Will work for gummy bears

Our visit went well.

Linda, our Tukums orphan court director, says that she has seen all that she needs to see, so no second visit is necessary. We'll see her again on July 5th.

Natalia and Will sign that they would like to proceed with the adoption.

Andy and I answer a few questions but mostly we listen to an hour's worth of conversation in a language that we don't understand...with the exception of a few words like dokumenti. I wonder if this is what it will be like for our children to sit through school all day in the fall...just a rush of words going by, with only one or two landing in the comprehension zone at a time.

 

Today it rained all morning and by three in the afternoon, I was starting to get an insane case of cabin fever. As I put on my shoes, Andy looked up and said, "Where are you going? What's the plan?". He would have been more than happy to stay in and read business books.

"Plan? I have no plan. I just need to be somewhere else for a little bit, even if it rains."

Happy Latvian Ladies don't seem to notice the rain

With a half-insane wife on his hands, and kids all declaring that they want to come with me, he did the right thing and herded everyone out the door with me. We walked under umbrellas to the Boulangerie Bonjour and had a pain chocolate (croissant). Our wi-fi fizzled out at the house around noon, so we needed to find a source for Andy to check in to work. He has been hovering next to a salon downstairs all afternoon off and on in the rain trying to catch their signal.

After my cafe fix, we meandered through back street and rediscovered a crafts market we've seen only once. I asked the shopkeeper if it was like a farmers' market that was only open on certain days, but she said no, they were there all the time. We have been looking for a week and just now ran across it again. Still don't really know our way around the narrow cobblestone streets and curving alleys of Old Town that well. I love my crocheted beret.

For dinner, my old world heart won out and we had Pankukas at a Latvian creperie instead of another pizza night for the kids. This might be good tradition for our future gotcha days...pancakes for dinner night.

Then back through a park for more trampoline jumping to burn off some energy (and carbs). They were soaked through when it was over, but happy.

When we came home I bribed Will to complete one page of his handwriting practice book by offering one gummy bear for every completed page. He was happy to finish letter A and call it a day. (Brennan was exactly the same at that age.) Natalia saw what was going on and wanted in on the action. She seems to be more motivated by the reward concept and churned out page after page with great comprehension. Then Laurel wanted to know what she needed to do to earn her gummy bears. I couldn't come up with an academic challenge for her here if I tried without wi-fi so we chose fitness challenges...one gummy bear for a set of 25 sit-ups, 5 push-ups on your toes, or 50 alternating lunges. She wasn't that thrilled with the arrangement, but we tried to explain that what is challenging to Will, is not a challenge to her at all. I did the reps with her but she still preferred the academics. Sometimes I think I will need an advanced degree in motivation to do my mothering job well. Everything will not be the same for our kids. I hope that understand that quickly.

We read a notice that our apartment building will not have hot water from July 2-5.... Might be our stinkiest July 4th ever!

With no ability to post our blog tonight, we realized that I must make a great sacrifice and go off to the Double Coffee by myself for some smoothie time... I mean to find an Internet connection. :-)

Betsy, start praying again (and add hot water, or good sports to the list:-)

Goodnight all.