Three Days

I can't believe it but we leave for Latvia in only three days.  I remember when we got our email finally telling us of our travel date and it was 40 days away, which seemed like an eternity at the time.  The email came at 6 am and I remember staring at the ceiling having a little pity party because 40 days seemed unbearable.  We had thought we would only have to wait 14 days tops once we got our travel dates.  I may have even punched my pillow and said to Fans, "Forty days!  Are you kidding me?!  How can I possibly wait that long?!  Forty days?!  By the time we get there he won't be a little boy anymore, he'll be like a six foot tall man with armpit hair and a deep voice and I will miss what is left of his childhood and I can't deal with this and I've waited so long already and I may as well just adopt a grown man if I'm going to have to wait forty more days.  Ugh."

But then I calmed down and came to my senses and realized that he will still be 11 when we get there. Waiting forty more days was not that big of a deal.

Now it's funny how I look back on the last month and thank God that we had the extra time to finish getting ready.  I feel like we've needed every day of it to tie things up here and prepare for being away from our jobs for a month.
Again, God's timing is always perfect...why do I doubt?

Right after we got our dates, we bought plane tickets and reserved an apartment in Riga for the 3 + weeks that we will be living there with D.  It has been fun to check out the city online and see the places we can explore with him.  Riga happens to be the 2014 European Capital of Culture so there are some special events going on while we are there.
It looks like a typical old European city with lots of beautiful architecture.

The orphange where D lives is a 45 minute train ride from Riga, so this city will be new to him as far as we know.  It will be a month full of walking around and exploring and getting to know each other and our new home for the month. 

The morning after we fly into Riga we will be headed to the orphanage to meet D and to have a meeting with the orphanage director and staff, and then we head directly to orphan court.  After our court meeting, the three of us head to our apartment, where we begin our Riga adventure.  It is equal parts exciting and nerve-wracking.  It's so bizarre to think that in just a few days we will be standing in the same room as him.  People often ask what we will do when we first see him.  My hope is that I don't completely lose it or start ugly crying uncontrollably.  I rarely cry but something about the build up and the years of waiting for a child and the work it has taken to get to this point...it may be hard to hold it all together.  My mom keeps telling me to always smile so he feels comfortable, so imagine me sobbing with a fake but well-intended smile on my face.  Kid will be freaked for sure.

The truth is I don't know what the meeting will be like.  We have been warned that some kids are really scared and have to be coaxed into the room, while others are more open and excited.  I'm trying not to have any expectations, but to just let it happen as it's supposed to happen.

We were so blessed to be able to get a report of his reaction when he found out about us.  A couple that we have gotten to know recently just spent the last few weeks in Riga adopting three sisters from D's orphanage.  They happened to visit the orphanage the day after D had been told he was being adopted.  They had a visit with him (with a translator) and they told him that they were friends of ours.  Upon hearing that, he jumped up and ran to his room to get the pictures we had sent him.  They said he was very proud to show off his new family.  But what he is most excited about above all else is....our dog Wrigley.  The stories I have heard all involve him showing off the dog pictures.

New parents?  Meh.  A dog of my own?  YES!

We are so glad he loves Wrigs and now we keep telling her she better make it through the next month or she's in trouble.  She's not sick or anything, but she is 9 so she's no spring chicken.
They will be buds for sure.

D is good friends with the oldest of the three sisters that were just adopted and I guess when she was leaving the orphanage for the last time D gave her a big hug and said, "I'll see you in America!"  When I got the email telling that story I was elated.  It was so amazing to know that he has seen our faces and that he is excited that he is being adopted.  Well, at least by a family with a dog.

We made him some flash cards so he can get to know who his
grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins are.

I look at this picture and am so thankful for our families.  I am reminded of something I read in the Latvian paperwork for D; "There are no relatives that are interested in the boy."
No one in interested in this boy.
No one.
Can you even imagine?
Then I look at the faces of the family he is joining, knowing how they can't wait to welcome D with open arms, and I praise God that He redeems us from the pit.

God makes beauty out of ashes, He heals the brokenhearted,
gives hope to the hopeless, and places orphans in families.

We fly out of O'Hare on Tuesday.
We arrive in Riga on Wednesday.
We will meet D on Thursday morning.

It's going to be a good week.

Awkward closet turned into a cave/fort.

And I just can't wait for someone to come and mess this room all up.

Please pray for our travels this week and that D has peace in his heart and is not scared.  It is incredibly frightening to walk away from all that is comfortable and for him to leave behind every familiar face to join us in Riga.  Thanks for all the support and love.  We have really felt it, especially these last days leading up to liftoff.