Home Sweet Home

Hello Everyone!
Well, now that I feel caught up on my sleep, I would like to catch all of you up on what's been going on since we got home, and also add photos, which wouldn't post from Latvia!
We started our trip on Wednesday morning at the Riga Airport, in Latvia.  Our landlord Ugis kindly took us to the airport, where we said our thank you's and farewells to him.  We are definitely grateful to him for the many ways he helped us throughout our stay, most notably spending our first Saturday carting us out to the countryside, and helping us experience the most beautiful part of Latvia (in my humble opinion).  He being a father of five himself was very comfortable chatting and joking with Vita, so that was nice for her and us.  He also provided upon our request a DVD player, so that made some of our longer spells in the apartment fun because we could watch the movies we'd brought.  The first leg of the trip was delayed one hour, so after rushing through Frankfurt airport to catch the flight from Frankfurt to Washington, DC, we were told we were too late, and the flight has been closed.  Seeing that plane just sitting there, and being told we could not board was so frustrating!  Now we had to spend the night in Frankfurt, in a hotel, and without any luggage - JUST WANTED TO GET HOME!!!!  Well, we had to count our blessings, at least they did provide the nice hotel and meals!  The next day we were on our way, and we were picked up at the DC airport by Frankie!  Yay!!  We were definitely feeling jet lagged, but enjoyed a brief visit from Annie and Man and family, and being treated to a Welcome Home Vita banner/sign made by Joel Stafford, and a yummy cake provided by Frankie that read Welcome Vita!  We were just SO happy to be back home, welcomed of course by all the pets too.  The next day we hurried to Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania to meet our newest family member, Jovie Kathleen Anderson.  She is just so tiny and sweet, we immediately loved her!!  Very happy for Kathy and Nathan, and their sweet girls!  Through all of this Vita was holding up quite well, but we were all crashing into our beds early the first few nights.
By Saturday evening we were back home, and looking forward to seeing everyone at Mountain View Community Church the next day.  Everyone there was so welcoming, and made us feel so loved.  I do have to clear up one misconception though, our friends thought Vita was already adopted, so they tried to be sweet and announce it in the bulletin.  So with Latvia there is a three-step process, of which we have completed the first and biggest one.  Now we have two other shorter visits: First for a court date (this is when Latvia recognizes us as Vita's parents), and then second a medical appointment and US Embassy appointment.  At that point, Vita will officially become a US citizen, and have her new name - yay!  Hopefully we will be completely finished some time in the next six months.  So thank you everyone, for wanting to congratulate us, but we would like to wait until after at least that second trip for the official congratulations.  In the meantime, just know that we REALLY love everyone's support, and encouraging welcomes!  We are really feeling like a family already though, and Vita seems to totally accept us, calling us Mom & Dad, which we love.  Every meal we bow heads to thank the Lord, and if I forget for breakfast or lunch, she doesn't let me get away with it.  Today she offered to pray herself for the first time!

This was my favorite day of all - at Sigulda Castle outside Riga.

Since we've been home we've had a very nice visit with Kathy, a great time at Community Bible Study on Tuesday and Thursday, and a super fun day at Gaver's Pumpkin Farm with Annie's family.   We're looking forward to dinner Friday night with Annie's and Pat's families.  Vita loves working on Math on line, and reading our children's story books in English, as well as working on her CBS Bible Study.  She likes to help with dishes, and with caring for the pets, and shopping.  She also has already read Lassie, Peter Pan, and Charlotte's Web (Latvian chapter books we bought while there), and now has started Wolf Brother.  It's great to see her choose to read, and do her Math!
We're looking forward to continuing to introduce her to all of our extended family in the weeks ahead.
Thankfully yours,

Angel rays shining down on Vita!

Robin & Mike

Everyone told us, "You HAVE to go to Lido!"  It was a very interesting traditional Latvian buffet style restaurant, with a beautiful garden and a whole carnival outside with performers and rides.  Loved our afternoon there, and the mugo pines ;-).

Hugging orphanage director, Kristiana goodbye.

So nice to get to visit Edvards & Helena in their home town of  Saldus.  They seem to be doing very well.

Finally flying home!

Beautiful buildings in Riga

Universal

Greetings family & friends!
Here it is Friday night, I feel like it's so close to the day we'll be heading home!  Yay!  But of course we cannot complain at all, we're together - mommy, daddy, & Vita.  💗  Our highlights this week begin with our social worker visit, which went very well.  The three women who came were the two officials from the orphan court and Vita's orphanage director, Kristiana.  They have known Vita since she was about six, and really care for her.  They are very happy for her to be adopted.  She apparently gave them a good report on us! 👏. We served tea, and shared photos from back home, and things we've done since we've had Vita here in Latvia.  They were all talking away, with occasional translation for us from Ilma, with a sweet smile.  She was so encouraging!  At the end Kristiana was hugging Vita and talking to her in such a sweet motherly, loving way.  It was a moment I'll always remember.  Ilma told us that they were all three noticing and commenting that they could discern a different countenance on Vita already!  Our next appointment with them is on Monday, back on their turf, and at that point they will hopefully be approving our taking Vita home to the U.S. for "hosting."  We will also visit the U.S. Embassy Monday afternoon, to put in for her travel visa.
Later Wednesday evening we met another American Mom and adopted daughter, who just had their second trip, and were about to go home Thursday morning.  It was really nice spending the evening visiting with them, and Vita loved chatting with the 16 year old.
On Thursday we visited a super fun indoor water park, sliding down slides, splashing and playing like kids.  It was a beautiful park, and we all enjoyed it so much!  We were all good and worn out by the end of our two hours, for sure!
Tomorrow we plan to take a 2 hour bus ride to visit with Edvards & Helena, who we had hosted last summer.  We're really hoping to have a good visit with them and their Aunt and a cousin, and to be able to encourage them.  Today when I was purchasing a small gift for E & H's Aunt Sarmite, the cashier, a woman who seemed about my age said, 'please' when she gave me change, when she meant to say thank you.  This made me feel so much better, as I've had a mental block this entire trip over the fact that in Latvian you say Ludzu for 'please' AND 'you're welcome,' and 'thank you' is Paldies.  Now I think the Lord had that happen just so I could see that these struggles are universal!
On Sunday we're looking forward to attending the Latvian church again in Riga.
Feeling very thankful for your prayers and encouraging comments,
Robin

Mushrooms

Greetings Friends and Family,
We've been keeping pretty busy since I last posted.  We had a wonderful day on Saturday with a drive out into the country with our landlord Ugis.  He's a native Latvian, and a father of five, so was very good with Vita and put her at ease.  We had a great time exploring two castles that date back to the 1200's, getting amazing photo opps, and buying a few souvenirs along the way.  We had a very yummy lunch in a great restaurant, and then a hike in a mature pine forest park trail, complete with bears, foxes, owls, and lynx all contained in natural surroundings-type enclosures along the way.  So, you know who enjoyed that as much as anyone!
On the way out of town, we were at a gas station (very Sheetz-like) getting coffee, and two American young women heard us talking so asked us where we're from.  They are missionaries here, and one of them KNEW Vita!!  She had gone to their Christian summer camp!  So once again, God brought them across our path at just the right time, and we were so encouraged by that.  They hugged Vita and  high-fived with her that we were adopting her!
On Sunday we were able to attend a church in Riga, where the gospel was clearly preached, in a strong message by a young man who was actually filling the pulpit for the regular pastor, about false prophets, and the lies we can be trapped by to keep us from the narrow way.  The young woman who sat behind us translating for us was so sweet, and even helped us get to the right tram stop for where we wanted to go after church.  She had spent a great deal of time in Texas, and was completely proficient in English.  We loved feeling so welcome there and knowing this was a fellowship of other followers of Christ.  I especially enjoyed their musicians, two cellists, an acoustic guitar, and two vocalists harmonizing beautifully!  The songs were familiar, but of course in Latvian, so I could at least hum along.  We hope to go there again next Sunday.
We're really enjoying getting to know Vita more, and teaching her about Christian living along the way.  She seems to absorb everything like a sponge.  She loves Dutch Blitz, Phase 10, and Rummikub.  We've enjoyed the movies Akeelah and the Bee, as well as Hidalgo.  Vita tore right through reading Peter Pan, and has started on Charlotte's Web.  This focused time together is so fruitful.  We're planning to see Edvards and Helena perhaps this Saturday, so very glad about that.  We've been keeping in touch with them through gmail.
I keep asking Mike what are we doing that makes us stick out so and get so many stares everywhere we go.  Even without hearing us speaking people find us so odd somehow, still trying to figure that one out.  But I'm really glad there have been English speaking people most places, and many menus have English on them.  (But you cannot trust that ordering a pepperoni pizza will mean only pepperoni - watch out for mushrooms, they're everywhere!)
That's all for now - we miss you all, and really appreciate all of your prayers and messages!

Angel and the Tram

Hello All -
Sorry the pictures aren't coming through.  Guess I'll give up on that.  We want to tell about our first try at going into Old Riga on the city Tram system.  We walked from our apartment to the stop we thought it was, and decided to ask another young lady who was standing there if we were doing the right thing.  I said "Excuse me, is this the right stop for going into Old Riga?"  She smiled so sweetly and said in perfect English "Yes, this is the right one!"  Then when she was getting ready to get off, she made sure we were getting off too.  Pretty neat that she was there and riding to the same place we wanted to go right at that time.  Then when we got off she told us exactly where to walk.  We did great after that , and enjoyed being in that area, walking the cobblestone streets, visiting a church dating as far back as 1209!  There were also stands of home made traditional items such as dolls, socks, jewelry - fun shopping!  We also went to see the famous Central Market, which is literally blocks and blocks of stands with everything from fruit, baked goods, meat, clothes, shoes . . . . Tried taking pictures but it is impossible to describe the vastness of it!  The weather has been picture perfect, 67 degrees, sunshine, blue skies, maybe an occasional breeze.  So funny, I guess because it gets very chilly at night, and people do a LOT of walking, they seem much more bundled up than we are.  I'm fine in a sleeveless top, Capri pants, and a light sweater, but we see people with big coats and scarves on.  Can't figure that one out. Anyway, later that evening back in our "home neighborhood" we were walking back from the nearby shopping center (mall), when we saw the sweet helpful young lady again.  We said hello, and she so kindly asked how we did getting ourselves back home.  We thought it was so amazing that we "happened" to run into her again!  The timing of all that we did during the day, and the likelihood that we'd see her again in this city . . . I'm thinking God is showing us how He's caring for us, giving us such a beautiful helpful Angel!  That all took place on Wednesday, then yesterday (Thursday) we took a cab to the zoo across town.  We had a very nice time there, probably I loved it the most of all.  Vita is calling us Mom and Dad mostly, which we are very happy about.  We had some time there to play frisbee, and included a family with some little girls who seemed very interested.  That was very pretty.  The zoo is on quite a lovely spot on the Riga Bay (of the Baltic Sea), so great photo spot.  Also, our kind landlord Ugis had dropped off a DVD player, he borrowed from a friend for our use.  So we enjoyed relaxing and watching Princess Bride together.
That's all for now, thank you for praying for us.  God is answering!

Paldies

Guess what!  We've got Vita!

A happy reunion day!

Today we had our court appointment, and it went very well.  Our adoption attorney Daina was so sweet and helpful, and the court officials were kind and put us at ease.  We had an excellent translator, so that made it all smooth.  I even had a very special moment on the beach with Vita in which she unexpectedly offered "I want to be adopted and I'm not going to change my mind!"  Now we have the rest of this week to enjoy being together in this area, and have a final court day before coming home.   It is great fun being together and Vita beat us both at Phase 10, and is trying to help us learn a few Latvian words.

All I can say is Paldies Dievs - Thank The Lord!

His Eye Is On The Sparrow

Hello From Riga, Latvia!
After a very tiring overnight travel, we are safe and sound in our rented apartment in Riga, Latvia!  We even managed to walk to a mall and buy the SIM card to turn our phone into a European number so we could contact our attorney here.  We meet her tomorrow morning to have our first court date, and meet Vita, and then bring her home to our apartment here!  All of our luggage arrived safely by the way, so that's a relief!  Our landlord picked us up successfully from the airport and made sure we were all acclimated before he left us on our own.
But we're really not left on our own . . . . .
                       Because His Eye is on the Sparrow, and I know he watches me!  🎼🎶
Peace that passes all understanding keeps our hearts and minds.  💓
Thankfully yours,
Robin & Mike

Mission of a Marionette

When I was a little girl, my older sisters were given some beautiful marionette puppets.  I'm not sure what fairy tail they were supposed to be from, but I remember one was a donkey, one a beautiful princess, and one a witch.  It was also around the time that The Sound of Music was a big hit, and of course one of the best parts of the movie is when Maria and the children perform a fun musical puppet theater with marionettes.  All that is to help explain why I have a clearer picture of what God is doing right now in our lives.  I was walking from where I had parked several blocks to where the hearing for a zoning change in our neighborhood was to take place.  I was thinking:  What am I doing?!  I can't believe I'm bravely walking down the street by myself, finding a place where the hearing is, and walking into something I've never done before.  Not only that, but I am also taking on the Children's Director position at Community Bible Study, and I am not a leader at heart.  And to top it all off, we are planning to go across the WORLD to adopt a new daughter, who speaks a different language!  How is this happening?!  Then a quiet thought entered my head and my heart:  God is moving our hearts and hands and feet like a master puppeteer, making a beautiful musical out of our lives.  Each of these three major changes for us He has orchestrated, and He is in control of.  The donkey puppet didn't worry about where his feet were supposed to step, he just let the puppeteer make the moves.  We've seen God call us to make the move to Sugar Ridge, and use it to bless others in His name.  We knew God's call last spring for me to accept the Children's Director position at CBS, and have felt His confirmation in that.  And we've been following God's tugs and calls on our hearts for several years now to seek to share the blessing of our home and family with an orphan.  He's got all these things in His control.  That's where our peace comes from.  Peace that passes all understanding.
What's my mission?  Trust Him, go to hearings, meet neighbors, plan and assist at CBS week by week, accept help offered to me,  fill out paper work for adoption, drive to Annapolis for authentication of notarizations, find buildings, talk to strangers, fly to foreign countries!!!  One step at a time, listening, trusting, praying, breathing, being surprised . . .

One thankful couple

Thanks for reading, thanks for praying, thanks for caring and off we go - into the wild blue yonder!  We'll post here as much as we can, can't text or call, but can email.  We leave one week from today, and return on Oct. 1.

Vita enjoying our granddaughters Tess & Piper's birthday party the day before she headed back to Latvia in January. We pray that God will continue to keep her in peace and joy through this process.

Suitcases ready to pack - we pray they make it safely to and from.  ;-)

Tortoise and Hare

Hello All -

Here it is, the post you've been waiting for . . .  We have travel dates and court appointments!  We heard on Friday that our Latvian attorney Daina let us know that we'd probably hear very soon from the  Children's Ministry, and then on Sunday night we got an email including our Referral from them!  So on Tuesday we talked to our agency head, Barbara, and she told us it would probably be another month before we received a court date, and travel dates.  Then THIS MORNING we received our court date and travel dates!!  Wow, we went from going as slow as the tortoise, to going as fast as the hare!  I can hardly believe this is finally actually going to happen!  Our travel date is September 14, and our first court date is September 16 (my sister's birthday!).  So now we have flight and lodging reservations to make, and we're so excited!  Yesterday we we made our weekly phone call to Vita, she sounded so happy, but we only knew then that it might be in September.  Just at the end of the conversation she said "I love you!"

So, now it's going to be a lot of planning, packing, etc.  So glad we hadn't really made any big plans for the weekend!    Thank you again everyone, for caring, and for praying.  One really cool thing that was written about Vita in the referral document is that she loves singing, reciting poetry, and drama.  For those of you who've known Mike & I for a while, you can see this is really amazing, so similar to both of us!  But nothing is too difficult for God . . . He's the Matchmaker here  ;-).

Voice Recognition

                        I have some good news to share today - we finally got to talk to Vita!
     Our translated dossier was received at the Latvian Children's Ministry and we are now permitted to contact her.  Our first attempts found her unavailable, but when we finally caught up to her, it was so great to hear her voice!  We were able to explain that we've been working through a long process and following the rules, and that we are working to adopt her and waiting now for the Children's Ministry to contact us to set up our appointment for our first trip.  We understand that we will be required to stay for approximately two to three weeks, but then be able to bring her home with us for "hosting" and then have to bring her back for two more visits/court appointments.  After trying to communicate all that we could she was quiet so I asked "Are you happy?!"  She replied excitedly "Yes, yes, yes!!"  She also responded very happily when we mentioned each of our family members & pets.  I'm just so struck by the sound of her voice - it's definitely our girl!  (Isn't it cool that God made us each with such a unique voice that it can be distinctly recognized?!)  One thing she told us is that she looks at her photo album from her time with us in Dec./Jan EVERY night, so I was very happy to hear that!
     Now we are waiting to hear from the Latvian Children's Ministry so we hope that will be coming up soon!  Thanks to all of you who remember to pray for Vita.  Only The Lord knows what goes on for her each day, so we ask Him to continue to protect her and keep her encouraged!  💌

Status Update

Hello All -
I have a bit of news to update our status.  Mike's been checking in with Immigration Services to see what our application status is each week.  Finally today he was told that we have been assigned a case worker!  Whew, that was a frustrating wait, since we applied 41 days ago.  So now hopefully we will be approved soon, and this approval can join with our dossier in Latvia.  It is our understanding that at that point we will finally be able to communicate with Vita!
Today I watched an interview of Jim Caviezel on YouTube that I thought you might like to see too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay4vJ75pbc0&feature=share
Hope you can check that out, it's encouraging to see what God is doing in our hearts, and what He does in others' hearts as well.
Thank you all for your prayers, and your encouraging words!
~Robin & Mike

UPS? No - GPS!!!

     I finally have some news to post, and it's very happy news!  
                                        We have sent our dossier to Latvia - YAY!
After gathering, fingerprinting, copying, notarizing, authenticating, and apostilling every document you can imagine, we finally completed our dossier and it is even now in Latvia!  We had the option, according to our adoption agency person, Kelly, to either ship it via a UPS-like service, or send it with a family who is heading to Latvia for their adoption finalization.  She said they've had great success with both ways, and it was up to us.  So after Mike and I talked it over, we decided to entrust our dossier to the family who would carry it in their luggage, and personally hand it to our Latvian attorney, Daina.  I drove to the family's home in Westminster, MD on Thursday and nervously turned our thick packet of documents over to Jen (not UPS, but God's Parcel Service - GPS).   She, of all people, knows the importance of our dossier and its successful delivery to the right person.  She and her husband are representatives of another hosting agency very similar to the one (New Horizons for Children) through which we met and hosted our Vita.  They are traveling to finalize their adoption of a little 18 month old boy named Jonathan.  Jen was graciously chatting away with me about their adoption and our hosting experience, when suddenly she asked - 'What's the girl's name you are seeking to adopt?'  I said - 'Vita Brakovska.'  She said - 'I know her!'  Wow, a little girl from across the world, hosted through their organization two years ago, and now by us . . . and God put Jen in charge of our dossier!  Jen remembered interviewing Vita, and photographing her in order to find a host family for her back then.   I just think that is so amazing, since Vita could have been hosted anywhere in the whole USA!  It is just one more step in this process, and God has shown His hand in each and every step!

 Jen even said "I know I have some pictures of her from two years ago, I'll send them to you."  So here she is, two years ago (love the natural hair color!), with that same grin and bright eyes.  I guess God has really had His eye on this girl.  Jen says she is so happy that Vita has found a family.
     So the process as I understand it at this point is for our dossier to be translated, and later when we get our US Immigration approval, that will be sent over to the Latvian ministry, and we will then be waiting to have an invitation to come and visit, and "host" Vita for several weeks.  (There is a very slim chance that it could be in time for our family beach vacation, but I haven't given up hope for that!)  Then we'll be bringing her back with us, and later make two more trips back for finalization.
Once again I want to thank all of our family and friends for their interest, support, and prayers.
We are so encouraged by you.

New Family Member!!

Yes,  SHE SAID YES!!!!!  We got an email this afternoon from our case worker telling us that Vita wants to be adopted into our family!!!  We are thrilled, and we feel SO thankful.  What a blessing!!!  Thank you all who have been praying so faithfully.  We have been waiting, and starting to doubt that after this many weeks the answer would be positive.  In the meantime, so many people asked me if we had any news, showing their care and support.  I thought to myself, if only Vita knew how many people here already care about her!  I truly feel thrilled to share this with you, knowing how happy you will all be to hear the news!

Dinner at Outback Steakhouse - Fun and Yummy!

Our last day together, ready for church.

At the airport, just before she left to go back to Latvia.

Now the ball is in our court!  We will work diligently to complete all of the necessary paperwork, home study, etc.  We cannot wait to get this beautiful girl back here with us!  I told Mike what I wanted for my birthday was that Vita would say 'yes.'  Best birthday gift ever.
Thanking God, and thank you!!

Gap Standers

God’s ultimate goal is for each lump of clay to be fashioned according to His design and for His purposes, not ours. “We are the clay, you are the potter,” Isaiah writes, “we are all the work of your hand” (Isaiah 64:8). I am. You are.  Whoever you are praying for today is.  God shapes and molds. You pray and intercede.

That is from a devotion I read online today.  I think it is really helpful as I think about "standing in the gap" for Vita, since she has returned to Latvia - praying for her that God will be at work, molding her through her circumstances, to become what He has planned for her.  We are fighting the heavy sadness that came over us like a cloud when we put her on the way to the plane yesterday that would take her thousands of miles away from us.  I find some comfort in trying to have His perspective, that this is part of a complex plan for Vita.  Now  we have to keep that in our minds and in our hearts, each time we feel that sadness, whenever thoughts of something she did here with us pop up, or things of hers left behind appear.  Our prayers for her each day are not just a last resort, or "the only thing we can do."  Rather they are exactly what to do, God is moved by them, we know this!

Trinity Burge playing Skipbo with Vita, after the delicious dinner her mom made for us.

Now YOU, reader, must know something:  I am so sure that this MISSION TRIP (hosting Vita) that has just concluded, is not really over.  YOU have had such a mighty role, through your prayers, your encouraging words, your presence in our lives shared with Vita.  As we were singing in church yesterday, surrounded by many of you, I felt convinced that every smiling face or greeting extended was a memory being seared into Vita's mind, that will support the decisions and choices she has made while she's been with us.  On Tuesday, January 7th, after reading the Bible together, and going over the verses in her own Latvian Bible that I shared with her, Vita's decision to place her trust in Christ was (we believe) a sincere one.    We saw many changes in her, and one of them was her singing, in such a heart felt way, along with us at church.  As we tuned the radio to hear some news she asked us to switch it to our favorite Christian music instead, and that was most certainly a change from what she had requested in her first week or so with us.  We had so many teaching opportunities, and we pray that now that she's apart from us, the growing in her faith will continue!  THANK YOU so much for being in this with us, at the risk of repeating myself, we sincerely felt your  support, and it made a huge difference!

The Hart family so graciously gave us their time and energy in sharing their home, family, and horse!

What is next?  We will be asking God to show us that, and waiting with great anticipation!

Winter Garden

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. ⁶ Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture.⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”  Luke 8
   

     Funny time to be thinking about a garden, but . . .
The seeds in the bird feeder trigger the thought of seeds being scattered.  Here we are spending four weeks with a girl from across the world, and what seeds are being planted?  Because we love the Lord, and desire to follow His ways, we are reaching out to her, trying to share His love with her, hoping and praying that her heart is open, and the seeds will take root.  Only the Lord knows her heart, we just plant, water, and pray that He is at work.  Vita has spent quite a bit of time reading her new Latvian Bible - yay!  We know His Word is powerful, right?!
I'm so thankful that we got this cold wintery weather back, something inside me craves some real winter every year, and feels very disappointed if it doesn't happen.  I'm especially happy to experience it, and share it with Vita.  I've been keeping tabs on the weather in Latvia, and theirs this week has been at times 20 degrees warmer!  But today theirs is very similar to ours since we're heading back to a normal range.
We've enjoyed this past week, including a nice invitation to Becca Studer's girl scout bunco night, a fun dinner at our daughter Annie's, and a great time with Pat & Sarah and family on New Year's Eve.  We had Chinese food, and watched the movie Elf, which made Vita laugh so hard.  It was really fun to see her enjoying it, and I've been calling her my elf, since she was so helpful getting gifts wrapped, etc.  Vita tried to stay up to say Happy New Year at midnight, but couldn't quite make it.  She sneaked off to bed around 11:15.   Mike's been under the weather, and Vita and I've been taking good care of him together.  He's feeling much better now.  We got to go over to Pat & Sarah's and babysit one day, which I'm really glad she got to experience.  Those kids are irresistably cute!  Vita's loved painting and coloring by number, thanks to a fun trip to the craft store.  We watched the movie Beauty & the Beast, which moved Vita to tears (okay, so it gets me every time too!)  The fresh snowfall on Thursday evening was too hard to resist, so a nighttime snowball fight with Mike, Frankie & Vita ensued.  We also were treated to a very fun day at Chuck E Cheese's, courtesy of our friends the Tumys (Kara, Maggie, and Ethan).  I was very happy with the way that went, with Maggie taking Vita under her wing, and they were loving those shooting games! The Tumy family's graciousness and generosity will not be forgotten, and I hope a lifetime friendship has begun.  :-)
Well, thank you again for your support everyone, and especially remembering to pray for us.  We feel God is really in all of this, and you are too - so how cool is that to be part of a winter garden?!
XO
p.s. If you get to see Vita and are talking with her, please don't mention things from this post, etc.  She doesn't see or read this, and is confused when people have said they saw photos, and know about what she's been doing.  Thanks.  

Some people & dogs just love winter!

We all said "no, we're not coming out" so she went out to the back yard alone.  Then Mike & Frankie sneaked out the front door and ambushed her - she LOVED it!

Puzzle master

At Skate Frederick on Christmas Eve with Nathan, Lyla & Frankie

Cora's holding her kitten Moses, Vita's got the amazing cat Yosemite!