Godspeed Good Friend

I lost a treasured friend today
The little dog who used to lay
His gentle head upon my knee
And share his silent thoughts with me...
He'll come no longer to my call
Retrieve no more his favorite ball
A voice far greater than my own
Has called him to His golden throne.
Although me eyes are filled with tears,
I thank Him for the happy years
He let him spend down here with me
And for his love and loyalty.

Busy Week

Wow! What a week! Bob and Mariada made it in safe late last Friday night. The weekend was spent visiting and meeting Grandma and Grandpa and one great Grandma! Sunday we went to church and meet many friends that were so happy to finally meet our newest daughter. During the last week we ran errands and showed her around her new town. We went over to the local middle school where the principal already had two girl student ambassadors that play soccer for her to meet. When she starts school at the new tri, they will show Mariada around, make sure she knows where her classes are and invite her to have lunch with them. It’s a great program that has already put Mariada at ease about the first day. We went up to have lunch with Dad one day and went shopping for winter boots and sneakers for gym class and of course in-door soccer shoes! Her first game was yesterday; she did well but was very nervous. After the game she told me that she was nervous this week but next game she will not be! Ok then. So far she loves America, she thinks we have a lot of very nice friends and that everything is BIG, SO BIG!

I would love to post a few pictures, but we are in a no pictures allowed mode for now, I hope she is over that soon!

Other great news, Sara has made it into the Jr. Olympics! She is so geeked! And Ben has been awarded a congressional nomination to the Naval Academy! We will know in April if he is accepted, but the nomination is a very big step in the right direction. Lots of stuff going on at the Gezon house!

All Paperwork - Check

Yeah! It's all done! Bob and I spoke this morning and he was so happy to tell me that the paperwork is finished! They could come home today if they wanted, but Bob wants to go up to Shkoder to see Fredi and Prenda so tomorrow he is renting a car and driving up to see them. Mariada also wants to say good-bye to a few more friends and her teacher; I think she wants to show off her new passport and visa!

I am taking the next few days to add a few things to her room and pick up a few more things for her. She needs some more warm winter wear. It is so great to see that God’s plan is coming together to bring home another child for us. I must say that I am impressed that he has such faith in us that we can handle three teens at once!

They don’t land until 11:30 PM on Friday, but the weather looks like it is going to be clear, which given the storms lately is a blessing. But they do have that crazy tight connection in Germany, so let’s hope they have on running shoes because I don’t want to wait one extra day!

Moving the ball down the field!

Bob is in Tirana after an uneventful flight. He found out that the issue with the passport wasn’t that the passport wasn’t finished it was that the country had run out of the books to make the passports. So this morning he went to the office in Tirana to find out what to do and they issued him Mariada’s passport! He did say that they are now telling people that passports are going to take 4-6 weeks from now on. He said the line was huge and people were more than a little upset that he received the passport when they have been waiting for much longer.

Tomorrow Mariada will have some blood drawn and then they have to go to an Embassy doctor for a physical, Bob has already made sure that they will be able to accomplish both these tasks in one day and has been assured that they can. On Wednesday he has the interview with the Embassy and that’s it, the Visa will be issued and they fly home on Friday!

He said that Mariada is speaking much more in English. She is very excited about coming home and that so far her attitude is overall better than before. Not that it was too bad before, but I am sure that leaving the orphanage environment has lighted some of that harshness we were seeing.

I’ll keep you posted as I get info from Bob!

Thank you for the prayers!

Two Wings and a Prayer

Bob left this afternoon to go and finish up the adoption! We are so happy that Mariada will be home soon, but I bet you’re wondering what could go wrong now. Well it's the passport, it should have been completed over a week ago and as of yesterday it wasn’t. I know it’s crazy, they have tickets to return on Friday and we are praying hard that they can get it finished by then. Bob will land tomorrow afternoon and is planning to go to Fier first thing Monday morning and I have a feeling that he will not be leaving without her passport! They could then do the embassy thing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and be home Friday. Can you believe it?

So please say a prayer that it all falls into place. Having Mariada home for Church next weekend would be so wonderful!