our 2nd visit from the social worker

Today was our 2nd visit from the court appt social worker...and judge. I wasn't expecting the judge to come, but she is very nice. The judge doesn't speak English, but the Social worker speaks a small amount of English. They looked at Viktorija's school work, asked her what she is doing, where she is eating (in apt, or out), and "do you still want to live with this family?" Viktorija was pretty shy, but answered all the questions well. She told them about how she made spaghetti last night, how we do school work everyday, and that, "Yes", she does want to live with this family forever. Of course, I didn't expect anything less, but there is that sense of relief that we have now gotten beyond that stage of this process. Praise the Lord! Now....court on Friday to get the final o.k. to bring her back to America with us on this trip.



When Viktorija woke up this morning she told me she had a dream that she was back at Maria's house. She was told that she had to stay in Latvia. She said she was crying in her dream. When she woke up she said she was very relieved that it was just a dream. This child has lived many dreams and nightmares in her short life. I think she is begining to realize that this dream is a good one and that is her new reality:-)

Our planned bowling outing with Maria, Aldis, and the children was canceled. Maria is sick, and the youngest girl (6 yrs old) is in the hospital. I don't know what is wrong with her at this time. But, we plan to keep in touch with them over the next few days to check on them. We had a family bowling outing instead. It was fun to watch Viktorija get so excited about playing something new to her. I have found out I pretty much STINK at the game. But, it
is fun nonetheless. It got us out of the apartment anyway. We then had dinner at one of the places we have come to enjoy (they serve American food). We could tell at dinner, when Viktorija suddenly got quiet and disconnected, that it was certainly going to be an early-to-bed- night. All of this excitement is catching up with our girl too;-)

No DVD tonight....maybe a game of UNO, a Bible reading, and sleep. Once she's asleep, I can begin another one of the books I've downloaded:-) For all you readers out there, I highly recommend the NOOK Color! I might have said that before....

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