It's now Saturday morning and again I'm up long before everyone else. This is a great time to collect my thoughts and relate the events of yesterday. We started the day with an experiment. We had asked Elona if there were any plays or operas that we might be able to see while we are here. She came back with some names, addresses and times but no real descriptions. So, we decided to try one and just show up. We Google mapped "Beauty and the Monster." It looked to be around a mile away and was starting at noon. With no idea how much it would cost or if it was a professional production or high school play we set off. We walked for a long time and must have walked right by it but we didn't see anything that looked like it could possibly be a theater and we couldn't find the address. We ended up walking through a good sized park. Lots of big pine trees and it reminded me of home. Once noon rolled around and we had made our way out of the park we asked the girls if they wanted to go to the Akropolis to do some shopping for some nicer clothes that they could wear to court. They said that sounded like fun so we called a taxi and headed for the mall.
We spent the next couple of hours walking around going from store to store. The girls haven't had the luxury of being materialistic. Audrone would much rather be playing soccer than shopping. Eventually they both found clothes that they liked. I couldn't stand going into the stores with them and just following them around so I would wait outside on one of the benches or chairs and when they would find something they liked and Michele purchased it they would then bring it out and show it to me. Kornelija was so cute. She got a little dress with butterfly prints, blue tights, and new shoes. She had the biggest smile when she was showing me what she had chosen. Now that the hard part was done we asked them if they wanted to go ice skating. In the center of the mall there is a good sized ice rink. They have actually been ice skating before and love it. Audrone is very coordinated and was good on skates. Kornelija was good too but a little more hesitant to get up too much speed. They skated for quite a while. Michele and I sat and had some tea at a Japanese restaurant that was at one end of the rink with a nice view and took some video. After the girls were done and had a nice rest at the restaurant we headed to the super market attached to one end of the mall. We picked up a few more things to eat and a DVD that the girls picked out. Ratatoolie. Then we headed for home. We decided tonight would be dinner and a movie night so we ate while we watched. It seems animations are quite a bit easier to dub and so we could watch it in Lithuanian with English subtitles.
We called Elona to get a better idea of the sequence of events leading up to the court date so we could plan for the weekend and what we would be doing until next Wednesday's court appearance. She asked us what our plans are and we told her that Saturday we plan to rent a car and drive to Trakai Castle and then on to the coast for the rest of the weekend and return on Monday so that we can meet with our other lawyer on Tuesday morning for the court prep. She thought that sounded good and asked how the girls were doing. We thought everything was fine. We seem to be getting along great. After we went to the water park things didn't seem near as awkward and the girls seem to be having a great time. But when Elona spoke with them and asked them if they wanted to go to America they were still undecided. To us it seems like it would be so obvious what the best choice is. But asking a 16 year old girl to leave her family, (as crappy as they are) friends, and school to go off to some foreign land with a couple you barely know has to be scary. These girls are standing at a crossroads on their lives. One way seems to be the safe and familiar way they have been going and the other is a drastic change in direction that is totally unknown. They agreed to the adoption initially but now faced with actually having to stand in front of a Judge is a different story. We could use your prayers. Both for the girls and for us as this has been a pretty good blow to our morale.
But today we are off to a festival at the castle and then off to the coast. They are delivering the rental car soon. Can't say I'm looking forward to driving in this city but I think it will be okay. I don't know if we will have internet while staying on the coast but I'll try and write again as soon as we are able.
Love you all.
KC and Michele.