Tidbits of News

We talked with Gertrude again on Sunday, Sept. 10. I really don't think she understood anything we said. The English has all but disappeared it seems, so it was hard to communicate. However, she stayed on the phone with us for almost 10 minutes as we pummelled her with questions and told her we love and miss her. She always responds "I love you." If that's all she can say in English, that will do for now!

I received an e-mail from Ilga Lasmane, one of the chaperones that was here in the summer. I had e-mailed her to ask if she knew anything about the status of Gertrude's clearance for international adoption, and that we hadn't received official word that she had agreed to be adopted. She wrote me right back, and said she talked with Ilga Grintale (Gertrude's orphanage director) that day and she will do "all things for Gertrude and send the documents herself." What I gather from that is that the paperwork had not been started for whatever reason (because she did mention that Kristine, the other girl being adopted, had her papers at the orphan court already). Kristine was interviewed the same day as Gertrude. So, I think somehow the ball may have been dropped with Gertrude but this gives us reason to believe all is well and things will start moving.

We had our last interview yesterday (Wed, Sept. 13) with our social worker and then it will probably be about 2-3 weeks after that and we can get our dossier apostilled and sent over to Latvia! I e-mailed the attorney over there yesterday and she said it will be a pleasure and she will be happy to represent us. We have heard wonderful things about her from the other families. I asked her in the e-mail if she knew anything about Gertrude's status for international adoption and she said that at one time Ilga Grintale had mentioned Gertrude when talking about adoption but they did not talk much about it because it wasn't "actual." I think that means that they didn't consider it "serious enough" since no lawyer had been retained yet or something. Who knows, this is all so complicated when dealing with another country!! The attorney, Agnese, said she will go over to Gertrude's children's home on Monday and gather all the information she can and get the process moving. So, all signs point to everything being a go as far as Gertrude is concerned.