I can't even remember when we were put in touch with each other. It's certainly been well over a year. Her family was preparing to adopt from Albania... we had completed two Albanian adoptions and lived there now... a mutual friend said we needed to meet, (of course!) and thus began a friendship over e-mail (or rather, Facebook Messenger, to be exact). :-)
There was a preliminary match with a sweet girl we knew from our days in Elbasan during Reni's adoption and we couldn't have been more excited. Then we learned that God had other plans for their family and the girl we knew was going to another family instead.
A few months went by and all of a sudden they had news! A little girl in Durres was going to be theirs! As it goes in the adoption world, some things unfold quickly while other steps are delayed. At one point I wondered if we would ever get to meet in person as the date for our summer trip to America marched ever closer and they did not have that the last piece in hand before buying tickets.
Then all of a sudden, she announced they'd be flying over within days! Not only did we get to meet in person, we got to meet each other's whole families! Margaret and Sam got to attend our special baptism service, then a week later, bring the whole family out to the village to participate in a kids' program and have lunch together.
Ellie and Reni were thrilled to meet English-speaking friends, born within the same years as they! (Between ages 11 and 7!) Not to mention, GIRLS! (We seem to have a shortage of little girls in the missionary community here :-) )
While we're sad to have a limited amount of time to visit, we are grateful for the days our paths have crossed. This sweet family cares deeply for this country and many folks doing Kingdom-work here. It's not every day we get to meet folks who share some of the greatest loves of our hearts (Albanian missions and adoption)!
Even in the busy-ness of preparing for a transition to America, God has sweet gifts for us and we are grateful...
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