The End is Almost Here...maybe

Well today was the big day. We went for our recomendation from the Orphan Court, which has been responsible for Deniss since 1998, to see if they would vote in favor of the adoption moving forward. YES! It was a unamious vote in favor of moving forward with the adoption process. Now it is time to hurry up and wait again. We will be traveling back to ATL tomorrow, Wednesday I believe it is and be arriving home about 9:00 PM.

The purpose of the last two weeks was for the Orphan Court staff to determine if this adoption is in the best interest of Deniss. It was a joyous moment when the votes were cast and smiles were shown by all. We were very encouraged by the way the staff treated Deniss and his new family throughout the whole process. The Director of the Orphan Court told us he would do all in his power to speed the process up. Paper work was filed with Family Court while we waited. If they can find the Judge that makes and writes the final decision in the next few days I will be back In Latvia the first part of March, and then twenty one days later I will return and do the embassy paperwork and bring our new son home to America. He will be an American citizen with his new name that he chose for himself. Deniss Fomins Hartzog. He is very proud of his new name and family.

After all papers were signed and we were finishing up with our business, the Orphan Court Director requested that LeAnn of New Horizons for Children, the agency we are using, to please try to find more Americans to adopt these Latvian children. You cannot believe how I was feeling when he said that. And rumor has it that there will be at least fifty children from Latvia on this summers hosting program. Please pray that this comes to pass, because is that not why we the Hartzog's are where we are now. Thanks all for the prayers and support.

We have also been informed another family has their hearing coming up on February 23rd. They will be adopting three children and already have four bio kids. Amazing. I have just checked my email and someone had read our blog that is adopting from the same home that Deniss is in and is not part of our group. Small world and thank Al Gore for inventing the internet.

I could tell you these last two weeks have been easy but it would be a lie. I know how Deniss felt not hearing his native tongue for days on in. It is very hard trying to survive in a country that you do not speak the language. You are staying in the best hotel, and only hotel the town has to offer and can't get basic services such as a meal from the open restaurant in the evening. The waitress would say " not working" fifty percent of the time we went in for dinner. There was one other restaurant within walking distance that we could eat in. It was a nice place to eat, the food was good, but we were never sure what we ordered. I told Robin it was either pigeon or rabbit. She ordered what she thought was a chicken plate and it turned out to be fish, at least that what we think it was, it could have been spoiled pigeon. It was also very inconvienient to walk to this place when the temperature hovered between -10 and 0 F almost every evening. It snowed the first few days we were there and then the sidewalks turned to ice, and were very slippery. We made it this far with no serious slips or falls, at least no bumps or bruises to show for the slips.

Inconvienient yes. Was it worth it? You tell me when we arrive home and we tell you of the many joyous experiences we have had with Deniss, his friends and caregivers. Zenta the orphanage director, and another young man named Edgars, took us on another trip to Riga on Sunday. We had a very nice meal then the boys were able to ice skate for a couple of hours. No Robin and I were wimps and sat back and watched. It was so cold out that the windows inside the car froze over as we traveled to Riga. I know I keep drifting back to the cold, but I will tell you, -5 to 0 is warmer in Latvia than 25 in ATL. Go figure but it is. The cold did not bother me near as bad in Latvia as it does in Jawga.

It is almost midnight here so I will close for now, so I can get up at 4:00 AM and catch the plane back to Jawga. Love all you guys and girls, keep those cards and letters coming.