Off again....

So tomorrow I, Brenna, will head off to Latvia once again. I am traveling by myself for this 2nd trip and am feeling okay about this. I think if I had to do the 1st trip by myself I would be more nervous but I was fortunate to have Joe by my side every step of the way. Having spent 24 days in Latvia, I feel confident enough to make my way around the lovely city of Riga, Latvia.

My plane leaves Springfield, MO at 6:30am and from there I go to Memphis, TN & Atlanta, GA. I will board the ginourmous plane for Prague, Chech Republic and then to Riga. All in all I will be in the air 14 hours and total travel time from Springfield to Riga is 24 hours. Yes, unfortunately there are all those lovely layovers. The way there has shorter layover times. On my way back I will literally have just over 24 hours of layovers in 2 airports.

So the purpose of this trip is to go to the Latvian High Court on July 25th and be asked dozens of questions and then to make it official that Liga Lukasova becomes Leigah Allana Friend. She is beside herself with excitement knowing that she will be changing her name. The name change isn't actually official until a 20 day waiting period and approx. 10 days of paperwork waiting. After that we will return (Leigah, Micah and myself) for all her US Citizenship stuff with the US Embassy.

I'm not worried about the travel and not even really "worried" about the court but slightly anxious because of uncertainty. Our wonderful lawyer, Daina, has said that the orphan court is so happy with us and that we have all blended as a family with Leigah. It's just the unknown and during those times I look to Joe. Guess I will be looking to Daina. I know some of the questions are supposed to be: "Why do you want to adopt? Why from Latvia? Why a child with special needs? What have you been doing with Leigah in the last 4 months? How have you worked on her schooling? How has her english improved? Medically speaking, what have you done? What are your future plans for her medically, educationally, socially, spiritually?" Just to name a few. I've been told this court can last 20 mins or 2 hours. I think that big gap is what has me anxious.

On the homefront news:
Leigah, Ethan and Micah are all at camp as I write this. I went to visit them last night and they are all having an incredible time. Leigah was slightly sunburned on her nose and cheeks but besides that she was having a blast. She talked a mile a minute about things people say, songs they learned, funny stories, etc. The adult staff has taken to her immediately. The campers have mixed reactions. Some thought that she was mentally retarded because she couldn't talk like them. Some love her accent and just want her to talk, some are enjoying the novelty of Leigah all day/everyday, while others are interested for a few minutes and then are off doing their own things. Micah is such an amazing big sister. She helps Leigah in everything. I'm so proud of the young woman she is becoming. She's strong of heart and mind, but especially character. Ethan was really sunburned and was glad he had his momma there for a few hours. He's already showing signs of distress over me leaving, especially since he is at camp and can't be there at the airport. I think it's a God thing. The airport is toooo hard. Keegan and Joe are currently Kayaking with Joe's older brother down the Nianga River (close to here) and won't be home till this evening.

Joe and Keegan will take me to the airport tomorrow morning, so that I can be there by 5:30am. That means we have to leave no later than 4:15am. UGH!!! I think I may just stay up all night and then be so tired later when we are on our long flights. I say we because my adoption coordinator, Cathy Sawyer, is also headed to Latvia with her two teenage daughters at the same time. We will fly from Atlanta to Prague to Riga together. Okay, that's probably another reason why I'm no too nervous about traveling. We have made plans to eat dinner together after getting settled in our hotels. Saturday they have no plans but I want to venture to the North end of Riga to a mall that has a large RIMI store (kinda like a Target) and it has tons of books in Latvian that I want to purchase for Leigah. But we'll see how it goes.

Well, I will do my best to keep you all posted on the ins & outs of this trip. No one says much about this 2nd trip because it is so short but again that instilled uncertainty in me!

Chat with you when I'm on the other side.