Thursday, August 23, 2007

Good News!

We had a great morning yesterday! This was the last chance for Gertrude's dad to appear in court before the courts terminated his parental rights. He did not show up so the decision was made to terminate. As we have said throughout this whole ordeal, we hate to celebrate something like this. It is a tragedy that this kind of decision ever has to be made. But it is obvious that her dad is unable to care for Gertrude for whatever reason(s) and she needs to be free to move on. We have known this about her dad for a while now, and believe the best thing for Gertrude is for her to be adopted.

So, when we heard the news that she will be free again, we were soo excited and relieved . Tena had left for the bus stop when I got the e-mail so I got in the car (still wearing my PJ's) and drove up to the bus stop where Tena was waiting with about 15 other kids. She came up to the car and her first words to me were, "why are you in your pajamas?" Once I told her the news she forgot about the embarrassment I caused her and got so excited, and went and told her friends. What a way to start the day!

There is a 20 day waiting period for this decision to become effective, then she will be free for adoption again in Latvia. Then some papers must be given to the Ministry and the Orphan Court so that they can again give her clearance to be adopted internationally. After that, they will be able to set a court date for us to come back to Latvia. We hope to have her by Christmas but it's hard to say how long all this will take. After the 20 day waiting period, it should only take a couple weeks, I believe, for the paperwork to go through to clear her again. Last year, once she was cleared, they had a court date for us only a couple weeks after that. So, good news is, she will be free again soon and we can finally bring her home. Exactly when that will be remains to be seen but we have seen God's perfect timing at work through this whole process, and we expect to see it until the end. I can't tell you how excited we are though. We love Gertrude so much and it seems like our family is missing a vital part. She needs to come home and fill it up!

So, next step is, once again, to wait. We're getting really good at it so I don't anticipate any problem there!

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Preparing to Come to America

We talked with Gertrude today and it was a great conversation. Christina, Gertrude's friend from Latvia, was here. She came and spent the night with Tena so we called her and Christina and Gertrude got to talk. She told Christina that Ilga Grintale (the director of the children's home) has a son about 18 years old that speaks English very well. He is working with Gertrude to teach her English so she will be ready for America. That was great news! They feel she will be coming here soon and they are getting her ready. We actually had e-mailed some of our contacts in Latvia to ask if anyone knew of a tutor we could pay to work with her until she comes back here, and no one ever gave us a name, but apparently they've taken care of it, and it isn't costing us a thing! Gertrude was playing with her friend Veronika, who will be coming back for the Christmas hosting. Gertrude asked me, "Mom, I come for Christmas?" I told her that we hope she will be living here by then. Christina told her she spent the night here with Tena and when I got on the phone I told her also. She says," I know, I'm really happy." and she sounded really happy! I think she is excited that she can talk to her friend and see she is doing well, and she is spending time with us. She knows when she comes she will see Christina. So we talked about how when she comes she can spend the night with Christina. She thought that sounded great. Also, Gertrude said that she talked with her sister Agnese and told her she wants to come here to live, and Agnese said that is ok. Agnese said she will only have herself to worry about and can do what she wants. I don't know exactly what Agense is thinking but we hypothesized that she knows Gertrude will be in good hands and in a good home, and Agnese feels she can just be on her own without someone to be accountable to or accountable for.

Gertrude sounds definitely ready to come. Scott and I talked afterward how even though this process has been slow, and very emotionally and financially painful, that it is, in fact, God's perfect timing and this couldn't have worked out better. Agnese is ready to let her go (it seems) and Gertrude is ready to come. This was not all so cut and dry with either of them last year! Now we just have to wait and see what happens with Dad. Only 10 more days for his court date. Hopefully soon we'll know that we will be going back to Latvia to get our girl.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Back from Camp

The kids arrived back from camp on Monday and we tried Gertrude on Agnese's cell phone but didn't get her. Agnese was happy to talk to us though and she sounded good. She said this summer is her favorite summer and she looks at the pictures every day.

We talked with Gertrude on Wednesday finally for the first time since she left. She didn’t say much and sounded kind of down and depressed. Scott was so bothered by it he kept bringing it up. We called her again the next day and she sounded great, said she was playing Barbies with Veronika. (Veronika is one of the kids that shares a bedroom with Gertrude and she was here for the hosting). We told her she seemed sad yesterday and she said she was a “little bit.” When we asked why she said she “can’t say.” Not sure what that’s all about. Tena asked if she got our letter, which she did. Tena asked her what color she wants her room to be painted (We just painted Tena's pink) and she said blue, and they had a nice little talk. We told her we were worried about her and wanted to call her back and how much we love her. I’m glad we called her back, I don’t like hearing her sound that way and wondering what is going on. She did sound really good today and was speaking great English. She put Veronika on the phone to talk to Tena They talked for about 20 seconds and then Gertrude got back on and said Veronika didn't want to talk anymore, she "speaks just a little English." It's nice to have Gertrude as the expert translator now!