1/30 - Spending Most of our Time at Bus Stops

This morning we took Kristine to the bus and it came right on time. They don't play around. You'd better be ready to get on the bus or it will leave without you.. Rob had to even pry the door open as the driver tried to close it before Kristine could board. I guess part of that was our fault because we were hugging and kissing Kristine goodbye before we'd let her on the bus. She was totally embarrassed by the way. LOL! Another funny thing...we had told her that she needed to get up at 6:45 a.m. to get ready but she insisted that she not get up until 7:00 instead. Our solution to that was to set the alarms for 6:45 anyway and just tell her it was actually 7:00. Problem solved! :-) We enjoy the morning walks to the bus because it's usually snowing and so beautiful. We get to see all of the locals heading to work or school, shoveling the snow off the sidewalks, etc. and for a moment we get to pretend we live here. The strange stares from the locals, remind us that we'll never blend in. Oh well. We're just the American freaks as far as they're concerned.

We were a little nervous about putting Kristine on the bus by herself but she insisted and her children's home director and Ilga said it was okay. Rob and I were actually glad to have a little time to ourselves. I'm a little embarrassed to say that instead of sight seeing, we went back to the flat and went back to sleep. We had been up late the night before so we were exhausted. By the time we woke up, it was almost time to pick up Kristine at the bus stop again. YIKES! She said she could come back on her own but we insisted.

In the meantime, we got word from Leila that Olegs said today was a "special day" at school so he would be getting out early and could catch the bus to our flat earlier. Rob and I chuckled because he had never mentioned this before and we think he may have found a way to skip a class so he could come be with us. It's not for us to say though. If they say he can come over then we want him to come over and hang out with us as much as he can. So we had to be at Kristine's stop at 2:20 and Olegs' stop at 2:00. That meant Rob and I had to split up. He waited for Olegs and I waited for Kristine. I waited and waited for Kristine as buses with her number came and went. It turns out that her bus had already come and she had gone looking for Olegs. Finally, since she couldn't find him, she came back to her normal stop and met up with me so we could walk back to the flat.

A short time later, Rob and Olegs arrived at the flat. Olegs was so excited to be there. We all had an afternoon snack and he helped me work on our puzzle while Kristine did her school work. Afterward, we went to the grocery store so Kristine could get some paper and paint that she needed for her art class. This was a frustrating trip because we realized after we got back to our flat that we had all of our groceries but somehow the paint didn't make it into our bag. We got on Kristine's case about this so she started pouting, etc. AAARRRGGHHH! We finally decided we had no choice but to head back out to get more paint. We told her to be more careful because we had to pay for the paint twice!! While we were at the store, the kids helped us get extra minutes for our Latvian cell phone. Thank goodness they were able to figure out how to add the minutes to the phone for us. We would never have been able to figure it out.

Once the pouting finally subsided we took the kids to Lido again for dinner. This time we had fruit, sausages, etc. and I had this awesome chicken dish with cheese and spices and crispy things on top. We were all in heaven. By the time we finished, it was time to get Olegs to the bus back to his children's home. This has actually worked out pretty well. Since they kids have school ID cards, they get to ride the buses for free. That's a tremendous bonus!

1/29 - Greetings from Riga, Latvia!!

Well after wandering around aimlessly for the first couple of days, we finally found an internet cafe near our flat so I'll be able to post updates regularly. I have a bored Kristine looking over my shoulder so I'll have to make this brief before the pouting starts. :-)

We had an exhausting trip to Riga on Friday/Saturday. The first leg of our trip was to London where we had an 8 hour layover. We were so happy we got an emergency exit row for this part of the trip so we had more leg room. However, when we got to our seats we found we were right next to the bathrooms. UGGGHHHH! Needless to say we got NO sleep whatsoever!! We just sat there and listened to the constant flow of passengers coming and going to the bathroom...the door contstantly slamming and opening. Then there was the turbulance that didn't help. Whatever!! When we got to London we hadn't made plans to really do anything. We were scared to venture too far because we didn't want to miss our evening flight. We wandered around Gatwick airport and ended up at the Hilton where we crashed in the lobby...still no sleep. We got something to eat, wandered around somemore and FINALLY it was time to board our 6:00 flight. The flight from London to Riga was uneventful. Thankfully, it wasn't a full flight so we didn't get claustrophobic. I guess all in all the whole trip took us about 22 hours to get to Riga and we didn't get a second of sleep. When we got to Riga, they were having a snow storm. It was a winter wonderland and so beautiful! When our flight landed, we had to walk in the snow to get from our plane to the airport. Rob and I were in awe as there were maybe 6 or 8 inches of snow on the ground. It was so beautiful and peaceful.

When we got to Riga, our ride was there as planned. A gentleman named Robert owns our flat and he was there with his translator, Evita. He is from France believe it or not so he needed a French translator. Luckily, he had a decent sized SUV for our many suitcases. They drove us around to show us where the grocery store is, restaurants, etc. It was about 11pm Latvian time by the time we got to our flat. It is an absolutely beautiful place...spacious and clean. Just perfect!! There are a few things that we have to deal with like the washer/dryer having French control settings. It's one of those machines that's a washer and a dryer so it would be difficult enough to figure out even if it were in English. Thankfully, my Robert was able to figure it out so we're able to wash clothes now. It just takes all day to do one load. Oh well. We're thankful for what we've got.

We were also happy to have satellite TV but soon found out that the satellite is mainly for access of French channels. It's a little odd being in Latvia and watching French TV. We aren't watching too much TV because as you can imagine the culture here is much more liberal than the US and it's not uncommon to see porn at all hours of the day. We pretty much keep the TV off now and hide the remotes from Kristine. There's so many other things to do anyway that we don't even miss it!

Sunday afternoon (1/28), Ilga and Janis (our Latvian friends) came to take us to Kristine & Olegs' children's home so we could pick Kristine up since she'll be staying with us. We took the public transportation which is the most efficient I've seen. There are all types of trams/buses, trolleys, etc. and they're all flying across the city in a precisely choreographed manner. The bus ride gave us a real chance to see how the locals get around. We felt quite awkward as they all seemed to look at us as if we had two heads. They don't make eye contact either. We could see out of the corner of our eye that they were looking at us but as soon as we'd look at them, they'd look away. It became quite funny actually.

When we got to the neighborhood where the children's home is, we saw older soviet era buildings, many with graffiti on them. We walked from the bus stop to the gate at the front of their property. Their children's home is set back from the street and we probably would have never found it without Ilga and Janis. There was about a foot of snow on the ground and it just looked so peaceful and beautiful. The entrance was around back and Rob and I held our breath as we didn't know if it would be an opressive place or not. As soon as we went in, Kristine and a couple of her friends were there to meet us with hugs and kisses. She led us upstairs to see Olegs and their other friends. Their home is actually pretty nice, considering. It's an older building but okay. They each have small rooms with bunk beds, but they are decorated very cute with posters and drawings. There are three to four children to a room. Things weren't dark and dreary at all. Olegs ran out to greet us and gave us more hugs and kisses. It was so good to see them and for them to see that we kept our promise to come to Latvia. After meeting Kristine's friends and their hamster and guinea pig, we were off again. Olegs got to leave with us and spend the afternoon with us.

After we picked up the kids, we dropped Kristine's things off at the flat. We could sense Olegs was a little sad because he wasn't allowed to stay with us too. That's very hard for all of us, but it's just how it is right now. We have to follow the government's rules. He understands that we will arrange for him to come visit us as much as we can. It was dinner time by this time, so we took Ilga and Janis out to a place called Lido. It is the most awesome place!! They have Latvia's version of down home cooking and it's cafeteria style.. They have all types of pork, chicken and fish dishes. This night we had pan fried potatoes and pork & chicken shish-ka-bob's. It may sound simple but it was to die for. Thankfully, between the kids and Ilga, we were able to communicate what we wanted. After dinner, Ilga and Janis went with us to the grocery store to help us pick out some food items. I'm so glad they did because the pictures on the labels aren't true representations of the contents.

I guess this post is turning out to be a little longer. Oh well. Kristine is being quite good, actually so I'll keep going. Today was our first orphan court session and we didn't think (at least I didn't) we'd be nervous until we got there. Our translator, Daiga, met us at the freedom monument for the walk to the orphan court. It took about 10-15 minutes. Let me add that the people here are all speed walkers. If you're not going with the flow you'll get pushed aside. It's much like those people who go 80 miles an hour on I-75. You have to keep up or you'll cause an accident. Anyway, we got to the court office which is a rundown building in Old Riga. You would never know that behind this huge wooden door in the old building is an orphan court uness you knew exactly where you were going. A few minutes after we arrived, Leila, the social worker from Kristine's children's home arrived. She is a young woman, maybe in her twenties, who has taken Kristine under her wing and really looked after her. We all sat and waited in the waiting area until we were called. When our name was finally called, we filed into this big room with long tables behind which a panel of four orphan court representatives sat and watched us without any expression whatsoever. I was immediately terrified and they say this is the EASY court. The room was very bland and old, without any artwork on the walls or anything. Daiga sat between Robert and I so she could translate. The head person asked us a few questions about our child rearing experience, how we got to know Kristine, etc. All the time she asked questions, the other three reprensatives just stared intently at us, trying to size us up I suppose. I got pretty nervous when they looked at my passport and the head representative got a puzzled look on her face. My passport was originally issued before I got married and was later amended to change it to my married name. She asked about that and then saw on the amendment page that all was in order. WHEW!

Kristine had to leave the room while they asked us questions and then we left so the court could talk to Kristine. After it was over, they officially granted us temporary custody of Kristine for this two week time period. I was so filled with emotion, I started to tear up. Just hearing the words spoken out loud hit me unexpectedly. We gratiously thanked the court and this time they smiled back at us in approval. What an experience!!

After court, we hung out at the flat most of the day. I brought a puzzle that we worked on for awhile and then later we went walking around again. We went to confirm Kristine's bus stop so we'd know where to take her to catch the bus for school tomorrow. Now that she's officially under our care, we can't screw it up by allowing her to miss the bus. We're all just so relieved that we survived our first court session. The next step is for a court inspector to visit us at our flat. That will take place on Wednesday so hopefully all will go well and there will be no embarassing incidents.

1/25 - We're Headin' to Latvia TOMORROW! YIKES!

Tonight we've been busy doing last minute loads of laundry, packing more clothes, etc. I had gotten a bunch of nice truffles to give as gifts to various people in Latvia. However, my dear sweet husband confessed that I better go buy more because he couldn't refrain from eating a good bit of it!!! It's not like it was sitting out on the counter. No, it was packed away so he had to retrieve it from the suitcase. This means he had extra time to contemplate and rethink his actions. Oh well, I guess I might as well confess that I had a couple of pieces myself. I got more today so this time I packed it way down in the bottom of the suitcase so hopefully it will be safe.

It has been a stressful couple of weeks so we're just now really starting to focus on our trip. My grandmother who lives with us was in the hospital with pneumonia for a few days and is now at a rehab facility, so I've been going back and forth daily to check on her and make sure she's okay. Thankfully, she seems to be getting better and her caregiver, Cheryl, will be able to look after her while we're gone. Robert also had some sad news that his grandpa passed away last week after a long illness. They were very close so it's a difficult loss. We're so thankful that we were able to see him last month when we were in Florida and that he got to meet Olegs and Kristine. The kids were both so sweet and hugged and kissed him too. That really meant a lot. He was a very special person. It's in times like this that our faith kicks in and we're reminded that God is in control and will get us through difficult times. We wouldn't be able to cope otherwise.

We still can't believe we're traveling to Latvia tomorrow! We talked to the kids today and they're both so excited that we're coming. We plan to pick up Kristine at the children's home on Sunday and then our first court session will be Monday morning (1/29). We should get into Riga late Saturday night after an 8 hour layover in London. It's gonna be a long trip and we'll probably be grouchy towards the end (at least I will be for sure). Those of you who know me best know I turn into a major crab if I don't get my sleep. Oh well! :-)

We've gotten most of our things packed. I'm embarrassed to say that between the two of us, we're taking 4 suitcases and 2 carry-on bags. We're taking lots of food, games and gifts so that's taking up a lot of space. Everything was going well until we started weighing the bags. We're allowed up to 50 lbs. for the checked bags and a couple of them were over the limit. It didn't help that the kids asked us to bring some of the toys they left behind as well. A little creative redistribution of stuff took care of that and we should be good to go now. We're allowed to take heavier bags, but we'd just have to pay extra. We don't want to do that so if we have to pull some stuff out then that's what we have to do.

Robert and I are actually pretty relaxed about the trip now that we know we have transportation lined up to get us to our flat and to court. I guess the biggest thing I'm nervous about is the court session where we'll have to stand in front of a panel of stern faced people who will be asking us all kinds of questions about why we want to adopt Kristine. We've been told that they don't smile. I'm just praying that I don't have one of my laughing attacks that I tend to get when I'm really nervous or in tense situations. It always tends to come over me at the worst possible time in instances where there is absolutely NOTHING funny going on. Oh no! Can you imagine? I hope I didn't just jinx myself by putting that in writing.

I'm not sure what kind of access we'll have to a computer in Latvia. I'll do my best to try to update the blog if I can. I'm taking a journal to keep notes just in case I have to wait till we get back to make updates. So with that, we're off to bed for our last good night's sleep for awhile. Hopefully, our next post will be from Riga, Latvia!

1/18 - 9 Days to Go Until We'll Be in Latvia!

We talked to the kids again today and they're both very excited. Kristine is still counting down the days...now 9 days until we'll be in Latvia. She also informed us that she has a new best friend. She didn't elaborate but simply told us that Agnese was no longer her best friend and she'd fill us in when we're in Latvia. Now she has a "new" best friend named....guess what?.......Agnese. I'm sure everyone will probably be friends again by the time they get there. There's always lots of drama involved when you're dealing with pre-teen and teenage girls.

Kristine wants us to take her and "new Agnese" to Livu Akvaparks when we're in Latvia. This is a huge indoor water park that the kids love. I'm sorry, but the thought of going to a water park when the temperatures are below freezing outside just doesn't sound very appealing to us. Since it's an indoor water park, it should be warmer but we'll see. We just told her that we'll have to wait till we get there to make plans. I'm trying to play up going to the zoo in the hopes that they'll forget about the water park. Don't think that will work though. Come to think of it, if the weather is below freezing, I'm not so sure I want to be wandering around outside looking at animals either. We'll figure it all out when we get there.

Our focus will be on spending family time with Kristine and Olegs. They'll both have to realize that we can't necessarily take all of their friends everywhere we go and spend lots of money for their entertainment. That's not saying we won't do anything...just that we'll have to be smart about it.

1/11 - Phone Visit w/Kids

Today was the first day we got to talk to the kids since they've been back in Latvia. They were both right near the phone so they took turns handing the phone back and forth. Olegs reverted back to his simple "yes" "no" answers. There were people around so he may have been embarrased to say more. Kristine was just the opposite. When she got on the phone, she immediately said, "this is Britney Spears"...(remember, she wants to be "Britney" now?). Well, we quickly changed the subject (we'll deal with the name choices later). Kristine was excited to say it will be 16 more days until we get to Latvia. That was good to hear. If she's counting down the days, then that tells us she's excited. We also got to speak to her best friend, Agnese. We had sent her a small gift and she thanked us for it. We told her we're looking forward to meeting her when we're in Latvia.

1/9 - Saying Goodbye

This morning just flew by. As soon as we got up, we ate breakfast and headed straight to the airport. When I woke Kristine up this morning, she moaned in her sleepy voice that she wished she could stay instead of going back. If only it could be that easy. She understands that these are government rules and not what we want. The goodbyes this time were much easier since we all knew we'd be seeing each other in a couple of weeks in Riga.

At the airport, the Northwest Airlines employees were so awesome to us and allowed all of the host families to accompany their kids to the gate. In the past, we had to say our "goodbyes" at the security check-point. This gave us a little more time to love on them before sending them off. The mood was lightened when Olegs got nabbed by security for having his body spray (a/k/a "man perfume") in his carry-on luggage. Since there is a new liquid ban in effect for carry-on bags, we thought for sure they were going to confiscate it. Thankfully, they ended up putting it in a plastic ziploc bag and giving it back to him. Rob got to tell him "I told you so" because he had originally helped Olegs pack the spray in his checked bag. I guess he had to get one last spray in for the road. LOL!

As we got to the gate, Kristine's mood changed and she began to shut down emotionally. She must have had many thoughts going through her mind. Her life is going to be so different when she comes to America. I'm sure it's exciting and scary at the same time. All we could do was hug her and reassure her that we are coming to get her. We are so thankful for the really good talks we had that helped us to connect on a new level.

The tears started flowing as the kids headed to the gate. We had to get our last couple of hugs and kisses in before we let them go down that long corridor. We felt for the other host families who were going through this for the first time. We remember how we felt. After the summer hosting, we didn't know if we'd ever see our kids again.

We watched by the window with the other host families as we waited for the plane to taxi off. The flight attendant made an announcement on the plane to let the kids know we were waving at the window. We could see little faces and hands waving back at us. A couple of them even pulled their window shades up and down to signal us. Next thing we knew they were taxing down the runway and headed back to Latvia. The mood was a little somber as we walked out with some of the other host families. Rob and I were almost relieved at this point because we need to switch focus and plan our trip to Latvia.

YIKES!! We'll be heading to Latvia in 2 1/2 weeks!!! WOOHOO!!!

1/8 - Our Last Day Together

Yesterday after church we went to visit our friends, the Murphys. They also hosted a child last summer and have experienced some setbacks in their case. It's always good to get together with other families who understand how frustrating the process can be at times. This afternoon we had some more behavioral issues with the kids so they weren't speaking to us on the way there but things got better as the night went on. I think a lot of it is a result of our inexperience as parents and all of us having unrealistic expectations of each other. The Murphys have a biological daughter close to Kristine's age so they got to hang out together. Olegs was happy too since she had a new Gameboy that she let him play with for awhile.

Today was our last full day together and we spent the afternoon with friends of ours who own a small plane. We also invited Ilga in the hopes that she and the kids could go up for a ride in the plane. Unfortunately, it was very windy so they weren't able to fly. The pilot, Sam Lyons, is an extremely talented artist whose paintings grace the walls of the Smithsonian and the Pentagon. He and his wife, Mindy, were kind enough to show us around Sam's beautiful studio. His paintings are so amazing they almost look like photographs. The kids and Ilga were especially excited to meet their three young and playful cats, a sharp contrast to our geriatric ones. They had one of those poles with a string on the end that hangs down and the cats would jump and flip like crazy in attempts to grab the string. The kids could have played with them for hours if we let them. Ilga got a kick out it when one of the cats took a liking to her faux fur covered animal print purse as if it were a new love interest.

Olegs and Kristine had a blast driving and riding up and down the grassy runway in our friends' golf cart. Rob and I didn't go with them but noticed that somehow everyone came back dirty when it was Kristine's turn to drive. We didn't ask.

Sam and Mindy have other friends who adopted a beautiful 13-year old girl named Anna from Kazakhstan. She and her father came over to meet Kristine and Olegs. The kids got to talk to each other and Ilga in Russian. Rob and I were dying to know what they were saying. Thank goodness Ilga was there to tell us. It turns out that Anna has been through some of the exact same troubling experiences that Kristine has and was able to share her experience. I'm not putting all of the details here only because I want Kristine to be able to read this one day without seeing all of her business being shared with the world. I'll just say that we believe this was divine intervention that Kristine got to meet Anna because she was able to tell Kristine that things turned out fine in her case and she is so happy with her adoptive family. This really meant a lot to Kristine. Anna took the kids for a ride in her golf cart and once again they had a blast going up and down the airstrip. Anna commented to Rob and me that she thought Olegs was cute. So from that point on we kidded Olegs about his new girlfriend. We told him it was obviously the "man perfume" working. LOL!

We came back to our house later and Ilga was able to sit down with us and talk to the kids. We wanted to make sure that they both understand that Kristine will be staying with us when we're in Latvia but that Olegs won't be allowed to since we're not adopting him now. We were able to tell them that this wasn't what we wanted but what the government required. We also got to reiterate that even though we may get angry with each other, it's important for us to talk about things so we can work through them. We covered many topics and it just flowed perfectly as we talked through some of their concerns and ours. Kristine ultimately said that she knows for sure she wants to be in our family now. That's good to know considering we're leaving for Latvia in a couple of weeks!!!

After our talk we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner. Ilga said she likes many different foods so we thought it might be a nice change of pace. The kids couldn't make up their minds at first but ultimately decided on the chicken wings. They didn't realize they would be spicy chicken wings. Luckily, they ate them anyway. Kristine got a kick out of saying "muchos gracias" every single time the waiter came to our table. After awhile I think it got on the guy's nerves but he didn't say anything.

After dinner we dropped Ilga off and went back home. I had made the mistake of sharing a big list of girl names with Kristine so she could tell me the names she liked. The first thing she wanted to do when we got home was go through the list. I knew better than this but I was interested to see what names she might like. Well, now she wants to be called "Britney" after Britney Spears. Rob and I both like the name Kristine but since being adopted is such a life changing event in her life we thought we might let her change it as long as we both approve. We'll have to come up with our list of approved names for her to choose from. One of the other names she liked was "Paris" after Paris Hilton. NO WAY!! I think we may try to convince her to keep her current name and come up with a middle name. We'll see how it goes.

We stayed up late helping the kids pack their bags and they were actually pretty good about it. They both understood that they had to leave things behind and they even left more than we thought they would. Rob and I had been dreading packing day because we thought we'd have another fight on our hands. Thankfully that wasn't so.

Now it's dawning on us that this time tomorrow the kids will be gone. I'm actually feeling okay about it. I can't say how I'll be at the airport though. I'm not good at goodbyes. We'll see.

1/6 - Skating Goodbye Party

I had to go back to work Thursday so the kids got to have a play day that day with one of the other host families and their children. Yesterday, Robert took Olegs for a haircut at the barber shop where the men go. I couldn't help myself and had to take a picture to document his first American haircut. He was totally embarrassed but too bad. He wouldn't let us take him for a haircut when he was here last summer.

After lunch, both Olegs and Kristine came back to my work to see where Cartoon Network is broadcast from. We got the grand tour of the various broadcast boothes for Cartoon Network among other stations. At the end, they got a bunch of cool cartoon souveniers to take home. Olegs kept asking about Sponge Bob and I had to remind him that he's from Nickelodeon which is a bad word around the Cartoon Network crew (their biggest competitor). HA!

After work, I took Kristine to get her hair cut. Last summer she got it cut & styled at a nice high end salon. This time it was Fantastic Sams, baby. This is probably where she'll be going when she's here permanently. I honestly didn't know what to expect but the stylist did a fantastic job. Kristine wanted a good bit cut off and she got some layers added. She got the most adorable cut and style for $20. We told her she looked like a movie star so she was happy.

Today was the goodbye party for all of the host families. It was also a birthday party for Liza, another hosted child, whose birthday is on Jan. 9th. I can't even remember the last time I was in a skating rink but I actually got out there and skated too. Poor Robert was stuck at work so I was solo with the kids on this outing. At first, I was going to ask for the skates with four wheels but caved to peer pressure and got the inline ones. Kristine was sweet and held my hand to help me until I got enough momentum going to move under my own power. Olegs was long gone and had hooked up with his friend Dima so he was playing cool and ignoring me by that time. Kristine soon followed and dropped me like a hot potato once she saw some friends she wanted to go hang out with. Skating was lots of fun until it came time to stop. When I used to skate on trails in Florida, I was able to hop into the grass to stop. I never mastered the brake thing. Here I found the padded wall and just ran into that when I was ready to stop. That seemed to work well enough. LOL!

All the kids had a great time and this was a good time for Kristine to talk to some of the other kids there who had already been adopted. We had suggested that she talk to others if she still had some fears about being adopted. They could tell her how their experiences were. Ilga was at the party too so it was good to talk to her. We're still trying to find out information about Olegs case and she doesn't have any new information for us. Everyone is telling us we just have to wait for the court to rule on whether or not he can be cleared for adoption. No one can even tell us when that ruling will take place. It's frustrating having to wait but maybe we're just meant to focus on Kristine now. There's nothing we can do to speed things up so we basically have to live with it.

Since today was the official goodbye party, it reminds us that the kids will be leaving soon. Somehow, I think this time will be easier since we will be going to Latvia just a couple of weeks later. We'll see.

1/2 - Fun in the Sun!

The second leg of our Florida vacation took us to the Tampa/St. Petersburg area which is our old stomping ground. The drive was much smoother than the one a couple of days before. We stayed with Robert's mom and hopefully didn't drive her too crazy. Overall, the kids were good but there were a couple of instances where the behavior went downhill. Anyway, it was good that the kids got to meet many more family members.

Kristine was enamored with my 21 and 22 year-old nieces who took her & Olegs on a couple of outings. One of my nieces has a Jeep Wrangler so she and her boyfriend took the kids for a ride with the top off. They loved it!! I was worried about Olegs having mostly girls around but he actually enjoyed it since they're cute. He got to wear his "man perfume." LOL!

The kids got to swim in a couple of different pools at various places. The weather was pretty warm so they were excited they could swim. One of the days we got to spend some time with Robert's sister and her four children. It was good for all of the kids to get to know each other. In typical kid fashion, they didn't speak to each other at first but by the time the evening was over they were cutting up and having a ball together.

On New Year's Eve, we spent the day at the beach with my sisters. It was the most beautiful day...80 something degrees and the sky was so blue. The kids had an awesome time jumping in the waves. Kristine enjoyed floating on a raft but we had to send Olegs out to get her a couple of times because she went out too far. With the language barrier, I wasn't able to explain my personal rule of always making sure there's someone out in the water farther than me so the sharks will eat them first. LOL! Instead, I just told her that sharks live in the far out water. Don't ask me why I said that. It was a dumb thing to say because of course it caused her to freak out. So she tried to stay in the shallow water and was letting the raft scrape the shells. I had to motion to her to go out a little further to avoid the shells. I'm sure she was so confused by this point...one second I'm telling her to get closer to shore and the next I'm saying go back out. Luckily, it didn't stop her from having fun. The water was ice cold to me but it didn't phase them. The Lord sure blessed us with a beautiful beach day because the next day it began to rain and get cold.

Since we had spent the day at the beach, Rob and I were too pooped for New Year's activities. Yes, we're turning into old fogies. In the old days, I would have had to be out at midnight somewhere celebrating but now I'm just as happy to go to bed early, wake up and kiss my husband at midnight and go back to sleep. The kids asked why we weren't going to a big party in America for New Year's Eve. They told us that in Latvia, they have a big party and all the kids go outside. We fibbed a little and told them that it's not a big deal in America. We did stay up long enough for them to see some festivities on TV but we told them they only celebrate in New York and the rest of the country watches on TV. LOL! They didn't fall for it but they were okay with it since they were tired too.

Our trip back home was pretty uneventful. Traffic was much better and the kids kept busy working in the puzzle books they got for Christmas. That's another thing. They got a ton of presents from the family. We'll have to break it to them that they can't take everything with them. We'll save that for another day.

12/28 - Our Family Vacation Begins!

Yesterday, we left at about 2pm to head down to Florida. We got a late start mainly because we had been up late the night before and needed our sleep. Our trip took 2 hours longer than expected due to nightmare traffic!! The moment we got on the interstate about a mile from the house, we came to a dead standstill and traffic crawled from that point on for 2 hours before it opened up. As you can imagine, the stress level began to rise. It didn’t help that the kids kept saying “go faster, go faster.”

Right away Kristine wanted to sleep so she stretched out and put her legs across the back seat over Olegs’ lap. Of course, he didn’t appreciate it so the yelling and shoving match started. This was one of many that took place due to each kid’s invasion of the other’s personal space. So picture yelling and shoving going on in the midst of a traffic jam. For a moment Robert and I even contemplated returning home and forgetting the whole trip. Obviously, we couldn’t do that so we pressed on.

Once traffic opened up, it got better and we all relaxed. Both kids figured out a way to stretch out in the backseat without bothering each other. We made the mistake of leaving the food in the back where they could get to it. Seemed like every few minutes we heard another wrapper being opened and the sound of them gobbling up more fruit rollups and cereal bars. When we stopped we moved the food up front so we could control things.

Our first Florida stop was at my parents’ house near Tallahassee. When Kristine got out of the car, the first thing she wanted to know was which way the beach was. My parents live way out in the country and their house is surrounded by forest land and horse pastures so it looks a lot different than the beach scenes the kids expected. Kristine said, “This isn’t Florida, this is Australia.”

Luckily, there is a beach nearby so today we took them for a swim. We would have never heard the end of it otherwise. The weather was chilly and the water was ice cold but that didn’t matter to them. It was funny to see the locals walking by all bundled up while Olegs and Kristine frolicked in the water. There were a couple of guys out in a fishing boat near shore and we could hear one of them say in his country drawl, “I don’t think they’re from around here.” It was pretty funny.

My parents have friends next door who have some beautiful Arabian horses so we also got to visit with them. We fed them treats and brushed and pet them. Kristine is a horse lover like me so we could pet them all day. The highlight of the day, however, was the Kawasaki Mule. It’s a rugged 4X4 golf cart that the kids got to drive. They took turns driving up and down the property and had a blast. That’s all they wanted to do the whole time. Kristine almost ran us into an electric fence on her first driving attempt but after that she was fine as long as Robert was sitting next to her and able to grab the wheel at a moment’s notice. Olegs was a pro the whole time.

12/26 - Hockey Game & Some Tough Issues!

This evening, Robert, the kids and I took Ilga (the kids’ chaperone & our friend) to a hockey game. The kids had said they didn’t particularly like hockey but once they got there their tune changed. The loud music and festival atmosphere made it fun. Our time with the kids this time around has been much different though. Kristine, in particular, doesn’t seem to be as happy with us and is testing us more. It was just nice that we were all able to get out and have some fun. A lot of that had to do with Ilga. She is an amazing woman who is adventurous and loves to try new things and go new places. She’s always fun to be around and she is someone that the kids trust.

The hockey game was exciting, but after awhile it kinda got old…at least for me. I was so glad that our team scored the winning goal during the last few seconds so we didn’t have to sit through overtime.

When we got home the mood quickly changed. All it took was us asking the kids to brush their teeth and get ready for bed and Kristine proceeded to throw a fit and spout off some not so nice (I couldn’t understand the words but the tone was clear as a bell!) words in Latvian. The tension had been building for awhile and that was the moment we put our foot down and called Ilga at 11pm at night to ask her to speak with Kristine. I must confess that Robert and I even wondered if Kristine was having second thoughts about us adopting her. If so, we needed to find out now before we follow through with our trip to Latvia next month. Kristine confided in Ilga about some of what was bothering her and Ilga was able to relay that to us so we could understand what was going on.

Kristine was very upset that we got Ilga involved but we told her we had no other choice. We all have some very serious decisions to make and we must make sure there are no misunderstandings. After Kristine talked with Ilga, I sat up with her in her room until about 2am just talking about what was bothering her. It took awhile but she finally started confiding in me and sharing her fears and some personal things about her life that help to explain why she’s been acting the way she has. I think we’ve all had some unrealistic expectations of each other and we need this hosting period to work through our issues. We explained to her that if she is not happy with us that we will not force her to come live with our family, but if she does live with us she will need to follow our rules. She needs to think long and hard about what she wants. I told her that we all have a lot to learn about each other and it will take time but families stick by each other no matter what. There were lots of tears but it was somewhat of a breakthrough to be communicating on a new level.

Overall, Rob and I still feel that Kristine is meant to be our daughter but there’s still no guarantee until we’re on that plane bringing her home from Latvia. We’re just taking one day at a time.

12/25 - Merry Christmas!

Rob and I woke up to the sight of a beach ball being tossed at us at about 7am. Kristine opened our bedroom door, tossed the ball towards my head and ran away. That was her way of letting us know they were ready to open presents. We had told them they couldn’t open any presents before we got up. They had permission to go through their stockings without us but we were surprised that they didn’t even touch those before we got up.

They seemed to enjoy their presents, although they were quick to point out that they preferred Gameboys to the handheld games we got them. They were a lot more grateful for things in the Summer but this time they seem to expect more, just like American kids. Our new response to them when they complain about something is “Too bad, so sad!” Obviously, we couldn’t get them anything too expensive because they can’t take everything back with them. They were also quick to point out that we forgot to get them Heelys (those shoes with the wheels on the heel that all the kids have these days). I’m sorry, but I’m not spending $60-$70 on shoes that will most likely get stolen when they take them back. It’s a challenge to instill in them to be thankful for what they have gotten. They, like many of the other Latvian kids, seem to think all Americans are rich and will buy children whatever they want. Sorry, but that’s not gonna be life in our household so they’d better get used to it. Once they really looked at their presents, they were happy. We got them some plug ‘n play games that they could play on the TV. Olegs also liked his walkie talkies and cars that he got and Kristine was happy with her Barbies. The big hit was the perfume and cologne though. Olegs would practically bathe in his Drakkar everyday. We called it his “man perfume.” LOL!

Kristine was quick to tell us that she didn’t believe in Santa Claus. When we told her some of her gifts were from Santa, she immediately replied “I not idiot,” which was her way of saying she doesn’t believe in Santa. So we had to explain that we weren’t implying she was an idiot, etc. Talk about being a “Debbie Downer!”

We fixed the traditional American Christmas meal of turkey, dressing, green bean casserole, apple pie, etc. Olegs & Kristine made faces at much of it but they did like the turkey. We’re making them try lots of different foods before declaring they don’t like something. We also watched one of our favorite classic movies, “A Christmas Story,” which airs on TBS for 24 hours beginning Christmas Eve. They got a kick out of Ralphie’s adventures.

Overall it was a good day. We are so thankful we could spend Christmas as a family.

12/23 - Two Overwhelmed Latvians in a Target Store!

I was just setting myself up when I had the bright idea to take the kids shopping again today in the midst of all the chaos of the holiday season. My sister gave them each a Target gift card for Christmas so they were both eager to go pick out something. Kristine wanted more clothes and Olegs wanted a truck of some kind. I am not the most patient person in the world and navigating through a gazillion people who are wandering around aimlessly with their shopping carts just drives me bananas. Is it me, or does it seem like there’s always someone standing right where you’re trying to go no matter what direction you’re trying to move???!!!

We went round and round in the girls’ clothing section and Kristine just couldn’t find anything. Then the one or two things she did like weren’t in her size. We temporarily gave up on her finding anything and switched to Olegs. Of course, what he found first was way more than his gift card amount so he had to keep looking. He’s learning that we have spending limits and can’t just buy anything we see. He is much more understanding of this than Kristine. Olegs kept looking and finally found a cool gun toy that shoots darts with suction cups. He was happy so we turned our attention back to finding something for Kristine. She kept eyeing the most expensive things so after about an hour of this, we finally had to just say we’ll come back another day. A pouting session resulted right on cue.

This afternoon we went to our neighbor’s daughter’s birthday party at Chuck E’ Cheese. The kids had never been to a place like that and they had a blast. Robert and I tagged along so we could spend some fun time with the kids. Poor Olegs was the only boy at this party so it was good that he and Robert got to have some guy time playing games together. I love watching them together. I think their favorite was the race car game where they could sit and race each other. Before they began playing, Olegs insisted that he and Robert switch seats on that game and Robert quickly realized once Olegs was beating him so badly why he wanted to switch. Olegs had gotten Robert to switch so he could stick him with the machine that didn’t work right. That little stinker! LOL!

The smiles on the kids’ faces are just priceless. Kristine finally got over her disappointing shopping experience and began having fun with everyone else. When the show started and the Chuck E’ Cheese character came out for a dance, we jokingly tried to get the kids to dance with him. I can’t imagine why but for some reason they just weren’t into going up to a person in a mouse costume and dancing around with little kids who were barely out of diapers. LOL! Olegs quickly said, “Chuck E’ Cheese phooey” and we had a good laugh. When we got home, we took them to ride bikes again. As I’m sitting here writing this, Robert and Olegs are playing the Tiger Woods golf game on Playstation while Kristine is sleeping nearby. This time we’re spending as a family is so precious. I don’t even want to think about the day we have to say goodbye again. It’s not gonna be easy.

12/22 - The Reality of Life

This hosting is much different from the summer hosting in that we’ve scaled back quite a bit in our activities and spending. That doesn't mean we're not doing fun things but this time the kids are learning all about concepts such as running errands, eating leftovers, generic brands vs. name brands, etc. They’re seeing a more accurate portrayal of real life as it would be if they lived with us. They tagged along with me when I went to the vet to pick up medicine for our cat. Then we had to go to the post office to pick up a certified letter and had to stand in line forever. You would not believe the drama and the pouting. You would think they were being tortured to death. The mood quickly changed when we got back home and I took them down the street to ride bikes in a nearby cul-de-sac. I could just sit and watch them for hours as they laughed and grinned the entire time.

We’re trying to spend more time at home this time just doing simple things as a family. When Robert got home from work, we ended the evening with dinner at McDonald’s. Robert had mentioned something yesterday about having hamburgers and Olegs wouldn’t let him forget it. We made the mistake of getting the kids Happy Meals and again the whining and pouting insued. Oh, the drink cups were too small and on and on. They felt a little better once we told them that they could refill their drinks. They made it clear that they are way too old for Happy Meals. Well, excuuuuse me!! The final pouting session of the evening was at bath time and bedtime. We're not too hard on them. As long as the end result is that they do what we ask, we're letting them get away with a little pouting now and then. We wouldn’t change a thing, pouting and all. We love these kids do much!

12/21 - Shopping & Christmas Lights

Today’s mission was clothes shopping. We tried going yesterday afternoon but the kids just weren’t into it. All we could find were socks and underwear. The latest style for girls seems to be camouflage in all different colors. Kristine tried to talk me into some pink, white and grey camouflage pants that had a monkey embroidered on them. They even had a small stuffed monkey clipped to the belt loop. I had to put my foot down on that one. I told her absolutely no monkeys!! LOL! It was pretty much downhill from there after that so we decided to wait and try again today.

Today we had a lot of success. Kristine found some cute creme color camouflage pants which were much better and NO monkeys on them so she got those and found some cute jeans, tennis shoes, pajamas, etc. Olegs is a little more particular about his clothes. His jeans have to fit him just right and we went to three different stores to find him just the right pair of jeans. I felt like I had held up 100 pairs before I FINALLY held up a pair and got a big “YES” from him. That was a big relief. Then he found some Shaquille O’Neill tennis shoes that he liked.

Later in the evening, we got together with Ilga for dinner at a Japanese steakhouse. We had the hibachi meals where they cook at the table. Rob and I were so surprised when the kids tried everything, even sushi. They loved it when the chef made the table top flame up and tossed his utensils around. Our chef turned out to be a little klutzy. He tossed his knives and spatulas up in the air and dropped them a few times. We think he may have had a little too much of the Christmas punch or something. He made us a little nervous but things turned out fine. No one was sent to the hospital with a knife wound. LOL!

After dinner, we took Ilga to look at some nearby Christmas lights. A local college in our area decorates their whole campus and it’s fun to drive through. Kristine slept most of the way but Olegs was snapping away, getting the best pictures by sticking his head out of the sunroof. It was a fun time. When we got home and put the kids to bed, Rob and I put some of their wrapped presents under the Christmas tree. We want to see how long it takes them to notice. We asked them if they believe in Santa Claus and they said no. Kristine is quick to make quotation marks in the air with her fingers as she says "Robert is Santa Claus." They’re pretty smart and understand the whole Santa Claus myth. They may not believe in him but they’re quick to accept presents that are labeled “from Santa Clause”.

12/20 - They're Here!

The sun hasn’t even come up yet, but we’re up and going at full speed already. We woke up early to the sound of the kids laughing and playing with Winston, our black lab. They’re all running around chasing each other. That dog is one happy pooch!! He loves those kids so much and they love him too. Cartoon Network is blaring on the TV and I have a headache but I wouldn’t change one second. It’s funny, Olegs and Kristine are the ones that flew thousands of miles and should be jet lagged but I’m the one who is exhausted from lack of sleep. Of course, the second I hear them stirring about I want to be with them. We’re savoring every second of this 3 weeks.

As you can imagine, we couldn’t focus on anything else yesterday as we waited for the kids to get here. We were able to track their flights online and I was glued to the site all day at work. When the kids got to Detroit, I was able to call and talk to them. They were both very tired and had gone to McDonald’s for hamburgers.

The wait at the airport went by pretty fast. The kids arrived right on time. Our anticipation and excitement had been building all day. The moment we saw them, we motioned for them to come over and we all hugged and kissed each other intensely. What a moment. I wish I could bottle up these moments and save them. When we got home from the airport, Robert fixed eggs and bacon for Kristine. Olegs and I weren’t hungry so we hung out in the living room so Robert and Kristine could have a little father/daughter time. It was so sweet to hear them laughing while they cooked together.

This time we have separate bedrooms for the kids. Last time we let them share a room since everything was new and we thought they might be scared. We showed them their new rooms and they both seemed happy but Kristine was a little scared about sleeping in a room by herself. They are both used to having others in the room with them at the childrens’ home. We stayed up pretty late and both kids fell asleep on the couches in the living room. I just wanted to sit there and stare at them as they slept. They are so precious. We covered them with blankets and kissed their little foreheads before going to bed ourselves. This is where they belong.

The kids came with very few clothes this time so we’re adding clothes shopping to today’s agenda. They each brought only a coupleof the things we bought them last time. Once the kids return to their childrens’ home, their clothes become community property and get shared with the other kids. That’s just how it is and there’s not much we can do about it.

Well, gotta get ready for the day. We’re also going to pick out a Christmas tree today. It’s gonna be a fun day!

12/18 - Kids Come Tomorrow & We've Got Court Dates!!!

Okay, sorry I’ve been slow with the updates. It’s like all of a sudden time is moving at lightning speed with not a moment to spare. We have lots of news. First of all, the kids will be here TOMORROW!!! Let the frenzy of activities begin! Rob and I still can’t believe it!! Secondly, we got confirmation that our first court dates in Latvia (for Kristine's adoption) will be on January 29th and February 9th. That means that a couple of weeks after the kids leave to head back home, we’ll be heading to Latvia!!! We’re in the process of securing flights. We’re so excited, but I don’t think our brains can fully grasp everything yet. We got so accustomed to waiting for things to happen that when they actually start happening we don’t know what to do. We’ll figure it out with help from our friends who have already traveled.

Right now we’re focusing on getting ready for the kids’ visit. Tonight I finished the last of our Christmas shopping. We laid out all of the gifts we got them to make sure they’re each getting the same amount of stuff. We don’t want any arguments about one of them getting more than the other. LOL! We got them backpacks, walkie-talkies (Olegs), handheld games, plug-in-play games for the TV, etc. Obviously, they won’t be able to take everything back. I think they’ll be okay with that if they know we’ll keep their things in their rooms for them until they come back. It just opens up a whole new world for us to be able to share Christmas with our kids. We are SO blessed to be able to have them here!!

Olegs and Kristine are so excited. We talked to Olegs again over the weekend. A funny thing has been happening lately. When we call the childrens’ home, sometimes we ask for Olegs first and other times we ask for Kristine. Well, lately when we’ve asked for Kristine, they’ve been putting Olegs on the phone. He still has that young boy voice so I keep mistaking him for Kristine. He promptly tells us “No. It is Olegs.” It was funny the first or second time but it keeps happening over and over. Hopefully, he hasn’t gotten a complex over it.

Rob and I (more me than him) had big plans of making a new welcome poster for the kids’ arrival at the airport. Well, by the time it was 11:00 and that blank poster board was still sitting there, we decided our old poster will do just fine. Actually, our new poster was only gonna say “Welcome Back, Olegs and Kristine”. The old one just says “Welcome”. Yes, I tend to get obsessed with these minor details but I’m learning to let it go. The kids won’t care if our poster says “Welcome” or “Welcome Back.” LOL!

I’ll try to keep the blog updated while the kids are here. We have lots of activities planned. First thing on the agenda is to take them to pick out a Christmas tree so we can decorate it together. Did I say how excited we are? I thought so!!!

12/6 - The Week for Good News!

Rob and I can’t believe that Olegs and Kristine will be here in less than two weeks now for the Christmas hosting! We are so excited we can’t stand it!

This has been the week for GOOD news! First of all, we called to talk to Olegs yesterday and he told us that Kristine was there with him. When Kristine got on the phone, she told us that she’s now living at her own children’s home again. She is so happy to be back with her friends.

Later in the day yesterday we got the most important email from the Ministry of Children’s Affairs in Latvia!!! They sent us an official invitation to come to Latvia to meet Kristine. Normally, in adoptions like this, the adoptive parents have not already met the child. The government must invite them to meet the child. Once the adoptive parents reply and say “yes” that they do wish to meet the child described, the government will then release additional information such as medical records, etc. In our case, we obviously know Kristine but the government must still officially invite us to “meet” her. In the Ministry’s letter to us, they did not mention her name, but they included the most precious picture of her and provided a brief written description. Rob and I chuckled when we read the description that said “sometimes she cannot finish what she started to do.” That’s our Kristine alright…all over the place. LOL! The description also said she’s a “joyful, creative and active child” who has experienced some sadness in connection with a longing for a family. Talk about melting your heart.

In the picture they sent, Kristine appeared to be about 7 years old. That would’ve been around the age she was when she began living in the children’s home. Her hair is very short, with a choppy boyish haircut (almost like she cut it herself…LOL!) and dark brown. She’s wearing a rust color turtleneck sweater and sitting in front of a drab gray background. It’s almost like a very drab school picture. We still can’t stop staring at this picture. She is just so beautiful. We just look into that little face and wonder what all this sweetheart has been through in her life. We can’t wait until we are a family so that we can start making happy memories that will replace the bad ones. Rob and I replied with an emphatic “YES” we want to “meet” this child! This is our daughter!

This morning we got another email from the Ministry granting us official permission to visit Latvia to “meet” Kristine and get more information about her. This means our next step is to schedule our trip to Latvia for our court dates!!! Agnese, our attorney, thought we might want to travel in December so she would have scheduled dates then, but that just won’t work. We have both kids coming here for Christmas and we just can’t disrupt that visit. We want to enjoy and savor these three weeks with them. We will be taking them on a short vacation to Florida to meet our families and see the beach. We’ve told them about it and they can’t wait so we’re not about to disappoint them.

We’ve asked to travel to Latvia at the end of January so we will have time to prepare after the kids return home after the hosting. We’re told that shouldn’t be a problem so now we’re awaiting confirmation of the scheduled court dates. Our friend, Ilga, helped us decide on a place to stay so we’ve asked our attorney to see if this particular flat is available during the time we hope to be there. When we’re in Latvia, Kristine will live with us in this flat and a social worker will make visits. We will be responsible for getting Kristine to and from school everyday. This makes us a little nervous because it will be the dead of winter there AND we have no clue how to get around. Believe it or not, the children’s home director said Kristine could take public transportation by herself to get to school. She would have to take a tram for 10 mins. to get to a bus stop to catch a bus for the additional 15-20 min. ride to school. The thought of putting an 11-year old on a tram by herself sounds a little scary to us. We’ll probably ride with her. Hopefully, she can help us make sure we get on the right tram and bus so we end up in the right place. We don’t want to screw things up by making her late for school. Not a good impression of the Americans!

We hope to get confirmation within the next day or two of our court dates. Now that we’ve been officially matched with Kristine, we are confident that, once the dates are assigned, they will not change. Finally things are moving again! Thanks for all of your prayers. We are so thankful that things are starting to come together. FINALLY!

Okay, that’s about it for tonight. Now I have to go deal with my retarded 1-year old lab who is snarling at his reflection in the mirror. He can’t seem to understand that he’s looking at himself. The big dummy!! Good night all!!!

11/30 - We Received Immigration Approval…FINALLY!!!!

Today we took Grandmother downtown to the immigration office for her sworn statement. Luckily, the background check we had already done for her was sufficient so the sworn statement was the last step in this insane process. Rob and I got a little nervous when we woke up to hear rain coming down in buckets. Our appointment wasn’t until 1:00 so we were praying the rain would subside just long enough to get this done. We were determined to get this done TODAY.

Rob and Grandmother picked me up at work downtown for the drive to the immigration office. Luckily we found the place on the first try. I thought for sure we’d have to circle around the block a few times to find the entrance but that wasn’t the case. We had Grandmother’s wheelchair so we had to find the handicapped entrance. We found the drive that had a ramp entryway to the building, but the parking there was for government employees only. The guard at the gate was extremely nice though and allowed us to pull our car close to that area so we could at least get Grandmother out near the wheelchair ramp. The rain had subsided at this point, by the way. WHEW! Even so, we bundled Grandmother up in a rain jacket with hood and put an afghan blanket across her lap just in case. She always thinks we overdo it with the layering and bundling and she isn't thrilled about riding in the wheelchair. She doesn't want people to think she's an invalid and she's quick to tell everyone that she can walk just fine. LOL! If she had her way she would walk up the stairway to the building and she probably could. It would just take an entire day, time that we did not have at that point. Thank goodness for wheelchairs.

Rob had to park across the street but returned shortly to meet us. We made our way up to the correct office and found ourselves in a huge waiting area surrounded by immigrants from many different countries waiting to take their citizenship tests. This really put things in perspective for us as we arrived at the office pretty irritated by the process we were being put through. In that moment, we were reminded to be thankful that we were born citizens in this great country. We have freedoms that many of these people probably never had in their native countries. We really do have much to be thankful for and should never take it for granted.

After checking in at the reception window, we waited about 10 minutes before the immigration officer called us back to her office. She took one look at Grandmother and we could tell she felt bad about putting us through this, but whatever. She tried chatting with Grandmother and we had to tell her she’d have to raise her voice a few decibels for Grandmother to be able to hear her. Once she did, the blank stare on Grandmother’s face was replaced with a smile. The oath was very official. Grandmother had to raise her frail right hand and solemnly swear that she would answer the following questions truthfully. We all got so tickled at the questions Grandmother had to answer. She was asked if she had ever committed a crime, ever been on parole, ever had to pay a fine or ordered to community service, ever had a traffic ticket, etc. This tiny 4’ 11” woman in a wheelchair was being grilled about her criminal history…absolutely absurd. Obviously, her answers were “no” to everything. It was a surreal moment, just so ridiculous. At one point I got so tickled I almost had to excuse myself. Rob and Grandmother also got tickled but kept it together long enough for us to finish with this nonsense.

The bottom line is that we walked out of that office with our I-797 approval letter. The immigration officer printed it out for us right then since we had been through so much trouble. The I-797 letter is what we will need to take to the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw when we immigrate Kristine & hopefully Olegs too. After all of the court sessions in Latvia are completed and the adoptions are granted, the children will be U.S. citizens once they hit U.S. soil.

It’s great to have all of our paperwork in order. If only we could get our first court dates scheduled in Latvia. Now that the kids are coming here to stay with us for Christmas, we have asked to travel to Latvia immediately after they leave to head back home. Our attorney says that should not be a problem. At this point, we’re not getting our hopes up since we’ve been disappointed in the past. Not much we can do about the timeline of events anyway. We’re just anxiously awaiting the arrival of our kids for Christmas. We’re so excited!! They’ll be here in 2 ½ weeks. We can’t wait!!!!

11/24 - The Never ending Wait!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Rob and I stayed home with Grandmother and had the traditional Thanksgiving meal. Rob smoked the turkey to perfection and I fixed the sides. I actually made homemade dressing and giblet gravy without screwing it up. We cooked up a feast so we’d have tons of leftovers. It was funny to see Grandmother chow down. She normally doesn’t eat much but she had worked up an extra big appetite for this meal. She gnawed on a whole turkey leg and ate pretty much everything on her plate. When it came time for pie, she had two slices!! I told her we were impressed and she just grinned from ear to ear. I’m still amazed at times that we have a 98-year old living with us!!

Okay, back to adoption news…

We heard from our attorney today and she says that now we’re waiting for the Ministry of Children’s Affairs in Latvia to receive the written ruling from the Riga orphan court telling them that Kristine can be adopted internationally. Once that happens, the Ministry will officially match us with Kristine. Next week there is a big NATO summit in Riga so the government offices will be shut down for a few days. That means even more waiting! At this point, we’re almost hoping to travel in January instead of December. Olegs and Kristine will be here with us during the last couple of weeks in December, so things would get a little complicated if we were to get travel dates in December. However, we’re still a little nervous about waiting until January because our attorney is due to have a baby sometime in January. She’ll be out of commission for a few weeks when that happens. It’s possible our court dates could be pushed to February. We can’t think about all of this or we’ll go nuts. Right now we’re just focusing on the fact that we’ll have the kids with us for Christmas and we’re grateful for that.

Rob and I are both tired of being on an emotional roller coaster. We can handle the wait if we at least know why we’re waiting. The information about our case is coming very slowly now and that continues to be frustrating. We have felt strongly that our case isn’t getting the appropriate amount of attention. Even if that’s true, there’s not a whole lot we can do about it. We’re trying to remember that things will happen in God’s timing. Still isn’t easy, though!

We talked to Kristine on Wednesday and got to tell her that she and Olegs will be coming for Christmas. She was ecstatic. We had planned to tell her when we talked to her earlier in the week on Sunday but that conversation got cut short when a friend of hers grabbed the phone and made a vulgar comment using a really bad 4-letter word (use your imagination and you can figure it out). Kristine thought it was a little too funny so we told her we were not happy and we would talk to her later. The friend probably didn’t understand what he said, but just knew it would get a big reaction if he said it. Whatever! We were not amused. We heard Kristine yelling at her friend once she realized we were hanging up, so at least she understands that what he said was wrong. When we talked to her the next time on Wednesday, all was forgotten and we were able to talk about Christmas. Much better. We’ll just be so glad when we can all spend time together. We miss Kristine and Olegs so much.

11/21 - Fingerprinting Nightmare Continues

Today was Grandmother’s 2nd appointment for fingerprints. Since her prints didn’t take the first time, we are required to try again before the USCIS will let us do a sworn statement and be done with all this nonsense. Again, we got to the immigration office early, so we sat in the car and waited while we watched all of the others line up at the door. Like last time, it was all I could do to fight the urge to get out and jump in line. We had no choice but to wait until they opened the doors and the line moved inside. I had bundled Grandmother up in my super warm “puffy” coat with a hood over her head but even so I just couldn’t subject her to sitting out in the cold to get a primo spot in line.

Finally, I saw the doors open so I quickly loaded Grandmother up in her wheelchair so we could make our way up the sidewalk. We were greeted by a nice officer at the door and he held the door for us so I could push Grandmother inside. He had to hold the door longer than expected because I couldn’t get the blasted wheelchair over the doorstep until the fourth try. UGGGHH! Grandmother is a good sport and jokes that the bumpy wheelchair rides help keep her awake. LOL! For a second I thought the officer might let us go to the front of the line, but no such luck. He allowed me to wheel Grandmother into the waiting area to sit while I went back and waited in line. I told her to sit tight and I’d come get her when it was our turn. Bless her heart, she didn’t move an inch. She even kept her coat buttoned up with the hood over her head until I came back for her. I called her my little eskimo.

Eventually, our turn came and we filled out the same paperwork again and then got in another line to wait. They assign numbers much like they do at the grocery store deli, so we still had to wait for them to call our number. I was hoping we could get out of there before the need for a bathroom break but before they called our number, Grandmother let me know nature was calling. Of course, by the time we came back, they had already called our number and were now three numbers past ours so we had to get them to work us back in. AARRGGHH!! They finally worked us in, did Grandmother’s prints, and we were on our way.

This afternoon, I called and found out that the second set of prints didn’t take either. The next step will be the background check and sworn statmement. The person who does the sworn statements is out this week so we can’t take care of it until next week. So it seems we will have to bring Grandmother downtown yet again to finish the last steps of this insane process. In case you’re wondering, I did call our local congressman’s office to complain about this. They were very nice but said I’d have to put something in writing for them before they can try to help. I figured by the time I do that and wait for them to contact somebody, we’ll have taken care of it. I will probably send a letter to him after the fact. Who knows. Maybe the law can be changed so others who have elderly people living with them won’t have to go through this.

11/18 - Looking Forward to Hosting Again

Olegs now knows he’s coming to see us for Christmas and he’s so excited. Our friends who were in Latvia this week took him a letter and some small gifts from us. In our letter, we told Olegs that we had gotten permission for him to visit us over Christmas. Our friends told us that he was all smiles when they gave him his bag. We can’t wait to see his precious smile again. What a little cutie pie he is! We told him that Kristine will be coming too. We’re not sure if Kristine knows that she’s coming yet. At the time we wrote her letter, we weren’t sure if we would be hosting her. We’re hoping her children’s home director has told her by now.

When we talked to Kristine earlier this week, she told us that she had also received her letter and gifts. She sounded so happy. She also informed us that she would like us to call her “Kate” now. That is her new American name. Rob and I had decided we would let her choose whether or not she wants to change her name when we adopt her. Before we make the final decision though, we’ll give her a few more options to choose from to make sure we can all live with it.

When Kristine and Olegs were here during the summer, we played a game and asked them what American name they would each like to be called if they had a choice. At that time, Kristine wanted to be called Morgan. Since we have friends with a cat named Morgan and other friends with a daughter named Morgan, we had already decided that she’d have to choose again. Luckily, she picked something else on her own. Olegs had decided his American name would be “Batman” so we’ll have to convince him to choose again. It’s hard to explain to him that having the name “Batman” on his resume will probably limit his future career opportunities. LOL!

We continue to wait to hear when we'll be traveling for our first court dates in Latvia. As time goes by, it's looking less likely that we'll be traveling before Christmas. We're actually okay with that now that we know our kids will be here for Christmas. We can't wait for them to get here. It's gonna be one awesome Christmas.

11/15 - Fingerprinting Nightmare!

Yesterday was fingerprinting day for Grandmother at the immigration office. Our appointment was at 8am near downtown, so we had to leave pretty early since we would have to fight rush hour traffic. Bless her heart, I thought Grandmother would take forever to get ready so I got her up extra early so she’d have plenty of time. She was ready in a flash so I could’ve let her sleep another 45 mins. Oh well! She was just as happy to spend that extra time napping in her Lay-Z-Boy.

Anyway, we got to the immigration office about 15 mins. early. The place didn’t open until 8am so people were lining up outside the door and I, being the person with no patience, was ready to go jump in line too. I had a 98-year old woman with me and I was NOT going to be last in line! Even though it was very cold, I contemplated wheeling Grandmother up there so we could secure our place in the line. My sensible side won over, however, and I figured that a good space in line wasn’t worth risking her getting a case of pneumonia.

Once they finally opened the doors, the line actually moved very quickly. People were there for different reasons so they were directed to different areas for processing. I wheeled Grandmother up there just as the line was dwindling at the door and the officer let us right in. After filling out our preliminary paperwork and waiting for a few minutes, we were called back to the fingerprinting area. The guy doing the fingerprints was super nice and took his time with Grandmother. She was pretty quiet but when he got to her left ring finger, she boldly told him to be careful with that finger. On that finger, she wears the now thin wedding band that my granddaddy put on her finger 76 years ago. He has since passed, but she has NEVER had that ring off of her finger since their wedding day. The fingerprinting guy was very sweet and told her how special that was that they had been married for 73 years.

Yesterday was actually a piece of cake. The nightmare part started today when I called to follow-up and was informed that Grandmother’s prints are “unclassifiable” which means they must be redone. Apparently, this happens with older people since their skin is thin and their hands are wrinkly. The procedure is that they will attempt to take the prints twice and if they are still unsuccessful the second time, they will allow her to do a sworn statement. Of course, I asked why we can’t just skip to the sworn statement part and the girl I talked to told me this is the law and they can’t change their procedure. I talked to the head of the adoption unit and she wouldn’t budge either. I asked them what they do in cases where someone is bed ridden or homebound. They had the nerve to tell me that in those cases they arrange for a caregiver to get that person to a fingerprinting place. Are you kidding me???!!! Of course, I told them that this makes no sense and is plain STUPID. Well, the person helping me was super nice and felt awful about it. I told her that I know this isn’t her fault but it’s still STUPID. She agreed but said there’s nothing she can do. So the next step is to have the prints taken all over again. At least, I know I can let Grandmother sleep a little later this time. Gotta see the glass half full you know. AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!

11/8 - Frustration Subsides, Blessings Emerge!

New information about our case has been slow to come and that’s been pretty frustrating. Our attorney has been so busy and stressed that she hasn’t taken the time to keep us updated. When we’ve attempted to ask for status, she has replied to say she’s been very busy and does not have time to explain what is happening. All Rob and I want at this point is the assurance that our case is getting the appropriate amount of attention. We don’t want our paperwork collecting dust on someone’s desk somewhere.

We finally sent our attorney a polite but very firm email to ask why our case is taking so long and to find out exactly what we are waiting on now. Other adoptive families are coming and going for their court dates, while we’re still sitting in limbo. We tried to explain to her that we simply need answers which will help us make certain decisions on our end. Some of her prior responses to our questions almost made it seem like we were bothering her. This was frustrating also because we were purposely making every attempt to limit our questions and emails so we don’t bombard her too much. Rob and I tried to remind ourselves that there is lots of room for misinterpretation in emails anyway and the language barrier doesn’t help. Still, it’s hard not to take certain comments personally at times.

Anyway, our email hit home and our attorney was very kind in her response. She basically apologized and confessed that she was hesitant about giving us any information because of the problems we experienced when we got our court dates assigned prematurely back in October. So instead she opted to tell us nothing, which only fueled our frustration. She said she only wants to give us “concrete” information. This time she told us that there is a court date scheduled next week to officially clear Kristine for international adoption. Well, why didn’t you tell us that before??!!! (whining here). At least now we know why we are waiting. That’s all we want. We appreciated her honesty and expressed to her how grateful we are for everything she’s doing for us. She truly is a good person at heart, just stressed.

Our attorney also suggested that we might want to consider hosting Kristine at Christmas. She can’t tell us whether we’ll be traveling before or after Christmas. As you can imagine, all of the fees associated with the adoption and hosting are adding up and we have to make our money last. There are so many “what if’s.” Rob and I had pretty much ruled out being able to afford hosting Kristine for Christmas. The thought of Olegs being here while she stayed in Latvia was tough to bear, but that’s just how it had to be. That is, until we received an email telling us that some donations had been made to Simple Obedience in our name to help with our hosting expenses. The total amounts donated have been enough to drop the hosting cost significantly. We can now afford to host Kristine too!! Happy tears started flowing when we got this news. God is SO good! Things like this don’t just happen. This was divine intervention at work here. If you are one of the ones who donated, please know that words just can’t express our gratitude for your generosity. We pray the Lord will bless you abundantly for your kindness!

We’re praying that by some miracle we’ll be able to travel to Latvia in early December so we can return before the hosting group comes. When we are in Latvia for our first court sessions, Kristine will need to stay with us so the Latvian social worker can make observation visits. If the timing of our travel & hosting dates doesn't initially work out exactly right, it looks like we’ll have the option of changing the dates of Kristine's plane ticket. Rob and I decided we're not gonna stress about it because there’s nothing we can do to change the timing of things. We are just trusting that everything will work out.

11/7 - We FINALLY talked to Olegs!

Today we called Olegs’ children’s home and were ecstatic to get Olegs on the phone. We got a little nervous when the person who answered the phone asked us to repeat what we said a couple of times. We were bracing for the moment they would disconnect us, but they didn’t. Finally they understood that we wanted Olegs so they hollered for him. He came to the phone right away and sounded so happy. Since so much time had passed since our last chat, it was important for us to let him know we haven’t forgotten about him. He had gotten the letter we sent him with some baseball cards, so he was happy. We’re thankful he’s at least getting our letters if we can’t always reach him on the phone. He still doesn’t know that he’s coming for a visit at Christmas. We have to wait for a few more details to be worked out before we can talk about it. He’ll be so excited when he finds out.

One of the other adoptive families is traveling to Latvia this week for their first court. They are taking a couple of small gifts to Olegs & Kristine for us. We also wrote the kids letters that were translated into Latvian by another hosting family’s son (thank you, Josh!!). We wanted to explain to the kids why we haven’t come to Latvia yet. Since the letters are in Latvian, we can be sure they’ll understand. We basically told them that we are still waiting for the Latvian government to give us permission, but that we will be there as soon as we can. It’s important to us that they understand what is happening.

11/1 - More Latvian Phone Games

Today, we tried calling Olegs again and found ourselves playing a slightly different game with the children’s home staff this time. Today’s game was called “set the phone down and walk away.” Again, we called and asked for Olegs. The woman who answered the phone sounded like she was going to go look for him but of course we had no clue what she rattled off to us in Latvian. We were just so thankful that she didn’t hang up on us this time. It soon dawned on us that she simply set the phone down on the desk and went about her business. We could hear people coming and going, kids screaming and laughing, the office staff cutting up, etc. (all of this very entertaining by the way). So Rob and I were together on the line wondering if we should hang up or wait. We kept hearing footsteps coming closer to the phone but then they kept on going. I finally started whispering and then shouting, “Sveiki, Sveiki, Sveiki!” (“hello, hello, hello!”) hoping some kind soul would pick up the phone. After about 25 mins. of wasted calling card minutes we hung up.

Rob and I decided we’d better find out what’s up with Olegs before we try calling the children’s home again. We don't want these "games" to escalate further. We emailed Ilga and asked her to call the children's home to see what the deal was. She was able to find out that Olegs was away longer than we originally thought, so he wasn't there when we called. The children’s home staff was probably trying to tell us that when we called before, but of course we didn’t understand a word. I’m sure it drove them crazy when we kept calling back. Oh well. Ilga found out a good time for us to call Olegs so we will try again and hopefully talk to him next time.

Since we couldn’t reach Olegs, we tried calling Kristine again. We got through to her very easily and she was a totally different girl this time. She was giggly and playful. We told her how much it makes us happy to hear that she’s happy. Her friend, Agnese, was there visiting her today so they were typical giggly girls. Kristine put Agnese on the phone and we got to say “hi” to her. She said “yes” to everything so we don’t know how much she understood of what we said. We could probably have asked if she liked to eat dirt and she would’ve said “yes.” LOL! We later heard from Ilga that Kristine was just in a bad mood the last time we called and that’s why she was so quiet and sad. Another adoptive family will be traveling to Latvia next week to go to court for their future daughter, who is a friend of Kristine’s. Ilga said Kristine is down about that and is wondering why our case is taking so long. We were thankful that Ilga could call Kristine and explain everything to her in Latvian so she’ll understand exactly what is happening.

We hope things will start moving faster with our case. We will contact our attorney again next week. There were two other adoptive families in Latvia for court dates this week, so our attorney was pretty busy. We’re hoping things will calm down for her a little now that those families are heading back home. Maybe she’ll have time to focus on our case again. We just want to bring Kristine home by Christmas. We’ve still got time, so hopefully that will happen.

10/30 - Some Good News, FINALLY!

I guess it can be good when things aren’t going your way because that means one of these days things have to turn around. Today was one of those days. This afternoon we got emails from both Ilga (the hosting chaperone) and Agnese (our attorney) to let us know that the first orphan court ruling is in…(drumroll please….). That court has denied Kristine’s relatives’ request for guardianship so they will not be allowed to take Kristine. HALLELUJAH!!! This clears the way for the process to officially match us with Kristine as her adoptive parents. It’s like finally the obstacles in our path are starting to crumble away. Talk about a HUGE weight being lifted. We had no idea how the court would rule, so we didn’t even want to start getting Kristine’s room ready just in case. Now we can go buy the pink paint to start fixing up her princess room.

Even though we've received word of the orphan court's ruling, our attorney later told us that our case is still moving very slowly. We’re not sure if that’s because of the slow court system or because our attorney is now working on so many cases at once and is too busy. We’ve done our best to be patient but now that things seem to be moving forward, we want to keep that momentum going. We really don’t know when to expect to travel. We could get an email any day with new court dates or it could be weeks more. We have no idea and our attorney has been slow with information since she’s so busy.

We are also excited to report that we will be allowed to host Olegs at Christmas. So that means if we travel to Latvia and bring Kristine back before then, we’ll have both kids with us at Christmas!! One possible problem would be if our travel dates are postponed until mid December. We would hate to be in Latvia getting Kristine while Olegs is here for Christmas. We’ll have to cross that bridge when it gets closer. We’re hoping that won’t be an issue. In the meantime, we’re just so excited that we’ll get to see our kids soon. YIPPEE!!

10/30 - The Wait is Taking It's Toll

Today was a hard day because we talked to Kristine and she seemed so depressed. She was very quiet and when we asked her if she was okay, she just said “no” and that she was sad. Today she said she has no friends where she’s staying. We feel like she knows that other families from our hosting group are traveling to Latvia for their court dates now. She must be wondering why we haven’t come for her yet. We just have to keep telling her that we’re waiting for the Latvian government to give us permission to travel. We did our best (in our garbled Latvian) to reassure her that everything will be okay. All we can do is pray that it really will be okay.

In the meantime, we tried to call Olegs again because we heard he’d be back at the children’s home today. Lately when we call his children’s home, we’ve found ourselves playing this frustrating game with the staff there. The last couple of times we called and asked for Olegs, the person answering the phone would rattle off something in Latvian and promptly hang up on us. Of course, having no idea what they said and being the persistent person that I am, we kept calling back. It's funny at first but my blood starts to boil after having it happen over and over. LOL! After being hung up on about three times, we finally decided we’d better cool it and just try another day. We don’t want to get on the bad side of the staff, that’s for sure. It’s all these little things that compound the frustration. We just want to talk to our boy!

10/24 - Grandmother has to be Fingerprinted!

I forgot to mention this in the last post…I got a call from a security officer at the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration office today informing me that my 98-year old Grandmother (she had a birthday last month) needs to be fingerprinted after all. This officer was working on our I-600A application and said everything is in order except this minor detail. If you’ll recall, my Grandmother lives with us and we were originally told that she did not need to be fingerprinted due to her age. It turns out that we were misinformed. UGGGHHH! The immigration authorities have to run fingerprints to confirm that a criminal is not living among us. Luckily, Rob and I passed with flying colors, but Grandmother is still a suspect. I only hope her prints haven’t worn off her fingers after all these years. LOL! I suppose that’s not possible, but one can wonder. A stiff breeze could blow my tiny Grandmother over but they have to rule out she’s not a criminal. WHATEVER! You can’t argue with the government.

So, as instructed by the officer, I sent off a letter requesting the earliest possible fingerprinting appointment. They are supposed to get back to me right away with a date & time. Grandmother actually thinks it’s funny and is looking forward to her upcoming trip to the immigration office. She reminded me that I have no idea what she does all day while we’re at work. She could be up to all kinds of criminal activity for all we know. She’s a hoot!!

10/24 - Being Patient Is Tough!

We’re still waiting to hear the results of the first court hearing for Kristine’s case and have heard little since we were originally told we’d have to wait. Our attorney is now working on many adoption cases so she’s very busy and it seems at times that her nerves are worn thin as well. She is also expecting a baby in a couple of months, so she may not be feeling well either. Rob and I couldn’t help but get a little annoyed when we emailed her a couple of questions about our case and she replied that she’s not an “information office.” We just have to remind ourselves that there is a language barrier and that just might have been her way of saying she didn’t know the answers to our questions. We’re not going to take anything personally. We know she is doing what she can to help us. It’s just frustrating because it almost feels like our case has gotten pushed aside and maybe it has only because there’s nothing anyone can do right now until the first orphan court in Kristine's relatives' region has ruled on her case.

We're trying to stay positive while we wait and to focus on the good side of things. We’re able to live vicariously through the experiences of the other families who are traveling now. They've been able to share some great information with us about their trips to Latvia. It will only help us to be as prepared as possible when our turn comes. One family who is already home from their first trip got to bring their little girl home to stay with them in the U.S. between court visits. We had planned to ask the court to let us do that with Kristine so that gives us hope that we will be able to bring her home after our first trip as well. Our dream is to have Kristine with us by Christmas. We’ve also requested to have Olegs come for a visit again during the Christmas hosting so there is a chance we’ll have both kids with us for Christmas. We’re trying not to get our hopes up too high just in case it doesn’t happen though.

We talked to Kristine this past weekend and she sounded great and was acting silly. She was giggling and chomping on an apple the whole time. Down the road we’ll have to explain to her that it isn’t polite to talk with your mouth full but that’s for another day. LOL! Right now, we'd give anything to have her here spilling her drinks at the table and talking with her mouth full. LOL! She asked us again when we’re coming to Latvia and we told her we’re still waiting for the government to give us permission. We have been told that she may be going back to her children’s home soon. I hope that happens because she really misses her friends there. We're just thankful we've been able to call her regularly while she's been at this other facility.

We haven’t talked to Olegs yet this week because he’s been away each time we’ve called. After calling a few times, we finally got someone on the phone who spoke English and explained that Olegs is away for the week and will be back next Monday. It turns out that this week is the kids’ autumn break so they are out of school. We will look forward to talking to Olegs when he gets back.

It was at the beginning of this month that our attorney told us we'd have to wait a month to hear how the first court rules on our case. The month is now almost up so we hope to hear something very soon. Rob and I will be able to breathe a sigh of relief once we get official word that the first court has ruled in our favor. In the meantime, about all we can do is wait and pray.

10/17 - The Wait Continues!

Even though it’s supposed to be a few more weeks before we’ll hear news of the first orphan court’s ruling for Kristine’s case, we are constantly checking email now hoping to hear something sooner. One thing that helps us get through the wait is the fact that we’re able to talk to the kids. We found out that Kristine was moved to a new place last week so she could get some more individualized attention right now. She’s okay but just has a lot of issues to sort out. Of course, upon hearing the news that she was moved, we wanted to call her right away and make sure she was alright. Thankfully, our attorney got the new number for us. We were a little nervous to call this new place (it’s so intimidating not being able to speak their language). We called and asked for Kristine, throwing in a couple of Latvian greetings in the process. Next thing we knew the person on the other end started speaking English to us. WHEW!! This nice lady gave us a direct number to call to get directly to Kristine so we called and got her right away. This was last week and Kristine had just gotten to this new place. She was a little down and asked when we are coming to Latvia. We have to keep telling her that we’re waiting for the government to give us permission, all the while praying that they WILL give us that permission. We reminded her to pray and told her that we love her and miss her so much.

We talked to Kristine again this past Sunday. It was a little more challenging to get through this time. I don’t know if the lady who answered the phone just didn’t like us or if Kristine wasn’t there. It was pretty comical. When we called and asked for Kristine, the woman simply said “NO” and hung up. So being the persistent person I am, I called right back and asked for Kristine again. The woman rattled off something in Latvian and hung up on us again. So we called a 3rd time but this time there was no answer. Obviously, they weren’t picking up on purpose. So the whole time Rob and I were asking ourselves, What was up with that? WHATEVER! We called back a couple of hours later and got a really nice woman who got Kristine to the phone right away. Kristine was much more cheerful on Sunday. She said she was happy and actually liked it at the new place. She had made some new friends. That put our minds at ease to hear that she is okay and that the people are nice there.

We couldn’t get Olegs on Sunday (no answer at his children’s home) so we tried again on Monday. It’s hilarious when we call there because the woman who answers that phone yells at the top of her lungs for Olegs to come. We could tell she was walking down the hall hollering for him because the volume got lower and lower until finally we heard footsteps running to the phone. That was our boy! He was in rare form when we talked to him this time. He had friends with him and they were picking on him and making noises into the phone (typical annoying kid stuff). He kept cracking up and it was the most wonderful sound to hear that laugh we love. At one point, Olegs’ friend yelled something into the phone and then they hung up on us. We called right back and Olegs was yelling at this particular friend (who was a girl by the way) to tell her to leave him alone. Of course, we asked if that was his “girlfriend” and he said “NOOOOOOOOO!!” We had a good visit and he said he was happy and doing good.

Each day we remind ourselves that we’re one day closer to traveling. We know that we’ll look back on this after it’s all over and the long, agonizing wait will seem so insignificant once we have our kids home. Doesn’t make the wait any easier NOW though!