D Day

Oh.  My.  Word.

What a day.

We met D.

 I'm not sure I've ever been as emotionally exhausted in my life.  

But it's all good.

Before we left the apartment, we took the obligatory "My water just broke and we are going into labor" selfie.

Dace picked us up and we were off to Jelgava which is about a 45 minute drive from Riga.

It was surreal to pull into the orphanage, knowing that D was just waiting somewhere inside.  Fans said a quick prayer and we got out of the car.  Man, my heart was pounding.

I took no pictures of the orphanage...my mind was gone.  But hopefully we will get pictures on another visit.  We went inside and met with the orphanage director.  She was very nice and spent probably an hour with us, going over D's case file.  We have decided to not share too much about D's history.  We figure that it's his story to tell and he should decide if and when to tell it.  It's obvious that any child who ends up at an orphanage has gone through some serious trauma, and most likely has not come from a functional, healthy environment.  It is heartbreaking to hear what D has been through.  He arrived at the orphanage at the age of four, so he has lived there for seven years.

We also learned many positive things about him!  He loves sports and is really athletic.  He gets good grades and loves animals.  His favorite animal is the seal because that's what his last name means in Latvian.  Dace's nickname for him is "little seal", which is adorable.

When they listed the foods he hates, raisins was at the top of the list, which we thought was too funny considering our bakery debacle last night.  I'm with you there D...I'm so tired of raisins masquerading as chocolate chips, they are tricky little things.

Fans flinched when they told us he does not like hot dogs.  As a Portillo's lover, that was hard for him to hear, not gonna lie.

At the end of our meeting, the director said, "We should go, D will be waiting."

They warned us that the last week has been very tough for him.  They weren't sure how he was going to respond to us.  He was really scared of this whole transition and was even doubting that it should happen.  He had asked multiple people at the orphanage what he should do if he wanted to leave our apartment and go back to the orphanage.  Not the most comforting news to hear that he was already arranging transportation out.  But it's easy to understand where he is coming from.  He doesn't know us, has never met us.  The only people he knows live at that orphanage.  The only family he has ever known have all abandoned him.  How incredibly scary it would be to be 11 years old and about to go off with two American strangers.  All by yourself.  I would probably be setting up taxi's out as well.  

He's a very smart kid.  

Before we knew it, we were going through the maze of hallways to D's room.  Every step echoed in my head louder and louder.  Dace looked back at me with a smile and said, "Just breathe."

And just like that, with one more turn into a doorway, there he was.  He looked up at me, walked right across the room, and gave me a hug, and didn't let go.  I was taken aback because I was trying to prepare myself for him to be reserved.  But he just kept hugging me and seriously didn't let go for 3 minutes.  He was crying, and we just kept saying "Oh D, it's so great to meet you!  We are so happy.  So, so happy."  I kissed his head.  He didn't say anything.  Just held on and cried.  

After a few moments Fans just jumped in on the action because D was really not stopping.  It was a precious moment I will never forget.

After the conclusion of the hug heard round the world, he took us to his room to show us around.  It was just the three of us, and it was completely surreal to sit on his bed while he brought us things to show us.  He made us some sweet pictures.

Showed us his decor.

 And we showed him a ton of pictures.

And he wanted to see them all.  What better way to get to know someone than to scroll through all 1,209 phone pics.  He was impressed that we had so many pictures of him.  And that he was our screensaver.

Now we have lots of new pics for screensavers.

The day was only halfway over, but this old mamma needs to go to bed.  

I will finish part 2 of D Day tomorrow!

Thanks for all the encouraging words and messages and posts!  

We have read them all and feel the love across the Atlantic. 

Thanks for praying.

It was a better day than I could have imagined.

God.  Is.  Good.