Latvia day 4 - Birthday Craziness

So... I am exhausted and really don't feel like blogging... but I know you are all waiting, and I don't want to forget anything, so here we go...

We knew we had an appointment this morning at 10:30 with an HIV specialist.  The plan was to meet at a church around the corner from us at 10 am.  We were just getting ready to leave and I got a phone call from our lawyer that the plans had changed.  We were now to meet at a bank on the other side of the park at 9:50 am.  This was farther away and we got the call at about 9:45 am.  Nothing like rushing out the door feeling like you are late!  And if you know Jon and I, we tend not to be late to things.  I would rather show up a few minutes early than be late!  The poor girls knew something was going on, and we were trying to communicate that things were okay.  I really think they thought we were taking them back to the orphanage.  They were nervous and stressed and close to tears all morning.  Poor babies! 

Getting to the hospital didn't make it any better.  I guess this is where Mila has been to see the doctors and she was not to happy about being back there!  We tried to reassure her that things were okay - we were actually just there to talk to the doctor.  We had to wait a long time.  I don't know how long, but it was pretty long!  Finally it was our turn to go in and talk to the doctor.  She gave us a little background information, what things look like right now, and tried to tell us how important it was for Mila to take her medication every day (duh...).  She also gave us one piece of information that - based on our research - seemed like it might not be completely current with the latest findings, but we'll be seeing additional specialists and so we feel confident that we'll have things in a good place (with God's strength, not ours!). 

Right after we left the hospital we had to drive to the passport office.  The girls needed new passports because theirs are set to expire in a couple months.  So there we waited... again, I don't know how long, but a long time!  Finally we were called up, and pictures of the girls were taken.  Another thing checked off the list!

We were driven back to our apartment and when we got there, a social worker was waiting for us.  We have three visits with a court-appointed social worker to see how the girls are doing and to see if we are all bonding.  I was a little worried about her being there right then, because it was 2:30 in the afternoon and the girls were a bit cranky and hungry!  The social worker came up to our apartment with us and we had a few awkward moments until our lawyer joined us as well to translate.  I fed the girls lunch and, while they ate, we adults sat down to talk.  We were asked things like how we plan to school the children, what kinds of things have we done here in Riga so far,  did we have any questions about the girls schedules or medication... things like that.  The lady was very nice and friendly.  Much easier to read then the straight-faced panel of judges we sat in front of the other day!  She said the girls looked very happy and she would see us again next week.

When the social worker left I got the girls to lay down for a nap.  I think they actually fell asleep this time!  Jon and I also fell asleep for a bit.  We all woke up around 5 pm and got ready to go out.  We had some grocery shopping to do and we needed to buy band-aids (Mila has mosquito bites all over her body that she keeps scratching at).

After we brought the groceries back, we walked to a Turkish fast food place for dinner.  They also served pizza.  We asked the girls what they wanted to eat and Vika said, "chicken!" so we all ordered döner sandwiches (chicken for the girls and mixed meat for Jon and I) and fries.  It was pretty good... not as good as the ones in Turkey, but what can you do?  :)  We then went next door to the bakery from heaven and let the girls pick out a dessert.  They had been telling everyone all day that it was Papa's birthday and they were going to get cake ("torte" in Latvian)!  They were so cute looking in the glass case of the bakery... ooh'ing and ahh'ing over all of it!  They finally each picked a cream puff-looking thing, and Jon and I each got a slice of cake.  The whole order only cost about $3 US.  Can't beat that!

We walked back to the apartment, had dessert, got jammies on, watched a princess cartoon (from a DVD) and put the girls to bed.  They didn't fall asleep as fast as last night, but within maybe 1/2 hour they were both asleep.

We did see more of their stubbornness (that we saw while hosting them) come out today.  I think it comes out when they are frustrated about the inability to communicate.  Which is understandable... I get frustrated as well! It doesn't help that I am missing my boys tremendously too! 

All in all though another pretty good day!  We have no appointments tomorrow and the weather is supposed to be wonderful so we might start our day off slow and then catch the train to the zoo!  I might have mentioned before that there is another family here from the United States adopting as well.  It has been great to run into them multiple times and chat, to have a family here who have adopted before and are going through this process at the same time as we are.  They are adopting a child that has been friends with our girls most of their lives, so the girls have enjoyed running into them, too! :) 

Happy birthday to Jon... Whoever thought this is how we would be celebrating your 40th?!? God's plans are always best!

I can't believe how much I love these girls already!