Arrived in Lithuania

We finally landed in Lithuania at midnight!  The Vilnius airport was beautiful and super easy to be in!  Elona, our in country helper, met us there and helped us load up a taxi and head to our hotel!  We were excited to meet another couple there adopting 3 boys.  What a small world!

We were all SO tired we promptly went to sleep after showering- which means we were all in bed around 1am- whew!  What a long 2 days it had been- but SO worth it!

Vilnius from our hotel room

Vilnius from our hotel room

Massive Christmas tree down the street from our hotel

Frankfurt

I know blog is about our adoption- but this was an added bonus- and a cool time!  Once we landed, we gathered our backpacks, went through Customs, rode the Uban downtown, and bought tickets for a City Tour!  The kids loved it- the bus provided earphones so you could hear about the various building in just about any language!  It was a perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon- the kids napped for a bit on the bus- but they did learn a lot about Frankfurt- they are very proud of being considered the Manhattan of Europe and most of their skyscrapers and some of the most energy efficient.

Yummy food in the subway!  Yes, Flat Stanley made an appearance!  Sadly he blew away shortly after this picture was taken...

The best pretzels they had ever eaten

Our tour bus

Love the old buildings

The Main Train Station- the auto week they are advertising will pull over 1 million people in in less than a week!  Glad it wasn't when we were there!

Family pic!

Alden loved this building... 

Skyline- kinda cool with all the rain drops

Right as the tour ended, the clouds blew away and the sun actually came out!

Plan B

Our trip to Lithuania did not go as planned- at all- as in we did not take one single flight at the originally scheduled time! {Spoiler Alert- we DID make it there}  Due to snow in Chicago, we were over 3 hours late leaving Richmond and thus missed our connection to Frankfurt and thus our flight to Vilnius.  God is in control- and thankfully we DID leave Richmond and there was 1 flight still going to Frankfurt by the time we arrived in DC AND there was 1 final flight leaving Frankfurt that day going to Vilnius!  Granted, we did land at midnight instead of 1pm, but our contact, Elona was amazing and still met us and helped us get to our hotel!  We were even able to meet another couple from Baltimore who were adopting 3 boys!

The flights, once they started, were smooth and the kids were fantastic- they both slept on the planes, read, colored, ate etc.  The next time they do not get along, I will happily travel over-seas with them- just kidding....

The key difference in our travel plans was that instead of a 2hr lay-over in Frankfurt we had 8 hours! What do you do with a layover like this?  You take a tour and see the city!

We are thankful for a God who is bigger than our delays and gave us a chance to not only see a city we never had, but gave us one final time to make special memories with just Adeline and Alden!

Looking at our long awaited plane!!

Good-bye Richmond- we hope to bring home  2 more residents soon!

Adeline busy studying in DC

Headed to Germany!  Tired...

Adorable little traveler

See- we landed!  Even the sign at the bottom says we have no more to go!

Yay!!  Next stop- Lithuania!

Lithuania Bound!!

Here we are with all our "stuff"- 4 suitcases, 2 carseat/booster seat bags, and 4 backpacks.  

Next top- completing our family!!

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!