Second Soccer Party!

Yup, soccer party squared! Today the team had a party for Mariada. They had it a restaurant and had chips and cookies and what not. They gave her a picture of the team signed by the team it was really sweet. We had a really nice time and the one coach speaks English so I had someone to talk to which is always nice.

One of the people there was the Dad to one of the girls on the team, he helped sponsor Mariada to go to Norway with the team to play in the Norway cup. He’s an appeals attorney, nice guy. The one coach that doesn’t speak any English was chatting up a storm with me; he wants to make sure that Mariada is going to be allowed to play soccer in America. He even wanted to know if she was going to be keeping her Albanian citizenship just in case she would like to come back and play for the Albanian team! Funny thing is that he was totally serious. He and the attorney had a long talk about the paperwork that I have to file so that she keeps dual citizenship here in Albania!

I feel so bad for Mariada, she is now very sad, saying good-bye is never easy, but we gathered many e-mail and Skype addresses. Keeping in touch is just a computer away!

My Mother’s plane was late in Detroit so that messed up her entire itinerary, she now will be getting in late this evening, so she will have to stay the night in Tirana and come up her in the morning assuming her bags make it.



The team!
Funny Girl.

Friends Forever!

The picture they signed for her!

Yummy!

Musical Chairs popular everywhere!

The Soccer Party

Yes another party!

Today I rented an indoor soccer field for Mariada’s soccer team “The Door”. The girls played the dad’s; it was a lot of fun. The dad’s won. But still the girls had a really good time. That took up all of our morning and about one o’clock we received a phone call from Suela, a girl that I have made friends with from church. She is off work until after the New Year so we had lunch. She is such a nice girl and her story cracks me up. About 7-8 years ago she got a travel visa to the US so she went to Florida, when arriving into the country, the told her she could stay up to six months (she had planned on three) so when the three came up she was going to come back to Albania. But she says God told her to stay, she was upset because she knew that she would lose her job back here, but when God tells you, you follow. So she stayed the extra three months, and in that time she meant and fell in love with her now husband. Only thing was that he is from El Salvador! He too was in the USA on a visa, but he got a green card and is still living in Miami! She is hoping to get her visa next month so she is planning on moving for good to the US in February.

So tomorrow my Mom gets here!!! Yeah! Can’t wait for that! Then we have a few more going away parties and then we plan to leave for Saranda. Saranda is all the way south almost to Greece; we are all really looking forward to that. Mariada has never been to that part of the country and I am looking forward to being on the water. Hope it doesn’t rain as much as it does up here in Shkoder!



The coaches from "The Door"

The dad's are done!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas everybody!

It’s an odd feeling being so far away and in a country were just about everything is open today. Most people don’t really celebrate Christmas here. But we do so this morning once we got up Mariada and I celebrated our first Christmas together. Her new camera is already charged and she has been reading the manual all morning. We got her body gel and lotion in a nice winter scent, but she wasn’t really sure what lotion is for, many things to learn about being a girl!

We had planned on spending the day with Fredi and Prenda but Prenda has been feeling very dizzy lately so they have been trying to get her in to Tirana, where the one MRI machine is and yesterday they received a call that they could see her tomorrow early morning. So they decided to take the opportunity to stop along the way and see some family. We were invited but we have an indoor soccer field rented for tomorrow morning for a good-bye party. So since everything is open we are going to walk down to Mariada’s favorite restaurant for lunch. I hope to not be killed by one of the hundreds of fireworks that are being blown off everywhere! Yes it’s Christmas and what else would you do than send bottle rockets and other flying fireworks though the streets on such a day?! I MISS HOME!

I wish you all the best on this amazing day, what a joy that our King was born!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Party, Party, Party!

A day of parties, the first was at the orphanage. A mobile phone company called AMC came to give out gifts to the kids, so the kids put on a little show. They sang a few songs and the director and a few other people said a few things, then two girls dressed in AMC uniforms handed out shopping bags to each of the kids. They were filled with cloths, winter coats and shoes. Mariada gave hers to her two best friends Marinela and Jesica.

Then off to a restaurant we went were HFTW was throwing a Christmas party for the entire orphanage. They had a DJ playing Albanian music, a huge lunch and a gift for every child. It was a great party, the kids and staff where out dancing up a storm! It went on for hours.

Now we are home relaxing and plan to stay in for the night for diner, and then watch a Christmas movie.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas Eve!


Santa handing out gifts!

One of her buddies, he was practicing his English with me for about an hour!

Another friend, very sweet girl.

BFF, Jesica was trying to explain what good friends they are and I was saying Best Friends, and she took a few seconds to find the word, then says no best friend we are sisters :)

The other BFF! Marinela, love this little sweetie!

The AMC party.

View from the orpahnage, it's the soccer stadium! Soccer is king here.

Court - Check

What better word this time of year than Hallelujah!

The last court date was today at 10:30, which meant that we saw the Judge at 12:15! Did I mention that the court house is a big building with tile floors and no heat! Anyway, once we started it went quick the psychiatrist did her thing, and then the Judge asked me to stand and once again convince her that Mariada being adopted was a good decision. I also had to put in a few legal terms that Agim had instructed be to say and we were finished. Thankfully Fredi’s lawyer friend was there again and I firmly believe this is why it went so smoothly.

Mariada is a different person today, she is so happy, she called all her friends told them she is now adopted and for a girl that does not smile very often I don’t think anything could knock it off her face today! We had lunch and on the way home we passed a card shop where we bought a handful of cards, she wants to write one to all of her best friends! Yes like most 13 year old girls she has 6 best friends! I think today is the first day that she is OK with leaving them behind. We will see if this lasts even until tomorrow. I have told her that she can set up a Face book and e-mail account, so she has been collecting addresses over the past few days. Guess I’ll be using Google translator more than I thought!

So the next steps, today starts our 15 day waiting period. This is when an Albanian can contest the adoption. Since Mariada has not seen or heard from her Bio-Mother in 6-7 years and has never meant anyone else in her Bio-family we do not expect any issues. After the 15 days we can get a new birth certificate, passport and Visa so that Mariada can enter the USA! When she lands in O’Hare she will become an official US citizen!


What a Christmas present!

The group that made it happen! (Lawyer from AAC, Judge Asst., Judge,Me,psychiatrist, Mariada, Arian(director of orphanage),translator, Artan our lawyer)

Video's Maybe....

I hope these work, they would not attach to the last post, so here goes!

The other girl is Jesica, her best friend from the orphanage.

Busy Day

Today Mariada had a show at the theater that was put on by the The Door. The Door is a Norwegian organization that helps underprivileged kids in Albania. Mariada plays soccer for The Door soccer team. They also had disabled people playing instruments and kids doing dance routines, Mariada and her friend Jesica sang a song, it was a really nice show.
After that Mariada wanted to go to the pre-school orphanage where she first lived when she arrived to say hi/goodbye to her former friends and caregivers. Everyone there loved her and where so sweet to the both of us.

We are now home for a short while, then we will be walking down to her English class were she will be taking a test, she asked if I would stay and help! HA No way sweetie, you have to learn it all on your own!

In very bad news, Bob’s plane left an hour and a half late yesterday causing him to miss his connection in Munich. As of last night when we spoke, he was one of the lucky people to get a hotel and there were no flights until Wednesday! He is going to try and fly standby today, and since I have not heard anything from him I am praying that he got on one of those flights.

Mariada, with the social worker at the pre-school orphanage. Very sweet lady.

Mariada singing she wasn't to happy about it, but she has a very pretty voice.

Three of the girls on the team where given awards, the girl to the left of Mariada is her best friend.

Juggling she didn't miss the whole time!

Beautiful Albania

You know one of my favorite sayings is “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans” well that has been our motto for this whole adoption from day one I think! Such was the case for our trip to the mountains. What started our being three nights went to two, then one and yesterday ended up being zero nights but still one very long day!

We left at about 6:30 AM with Fredi, arrived in a town called Komani which has two ferry boats that take you up a river to a town called Fierza. One of the boats is a car ferry the other is a passenger ferry only. Fredi of course knows the passenger only crew and asked if they would take us back later that day. We had planned on staying the night in Tropoja with Fredi’s brother but the weather was looking a bit bad and we didn’t want Bob to miss his plane on Sunday, this time of year the ferry boats only run once a day so without this we would not have been able to go at all. There is only one road and it takes over five hours with a very good four wheel drive which we don’t have! Long story short the boat guys said yes and off we went up one of the most beautiful boat rides of our lives! It’s about two hours but we stopped along the way to pick-up and drop-off people at what Fredi called stations, but really they looked like the base of a mountain! Honestly you could not see where these people where going or coming from, Fredi said some hike two hours to the village and I mean right up a mountain, it was crazy!

It was pretty rough weather to start and continued to get worse as we went so that by the time we pulled into Fierza it was snowing hard! This is why we don’t have too many pictures. Fredi’s brother picked us up and we went to his house for a wonderful lunch, we had planned on staying until early evening but because it was snowing so hard we got back on the ferry and headed home. The ferry had zero lights; I mean none inside or out! No running lights, not that there are any other boats anyway, but no spot light either so about an hour in we were in pitch black with only the glow of the little gas heater they had put on board for the Americans! Thankfully they seemed to know the route by heart and we made it back safely. Bob and I were laughing later that it felt like we were in a movie on board a Russian ship or something because the crew seemed so type cast! But they were all very friendly and we ate bread and cheese with them for diner. They of course had their homemade raki (local moonshine) as well!

Once back home Prenda had once again made diner for us and we enjoyed meeting her Father, sister and nephew. After that we came home and feel asleep, what a day.

Bob left this morning and I already miss him so much but I know he has to get home. Thank goodness for Skype. Mariada and I went to church this morning, then she had rehearsal for a show she is in tomorrow at the Theater, which sad to say still has zero heat. After that we went to lunch in a restaurant I know has heat and then to the market, we are now warming up in our apartment getting ready for a busy week.

Enjoy the pictures


Mariada, rehearsing for tomorrow's show. She's juggling a soccer ball.

Our trip home! The snow on the sides of the mountains helped us see were we where going :)

Mariada enjoying the heater they put in for the trip home, on the way up there was no heat and she kept saying to me Mom, I can't feel my feets! Oh honey, get ready for Michigan :)

Yummy! The guy in the red is Pastor Dave, he's been in Albania since 1992. Started with HFTW but now has his own Church. he was visiting Fredi's brother this weekend. Great guy.

One of the "stations".

The water is the most beautiful shade of jade. Wish the sun had been out!

One of the many, many waterfalls, I thought they where snow melt, but they are spring feed from the top of the mountains.

Another waterfall.

Another station.

Fredi, Mariada and myself, it was windy but it was amazing, it looked like you where headed right for a mountian, then we would turn and there was the river! So cool.

OK, I'm cold, I'm going inside!

Our vessel and staring off point.

Brrrr! It's Cold

Today was a reprieve from the constant rain! It snowed. It is very, very rare that Shkoder gets snow, the mountains yes but down here it rains. We had planned to be in the mountains but the situation with Dad and the physiatrist changed those plans. Instead of being gone for three days we are going to take the trip in one. There is a ferry boat that takes you up a river to the town of Frieze, we will spend the night at Fredi’s brothers and then take the boat back down the river on Sunday morning. Then Bob will drive to the airport and fly home.

This morning we went to Fredi and Prenda’s daughter Adonna’s violin recital. She’s five but there were kids of all ages it was nice. It was however very, very cold in the theater. There is no heat at all and I felt so bad for the kids, can you imagine playing the violin with freezing cold fingers! Most of the kids didn’t even take their coats off. My feet where so cold standing on the tile floor that I couldn't even feel them. After the recital we went to lunch and are now home warming up! Mariada is studying for an English test on Monday, but she is now finished with school here in Albania. We have a very busy week next week filled with good-bye parties and visit’s to the other orphanage’s she has lived in. Hopefully the rain will lighten up since we will no longer have a car!

The latest word on Dad is that he remains stable and even awake at times. We are so thankful for this; we continue to pray that Mariada will be able to meet her Grandfather when we get home next month.

I will not have access to the Internet until Sunday, but hope to have some great pictures of the mountains to share! Have a wonderful weekend!


Twinkle, Twinkle little star.

Another Step

First thank you to all those that have been praying, as of late last night Dad was stable. We have not changed Bob’s flight from this Sunday because the flights were awful and expensive, if Dad takes a bad turn we will get him home.

Yesterday afternoon we meant with the psychiatrist, Fredi acted as our interrupter which was wonderful of him and his lawyer friend was there as well. We meant at a café called Chicago and drank coffee and hot chocolate, she asked us about our family’s currant and childhood, then she came over to check out our apartment and that was it. Fredi said it went really well, she was one of his high school teachers! It pays to know Fredi in this town.  Today she is having a meeting with Mariada at the orphanage without us and then she will write her report. Next week in court the Judge makes her decision and we move on to the next step! Hallelujah.


I put this picture in for you, I haven't been taking to many lately I'll get some this weekend!

Asking for Your Prayers

We are one step closer. Today we went in front of the Judge again this time we had an attorney, something I wish we had since day one. He finalized the agreement that Bob can leave without attending the last hearing. The other person in the court room was the physiatrist, after the Bob leaving early bit was over the Judge asked everyone to leave with exception of Mariada and the psychiatrist. The rest of us waited in the hallway for about 30 minutes. Then Mariada came out, she was all smiles, then she was chatting with the social worker from the orphanage when she started to tear-up. I think the stress of it being over lifted and she became a little overwhelmed. We then learned that Bob and I will have to have two meeting with the psychiatrist, one in about thirty minutes and one tomorrow. She wants to see our apartment. (?) Then we are finished with all that and just have to have our last hearing on the 23rd.

On a very sad note, late last night Bob called the office to do some work and Tammy let us know that we needed to call one of the siblings because Dad was in the hospital. He went in with what they thought was a breathing thing, but it turns out he has pneumonia, he also had a heart attack and now his liver is failing. We are asking for prayers that he stays stable until Bob can get home; the flights to get him out are booked so we don’t think he can leave until Sunday. Please pray for the family as well; although Dad is 87 and we know that we will lose him it’s never easy to say good-bye.

Good News!

Yesterday we went out to the beach, it’s pretty empty this time of year but we wanted to see it and it gave us something to do for the afternoon. It’s a really big beach, most of it is flat but to the south there is a little bit of mountain meets Sea. It was great to get out to the water I miss it so much, one thing has become certain I am much more of a water girl than a mountain girl! And most defiantly a smaller town girl than a city girl!


Today we went in into Tirana to go to the U.S Embassy and file our power of attorney. We also signed a few other papers for when Bob is gone. On that note it sounds like the Judge is going to let Bob fly home on the 20th and let me finish up the last court date alone on the 23rd. This is all working out because of our wonderful friend Fredi making a few phone calls and saving the day for us! It still looks like Mariada and I will be home the 3rd week in January.


We are hoping to take the trip up into the mountains and into Kosovo for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We hear that the trip is beautiful and we are really looking forward to it.


The very south end of the beach.

I think this is a restaurant in the summer.

At sunset we could just make out Italy, very cool!

Road Trip

Yesterday we went with Fredi down to a town near Tirana. HFTW has bought a property that they intend to use as a place for the orphan teens to go to when they are too old to stay in the government run institutions. Currently when you turn sixteen you go to what are called the dorms, these places are awful and most of the kids drop out of school within a year and end up on the streets. HFTW is going to offer a place that will keep the kids in school and help them go to university or learn a trade, make sure they are feed and continue to help them make good choices for their lives. They have bought the building but it needs work, they hope to have it ready by the end of summer so that the kids moving in can start school in September. On our way back we stopped in a little mountain town called Kruja where Skanderbeg’s castle is, they have a museum to him there that was really very nice, thank goodness Fredi was with us so he could translate for us and basically be our tour guide. We were so high up that we could see the ocean which was a beautiful site!

We also went to a traditional Albanian restaurant the other day that was really good, they cook the food in a big fireplace which also kept the place nice a warm. We had goat cheese that tasted great but sort of smelled of our bathroom! Along with a sheep cheese that was served warm ( mmm good) the wonderful olives, veal, wild boar and tons more. Mariada, didn’t eat the wild boar and she will not eat veal, she really doesn’t like meat but she tried everything with a touch of pressure, at least she tried it.

Today she had English lessons and a two and half hour soccer practice, so now she’s a bit worn out. I think we are in for the evening.

Hope everyone in Michigan weathered the storm and is staying nice a warm!

Mountain town Kruja where Skanderbeg lived.

Skanderbeg museum.

In the distance the Adriatic Sea.

Skanderbeg castle.

HFTW new building.

Future sports area and Chapel.

Boys dorm rooms needs a little TLC.

Yummy! The food here is awesome!