Did You Miss Us?

Hello All! Sorry we haven't written in a few days ... KC and I have basically been in the rental car for four days! Yuck! So I will catch you up on what we've been doing!

Monday: The four of us drove northeast, past Utena, to visit Ingrida! She is a sweet and lovely girl who is being adopted by the Vance family. Her orphanage is out in the middle of nowhere and yet there are 50 kids residing there. We took Ingrida back to Utena (the closest, largest town) for lunch and a little shopping from the Vance's. She was pretty quite, but her and Audrone got along quite well. The best part of the day was being able to connect Ingrida with the whole Vance family via Skype! This was the first time they were able to talk in person which should help with that always awkward first day together ... at least a little! Ingrida told us that she was quite nervous about the court date, so Audrone told her all about our experience. I think that helped her feel a little better about it. It was so hard to leave Ingrida behind! I just wanted to take her with us and deliver her to the Vance's now! It was so great to see and spend time with this girl whose photo I had seen months ago in the Bethany magazine!

Tuesday: We all staggered out of bed in time to leave at 7 am ... blah! Another lady from the Family Law Center (where Elona & Egle work), Rasa, joined us for our trip to Siauliai to get Audrone's birth certificate and then to Radviliskis to get Kornelija's birth certificate. The drive is about 2.5 hours one way. When we got to Siauliai, Rasa said she would go alone, leaving us with nothing to do and no idea how long we had to do it. From what we were told all 4 of us had to be there. Ha. First order of business was finding a bathroom. The tourist information center didn't have one (nice), but directed us to the closest public WC. When I walked into the stall, my whole being went "GREAT" ... squatty potties and no toilet paper. Just like at the KGB prison. After that lovely experience we spent our time walking along the pedestrian mall and eating an early lunch. I even took it for the team by ordering another coffee so we could continue to sit at the restaurant. Luckily, soon after that, Rasa was done. Everything seems to take longer with Audrone's paperwork because she is 16 ... at least everything worked out.

In Radviliskis, there was a community craft fair going on in front of the building where Rasa had to go, so at least we had something a little more interesting to do. We even got to meet one of Kornyte's teachers ... she was very happy for the girls, but said she would miss Kornyte very much. Rasa was able to get Kornyte's birth certificate a lot faster, so we then went to apply for their passports. This we were unable to do that day (why??), so we dropped the girls off at their orphanage for a few days to say their good byes and we were off to Vilnius.

Wednesday: KC and I got up early again and headed back to Radviliskis to apply for the girls passports. The girls had to be there too, so they were not able to go to the Kaunas Zoo with all there friends ... bummer! Their social worker, Robertai who was at our court hearing, helped us with this process so Rasa didn't have to drive back again. At first Kornelija's new last name was not showing up in the computer and then the people said that Audrone still needed her ID card (updated, of course) ... both Elona and Robertai had been told earlier that this was not the case. So we had to pay some more money and get the updated card. Governments ... they're the same everywhere! Arg. We were told to be back at 11 am the next day to sign for and get the passports.

KC and I decided to then go up to the Hill of Crosses ... which is just outside of Siauliai ... that's right, we could have done this yesterday, but I only thought of it as we were leaving. Oh well. The Hill of Crosses. What can I say? I guess I was just expecting it to be bigger. It is this swell on the ground where people have been staking crosses for some time. The Soviets tried bulldozing it down, but the independent spirit of the Lithuanian people could not be suppressed. They continued putting up the crosses despite Soviet occupation. There is a stairway running right up the middle, all the way over the hill. It is a small enough hill that my asthma didn't even kick in like at the Hill of 3 Crosses in Vilnius! There were layers upon layers of crosses, mostly with a sad Jesus still hanging there. I wondered what God thought of the place. Interesting, but I'm glad we didn't make the trip solely to see this sight.On the way back to Vilnius, the car's battery light came on so we had to switch cars when we got back. Fun! At least we didn't break down in the countryside!

Thursday: KC and I drove back to Radviliskis this morning and picked up the girl's passports and Audrone's ID card. All that paperwork that we had to get notarized and apostilled for this specific occasion was not even looked at. I guess we've got ourselves some souvenirs! I'm rolling my eyes right now. We said a quick hello to the girls and then were on our way back to Vilnius to meet with Elona. She took the birth certificates (which have us as the girls' mother and father ... on their birth certificate ... I just find that odd) and passports so she could get the medical paperwork from the clinic where we took the girls earlier. We found out that the US Embassy here in Vilnius still has not received our updated fingerprints (more eye rolling), so hopefully that will get straightened out before our appointment on Monday to get the girls' visas. After that we switched back to our old rental car with it's new alternator, had dinner at the Double Coffee and we are done for the day! It's been a long 4 days in the car and we are glad to have a couple days "off" ... tomorrow we have to fill out all our paperwork for the Embassy ... yeehaw!

The Lithuanian countryside is beautiful! There are vast amounts of open farmland and tons of woods! There aren't very many fences, so people just picket their cows and horses out in the fields. The farms are quaint with usually one or two cows and a big garden with lots of apple trees. There are tractors, but there are also horse and wagons! I love that! There are bus stops on the highway that seem to be out in the middle of nowhere. People (even the elderly) walk or bike a lot here! There are also people sitting along the side of the road selling a little fruit, vegetables or baskets. A lot of the side roads off the highway are just dirt roads and the houses are not very big. All together it makes for a lovely country ... we like it!

Please pray that our updated fingerprint paperwork will show up at the right place! Also keep the girls in your prayers as their time in Lithuania is quickly coming to an end. Even though we have had all these ups and downs and hoops to jump through, we know that we are following God's plan and can see Him working to make this all happen! Thanks for all your prayers, support and comments! Your comments really do lift our spirits!

Viso gero ir geros dienos! (Good bye and have a nice day ... at least that's what I think it says ;)
Michele