The neverending wait

I wanted to give an update on the latest with our neverending wait to bring Edgars home...

Helen was able to go to the Orphan Court on Monday. She said that the lady at the Orphan Court had consulted with her colleagues and they were reluctant to approve Edgars to come to school in America for a long period of time(we were requesting thru High School). They had lots of questions for Helen. They wanted to know why Helen was coming instead of Natalija(Edgars' foster mom). They were afraid Natalija would not be in agreement with this. Helen assured them that she is... but she is going to double check with Natalija and make sure that she is being honest and even get her to write a letter to the court. They also wanted to know why we weren't adopting him and she had to explain that. After much discussion the lady agreed that it seems it would be in the best interest of Edgars for him to be in our care. However, if they approve it, it will probably be on a year by year basis. This does not mean that we will have to go to Latvia every year, just that they will have to look at the situation each year and make sure Edgars is happy and healthy.

Helen asked us to rewrite our letter to the Orphan court and include in there a paragraph about the fact that we want to adopt Edgars but can not due to our age. She said that we need to show them the bond we have with him and let them "hear our hearts". I expressed to her my concern that if he comes for a year and then they make him come back that is going to be harder on everybody involved. She truly feels that if he is happy, stable and growing they will leave him. The Orphan Court has above all else, Edgars best interest in mind.

Both Shiloh Hills Christian School and Furtah Prep have agreed to take Edgars. So placing him in a school is not a problem. Helen wanted to wait for the Language School because she is familiar with it. I assured her that both of these schools are good schools and that Edgars will be fine there until the Language School is able to accept him.
I rewrote the letter to the Orpahn Court and emailed it to Helen. She gave it her stamp of approval. Now all I have to do is get all the documents gathered up and on their way. Helen didn't think I would need to have everything notarized and apostilled but I think we may anyway just in case. I would hate for the process to be slowed even more by something as small as a stamp that costs $3. Also the school mailed me the I 20 and a letter of acceptance last Friday and I have not received it. My notary mailed me some documents I had forgotten last Friday and I have not received those either. I called the post office to inquire about the delay but they were no help. It seems like roadblocks every way we turn. So tomorrow I will go hand pick up the I-20 and I guess I will go back to the bank and get another copy of the letter and get it notarized again. Oh the joy of paperwork!
Edgars is doing fine. He is out of school this week and loving having all day to play and goof off. Even though it is very cold every time I call he is outside playing! At least he is getting a break from the rough time he has been having at school lately.
Well..until next time...keep the prayers coming!
Love,
Krista

Waiting..and more waiting

Gene says that if nothing else this process is teaching me patience. I hate to wait.
Helen called this morning to let us know that she did go to the orphan court this morning. The lady she talked to in the department for Foster children was not sure the process of bringing a child on student visa. She said she would have to consult with her colleagues before giving Helen any kind of answers on whether this would be possible. Helen seemed confident because she said the lady seemed especially sympathetic to the situation. We should hear something back from them in the next day or so.
We are still waiting to hear from Furtah about the I 20. I will call them tomorrow if I do not hear from them today. Other than that we are just gathering the documents we think they will need and waiting.
Please pray for us during the waiting...its hardest for me. However I know that we are going to have quite a testimony to share when we get on the other side of all of this!
Love,
Krista

America Loves Me!

Yesterday Natalija (Edgar's foster mom) came to visit him at his school. She brought with her what Edgars referred to as "Ten Hundred" cards. He was so excited! He kept going on and on about how he got cards from people he didn't know. He said "I think one was from China!" I told him I didn't think so. But he just kept talking about how he got gum, and money and lots and lots of cards. It made his day! He said "Krista, Everybody in America LOVES me!!" I said "Yes they do!!" Thanks to everyone who sent him cards to make his birthday special!
Love,
Krista

Change of Plans

After a tear filled day Gene and I have decided not to wait for The Language School to get approval before bringing Edgars on the Visa. Edgars' school is not a good situation. He is being bullied among other things. We feel very strongly that we need to get Edgars HOME with us as soon as possible. After contacting several schools, I found a school called Furtah Prep that is willing to accept Edgars on a temporary basis until TLS is approved in SEVIS. I am going to go tomorrow and submit an application and pay the registration fee and get the ball rolling. They can probably issue the I-20 form that we need by Friday. I have A LOT of information to gather between now and then. I am praying that Helen has the time to go to the Orphan Court and get the ball rolling on her end. Please pray for us!! I have no idea how we will get this all done or how we will pay for it. But as I have said so many times before in this whole process --- GOD IS BIG!!
Until next time...
Krista

Happy Birthday Edgars!!

Tomorrow is Edgars 12th birthday. We got to call him today and sing him happy birthday. He had a birthday party at a popular restaraunt called Lido. Some friends of ours left for Latvia on Saturday for their first court date in the adoption of their daughter and we were able to send a birthday present to Edgars with them. We got him a CD player and some CDs. He asked for an IPOD but I just wasn't comfortable sending an IPOD to him in Latvia. I told him he could ask Santa for that at Christmas! :-)
We had lots of people send Edgars birthday cards. He said that everytime his foster mom Natalija goes to the mail there is more mail for him from America! He was so excited! I can just imagine how special that must make him feel to have so many people think of him on his birthday!!
Morgan sang to him "Happy Birthday to you, you live in a zoo, you look like a Monkey and you smell like one too!" He didn't know what to think about that! He said "Krista, she called me a monkey??" haha! I had to explain it was just a silly song. He said "Yes, Morgan is a silly goose!"
Tomorrow he has to go back to the boarding school so we are hoping we will be able to call him on his official birthday on his teacher's cell phone. It is very hard being so far away. I want to be with him on his birthday. Hopefully next year we will be!!
As many of you know we met this wonderful boy thru an orphan hosting program. It changed our lives! If you are interested in hosting you can contact Jennifer Peters at Jennifer@simplyforlatvia.org or visit the Simple Obedience website. The winter hosting is coming up soon and there are some wonderful kids available to host. Even if you are not interested in adoption you can host a child for 3 weeks. It is life changing for the child and for you!
So far there is no updates on the process with the Student Visa. We are just waiting to hear if the school gets approved. It has only been 2 weeks so I am trying to be patient!!
Thanks to everyone for your continued prayers and support!
Love,
Krista