Christmas without Viktorija

When I woke up this morning I asked God to give me the strength to focus on all of our many blessings and not the fact that our daughter was not here with us for this special day. It turned out to be a wonderful day with many reminders that God is very much in control. We spoke to Viktorija before my family arrived to have Christmas lunch with us. She sounded good. She laughed after we sang to her, "We wish you a merry Christmas". She told us she had been to church today and that she was also going to church tomorrow. It is "family day" at her church. Mike told her she could carry a picture of us with her, and that we will be with her in heart and spirit. She liked that.

We then called Viktorija a second time today after all of my family was present. They each were able to say "hello" to her and tell her that they loved her. This is the first time she has heard anyone else's voice (besides ours) on the phone. After we told her again how much we love her, and said our goodbyes, she said, "goodbye my family, I love you" to all of us. Of course, this was a touching moment. Not to mention, she has the sweetest phone voice...ever!!!! Wow, do I miss her! I want to hug her and never let go. But, even with all of hte emotions that I am feeling, I feel very much at peace in God's timing. Next Christmas will be extra special:-)

A lovely lady that my mom works with (whom I've never met) sent a gift for Viktorija. It was a lovely snow globe with a generous monetary gift attached. As I shed my tears, my family sat quietly in amazment at the kindness and generosity of this wonderful lady with a heart for orphans.

This was another reminder to me of how God knows our needs and how He uses many different people to meet those needs. It wasn't just the monetary gift, it was the love behind it that moved me so much (the love of someone I've not met...yet, and the love of our ever present Lord and Savior).

As I sit here quiety pondering this beautiful day, I think of the greatest gift God gave to the world...His very our son. "For God so loved the world, He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have eternal life". The greatest gift of all! I am humbled and so grateful for a love such as this. As much love as I feel for our daughter, God loved us even more. It's difficult to imagine. But, I'm so thankful!!!!!

where we stand now

It has been quite awhile since I've blogged. Merely because we had no new news. Dec 7 was the day we got our "official invitation" to go to Latvia for our child...this is a formality. We were then told our court date would soon follow. Well, it's now 12/21 and no court date yet. Mike contacted our adoption liason yesterday to see if we were any closer to having our travel dates. We then got the sad news that we may not get to travel until Feb, or even March!!! Since we were counting on Jan, this was a HUGE disappointment! Mike works at McGuire Nuclear Station and the month of Feb begins at outage. This is a time when nobody is allowed to take time off (approx 30-40 dys). Needless to say, Mike was very stressed and unhappy yesterday. I pray for patience and God's perfect will and timing. I know He has a reason for the timing, even though we don't see, or understand, it. We pray for Viktorija to maintain her faith and positive attitude while she waits for us to come and get her. When we last spoke to Viktorija she told us she was packing her suitcase so she would be ready for us. This is the hard part!! This is a child who has only dreamed of having a "real family"...something many of us take for granted. It will be difficult to tell her that there will be a longer wait. I think we'll try to avoid that conversation until we do know our travel dates for certain. We ask our friends and family to continue to pray for Viktorija, and us, as we wait on the Lord. Pray that our travel will not interfere with Mike's work outage. Pray for our financial situation as we move forward with the adoption and her education when she arrives in the US.

I heard a song on the radio today called "All I want for Christmas is a family". I don't know who sings it, but it was kind of gut-wrenching for me to hear. Through the roller coaster we're on, God has been ever-present to remeind me that He is indeed in control. We are truly blessed to be on this journey with Viktorija. It's amazing what God will do in your life if you let go and follow His lead. To God be the glory!!!!