Itinerary for Travel

Everywhere we stay in Lithuania advertises free WiFi.  I am hoping it is true and as long as it is, I plan to update the blog about our events- visiting twins, sightseeing, going to court, the court ruling, and hopefully an eta on our arrival as well as what you really want- pictures of the twins!!

There are only a handful of dates that are set- and I will share those. (I don't mind sharing these dates as a State Trooper lives across the street from me and all my amazing neighbors will be watching my house- so bad guys, you aren't welcome and will be found)

January 1st- leave Richmond for Lithuania- fly from RIC to Dullas, Dullas to Frankfort, Frankfort to Vilnius.  Our connections are fairly tight- super tight in DC and only about 2hrs in Germany.
January 2nd- we land in Vilnius around 1:30pm.  Our in-country rep, Elona, will meet us there and take us to the lawyers office.  We will meet with them- and I hope that we will be coherent.  That evening we will check-in at our hotel (the only hotel we will stay in, actually).  At 8:30pm, my sister, Rebecca, lands in Vilnius!
January 3rd- leave the hotel around 7am and drive to the twins town- it is about a 2.5-3hr drive.  10am we meet the twins for the first time (just writing this gives me goose-bumps!).  If you are awoken at 3am on the 3rd- it's because of this meeting!  Pray that it will be peaceful and full of connections.

We are allowed to meet with the twins every day 10am-noon, and 4:30-6:30pm.  We are going armed with stickers, balloons, crayons, cars, paints, toys to play with them and hopefully during these times will earn their trust and love.

January 7th- Al and I will leave the twins city early in the morning and drive back to Vilnius.  We will meet with the lawyers again.  At 2pm Lithuanian time, we meet with the judge assigned to our case (7am on the 7th, pray for us!).  This is the first time our lawyers have worked with this judge so we have no idea how she typically works- meaning will she waive our 30-day-waiting period?  We hope and pray that she does.  The judge can take up to two weeks to make her decision.  Some families have heard in as little as 20min, some 2 days, some the full 2 weeks.  We simply do not know.

Regardless of the judge, Al and I will head back to the twins city after court.  Rebecca will have stayed there with Adeline and Alden- so prayers for her would probably be a good thing, too!

Once we hear of the judges ruling, we will have 2 courses of action:
If the waiting period IS waived- we will go to the orphanage and be awarded the twins- and I will then be allowed to post pictures of them!!  We will "host" a small going-away party- buy pastries at at the local bakery, and we have brought some little souvenirs for them to "share" with their friends.  We will then head to Vilnius!  Once in Vilnius we will start the paperwork at the US Embassy.  Hopefully this should only take approximately 5 days.  Once we make it to Vilnius we will have a date that we will be coming home by!  I hope that LOTS of people come and welcome the twins at the airport in Richmond!  More on that later....

If the waiting period is NOT waived- we will all come home as soon as we know.  We will return to school/work, and when the 30 days is up, just Al and myself will travel back to get the twins and start the paperwork at the Embassy.  We will still need people to welcome us at the airport!!

Regardless of the day, the flight that we will be taking home has us landing in Richmond at 6:30pm. We hope to see lots of friendly faces at the airport- meet at the bottom of the escalators by the baggage claim.   This will be your only chance to meet the twins for 2-3 weeks.  Experts recommend "cocooning" with your adopted children and limiting their exposure to other people.  They need to learn what a family is- that Al and I will meet their needs, not a steady stream of people.  We have heard from countless people that this is crucial.  So, despite my people-driven personality, we will go into cocoon mode- but at the airport, please come and see our sweeties for yourself!

It's a lot- I know.  Please use these dates to think of us and pray for us.  It's a massive change for us all- but His mercies are new each day.  God knew that the twins would be in our family- and we are excited to see what He has in store for us all!

Packed and Ready to GO!

We are officially packed and ready to GO!  Al is a packing genius- he was able to get everything needed for 6 people and gifts for the orphanage workers, in 4 suitcases!  We also have 2 car seat bags holding 4 booster seats, and a double umbrella stroller.  Our goal- not pay for luggage since it's $100 per bag over 1 bag per person!  Each bag weighs approximately 45-49lbs- the max is 50lbs.  Like I said, Al is a genius!

The next day and a half are packed full of fun with friends, burning serious energy, and embracing the final days as a family of 4.  We have been blessed by friends offering to take kids for playdates and even having us over for dinner.  We are surrounded by a fantastic friend-based-family!

Ready to Go!

This packing picture totally represents our amazing, generous, kind, thoughtful, giving, friends.  2 of the suitcases are loaned from friends.  Just about all of the clothing packed for Annalise is from 1 friend.  2 of the neck pillow are loaned from another friend.  Inside a suitcase is the smallest and cutest portable little potty known to mankind- and that is loaned from another friend.  The car seat bag- another friend loaded us that.  That snazzy orange backpack with 2 thousand little pockets?  Another generous friend!  I could go on and on.  We are so blessed already- and we haven't even left the country!  Asher and Annalise- when you read this years from now, I want you to see how loved you are already- people are sacrificing to help bring you to your forever home!

Besides packing, we have been putting together the final touches for the twins arrival.  Christmas is all packed away- we didn't want to confuse them when they first arrived- look at all these pretty decorations- now they are all going away....  And plus, I won't have time to put anything away!  I don't want them thinking that Christmas lasts until June in America....  Still, we left out the gifts that the twins had received.  It's something exciting to look forward to when they arrive.

Bikes- they are huge in our cup-de-sac.  Kids ride bikes all day long in good weather- and in the rain, too- and we want the twins to be able to participate.  Last Christmas, before we decided to adopt, I gave away Adeline and Alden's little bikes with training wheels.  Now our garage, once again, has little bikes with training wheels ready for the twins!  {Actually they are in the living room they are so cute!}

A hot-wheels themed bike and helmet for our car-loving little boy!

A princess bike and helmet for our littlest princess!

Alden is so over-the-moon excited about having a brother- he has grand plans of all the things he is going to do/teach Asher.  I hope Asher is ready...  One thing he did was to put on display in the playroom, a bunch of his Lego City buildings/vehicles.  He wanted Asher, and Annalise, to see them when they first walk in the front door.  Alden is adamant that seeing this display will help the twins know this is a fun home.  Who knows?  He may be right- and since I do not, this display will remain the first thing the twins will see!

The next post will hopefully be about our journey TO Lithuania!!

Packing and Connections

We are getting super close to leaving!  Airline tickets are all purchased, apartments are books and paid for, rental van is secured, and the packing has begun!  It's so neat to pick out of the closets, outfits that have been given to us, and know that when they are unpacked, they will be put on our new children!  

This week in our weekly email, we sent these pictures to the twins, showing them all the "stuff" we have prepared for them.  We don't have in the picture the snow boots, snow pants, coats, hats, gloves, and scarves we have for them, too!

It's getting more and more real- and the excitement is starting to actually mount!

Through the joys of the internet, I was able to "meet" a sweet lady who was IN Lithuania, adopting 3 precious children of her own, from the same Baby House, and even the same GROUP, as our twins!  She told me that once, Annalise came up to her, calling her "Momma!" Annalise is clearly excited about having a Momma- and that just melts and breaks and overfills my heart!  She did tell me how impressed she was with the Baby House and how loved the kids are.  That also warms my heart!  It is wonderful how God is knitting our family together- and also connecting us with people who have children from the same place.  This family and I plan to have Skype sessions for the children once we return to the States. How sweet for our kids to be able to maintain friendships from their Groupa?  Chances are good that they have known each other for years- and considering they are so young, that's a good chunk!  God is truly amazing!

Happy Half-Birthday/ Open House

 On the twins half-birthday, we hosted an Open House.  It was kinda like a Baby Shower, in that some people brought gifts, but more like an Open House in that people came and went over a span of hours, they checked out the twins bedrooms, and tried some Lithuanian food.  Our friends were amazing- they provided so many yummy things to eat!  It was fun way to celebrate our twins and help prepare for their arrival!  We were blessed with sheets, booster seats, underwear, undershirts, toys and gift cards to help us finish the final preparations for the twins!

Yummy Christmas Bread made by Karen- eaten at Christmas or times when you want to wish prosperity upon someone!

Poppy Seed Cookies- they tasted approximately like cardboard, but according to someone who has been to Lithuania, they were totally authentic....

Cucumbers and Honey- actually a tasty combination!

Some sweet twins enjoying Poppy Seed cookies!

Friends signing the photo mats for the twins- I can't wait to put their sweet pictures in these frames!

Adeline and Alden excited to help the twins open their gifts!  We are SO blessed by our friends!

We Have a Court Date!!

We have a court date!!  This means we have a potential "light at the end of the tunnel"!  January 7th at 2pm we go to court and ask the very nice lady judge to waive the standard 30-day-waiting period and allow us to bring the twins home on this trip!

Our travel schedule is set- we booked airline tickets already!  This is exciting as this journey is getting closer and closer to be "done"!

What does this mean and look like?

January 1st- We leave Richmond- what a fantastic way to start off the New Year!
January 2nd- We arrive in Vilnius, meet with the lawyers and complete some paperwork
January 3rd- We head to the Twins!! 10am we get to meet the twins for the first time!  (just typing this makes me tear up- we are all SO excited, yet it still seems surreal!)
We get to visit with the twins several times each day until January 7th- Al and I will head to Vilnius early that morning.
January 7th- Al and I attend drive the 2 hours from the twins city to court in Vilnius- pray that the Judge makes a quick decision so that we can bring the paperwork back with us! We will head back to the twins city after court.  Rebecca, Adeline and Alden will remain in the twins town and not travel with us to Vilnius.

IF the waiting period is waived we will throw a Going Away Party at the Baby House as soon as the judge makes the decision and the twins are turned over to our care!  The judge can take up to 2 weeks to make a decision although we hear that typically the decision is made within hours of our court  time.

Jaunary 8th-ish- January 18th-ish- we will spend a week or so in Vilnius visiting the US Embassy almost every day for various appointments- physicals, passport meetings, exit meetings- we will leave Lithuania with American birth certificates stating Al and I are their parents, American passports, and 2 of the newest and cutest America citizens!

Starting to Prepare

We don't know when our Court Date is (and yes, I am aware that it is NOT a proper noun, but it is SO important, it IS a proper noun to ME!)- but I still need to DO something- so I am starting to prepare what I can.

Eastern Europe has drastically different views on clothing than I do- and I am attempting to be prepared according to their standards.  Thank goodness for the network of fellow Lithuanian adoptive moms I am privileged to know!  I was going to just pack warm coats and hats for the kids- all 4 of them.  That is not enough.  They all need warm hats, gloves, snow pants and snow boots.  I know, it's going to be cold- a little below freezing- but we aren't going to be spending vast amounts of time just standing in the cold!  There isn't much daylight, so we will be inside as much as possible!!  Still, the expectation is for these kids to be bundled Christmas-Story-Style.  Which is good to know before we leave!

I have mostly everything- Asher needs a coat (Adeline's wonderful teacher and friend is giving us one!) and both Asher and Annalise need snow boots.  

What fun!  Now if that Court Date would just come.... 

{side note- there are now 2 new forms that we must fill out, pay handsomely for, notarize, apostille, and rush to Michigan and then to Lithuania, before the Court Date can be issued- we found this out TODAY- good thing Al is a Paperwork Master!  These new forms will be in the mail once we get the form we need from the US govt which should arrive tomorrow- whew!}

i800- Check!

After two weeks, our papers finally arrived in our Immigration Case Manager's hands!  The short story is that she was able to process the paperwork and approve us in ONE DAY! There is a longer story- but that is at the next paragraph....  Our forms are now being uploaded to an Embassy Database- where the US Embassy in Lithuania will then give our approval to Elona, our Lithuanian contact.  She can then submit that form to the Lithuanian government and we will get our court date!

Long Story:  When our Case Manager first opened our documents, she wasn't able to process it!  There were no birth certificates!  We had been given official documents giving all the same info, so we just assumed that it was done differently there.  Nope.  Nothing could happen without the birth certificates.  When Al texted me that, my heart dropped- our hopes for Christmas were totally gone.

Al emailed our Bethany Case Manager to see if she accidentally left out the birth certificates when she emailed us all the official documents....  She called him- the official documents had just arrived from Lithuania- and the birth certificates were in there!!!  She quickly scanned and emailed them to Al!  He then emailed them to our Immigration CM- and she was then able to process our forms!!

Things like this are just a little affirmation about what we are doing.  That we ARE called to bring these two home.  That God's plan is for them to be home with us.

Now we wait again for our court date.  It's so exciting and scary all rolled into one!  We are talking to a travel agent now, doing hotel research, pricing van rentals, eyeing the clothes that are in the closet for each kid.... We are SO close- it's exciting!