A Bit More..

OK we are back from diner and Mariada is in bed, so I can catch you up in more detail. The last few days have been a whirlwind and I would be lying if I didn’t tell you all we are tired. The flights went really well, an Angel at the United desk at O’Hare upgraded our Chicago to Munich flight to business class. This made our 35 minute layover much better and not only us but our luggage made it to Tirana at the same time. We stayed at Cydil’s place on Friday and Saturday night. They have a great place in Tirana and it was so great to get to not only catch up but get to know Cydil and her father better, they both have years of experience in Albania.

Saturday was the big day and it was perfect I can’t tell you how sweet Mariada is she is really, really loving to both Bob and I. Every single caregiver at the orphanage including the nurse and teacher has told us that we are the lucky ones to be adopting Mariada and Bob and I could not agree more. She has a very close relationship with Fredi and Prenda from Hope for the World and they have been so wonderful to us. Fredi was there for our first lunch with Mariada and they had us to dinner last night at their home, where Mariada played with their two children 5 and 2 years old. She loves kids, every time we see a baby out she says “Momma look at the cute baby” it’s adorable.
Usually the rules say that the kids have to stay in the orphanage until after the 15 day waiting period that doesn’t start until after all court dates have finished so 20-25 days. So the fact that she is staying with us already is such a blessing. She begged the director, she does not want to go back, and every time we have to go there, for check-ins she tenses up and asks when we are leaving. It’s hard. It’s also hard to see the other kids, they all know what’s up and it pulls at your heart that you can’t help them all.

So it’s late for me, we need to get a good night’s sleep. I’ll fill you in on a few other things later!

I still can not find my camera bag so here are a few shots taken by Cydil on Sunday.

Thank You so Much Cydil, the shots are great!

Taken at lunch, behind Bob's head, on top of that mountain is a 2500 year old castle!

Taken in front of the school age orphanage, she's such a cutie!

I’m going to bed.

We have Internet!!!

So I can finally tell you all how absolutely wonderful our new daughter is!

On Friday we landed and went to out dear friends Cydil's where they had lunch waiting for us (thank you) and we had a good nights sleep and on Saturday we took the two hour trip up to Shkoder where we meant Mariada! We went in to the orphanage I was looking for her but didn't see her, the care giver took us into a little room and said they where going to get her, Bob walked out of the room and she RAN into his arms, she held on for almost a full minute then opened her eyes and saw me, she hugged me so hard and we both started to cry. She is so sweet and affectionate. We went out to lunch with her and our BCS guy she showed us her town and just spent the day together. We wanted her to stay with us and she really wanted to stay as well but the director said she had to be back at six. Bob and I went back to Tirana that night and stayed with Cydil again. The next morning we rented a car went up to Shkoder and have had Mariada with us ever since. All I can say is she's amazing. Her English is really good, she understands a lot but is not speaking much. All in time.

I will post pictures as soon as I find my USB cord :) We packed and unpacked a few times and I can't find it!

I know it's a short post but we are on our way out to diner and literally Fredi our friend from Hope for the World just fixed our Internet so I had to put something up!

Love you guys!

PS: We still don't know the legal name but Mariada wants her named with an i instead of a j so that's that!

Booked, Packed and Ready to Go!

OK almost packed, but completely booked. We leave on Thanksgiving Day and arrive Tirana at Noon on Friday. We are staying with bloggy friends on Friday night and then going up to Shkoder on Saturday. We would love to go on Friday, but after that many hours on the plane and the need to adjust as well as shower, we decided to wait a day and meet our daughter with clear heads and clean bodies! We also fear that are luggage will not make it until Saturday because of a 35 minute layover in Munich. Yup you read that correctly 35 minutes. The airlines say it can be done but I don’t know, last time we had a 50 minute layover and we barely made it forget about the bags. So sometime late Thursday night early Friday morning we will be running though an airport, because I do not want to wait one extra day to meet our Daughter!

It looks like we have an apartment to rent for a very good deal while we are in Shkoder, which is making me very happy. This means that we will have a kitchen and if I am still up there for Christmas a living room in which to celebrate the Holiday. But we have to wait to see about that we may be done with all the paperwork in Shkoder sooner which means we may be down in Tirana by Christmas. Just have to play it by ear.

The last few days have been spent running around getting paperwork done, clothes bought for Marjada, (we sort of know her sizes) Christmas shopping and wrapping finished, packing, food cooked and frozen for Ben and an electronic dog door put in for Lucky! And Bob is working like a crazy person as they finish up one job and prepare to start another. Things have been crazy. You would think that 2 years and 9 months we could have had some things ready, but instead it’s as though it’s been 2 weeks!

Well next time you hear from me I’ll be in Albania!

Court Date!

I received an e-mail this morning letting us know that we have a court date of December 4th! A bit later than we were first told but we are just thrilled to finally have it! We have not yet booked tickets, but are tentatively planning on leaving Thanksgiving Day. Most of the time people have to have two court dates; we are planning on this as well. Usually the second court date is a week after the first. Bob will be leaving once the court stuff is settled and returning for our trip home. I will be staying with Marjada. So when will the trip home be? Well we would love to know that as well! :) With this later court date we do fear that the Holidays could possible push everything back a week or so, but we are still hoping to be home mid- January. I sure hope Marjada is ready for Michigan in January!
I sent a photo album over to BCS offices about two weeks ago and am happy to report that they have finally received it; we are being told that they will send it to Marjada soon; we hope that it will help ease her anxiousness. They are telling us she is really excited about being adopted but I am sure she is a bit nervous, I mean I sure would be! Hopefully a few random shots of her new family and house will help prepare her.
We continue to be in awe of what God has done for us, opening our hearts to adoption is a true blessing. We continue to ask for prayers in the next few weeks in months, so many changes ahead but we know that with his strength we are protected.

Waiting is the Hardest Part

I think it was Tom Petty that sang that song! And he’s right waiting is the hardest part!
So we are patiently or truth be told impatiently waiting for our travel date. They tell us soon, but after almost three years soon has become a very relative term. We have been keeping busy; I’ve been getting Marjada’s room ready and doing Christmas shopping for the whole family as it looks like I may not be here.

Lucky’s cancer is back and that was a very hard thing to swallow because the cancer he has is aggressive and just the thought of not being here for him in his last days is so hard. Amazingly MSU called to ask if we would put him in a study where they pay for everything and try a new chemo drug on him. So I took him to Lansing a couple of weeks ago and so far so good, he’s responding well and it looks like he will at least stay healthy while we are gone. There is no cure but I think we can stress a little less while we are gone.

One last thing, we are going to put a lock on our blog for the next few months. For those of you that are friends, family and fellow adoptive friends we ask that you please continue to follow us, we need your thoughts, encouragement and most importantly your prayers. We just feel as though we need to protect some of the sensitive information that we want to share with you from the entire world. We hope you understand. If you find yourself locked out just send me an e-mail and I’ll make sure you get an invite!

I hope to be sharing a travel date soon!