Saying Goodbyes

Always the hardest part of any trip like this is saying goodbye to the people and places you love. I know one of Cydil's regrets for this trip was not being able to say goodbye to the workers and caregivers at Reni's orphanage with my malaria relapse forcing us to cut our time in Elbasan short. Thankfully I will be back on Monday and will have a week to express our gratitude.

Yesterday afternoon we had to say goodbye to Kerri as she traveled back to Elbasan. Cydil, Ellie and I stopped for coffee one last time together at the Fame coffee bar where we had rested several times earlier this trip with Gigi, Nonna and Pappa, Teza Vera, and Kerri. From there we visited Vera's shop to say goodbye and went to dinner with Fredi to do the same.

This morning we said our hardest goodbyes as Cydil and Ellie headed back to Kentucky while I stayed here in Albania. Pray specifically today for Cydil and Ellie as they travel. They have a couple of long layovers and of course some long flights. Els did great coming, and was excited to get started this morning, but Cydil has a lot to handle on her own today! Thankfully, our friend Jan is going to pick them up in Washington DC and take them back to her place for the layover there.

There will be 18 days before we will be together again. During those days in Kentucky, Cydil's Whiteford family reunion will come to Wilmore, Elisona will start Kindergarten, 350 new freshmen will arrive at Asbury, and many other smaller everyday things will keep them busy!

My 18 days will start a little slower with a few more days here in Tirana and then several days with Reni at the orphanage before we get custody on the 12th. Then I too will be pretty busy with a final stretch of appointments leading up to hopefully leaving as now scheduled on Sunday August 22nd.

Walking in our neighborhood to say goodbye to Teza Vera

I'm not sure who was squeezing harder, Ellie or Vera.

Ellie promised to carry her own backpack through all of the airports today. Mommy will have to give a report when they are back in KY.

Ellie loves 'Uncle' Mondi! He is great!

Does anyone else think Ellie may have grown another inch on this trip? She is getting so tall.

4 AM goodbyes are the worst! I already miss you Cydil and Ellie!

Tirana Sunset

Tonight after supper we enjoyed a beautiful evening up atop the SkyTower/Vodaphone Building for coffee. Ellie was beside herself with excitement to see a "spinning restaurant".

Sorry we look like we're radio active.

This is a little better.

Kerri and I

(below) view to the south. The Hotel President rooftop was where we ate our anniversary supper (see post dated 7/18/2010)

(below) view to the north
These photos make the distances between locations appear farther than they actually are. We can walk from our apartment to the center of town in about 15 minutes.

This afternoon we had an appointment at the embassy and were able to confirm that we will be able to bring David Reni home on a passport with his birthname. That means that we will not have to wait until the adoption decree is issued and released (on the 12th or 13th) to apply for a new passport with the "Waggoner" name but he can travel on a pre-existing passport. This will save us several weeks! Just a week or so ago, we were making plans for Nathan to return to Albania around Labor Day and fly back to the States with my mom on September 18. Now our plan is to have Nathan stay and bring Reni home, probably around August 20 or 21! We are awaiting some itineraries from our travel agent and will share those plans as soon as they are confirmed. We are positively thrilled with this turn of events.

We were able to gain this special permission for health reasons. The cause of Reni's birth defect is yet to be determined. Our pediatrician has expressed that external anomalies (like limb deficiencies) can be related to a syndrome and indicative of internal anomalies (organ-related). We haven't shared this on the blog because we are optimistic that his health will check out and his needs are simply mechanical (his growth, cognitive, and motor skills all appear on track). Our optimism seems to be confirmed by Reni's development, but we don't want to take anything for granted.

Ellie continues to long for Kentucky ("Tentucky"). We think she can sense that the end is near. Toys at home seem a whole lot more fun than the toys we have available here. She's even tried to cheat the "two sleeps til we leave" by napping. Hopefully we can confirm Nathan's travel tomorrow. It will be hard to leave him for two weeks, but we're so excited that when he returns, it will be with a little boy in arms!

Fun Signage in Albania

This has been a quiet day here in Tirana, so we though we would break out some fun photos from our time here. We hope they bring you a smile! We have an important embasy appointment tomorrow. Hopefully it will make our plans for bringing Reni home clearer. Thanks for your continued prayers!

Don't get your hair cut here.

Military intelligence

My type of Fitness Club. Couch potatoes welcome!

Means "I love de SPAR" the local grocery store, but that is not what I read.

I'm not sure I have the capacity to understand this sign.

If you guess what it is...it's free!

When a Red Bull is simply not enough!

Our Time in Albania in Numbers

33 -- the number of days we've been in Albania

19 -- the number of nights we've stayed in a hotel

0 -- the amount of malaria medications available in this country (by the way 90 is the number of bottles of tonic water you would have to drink in one day to get the amount of quinine in one full doseage of malaria medicine. Nathan's record: 3!)

1 -- Amazing God

2 -- the number of hot showers I've had at our hotel

3 -- the number of times we've been to the pharmacy in the same number of days

4 -- the size of our family now

5 -- the number of times we've driven the beautiful mountain road to Elbasan

6 -- the number of Sisters of Charity at David Reni's orphanage

7 -- the number of caregivers employed there too

8 -- David Reni's age in months when we first saw his photo and learned about him

9 -- years ago Nathan made his first trip to Albania and this is Cydil's 9th visit to this country

10 -- the number of states that have not visited this blog this month (Where are you ND, WY, HI, AK, RI, DE, ID, MT, NV or UT?)

880 -- the number of unique visitors to this blog in the month of July --THANKS!-- obviously more folks than just Aunt Ruth are visiting, and that's more friends than we have on Facebook!

3, 570 -- visits to this blog this month (this number may be inflated by Aunt Ruth (we love you, Aunt Ruth!))

Checking In

Thanks to you who have been praying for Nathan. Today we took it easy, staying around the apartment doing laundry, visiting, catching up on the internet, etc. Nathan started perking up later this afternoon and even went on a walk with us to show Kerri the neighborhood, stopping for a coffee, and resting again at a park while Ellie played. Malaria flares up in cycles so it's hard to know if the antibiotics are already helping or if he was between fevers.

It's been nice to have Kerri here as a diversion. We've enjoyed the opportunity to get to know her better and makes these days in Tirana not feel like we're just killing time. She shares our hearts for missions and orphans and Albania, plus we're learning a lot about her home country of South Africa, too.

Working on another post so check in again soon!

Happy Birthday, David Reni!

Sweet boy, this is just the beginning. What a joy and love gift from Jesus to spend ALL your birthdays with you!

Duzi brought this incredible balloon bouquet for David Reni AND the outfit he is wearing. So handsome!
Ellie wanted to be in charge of the birthday candle. I had no idea I caught this expression until looking at the photos this evening.

It still seems surreal to me that these are our kids! Sister and brother.

I forgot the cake on the dresser in the hotel room. I felt like such a loser mom for that.

Kerri gave David Reni a sweet framed photo of our family surrounded by selected Bible verses. Such a sweet and touching gift.

I promise we're not...

...trying to drum up drama to keep you all reading our blog. After describing Nathan's symptoms to his father (an MD), his dad is concerned he's having a relapse of malaria (the dull headache for 3 previous days, then the onset of the chill/fever cycle and other familiar symptoms). We just need to find the medicine here to treat him and he should do fine within 24-48 hours... however in trying to explain to our Albanian friends, many want him to get the bloodwork done -- which he doesn't need -- he just needs the medicine. Finding that here could prove kinda tricky. We may have to have it shipped here, however we're running into the weekend and that could also complicate matters.

Sadly, Nathan had to miss the party this morning and given this new development, my mind was distracted to say the least. Not knowing if I was going to be saying my 'goodbyes' and 'thank yous' that morning, while strategizing Nathan's health care options, and hosting a party for a bunch of kids -- well, it was a tad overwhelming. We arrived to music blaring and very excited kids. It was too much for Ellie and she was on the verge of losing it (and did indeed lose 'it') several times. I felt so bad as they had gotten him gifts, and Duzi came in with a special outfit for Reni and a beautiful balloon bouquet. I'm afraid Reni spent most of the party in Duzi's arms so I could blow up balloons, serve food, calm Ellie, and try to get some photos and video (which I will post those later on from Tirana). I was so grateful that Kerri could come and lend a hand. She got some video, picked up merengue for the kids, and took Ellie to the potty when she needed to go. Can't ask for a friend to do more!

Right now, we're planning to go back to Tirana this afternoon and Kerri will come with us. Nathan and I both believe he will be more comfortable back at the apartment where we can prepare meals from a kitchen, rather than running back and forth to restaurants and mini-shops and dealing with a cooped-up Ellie in a single room. Did I mention she's dealing with major homesickness right now? She tells us several times a day that she's ready to go back to Kentucky.

Thank you for your prayers. Gotta go pack.

A Couple of New Prayer Requests

Okay, I know I'm his mom, but isn't he just the cutest thing? And his sister's not bad either (see below)!

Your prayers have meant so much to us, as we try to express here on the blog. Tonight we ask with a couple of specific requests in mind.

First, Nathan is coming down with something and he rarely gets sick. He’s had a dull headache for a couple of days, slowly losing his appetite. Tonight he hardly ate any dinner, then on the walk back to the hotel got violent chills. He’s doing better in bed now, but was asking for socks (he’s NEVER cold) and is resting with some ibuprofen in his system. Tomorrow morning is Reni’s 1st birthday and we’ve planned a party and a lot of the staff is coming in, even on their day off, to celebrate with us. We were wondering how we were going to do it all (including making balloon animals – which is a skill only Nathan possesses!) while adequately documenting the event with still pictures and video! We’re hoping it’s a 12-hour thing, otherwise, he’s not going to make it.

The second request is much more vague. Suffice it to say, we’ve been presented with a possibility for getting David Reni home much sooner, but it’s not been done before and we don’t want to push in our own strength, but determine if we are to proceed through a door that appears to be opening. Pray for supernatural wisdom. We only want to do that which brings glory to the Father. We will know more after our Monday Embassy appointment. This morning I read this from one of my favorite bloggers: "...the Lord said to me, 'If you never had problems you would not see Me work.' Wow! I know that, but it was fresh and new and I am still blown away by how powerful that is. It's so true. How many of us would stop and pay attention to the God of the Universe if life was all peachy? Not many." So while I don't classify this as a problem, we are thankful for the opportunity this entire experience has been to lean into God and see Him work.

Some photos from this morning at the orphanage:







Thankfully Nathan was still feeling relatively well this afternoon to enjoy a special treat: we got to take Reni back to the hotel with us! What a delight to surprise family with a pool-side Skype video conference with Reni ‘live’ and ‘in person!’ He is sporting some cool pool attire thanks to his generous Aunt Hannah!

Thanks again for lifting us up. We are honored that so many have joined us in this faith journey. The story is still being written!

Um, yeah. Nathan dipped DR in the water...which is why my pants are wet. ;-)