meltdown

Viktorija was the first one out of bed this morning (at 7:00). She was in a good mood, and reminded me that we only have one more full day here before going "home". It's nice that she already considers America home. We went to breakfast in the hotel, as usual. And, again, watched this little tiny girl eat what 2, or 3, of me would eat.

She was anxious to start her English lesson. We started with writing sentences including pronouns. Well, what started out as a good lesson turned out to be a meltdown, on her part. I still don't quite. know what happened. I think she couldn't come up with a sentence immediately and she got frustrated. I tried to start her over, she became very quiet, and stared off into space. I didn't know if she was listening to me, or not. She finally wrote her sentence and was showing an "attitude" that was not appropriate. I have learned from past experiences like this with her, that she won't talk about it at that moment. So, I told her we needed to take a break, and she needed to have some quiet time. I left the room and when I came back she was asleep. So, you see, it's been a lot of change at one time. I understand the fact that this court system feels it necessary to have this length of "bonding time" in their country. But, honestly, we NEED to return home to start living a normal life in our normal environment. The situation we are in (living out of suitcase in a hotel, no car, no friends, no church, etc...) is not real. It will only eventually drive a person crazy!! After Viktorija woke up, she did her homework without incident.

We went to the US Embassy today for Viktorija's VISA interview. All went well. We will pick up her VISA tomorrow.

Today at lunch, Viktorija started asking Mike and I questions like: "Dad, What do you love about mom?", "Mom, what do you love about dad?", "How did dad ask you to marry him?", etc. She is just trying to learn more about us, Meanwhile, my dear husband, who does not find it easy to express himself, started feeling like he was in a therapy session:-) I found it to be quite entertaining watching him squirm a bit;-)

Ok, today, I'm officially spent! I truly have been praying for strength to get through one more day. I know it sounds dramatic, but I'm completely drained. I can tell Mike is also feeling it. Praise the Lord we are so close now to getting on a plane for home.

T-3

After watching Viktoija consume a HUGE breakfast, we mozied back to our room to start on school work. Seriously, pound for pound, Viktorija can put away the food:-) Even Mike had a stomach ache watching her! She ate a plate of vegetables (she loves those), bacon, fruit (banana, 3 kiwi), cereal, juice, and a small danish!! You wouldn't think she'D be hungry for lunch, but, yep, she ate spaghetti for lunch too.



She was pretty proud of the fact that she got a 100% on all her Math homework today! English is improving. But, working on proper sentences is a bit slower...that's due to the language barrier, of course. She has not once complained that we haven't taken a break from school work since we're been with her.



We chose to watch "The Nativity Story" DVD today. This is a movie about the birth of Jesus. We always talk about what we watch, or read, together in order to make sure she has a good understanding of what the subject matter is. She does pretty well comprehending, considering that laguage differences. Great movie for anyone interested.


We are scraping the bottom of the barrell for entertainment these days. So, we played several rounds of charades. This is a game Viktorija had never played before. Initially she was shy about acting out her word. But, after a couple turns, she started to come out of her shell. Quite animated, actually:-)

I'm currently listening to her read to Mike from her children's Bible. She doing a fantastic job! And, the fact that she is actually comprehending the information is even better:-)

We enjoyed our skype conversations with our friends, Tim and Carla Carroll, and Kirk and Beth Bleavins. The weather sounds amazing at home! In the 70's?!?! WOW!! We broke 25 degrees today;-) Hope some of that sunshine hangs around for us.

Tomorrow we will take Viktorija to the US embassy for her VISA interview, and physical. This is the last hurdle we've been waiting for. We will then pick up her VISA from the embassy on Tues! Please pray for a smooth and seemless flight home on Wednesday. I'll bet I've heard Viktorija say it about a dozen times today how excited she is to get home and see Cosmo and Rosie (our pups)! Secretly I hope that our pups don't give us the attitude after leaving them for 2-1/2 weeks:-) They've been under the magnificent care of my mom. Also, our neighbors, John and Betsy, have helped by taking the pups out when my mom's been at work. This was extremely important to us to know that our "babies" would be well taken care of while we were out of the country. We are so thankful!!!!

Until tomorrow..... Love to all

checkin' out the city

I think we all felt pretty well rested when we awoke this morning. There are perks to this hotel that our past "home" didn't have, and vise versa. The first noticable perk is that we have room darkening curtains that we can close at night. Our last apt had an issue where we couldn't even close the curtains at night. Therefore, light was always pouring in from the outside. Last night was wonderful to sleep without distraction! It was the first time I had stayed in bed until 8:00 since we've been here! The breakfast in our new hotel is also better than our last. Very tastey and clean. The last place had mediocre food and it never had enough utensils on the foodbar to accomodate their food selection. Now, normally I wouldn't even eat at a place like that for fear of germs, etc. But, we've had to lower our standards a bit in order to function. It's been a good lesson for us. Thankfully, we have remained healthy thus far.

The temps were supposedly in the 20's today. However, for some reason it feels colder in Riga than it did in Daugavpils! We went our to do our own walking tour of the area we are staying in. It was soooooo cold, that our lips were frozen, making it difficult to even speak to each other. Mike enjoyed capturing some of the beauty of the architecture of Riga. The building really are beautiful.....very old. I haven't seen anything like it in the US.

After walking for about an hour, we finally settled on a small, quaint cafe for a late lunch. It is called "Double Coffee". Given the name, I thought I would make another attempt at some coffee. I had decided the coffee here is much too strong and dark for my liking. But, the concoction I chose today was AWESOME!!!! I'm sure it was not the most healthy, but I sure did enjoy it:-) Funny, after a few minutes of drinking it, I was almost dizzy from the caffene! It's been too long;-) The food there was also good. And, they had healthy choice!!!! Praise be!! Finally a meal I don't have to feel guilty about! HA, HA!

We returned to the hotel, Mike introduced Viktorija to photo editing. She really enjoyed this. It kept them busy for a couple of hours too. Anything to keep her busy and engaged. For dinner, we went to the local market for sandwich fixin's. I'm already thinking about what my first home cooked meal is going to be when we return home:-)

Tonight another DVD and bed. Are you all getting tired of reading these blogs yet? It kind of feels like "groundhog day" everyday now. We have appreciated the kind emails and notes everyone has sent our way. To get a message, or email, is an exciting event these days.

Sending our love your way.

By the way, Mike said if you click on any picture, and then click again, it will expand the picture even further to show more detail.

"moving day!"

Viktorija woke with excitement this morning! She was anxious about our court session, and excited about our move to Riga for the next 5 days. We were able to check out of our apt later than the usual check-out time (thank the Lord!), so we didn't have to hang out in the lobby for 3-1/2 hrs! This was a blessing.

A few months ago I sent Viktorija a card with a token that says "FAMILY" on it. She showed it to me today, and said she carries it with her everyday. I was surprised she still had it, quite frankly. It's just a small "penny-sized" token that would be easily lost. But, she calls it her lucky charm. Too sweet!

Our attorney arrived around 3:15 to pick us up for court. She was also bringing with her, our friends from NC who had just been to court to meet their new daughter, and have their first court session. We were thrilled to see Kirk, Beth, and Vanda!! Vanda was shy. But, that's to be expected. She hadn't seen them in over 6 mos, since they hosted her last Summer. I'll give Vanda a day, and Kirk will have her coming out of her shell once again! :-) This is a precious family, and we are so thrilled for them to be together once again!

Court went smoothly, as was expected. Viktorija signed the necessary documents stating that she wants to return home with us, and that she wants to take our last name. I wish we would have taken our camera in to court so we could document this special moment. We didn't know it would be allowed. Note to Kirk and Beth...take your camera;-) The court director and the other ladies involved were just thrilled that we are now going to be a family. They said it was so hard to believe what a perfect match it is. I say, there are no mistakes in God's plan!

We then headed out for our 3-1/2 ride back to Riga. We arrived around 7:30 to our new hotel. Oh, how glad we were to be out of the car! The roads are terrible, and people drive crazy! Mike even got a bit car sick. When we were checking in, the nice lady at the counter told us that we were being upgraded to a 2-room suite! What another blessing!! This is much better for a 5-night stay! God is good!

I don't know what tomorrow will bring. But, I'm sure it will be another new experience:-) For now...we are pooped and going to bed! Love to all....

packin' up

Everyday when we go to breakfast, there is a young lady (approx. 22 yrs old) working. She never smiles, or looks happy. Viktorija gave her some candy today and told her we are leaving tomorrow and that we apprciate all she has done for us while we were here. That brought a smile to the girl's face for the first time we've seen. The young lady came by our table later and brought us a few pieces of her candy to share. When the housekeeper came in to clean our room today, Viktorija gave her a gift also. The lady was shocked. We just want people to know that we apprciate what they are doing. They may not speak our language, but they might remember the family that was in this apt as people that care about them.



Today we started sorting through our things, repacking for our move to Riga tomorrow. Viktorija is so excited. She has only been to her capital city one time, she says. We will look at our stay there as another adventure as we all learn about the city. We will not have an apt in that hotel. We will be sharing a room. This actually makes Viktorija happy since she likes the thought of all of us sleeping in the same room.



When we wake up tomorow we will have our last breakfast at the hotel and check out by 12:00. We will then be waiting for our attorney to pick us up for court in the afternoon. We will probably be waiting most of the day, since our court time is scheduled for 3:30pm. After court, our attorney will drive us he 3-1/2 hours back to Riga. Long day, but a day closer to returning home:-)



We are running out of creative ideas to keep us from going absolutely nuts. Currently, Mike and Viktorija are playing hide and seek with a penny. We're scraping the bottom of the barrel, huh?? :-) I think we've done pretty well indoors for 11 days with Viktorija. When Mike and Viktorija return this Summer for the 2nd trip, they will have much more to do. The weather should be beautiful then, and they can get a better appreciation for the quintness of the town.

We had the chance to meet Viktoirja's psychologist this evening. Vitkorija gave her the letter she had written for her "7-yr mom". Her psychologist is a very nice lady who is fluent in English and Latvian. She talked with us for about 15 minutes about how Viktorija is "ready for this big change with her new family". I could tell the psychologist and Viktorija are very fond of each other. Seeing the psychologist was Maria's idea prior to Viktorija's visit with us last Summer. What a great idea! This has been very helpful for her to deal with some issues and move forward. I'm grateful!

We are also thrilled that our friends, the Bleavins, arrived safely in Latvia today to begin their adopton process. This family has become so special to us. We met them through the hosting program last Summer and have remained in close contact as we both proceeded with adopting our host children. What a wonderful journey to share with friends:-) It's been awesome to see how God has worked in both of our families through this process.

Goodnight for now....

A sad "good-bye"

After an early bedtime last night, Viktorija woke up with a tummy ache around 11:00pm. Thank goodness for the Pepto Bismal tablets I brought! That seemed to be all she needed...thankfully! I think she ate something that didn't agree with her. She seemed to sleep well after that, but she was up early this morning. She's acting and eating fine.

We had just finished with school work when we received a phone call from Maria (foster mom). She asked us to come down to the lobby. She had pictures that Viktorija's foster brother, Dima, had drawn for each of us. He is quite the artist, I'll say. It was so thougthful. And, for Maria to drive the 30 minutes to deliver them to us, was proof that she wanted to see us one more time. She still wasn't feeling great, but she stayed and talked with us for about 20 minutes. With Viktorija translating, she told us that she knows God meant for the 3 of us to be a family. She said she didn't realize how much she would love Mike and I, and that she considers us family. She wants us to keep in touch, and would love to entertain Mike and Viktorija on their next trip to Latvia. There were tears shed and many long hugs between all of us. I told her that we love her and that we feel so blessed and thankful that she took care of Viktorija for us. Maria told Viktorija she will miss her, but she is so happy that she now has a real family that loves her. I have been amazed at how much I care for this special lady and her famliy. This experience in itself has made this a trip to remember.

We ventured out for our final bowling outing as a family today. Viktorija had a great game. I can see her gain confidence as she learns new things. I feel so happy for her when she accomplishes a goal. I can see the glow on her face immediately:-)

Today we started to focus on manners (ie: yes maam, yes sir, etc). I was a bit worried she would clam up on me. She tends to take correction as an insult. She handled our session well. The people here don't even look you in the eye, and they don't watch where they're going. So, if you're not careful, you can get run over. I'm trying to teach Viktorija what it is to be polite and respectful of everyone's feelings. This shouldn't be hard since she really is a sweet girl.

She has now learned two Bible verses:-) She's also pretty proud of that! Learning new words and then memorizing a verse is quite a feat. I've learned a few Latvian words and feel pretty good about that. But, what she has learned since last Summer amazes me.

She read the a letter to me today that she has written for her the foster mom she was with prior to Maria (for 7 yrs). This has been something she has been working with the psychologist on. Her 7-yr mom, as I will refer to her, wants Viktorija back and doesn't want her to be adopted by an American family. The courts took Viktorija away from her for a reason. They don't want Viktorija to have contact with her. Although, they did give her permission to write a letter to her, to be delivered by the psychologist AFTER Vikorija has left Latvia. The letter Viktorija wrote was kind and to the point. She thanked her 7-yr mom for taking care of her, but she wants her to understand that she is happy now that she has a family that loves her and can take care of her. Viktorija said that maybe someday when she is much older they will see each other again if she ever returns to Latvia to visit. Viktorija has worked through many things with the psychologist, and for that I'm very grateful. It seems the court here tries to do what is truly best for the children. I have really liked the judge and the social workers very much. I'm thankful for a better outcome than I ever expected. Tomorrow we will meet the psychologist to deliver the letter. Another hurdle complete....

6 more nights in Latvia.....Praise the Lord!!

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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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