Well, Houston had a problem. First, we were a little delayed in boarding the plane. As we were taxiing out to the runway, the pilot broke in with "We have a sick passenger. Is there a doctor on board?" My heart sank. I knew what was coming. But we continued on to the runway, and then continued on back to the terminal! After offloading said passenger, who apparently was seriously sick, they had to find his luggage in among the other thousand or so bags in the cargo compartment...and after what seemed like 2 hours, and literally, it was, we again taxied to the runway, but this time, up, up and away!
I asked the stewardess the stupid question...is there any way we can make up the time? She sweetly told me the gate crew would already have us booked on the next flight to Riga (along with our luggage), but she didn't know when that would be. So, all that was left to do was sit back, relax and watch some inflight movies (sleep is not my companion on a 9 hour flight). With emotions already running high, I didn't do myself any favors by watching Anna Karina, Les Mis and Life of Pi! By the time we hit German soil, I was a total tear stained mess. On arrival, we went to the nearest gate attendant to learn that we had in deed been scheduled on the next flight to Riga...in 10 hours. But, I still maintain that Lufthansa is a very customer focused airline. We each received meal vouchers for 2 meals each, they made calls to Liepaja for us, and sent us away with a smile. Lera found a row of seats to stretch out on (after sleeping most of the flight) and got a little more sleep. Rita and I walked up and down the airport terminal in search of food. What we came across, besides the pretzels, was pretty much inedible. But, we had fun looking. (Has anyone tried the sushi place there? I just kept thinking about the commercial that talks about unwise decisions and eating sushi from a gas station...).
After figuring out the internet machines, we were able to contact the foster family in Liepaja to stop Oscars from coming to Riga to pick us up at 1:00 pm. And so you know who we are talking about, Oscars and Baiba are the foster parents and two of the most generous Latvians I know. Oscars said he would still come pick us up even though our flight didn't get in until 11:00 pm. We also made contact with the owners of the apartment we were staying in to let them know our arrival would be around 3 am Saturday...and they said the chambermaid would still meet us there to let us in and get us settled! Wow! I was half expecting them to suggest we stay in Riga! We arrived in Riga and Oscars and his friend got us safely to Liepaja, where the chambermaid was waiting with a warm greeting at Ezera Maja. We drifted off to sleep around 4 am with an early morning wake up ahead...
Saturday morning sunlight drifted into our little room which was warmed by several heaters. I felt like I had slept a lot longer than I actually had, and there were more things we wanted to do than we had time for....so sleeping late was not on our agenda. Saturday was Santa's birthday party. Santa is the girls foster sister, and we had a hamster to purchase! After a light breakfast, we headed to the Zoo (pet store) and found a cute little gray hamster, cage, food, bedding, house, etc! (and that was the beginning of the vanishing Lats)! We spent some time shopping, Lera ran into one of her teachers, we gathered up the hamster and headed to the party. It was great to see everyone again. There were lots of hugs and laughter that day, and yet you could see sadness in everyone's eyes. The last time we would see this family for a long while...
Right on schedule, we got on our bus to Riga and were dropped off at ORIGO, 5 suitcases and all! Gee, how uncomfortable that feels! We managed to flag down a taxi and gave him the address to our newest American/Latvian friend, Jaycee. She had offered to let us stay at her apartment since she would be taking a trip to the Mediterranean that week. We arrived at Jaycee's apartment, which is located about 5 minutes from Freedom Monument (or a 20 minute walk). She has a beautiful apartment and was a gracious hostess. We made a quick trip to Cili Pica and Rimi to pick up a few things to eat, then we came back and met another friend, Krista, who was staying at Jaycee's also to help us out and take care of Musha and Blakely, Jaycee's four-legged friends! After going over the map, the bus schedules and tram stops, I felt fairly confident that we could always find our way home. After a late night of laughter and getting to know our new friends, it was past time to hit the hay!
Monday morning, the sun was shining and the weather was crisp and cool. We were being picked up by Daina around 11 am for our first appointment. We had doctor appointments, new passports to register for, embassy visits, banking, and then documents to gather. The girls each have a new Latvian Passport with their new American names. The doctor did not find anything in their files that would be a concern. The Embassy interview went smoothly, and in 4 short days, we were done! In between the appointments, we were blessed to have the girls' friend, Devora, come to Riga to stay with us. We went shopping (more disappearing Lats), made a trip to Jumala to the indoor water park. We went to several different restaurants, and spent the evenings with Krista, Musha and Blakely. One evening we went to one of the parks just down the street from the apartment. There were lots of families out with their children enjoying the beautiful afternoon. It was in the upper 60's, but there were still patches of snow and ice on the ground. A lot of the streams also still had ice! This was one of the first warm weeks in Latvia this year and everyone was out enjoying the arrival of Spring!
Thursday evening, after meeting Daina to receive all of our documents, we returned for the last time to our home away from home. We started packing and cleaning. Lera left her artistic talents on Jaycee's bathroom walls. Rita finally went to sleep, but by this time, it was after midnight and we had to leave the apartment by 4:00 to get to the airport, so Lera and I just stayed up all night. At 3:45, I woke Rita up and told her the taxi would be here in 15 minutes...next thing I know, I hear the shower going. About that time, Krista gets a call saying the taxi is downstairs. So I go down to ask him to wait. I hurry Rita, we lug all of our luggage (oh, is that why it's called 'lug'gage?) downstairs, probably waking every neighbor as we go, and load the taxi. We arrived at the airport, tried to navigate the kiosk, then was assisted by one of Lufthansa's wonderful employees, who actually remembered us from our trip in February (I guess a smile and thank you goes a long way!). We had very easy flights back home...no delays, no running, no worries, no sleep! On April 19th at approximately 2:00, we landed in Houston, Texas! We had an almost 4 hour layover, and I think we got there just a little late. We made our way to Passport Control/Immigration. It took almost an hour just to get to the first desk. The agent said he had never seen an IH-3 Visa before. He checked some of the documents, took our sealed envelopes and asked us to wait. In about 15 minute, we were escorted to a room with several other passengers who were being processed. We sat there for another hour or so, then we were called up to the desk. I don't remember them asking us much of anything...just congratulating the girls and telling us we would get our information in the mail. By this time, we only had a few minutes to claim our bags, recheck them, cross two terminals, go back through security, and catch our flight. Now we were running! We made it to our gate about 5 minutes before our flight was supposed to board, but it was delayed. So back into the terminal to get something to eat and drink, and then we almost missed the flight again! But we made it! A short 55 minute hop to Jackson, a hour drive to Vicksburg, and we were HOME!
April 19th- 3 years prior, at my Dad's 80th birthday party, a friend told me about a couple in our church who were hosting 4 orphans from Ukraine. This was the start of our journey. I gathered information, talked with them, called New Horizons For Children, and signed up for the summer photolisting. That's when I saw Rita, a little girl who would eventually become my daughter! Who would eventually lead us to Lera! God had already been working in us- placing a desire in our hearts.. a hearts desire for 2! Three years later, our hearts desire was finalized!
