What a Day! -- We Meet Our Son

Marjetta, the head of the Albanian Adoption Committee.

Ellie asked Sister Miriam above (as I was taking this photo), "Are you Jesus?"

What a Day!
After posting last night’s blog, we walked back down the street to retrieve Ellie from our friend, Vera. Ellie was helping Vera ‘inventory’ her shop and asked when we arrived if we could by her a blouse she lifted off the rack: a lady’s tiger-print tank top.

We hit the sack around 8:30PM and slept until the alarm woke us at 6:30. We hurriedly ate some breakfast (instant oatmeal packets we brought with us) and repacked two bags to bring with us to Elbasan, where we plan to stay until my Mom (Sarah) arrives on July 8.

Mandi picked us up at 8:30 and we met Alma (Bethany aide) at the offices of the Albanian Adoption Committee. Of all places for Ellie to forget her charm, it was here. We met with Marjetta, chairwoman of the committee. It was our first opportunity to meet a member of the committee so we expressed our appreciation to adopt from her country and the gift which we received in the opportunity to become Ellie and David Reni’s parents. She was familiar with us and with Reni and said how happy she was to know he was coming to our family. The meeting wasn’t terribly long, which was fine because Ellie was acting less and less friendly by the minute. She got a firm talking to from Dad outside. Once we were back in the car, a small snack seemed to make a world of difference in her attitude. Lesson learned: feed Ellie something before important meetings!

From the AAC offices we made a quick stop to exchange some money and hit the road for Elbasan. The trip is about 90 minutes of windy, windy roads, but the views are beautiful. At one point I looked ahead and saw traffic on a mountain ridge – sure enough, we were soon there and could look down both side of the mountain. Pretty cool!

We drove straight to the Sisters’ of Charity Orphanage and greeted very warmly in English by the chief (?) sister, Rosita. Her warmth was indicative of the treatment we received from everyone inside. The sincerity and friendliness was amazing. We are so, so grateful for their kindness and care for the children. Wow. She told us Reni was waiting for us, so we quickly got our cameras ready and followed her inside.

He was in a room of sleeping children, but he was obviously wide awake. He appeared a little out of sorts but settled down after a few minutes in my arms. Ellie could not stop looking at his leg stumps and wanted to touch them. I think the reality of his situation finally hit her. His feet were not ‘curled up’ like she had believed, and once she saw that, she wanted to get his legs fixed now!
Another couple of sisters walked in to introduce themselves. A few are African and from their accents, at least one of them must be from East Africa. She sounded just like our Kenyan friends we just visited last weekend! Dressed in the white wraps with blue stripes, Ellie looked up at one and asked, “Are you Jesus?” She really did not know how close to the truth she was – these ladies are truly the hands and feet of Jesus loving and serving these kids.

David Reni was as sweet and content a child he appeared to be in the photos and video. He must be teething because he rarely stopped chomping on his finger. If we tried to put him on the floor he would fuss, so back in arms he would go where he gripped tightly. We were able to get several smiles out of him which made our day. The first meeting experience was night and day different from our first meeting with Ellie. He longed to be held, checked us out curiously and never stopped looking around. Ellie gave him a few kisses. A few of them were her ‘puffy air’ kisses and after one he gave her this sideways look of annoyance that about cracked me up. I can’t wait to see that relationship develop.

Ellie was THRILLED when the rest of the kids came down to greet us. She ran to them and was immediately surrounded like a rock star. She kept asking them (in English, of course), “What’s your name?” “What’s Your name?” She is of course older than most of them so she towers above all but two of them. I really hope she remembers these days with these kids and as she grows up develops a heart to pray for them to find permanent families to return to or join.

We stayed about an hour (it passed quickly) and left to go hunt for a hotel. We visited two. One was very close (and the price was great), but it lacked a pool which we felt would help us pass the hours with Ellie when we’re not visiting David. The one we settled on is nice with a big bathroom. We will have to arrange taxi service though to take us about two miles to the orphanage. The price is really great though at about $31/night (Dad, we got 111 Lek/dollar!)

After getting settled in we took Ellie to the pool as promised, only to have it start sprinkling literally seconds after arriving. We walked back upstairs and filled the bathtub for her to get some water time in. Now, while I write this post, Ellie is laying on her bed watching Garfield in Italian. She doesn’t seem to mind, which is good considering we forgot our case of DVDs back in Tirana! Oops!

Thank you for your continued prayers on our behalf. We don’t think it was a coincidence that after posting last night that our Article 5 letter had not yet reached the Embassy, Alma got a phone call this morning from the Embassy that our Article 5 letter had arrived. She will pick that up tomorrow along with our dossier from the Committee and return to Elbasan on Friday to submit our papers to the court.

Our next prayer request: that everything will be in order and that she can schedule a court date for us July 14 (or sooner). If that happens, then we might have a chance of getting the adoption decree by July 30 (also David Reni’s 1st birthday!) before the courts shut down for the month of August. With God, all things are possible!