doll, the Precious Moments angel doll that says a prayer when you press her belly. It's actually a sweet doll but the sweetness wears off when you hear it TWENTY GAZILLION times a day!! Whenever Grandmother gets out the doll to pray with people, Rob and I affectionately refer to it as getting "prayer dolled." Rob and I have been prayer dolled many, many times...so much that we now disappear faster than David Copperfield whenever anyone even goes near that doll or the two other prayer dolls she has. Yes folks, she has an entire prayer doll family!!! We are all for the idea of praying, but can't we just do it without all the dolls? Dolls and clowns have always kind of creeped me out anyway. LOL! Grandmother chatted and chatted with the social worker and fell in love with her...that's a good thing except now she thinks the social worker is a new friend who's gonna start coming over all the time to visit with her. What do I know? Maybe she will.

Tonight's meeting was basically an orientation to go over the documents we've already submitted and to discuss the additional documents we'll need to provide. Basically, so far we've had to provide copies of our birth certificates, marriage certificate, medical reports, various releases for background checks and a down payment of $600 (1/2 of the home study fee). Among the items we still need to gather are reference letters from our family members, pet vaccination records, employment verification letters, financial forms, etc. We'll also need to take an online adoption preparation course which shouldn't be too bad.

It's just such a relief to know that the home study is nothing to worry about now. Many times the pictures we create in our minds turn out to be ten times worse than the actual experience. Luckily, that appears to be the case with the home study. Our next meeting is in a couple of weeks so we'll keep you posted.

Another bit of good news is that I got my time off from work approved and I didn't even have to resort to crying. :-) Thankfully, my managers were extremely accommodating. I'll be taking about 15 days off during the hosting and will work 1-2 days per week depending on the week. Rob will be able to be with the kids on the days I have to work and then a couple of the other host families have volunteered to act as backups if we get in a bind. It's a good feeling to have that covered now too.

It's so exciting that everything is actually coming together. We expect there to be glitches along the way as we move towards the adoption phase of this, but so far things are moving so smoothly that it's a little scary. No, I take that back, it's not scary. More like divine intervention at work behind the scenes.

5/14 - A Mother's Day to Remember

Do you ever have those days where you wish you could suspend time and live in a moment forever? Today we celebrated Mother's Day by taking Grandmother to brunch at Red Top Mountain lodge. That's become one of her favorite places and Rob and I have been so busy lately that it's been far too long since we've taken her there.

Today we decided to put everything else aside and just spend the day with Grandmother. At brunch we enjoyed a smorgasbord of omelets, waffles, pork tenderloin, ham, stuffed chicken breast, various vegetables and a vast selection of desserts until we were so stuffed we could hardly move.

We were able to muster up enough strength after our meal to take a stroll on the trail that winds down by Lake Allatoona. It's a beautiful scene and it's always fun to greet the many puppies and their owners along the way. We weren't brave enough to bring ours on this outing because he's too much of a handful right now but someday soon we'll give it a try.

We spotted an empty bench right down by the lake's edge and stopped there to take a rest. Grandmother was so sweet as she took everything in. The wind was blowing through her hair and the sun was shining on her face as she just smiled and breathed in the fresh air. We chuckled as we watched a little boy fishing on the bank and splashing around so much that we knew all the fish were long gone, but he kept on trying nevertheless. Then there were the pair of geese honking loudly as they swam across the glistening lake. It was just special to see things through her eyes. She was just so thankful to be there and we were so glad that we had the opportunity to bring her. That moment just reminded us how important it is to stop and enjoy the beautiful world around us. Sometimes we get so busy that we spend all of our time rushing to be places and get things done. Grandmother is constantly saying how there is beauty all around us if we could just stop and enjoy it. She's so right!

I hope all of you mothers had a special day today too. I look forward to joining your ranks very soon!

5/12 - Orientation & Mini Home Study Done!

We’ve had a few things happen this past week. Last weekend we finished our hosting orientation meetings and missions training. We had to attend missions training because hosting is actually considered a mission. It’s good that we got that extra training under our belts because it’s required if we ever decide to travel to Latvia with one of the mission teams to help select children for a future hosting. That’s way down the road though. Right now, we’re getting ready for Olegs and Kristine who will be here June 27th!! Oh, we found out that they both had birthdays recently so they are each 11-years old now.

Yesterday morning, we had our carpet installed in the basement so that was a big accomplishment. We still need to paint the baseboards and doors but once that's done it'll be perfect. It's great to now have some extra living space we'll be able to utilize with kids in the house.

We had our mini home study (the one for the hosting) last night which was pretty painless. The social worker was very nice, asked us a few questions and took pictures of various rooms of the house. Of course, our animals always have to make themselves the center of attention so last night’s star of the evening was our cat, Midnight. The art of being annoying is his specialty. He repeatedly jumped on the social worker and put his tail in her face so she’d have to stop our interview every few seconds to shoo the dummy away!! She seemed to take it all in stride though. Next we took the social worker out on our back deck so she could see our backyard. As we were coming back inside, Mario, our outside cat, got his share of attention by plopping himself in front of the door as we were trying to go back inside. That was much easier to ignore. We simply stepped over his fat belly and kept going.

We also introduced the social worker to Grandmother who gave her the tour of her room, telling her the life history of each and every family member whose pictures are displayed on her bookcase. Those of you who know Grandmother know that she can tell those never ending stories that have many tangents which never seem to relate back to the original story…just one of her many endearing traits. Rob and I chuckled when the social worker asked Grandmother if she was excited about the children coming. Grandmother thought she was asking about her children at which point she guided her over to my dad’s picture and began to tell the story of her younger days when she was raising her son. Oh and she just had to tell her favorite story about how she's waiting for us to get her a cat suit so she can become one of the cats. Don't ask! That's actually her version of a joke but you should see the puzzled looks on people's faces when she tells that one. Too funny!

5/2 - Things Are Moving Right Along

Well, we sent in our initial home study paperwork last week and had been waiting to hear from the home study agency to find out the next steps. Yesterday, we got a call from them telling us the name of the social worker assigned to do our home study. YIKES!! Now the panic is setting in!!! We've gotta get our house in tip top shape and SOON!! We're shifting gears now to work on painting the basement and having carpet installed down there so we'll have more living space. Oh yeah, we still need to get beds for the children!!

We also had our first hosting orientation meetings this week and got to meet some of the other host families. It's neat to hear about the paths that others traveled to arrive at the same place we did. Who knows...maybe some of us will wind up traveling to Latvia together for adoption court dates. That would be too cool! I can't think too far ahead though or I get stressed, so back to our projects at hand. I need to remember we're focusing on the hosting right now.

We learned all kinds of interesting tidbits about the children like some will speak Latvian, others will speak Russian or both. Many of them get car sick when riding in cars, so we'll need to have baggies on hand for them when driving around. They probably won't like our fast food, but most love chicken cooked just about any way. Families who hosted before told us to have lots of fruit on hand because the children will eat it by the pound since they don't get much fruit in Latvia. Most of the children only own two outfits: a dress outfit and a play outfit. We'll need to be careful not to go overboard and buy them too many things while they're here. We will, of course, get them a couple of outfits and some toys but if we do too much it gives them the wrong impression that this is what America is all about. We were reminded that the purpose of this program is to give them the sense of what it's like to live in a Christian family and to basically, love them unconditionally.

This week, we're also sending away for our vital records (apostilled birth/marriage certificates) from Florida to be used in our dossier. I'm told that those documents won't expire so that's one thing we can do now and cross off the list. Many things expire within a year so we have to wait until we're absolutely positive we're adopting to do those things. We're so thankful to have met new friends who have already traveled this path before us. All of the adoptive parents we've met have offered so much valuable advice and they're all so eager to help guide us through the maze of paperwork and red tape. Rob and I have no doubt that divine intervention guided us towards hosting and adoption.

It's starting to hit us that the children will be here before we know it. Now that it's May, that means they'll be here next month!! YIKES!! Now I need to figure out how I'm gonna tell my boss I need to take a big chunk of vacation soon. We'll worry about that later. :-)

4/29 - Garage Sale Success!

Well, today's garage & bake sale was a resounding success!! We raised a significant amount of money that will go a long way towards our hosting expenses. The more we shared about the Simple Obedience Orphan Hosting program and the children we'll be hosting, the more people wanted to help. So many people told us to "keep the change'' and gave donations in addition to their purchases. One sweet lady emptied all of the change from her purse and placed a huge handful of coins in my hand. Others wanted to know more about the hosting program which we hope will result in more hosting families down the road.

When the day began, we were faced with a dark sky full of menacing rain clouds that tried their hardest to dump rain on us. As the morning progressed, however, the sun overtook the clouds and it turned out to be the most perfect day. There were a couple of times that Rob had to leave so I was left manning the fort all by my lonesome. It seemed like as soon as he'd leave, a caravan of cars would pull up. Each car would be packed to the gills with kids and they all just had to run wild around our tables and rearrange everything [sigh]. It was a little nervewracking but I survived. For the most part, I let it slide but there was one little brat who thought she'd amuse herself by squishing her dirty little fingers into my cake slices!!! Let's just say she won't be doing that again. Of course, when Rob showed back up they were long gone.

My bake sale portion of this fundraiser was more of an experiment. I had no idea whether anyone would buy my baked goods. I figured if no one bought them, we'd just have to eat them ourselves, which I must admit a small part of me actually preferred. We were totally surprised when we kept having to refill the table with more muffins, brownies and cake slices and eventually sold out of brownies.

Today was an exhausting day and Rob and I both survived it on about 4 1/2 hours sleep. It will be an early to bed night for us and I just pray I can move when I get out of bed in the morning. I already feel like every muscle in my body has been stretched, pulled and twisted in every possible direction. My poor delicate and rarely used muscles aren't too pleased with me right now for making them lift and move stuff for the entire day. Oh the joys of getting old.

I can't close out this post without thanking all of you who helped us make today's sale a success by donating items for us to sell, loaning us tables, donating your time to help price things, make signs, etc. and keeping us in your prayers. We couldn't have done this without you!

4/18 - From Home Study to Dossier

Even though we're only hosting children at this point, we decided to go ahead and get our "full" home study started since we know we'll be adopting soon. We will also be having a "mini" home study done for the hosting. A home study is basically a study of the prospective adoptive family and their home, life experiences, health, lifestyle, extended family, attitudes, support system, values, beliefs, and other factors relating to the prospective adoption. This information is then summarized in what is called a home study report.

We received our initial packet from the home study agency, so we're currently filling out the preliminary paperwork they require to get the home study process started. The hardest form so far, at least for me, is the autobiographical form. Those questions dig deep and require a lot of introspection to answer. We're trying to answer everything as honestly as possible but of course, in the back of our minds we're wondering what the agency wants to hear. Some of the questions are a little frustrating because it seems like they ask the same things over and over.

A caseworker will have to visit our house and check out our living space. I'm told that this is nothing to worry about, that they WANT to approve people and help get these children into loving homes. Still, I have nightmares of our cat coughing up a hairball in front of the caseworker or Winston jumping up and knocking her over. You know that kind of stuff always happens when you have company!!! We also have a crazed possum that comes out of our woods at odd times and roots around our backyard. What if he shows up??!!!

Rob and I have pretty much decided that we're gonna be as open and honest as possible in all of our answers to interview questions. As much of a pain as the paperwork and interviews are, we realize that it's important to go through this process because these people need to make sure we're a good family. We also need to work through the issues of how we'll raise the children, how we'll keep them connected to their Latvian culture, etc. The bottom line is that we all want what's best for the children. This whole matter is in God's hands anyway so He will have to work out the details.

The home study will become part of the dossier, which is the packet of documents a foreign government (Latvia in our case) requires in order to process the adoption of a child in that country's legal system. Foreign governments are very particular about the format of these documents and require that all documents submitted be notarized and apostilled. An apostille is a special seal applied by an authority (in our case, Georgia Secretary of State) to certify that a document is a true copy of an original. It's their way of protecting against forgeries.

Part of the paperwork portion involves gathering documents such as birth/marriage certificates. These documents are required for both the home study and dossier. However, the ones for the dossier must be apostilled before submitting them to Latvia. In our case, we can order apostilled certificates directly from Florida's Department of Health (we were born/married in Florida so those docs have to be apostilled there). This will save us that extra step of getting certified copies apostilled later.

Once we know for sure who we'll be adopting from Latvia, we will make contact with a Latvian attorney and begin compiling the documents required by Latvia. Of course, they'll require background checks on all the inhabitants of our house, which includes my 97-year old (no that's not a typo) Grandmother who lives with us. Yeah, like she's a criminal!! She actually thinks it's funny that she has to be fingerprinted and go through the background check just like us. She's one tough cookie and can take you out with her walker if she has to, but luckily she's no criminal.