One Beautiful Life

And then there were three...

Oh sweet friends, you have been so patient for the update!  I LOVE the texts, emails, and phone calls of sweet concern and wonder... so precious to me!  So here it is... and here they are... my three children.

B got here on Friday and the poor thing looked like she'd been hit by a plane rather than riding in one!  I asked her if she slept on the plane... on the trip... on the 17+ hour trip... her answer... "NO!"  She played games and watched movies!  Of course she did!  " I LOOOOOVE airplanes," she stated.

The weekend was so wonderful.  Don had a check ride Friday and was on call on Saturday and so the kids and I went up to Dulles and my mom met us at the airport.  We went to a wonderful restaurant and had a great lunch with much laughter.  I love laughing with my mom.  I hate I didn't have the waiter take a picture.  Sad.

After shopping for the woman bringing B back, shopping for comfy and cute shoes, and having an adventure at Starbucks, it was time to go back to the airport to get B.

After waiting an hour and a half for her to get through customs, she was there!  It was so amazing to see her again.  And it is amazing how fast the "mother" feelings flooded me for her.  Like the click of a clock, the snap of a finger, it was all back... amazing.

We headed to grammy and poppy's house, and gave a shower, food, and sleep to the zonked one.  She was almost in a daze.  The next day was amazing... 75 degrees, sunshine, and wonderful family time.  I am going to share more about that later with pictures I need to donwload later.

We came home Saturday night.  Don picked us up and it was so sweet to see how excited B was to see him.  He had worked all day to paint and sand the second bed in the girl's room so it matched.  He also finished making hook boards for their room and painted the back of the dresser (that looked not so great from the outside of the house through the window).  He blessed us all so much.

                                                                      

                                                                        flying home

B was emotional on a couple of occassions and had me a bit concerned.  It was not her "normal" behavior.

So we had our friend who speaks Latvian come over Sunday night so we could talk with her better and try and understand what was going on in her head and heart.  It really came down to being jet lagged.  But we also talked with her about this trip and her being back in Latvia after the first one and were able to talk about a lot of things freely.  We found out a lot about her biological/step family.  We also found out that her friends in Latvia were really pressuring her to stay... causing her some emotional strain and some "wishy washy" answers when she was asked about adoption.  She also told us that yes, firmly and without a doubt yes, she wants to be in our family... she wants us to adopt her. 

Needless to say we are very happy.  With that happiness comes a MOUNTAIN of paperwork that needs to be done to get our dossier ready to go to Latvia.  Seeing the stress caused to her by going back the first time, we are really trying to see if the orphan court will extend her visa from 30 days to 90 days.  We HOPE/PRAY/THINK we might be able to get it ready in three months since some of it is already done.  Then if she had to go back before we go there for our first court appearance (there are three!), it would be a much shorter time without us.  Our perfect option is that it's done by then and we can all three go over together for that first appointment and she won't have to go back alone and deal with all the emotional stress.

And there is also the other factor that there is much money being needed now.  The lawyer alone has charged us a very high amount that we were not expecting just to get Brenda's visa and drive her to the city where she flew out of.  And now that we are moving forward, the agency is also wanting another $2,000.  Just getting her back this time cost almost another 2K.  Here we go!  Our tax credit for Marc's adoption will pay for almost half of Brenda's... so we still need about 15K.

So... here are some very specific prayer requests.  I LOVE your prayers and appreciate you all so very, very, much!

1.) That Brenda's visa will be extended from 30 days to 90 days.

2.) That we can navigate through the paperwork in a timely manner.

3.) That the immigration part will be done faster than "normal".

4.) That God will be with the hands of everyone who works with us during this adoption.

5.) That B will feel loved and grow confident in that love while she is here.

6.) That God will guide us with the finances and provide what we need.

 

Abby is doing very well.  She is thrilled to have B back.  She says, "Look mom, we are like sisters," about twice a day.  It is very sweet.  She is also watching B and following her example.  B took my plate last night after dinner and I said, "Thank you."  Abby hopped up and got daddy's... with a big smile... and she got her "thank you" too!

She has gone 5 nights again without a seizure.  Her school called today and asked us to come and get her.  Her arm was doing funny things and she wasn't very responsive.  Not sure what that was about as she has been fine all day... but we'll keep a watchful eye.  We have started decreasing her banzel.  So please pray that the topamax will hold her and that she can remain without many if any seizures.

Marc continues to grow and mature each day... and get funnier!  I think his funny personality is blooming as his confidence gets stronger.  It's very cool to see it bloom and to see him grow.  He has gotten much better at controlling his emotions.  This makes the days much smoother and less dramatic!  His words are coming along like crazy.  "Doogies" is my favorite... it's "cookies".  "Woo woo" is also pretty cute (movie) as is "Geege!" (George for Curious George).  "Eesh" has evolved to "juice"... that is very cool to see!  We are very encouraged with his development and enjoy him more and more each day... he's becoming a little crack up!

  I love you all so much.  I have more to share and will try to blog again in a day or so!