Difference in Night and Day...or Winter and Spring

^ This picture was taken on our first trip in early February
RIGA in the Spring

The flowers are blooming and all is so fresh and bright. The sun now comes up early and sets late. It is daylight from before six AM until almost nine PM. What a difference two months can make. The pictures tell the story. It is 6:45 AM local time and I am sitting in my room at the Albert Hotel, drinking coffee with my window open and listening to the birds sing. I went to the airport at 4:30 this morning to try to fly out standby on KLM to Amsterdam and I was told ," this would not be allowed, you must purchase a new ticket," for $1,142. So I decieded it would be better to pay for a hotel room for one more night. I am traveling on Delta from Amsterdam to Atlanta on a "Buddy Pass" generously donated by one of the family from Southern Crescent Church of Christ. Delta does not come to Riga so therefore rhe need to travel to Amsterdam to get home. I have a seat on KLM tomorrow afternoon that is confirmed so if all goes well I should arrive back in PTC on Saturday afternoon.

Three Happy Campers and the Ones That Helped Make it Happen.

Deniss does not look happy in this picture because he thought he had to go in the courtroom. He says bad things have happened in court and he did not want to go in, so we let him take care of the twins while we took care of business.

Thanks to the Brain Trust, from L to R, the court secretary, Zenta the Director of the orphanage, seated is Daina our legal representative and the one that got cut off is our interpreter Ligita. This team is working very hard for all the children. Not pictured are our drivers, Edgars and Caspers. Many thanks to this crew.

We Are Family, April 25, 2007 at 3:33:33 AM EDST it became official.

Well it is now official. The judge held the hearing this morning and was able to hand down the approval immediately. It will still take until the first part of June to bring the latest addition home, but all is well. Deniss is one happy young man today. As of today he will be officially known as Deniss Fomins Hartzog. A new birth certificate and passport will be issued to reflect his new FAMILY status. More later it is nap time.

By the way, the girls in the picture were also in court today being adopted by a family in Marietta.

Deniss Fomins Hartzog, Welcome to our family.

News from Home

This is Robin. I got a call at 3:45AM from Deniss. I said hello, he said hello, then I asked "Is this my son?" I got a very happy yes as an answer. You could feel his happiness through the phone line! Then I talked to Ken for a few minutes. You could feel his happiness as well!

I talked to Ken again at about 7AM, he was back in the car headed back to Riga to begin the journey home. We have a date finally when we can pick Deniss up. The wonderful day is June 4th. Again - a longer wait than we hoped but...that is the last wait we will have!

Ken and I are officially the proud parents of three sons! Bobby 26 years old, Deniss 14 years old and Aaron 13 years old.

Aaron and I went out for a pancake breakfast to celebrate this morning.

Robin

RIGA LATVIA at NIGHT

I thought it would be a good idea to start posting pictures again, and this is one I could not resist. I am going to be leaving for Jekabpils and my court session in just a short while. Deniss will be our third son shortly after 10:00 AM.
I will take pictures and post them as soon as possible. You will also be able to meet Mike and the twins, through the blog, because is court appiontment is right after mine. Keep checking the blog.

Going to Latvia

A new day has dawned and the air is still crisp. I will not bore you for now but I am in Riga. Going to AMS airport through security, inspection and ticketing took less than thirty minutes. It is a little better organized than our TSA. The only thing that really delayed me in Riga the dog alerted on me and it took a few extra minutes to clear customs. I really think she(the dog)just smelled my dog Sam and got excited because it was my shoe she was interested in, sorry I will coming back they did not throw me in the pokey.

We were call for boarding at 8:40 sharp. I got a little worried when I went out the door and was told to get on a bus (memories of Paris). But it was meant to be because we arrived at the plane at 9:05 for a 9:15 takeoff. Did not quite make that 9:45). It was very interesting because most of the people on the flight were ordering vodka and tomatoe juice for breakfast, oh well some say tomatoe and some say vodka. I stuck to my old vice some good strong coffee, brown roll with a tomatoe and something else, I am not sure what mushed in the bread but it was good. We landed late in Riga by 45 minutes due to bad weather on the way. It was a small 100 seater jet but was not bumpy and we had a smooth landing. My taxi driver looked about 14. I started to ask for her drivers liscense but she spoke 0 English. She was a very inexperienced driver also...easy to tell when she let the cluctch out and my teeth would rattle for the biggest part of a block, every block. I remembered from my last trip and she appeared to be going the wrong way, but like I say no Engli. Well the way she went was 3 Lats cheaper than the last time so I wished I knew the she went. We were told never to pay more than 10 Lats so I was happy as a pig in poo.

Well I add more later, I am going out to do my honey do list now and wish me the best.

The posting time is in EDT it is early afternoon in Riga, seven hours ahead of ATL

News from Amsterdam

Phase II Adoption in Latvia and the Honey Do List

Well after a bumpy ride across the Atlantic a new day is upon me. I woke up on the plane with the sunshine creeping in around my mask, and the smell of something similar to breakfast, well the coffee was good. I slept most of the trip and was well rested but my back was aching when I got off the plane. I do not know if I missed something but I was off the plane and on a shuttle bus in search of a hotel within thirty minutes, it was then that I realized I did not land at JFK again. It was a short shuttle ride to a group of hotels near the Shipole Airport. The first two had no room in the inn but the third was a charm. The room is clean but very small and not that expensive when you consider where I am and Queens Day is just around the comer.

I was very bored so I took the hotel shuttle back to the airport and took a train to City Centre. Amsterdam is a really beautiful city and anyone you happen to speak to for directions was very friendly. I walked around for a couple of hours then found the train station and headed "home". The trip back was a laugh a minute. I boarded a car that happened to have a British amateur soccer team boarding, and they were a laugh a minute. I won't go into detail but it is a man thing, Bobby, Aaron and Deniss would understand but most of you would not see the humor. Oh well, more of this later.

I am back in my cubby hole now and getting ready to tuck myself in for a long winters nap. I will be leaving here in the morning before most of you get to sleep good and will be headed for Latvia. By the time I land I will be just a mere 24 hours from having my third son. He will be officially ours on Wednesday at 11:00 AM Latvian time, btw that is about 5:00 AM in Georgia. (But I can't bring him home this trip!) This whole process that started one year ago as a dream is becoming a reality. I have lost track how many different churches and people are praying for us but this is a great testimonial to the power of faith and prayer. Yes I have let my faith go weak and have had my doubts, but prayer and words from a lot of you showed me where my faith should be, and now the moment of truth is just around the corner.

Well you would think being this far away from home and very little contact with the world that I am comfortable with that I would not have a honey-do-list, but I do. Most of it is dealing with questions we need answered but the biggest on my list is going to find a bible that will be both Latvian and English, but if all fails I will come home with one in Latvian. I will be in Riga most of the day on Tuesday and should be able to accomplish most of my goal then, just say a prayer that I will be led in the right direction.

Well the eyelids are heavy and morning is fast approaching so I will close up shop and try to update you tomorrow, from the Albert Hotel in Riga.

In the beginning was the word... John 1.

Trip Number Two

This is Robin posting this time. I dropped Ken off at the airport Sunday April 22 for him to fly to Amsterdam. This is the first leg of his second trip to Latvia. Our date with the adoption court is Wednesday April 25 at 10AM. Ken will stay in Amsterdam overnight and them fly to Riga on Tuesday. He will meet up with Mike, another soon to be adoptive Dad, and then Wednesday morning they will make their way to Jekabpils. This is the week that Deniss will finally become a legal part of the family.

I didn't sleep much last night waiting on that phone call from Ken to know that he was safe and settled into a hotel. I am sure that he is quite tired as well. He said that the flight over was a bit bumpy, so his back was pretty sore. When he gets settled and can find a hot spot to log onto the internet, he will pick up on the story telling here. In the meantime, I will keep you posted.

Robin