Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Clearing for International Adoption

On Oct. 2 is the closed hearing regarding clearing Gertrude for international adoption. We don't expect any surprises, and believe she will be cleared. We think we might travel 2-3 weeks after that, but of course that depends on how backed up the courts are, etc. Anyway, things are moving along!

Friday, September 07, 2007

Letter from Latvia

Yesterday we received a letter from Gertrude. She is still using the self-addressed envelopes we gave her after the first hosting. Maybe they just get a stamp to use every once in a while there, so when they get one they send a letter. Last year Christina and Gertrude sent a letter at the same time, and this time she and her friend Veronika sent a letter to their host family at the same time. The letter was very cute, very short. It said:

Hi Pop, what are you doing? I love you
Hi Mother, what are you doing? I love you
Hi Tena, what are you doing? I love you.

That was it! What is funny is that "doing" she actually spelled "dying." And, she has NEVER once called me "mother" so I'm guessing someone else helped her put this together in English and they told her how to write it.

So, it was good to hear from Gertrude. Her friends, Veronika and Aleksandrs are supposed to find out today that they are being adopted. I can't wait to talk to Gertrude..she will be so excited that they will be here in America too.

Our paperwork is completed (again) and we are sending it tomorrow with Joel Peters, who is joining Jennifer there for a mission trip. Jennifer and Joel head up Simple Obedience, the organization we hosted through. They are also the ones that hosted Gertrude's sister this summer. Having Joel take our paperwork will save us about $100. That is about what it costs to send it over there, believe it or not! So, everything is about done on our end, which is how we planned it. You always want to be ready before the Latvian government is, so when they finally say you can come, you can go!!