Albania Days 33 & 34

Day 33:

Thank you to everyone that is praying and specifically those sending scriptures and words from the Lord. We have written these out and they are posted on our fridge so we can constantly be reminded that: THE LORD IS VICTORIOUS, and WE HAVE AN ARMY WITH US in you!

Today had it's own kind of emotional stress. Adoption/transitional counseling started for my girly. One of the major issues I have been concerned about is her awareness of what adoption actually is. As she has been in institutional care for the length of her life she has AND has an intellectual delay it seems the topic of first or birth families has never come up. And for the last 7 years she has been in an orphanage that hosts very few adoptions if any, so she hasn't seen her friends leave with their new families. As hard as I knew it would be, it was important for me to be apart of the conversation that I am indeed not her birth mother, but I am her absolute forever mommy...forever, and ever, and ever.  We will tread the waters lightly in the coming weeks as counseling continues--careful to present facts at a level she understands and not to overwhelm her heart. All I can pray is: Holy Spirit, come. This is Your expertise.  

On a lighter note, it has been unseasonably cool the last few days with torrential rain storms. With 30+ days of humidity and heat, we've actually been wearing pants and light jackets this week!  Next week that all changes...110+degrees. In Celsius that is Melt Your Brains-degrees hot.


Day 34:
My girly was playing with markers and paper today and excitedly copied "MOM" for the first time! My sweet girl hasn't had been exposed to academics and knows only the letters in her name so we are starting from scratch...which means celebrating every victory from the very beginning. Today she copied MOM, drew some fruit and a happy face!  Great job!!!  She has so much potential locked up in that noggin of hers. I am so very excited to water it and see it blossom.

As you can imagine, we are emotionally exhausted and when we were notified of our 3 week delay early this week, our agency asked us to consider flying back to Seattle getting some R&R and coming back.  My immediate response was NO, I'm not leaving my daughter. However, with good counsel we decided that while it would be best that we stay in Albania we do need to step away for a few days and let the Lord minister to our minds and bodies as we prepare for the month that lays beyond our mid-July court date. My girly has a pre-scheduled day camp next week that she has been looking forward to so the timing seemed perfect (also, it is predicted to be 110 degrees for several days next week--we are going to NEED a/c!)  So this will be our last post for a few days as we retreat, regroup and refresh. I would ask that you continue to intercede for us! Our agency has an active plan to address some of the demands of the judge and will be working on those while we step away. We need the heart of this judge to drastically change (and to kneel before the Judge of all Judges).   Thank you so very much for being on this journey with us. Te dua! (We love you!) We will update again soon...

 My two crazy kids with their tongues sticking out!

Albania Days 31 & 32

Day 31:

We continue to pray and seek the Lord's guidance on how to approach the 3.5 additional weeks ahead of us. I am feeling more at peace and praying that no moment is wasted during our time here. Our Bethany team as well as the Sisters here and to the North are covering us in prayer. I am so thankful that the Sisters and I can join together in this way to seek the Lord's will on my daughter's behalf. 

After a morning visit with my girly:

our local friends surprise called us with a field trip to the Roman Road right outside of town. OH MY. What a beautiful experience to see and walk along the Egnatian highway. The Apostle Paul would have walked this path and bridge (reinforced about 600 years ago) near 59AD:

"From Jerusalem and around about even until Illyricum (Albania), I have fully preached the gospel of Christ" (Romans 15:19)

  My token foot photo...gypsy man sandals on the Roman Road:

Our friend Marjan. He and his wife have been such a blessing to us!

 There is no power in the rocks or path that we saw today, but to visit a place that your spiritual great-great-great-great x 10 grandpa walked to tell others about our Savior is a special event. (Even more so, when you get to throw rocks in the river!)

Day 32:

My girly has been lovingly cared for by the Sisters of Charity (Mother's Theresa's order) since shortly after her birth. I admit I knew very little about the order before arriving here, but I have been simply overwhelmed by the Sisters and how their hearts overflow with love for Jesus. One young Sister shared "Mother Theresa taught even when I am washing the dishes for the babies I am showing my love for Jesus." That this love was shared with my precious girl melts my heart.

Due to some unusual circumstances, the Mother Superior over Albania presented our adoption case to the Mother Superior General in India (the nun who assumed Mother Theresa's position when she died). This is not normal protocol but opened an opportunity to pray for the Sisters and seek a heart of partnered ministry with them. Today the Mother Superior General 'just happened" to make her first visit to Albania...to Elbasan...to my girl's orphanage. Knowing that I would be present she asked for a meeting. This is of course a great honor and it was a pleasure to share my heart for adoption and my sweet girl in her favorite blue dress. We continue to pray for the Sisters as they even are praying for us.  

(L-R: Mother Superior over the orphanage, Mother Superior General, me, Mother Superior over Albania)

This morning we also received word that our judge is continuing to make some unprecedented and very unusual (I would even argue ridiculous) demands regarding our case. Please forgive the vagueness as I protect my daughter's story, but we have the next 2 weeks to figure out a gracious and legal way to respond to the demands.  Our apartment spent the afternoon in prayer and worship seeking the Lord's hand in these matters. We know this---this is not about the judge (although we pray that his heart is softened towards us and more importantly the Lord), this is spiritual warfare; battles being fought in the heavens as we declare value, worth and a loving future over a precious girl. My little family is small but hopefully mighty as we obey God's call to care for the widow and the orphan...and hell hates redemption. 

Will you please intercede for us?  We need miraculous movement on multiple fronts. We need mountains in hearts to move and seas of legalities to be split---something God promised to do from the start of our journey. We also need things to be expedited to avoid us having to leave Albania and return at a later date to finish the adoption process. This would not be good for ANYONE. 

I believe God is bigger and stronger than any human judge and any powers or principalities we cannot see. We are declaring HIS power over our adoption journey even now.

(God's beautiful promises revealed in the sunset tonight)

Albania Days 29 & 30

Day 29:

We finally have a court date!  BUT it is not the quick news we had been hoping for. For some reason our judge has decided his schedule is quite busy running up to the August holiday month so he has chosen to schedule us for mid July...more than three weeks from now.  Sigh. He has also requested some unprecedented details regarding how my girl became available for adoption, which has left me scrambling to pray for my girly's precious heart in a way that I had not done before. Our adoption agency is scratching their heads, the Sisters are equally frustrated and I have had a gamete of emotions today. Six more weeks in country, how are we going to do this?!
In the midst of so many things that I do not understand or control I am brought back to: What DO I know?  I know this:

• My girl is a worthy, valued, loved and precious child of God. She is worthy of ALL that I can give to the Lord on her behalf. 
• God clearly ordained this adoption and promised to move mountains & split seas if I obey.
• My emotions & circumstances do not dictate decision making. That is the Holy Spirit's job. 
• We have prayed for the Lord to be glorified through this entire process and whether we walk the Red Sea Road on dry ground or climb the highest peak by God's grace, the Lord can and will be glorified through it all. 

Our agency has asked us to consider some hard decisions about our time here over the next three weeks while we wait for the court date. We are praying now and ask you to do the same even as I don't reveal all the details. We knew this journey would not be rainbows and unicorns, but GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME. Please join us in declaring this as we graciously walk through this adoption process.

In other news, Sweet Girl came with us to get gelato today. This is her response to anything she approves of...goof ball!

Day 30:

Giving my girl my phone to play with seems to be the highlight of many of her days. She often just roams the hallways of the orphanage taking photos and video of seemingly random things, leaving me 150-200 photos to delete. But I also enjoy seeing life from her perspective--the Sisters, workers and kids in her life. Pockets of the orphanage that often aren't on display. She delights in showing me her work, describing each person and detail. I can't show many of these photos as they include faces of children in State care, but I do treasure them...and the girl taking them. Perhaps photography is in her future?

This afternoon we met up with our local friends and a new missionary friend from England. It was relaxing to chat and walk through the city that they call home. We shared a list of things that we have already seen in Elbasan. The one thing we were missing was the Ethnographic Museum reviewing the important commercial center that Elbasan was in the 17th century, exporting it's leather, fabrics and silverwork through the Ottoman Empire. 

Relics of Ottoman and Roman empire are not uncommon about town (Rumor is an old Roman road in just outside of town that historians are nearly certain Apostle Paul took on his treks from Greece through Macedonia to Rome. We made our local friends promise to take us there!):

Annie modeled some of the textiles made in Elbasan:

Intricately carved wooden ceiling and brazier in the middle of the floor:

Isaac was particularly proud of the Roman frescoes:

(This boy...I tell ya')

Albania Days 27 & 28

Day 27:

Today felt busy!  Our little apartment tribe had just joked the night before that having no more than two things on our daily schedule was starting to feel normal: 1. Visit Orphanage, 2. To go store.

But today the events just kept rolling in!

Started by visiting my girly. She was still excited about yesterday's home visit bragging to the Sisters that she got to watch videos of herself on my computer. Just like her brother...no self esteem issues! There is a super special visitor coming to the orphanage on Wednesday evening and all the Sisters and children are atwitter getting prepared. (I'll share about that later in the week). My girly and the preschoolers are preparing a presentation of "Itsy Bitsy Spider". One of the Sisters had overheard Annie singing it to the toddlers and were absolutely fascinated with such a song!  Annie wrote down the lyrics and taught the Sisters who are proudly teaching the children to perform.  My girly is still working on the words in English but she certainly has the tune down. 

Our YWAM missionary friend took us to do a quick errand, which lead to lunch, which lead to a little hike on Krafte Hill above Elbasan amongst the bunkers and tunnels of WW2. I was proud of both my mother and son who schleped up and around the craggy hill in the heat and sticker bushes. Certainly proud of Annie who willingly went INTO the tunnels and crawled through 100yards to the next opening. (And proud of myself, who at one point had 50lb backpack on my back and a 50lb child on my front navigating an incline in my gypsy man sandals!)

Isaac and Annie about 30 feet into one of the tunnels. All built by the Communist leader of Albania who was a bit concerned about his neighbors.

Annie climbing out of one of the tunnels (full of bats!)

Our YWAM missionary friends (missing husband and oldest son):

Our day ended at a pre-planned weekly meal out (something to look forward to every week) at a local Greek restaurant. We had been told that the food here was better than the food in Greece! I've never been to Greece (a bucket list item) but man oh man the food!  An eight course meal and we nearly had to roll out of the restaurant. Tzatziki, fresh bread, Greek salad, baked feta with jam, fried cheese balls, zuchini & egg plant cakes, stuffed grape leaves, chicken & mushrooms & cream sauce baked in phylo dough, a twice baked potato...and desert!  Good lord. I don't know how I've lived 40 years without a daily intake of Mediterranean food but I will make sure that changes when we get home!!

Day 28:

We were welcomed to the church of our new local friends. This Sunday just happened to be a joint service with three other area churches of Elbasan---all sharing a heart for God to move mightily in their city. It was an honor to worship with them, even while we sang in English and they in Albanian (and at one point ALL in Hebrew!) I could feel the Spirit preparing our hearts for that day when EVERY tongue and EVERY nation are worshiping at the foot of our Heavenly Father.

Our evening visit to my girly ended up being quite the event! One of the little guys was celebrating his second birthday and a party was in full gear. My girly was dressed in her best sparkly dress and helped decorate with balloons and streamers. It warmed my heart to see the Sisters put so much effort into celebrating this little life...and to know that my girl had many a party just like this while living at this very orphanage in her early years.  Thank you Sisters. You instilled value and worth in my child <3
While my oldest absconded with my phone (silly girl!):

my mother and youngest and I helped feed the little ones their dinner. Isaac kissed and hugged each one in their highchairs then sat calmly next to a sweet one with notable delays and sang her Jesus Loves Me while helping with her dinner. My mother was behind us manning two hungry, screaming babies and my heart melted for just a minute. This, right here: My little family ministering to those who needed it most; loving on the Lord's most precious; serving the Sisters as they are the arms of Jesus each and every day; planting seeds in my son's heart that a missions trip is in the every day moments we choose to serve the Lord by loving others. I pray that this is nothing but normal for my children.

As we are starting our fifth week in Albania we continue to pray eagerly for our judge and for quick movement of our case. It appears that our initial estimate to be in country for 4-6 weeks will not be reality, but we are anxious to use every moment we have here to develop relationships with my daughter, the Sisters, local friends and even those we pass during out day: a couple of weeks ago, we were walking down the street, Annie pushing Isaac in his bright orange BOB stroller about 3 yards in front of my mother & I, when a local man came running full sprint from behind me and in front of the stroller and then grabbing Isaac.  My momma-bear reaction went into high gear!  As I leaped the 10 feet to intervene I saw the man had tears in his eyes...and an ice cream bar in his hands giving it to Isaac. Through signs and gestures he explained he had a son with Down syndrome and he sees us walking every day. He wanted to bless us. Oh, well, then...thank you sir! (but please know that there are better ways to initiate conversation with three women and a child in a stroller!) We wave to him every day now with a knowing smile--we are the same, we love deeper because of Down syndrome. These are the quiet conversations, a testimony to God's call on our lives, that we are having here in Albania. No moment is wasted. 

(But we continue to pray for our judge and QUICK movement of our case)

Albania Days 25 & 26

Day 25:

A much better day for my girly. Yesterday when I left her she was upset and hiding on her bed. All I could do was sit by her and pray and tell her how much I loved her.  Today she met me at the door with a huge hug and smile. When I asked her if she'd like to come with us to eat some byreke at our friend's shop, she literally skip-ran down the hallway to tell all the Sisters with an excited giggle: Byreke with MOMMY!  Oh my girl, that I can show you God's faithful love for us all. Mommy always comes back. Father God is ALWAYS there for us. <3 

 This second photo cracks me up!  "What IS he doing?!?!"  He is being Isaac, my dear. He's being Isaac.

We gobbled up our byreke and played some CandyLand at the orphanage. Girly is learning her colors FAST. And Isaac was able to help correct the mistakes...from across the room while on timeout. Way to multitask Isaac. 

In the evening our new friends brought us to Fish City, a seafood processing plant just out of the city limits that has been turned into garden grounds and restaurant. It was a perfectly cool and breezy evening, perfect for exploring and fellowship.

A massive sculpture of Skandenbeg. This dude is seriously revered here. 

Annie took another opportunity to climb up the statue--she is getting good at this!

 The statue itself is built on top of an old Communist tank bunker:

 Old WW2 bunkers and warehouses:

Day 26:

Another good day for my girl. We had a little chat before we left the orphanage about coming back to "the Mother's house" after our visit. She was solemn but understood and even brought one of her friends from Shkodra back to the apartment with us for lunch and a movie. I loved seeing her give Sophia a tour of her 'home'---she is so proud of our little Albanian abode.

We ate, learned the word QUESADILLA *wink*, played some games and watched Cinderella. She is learning her place in the family and my prayer is that her heart is learning to trust that place will never go away. In a life that has never known permanence, relaxing into HOME is a learned skilled.

Still no word from our judge. Our Sassy-Polish-Sister-Friend welcomed herself into the courthouse on Tuesday and found the judge in the hallway. When he said he was late for a court case she responded with "Perfect. You have time to meet me in your office!"  This nun knows the power of her robes!!  Unfortunately, he didn't offer any new information so we continue to wait...and pray for forward movement. Thank you for joining us in claiming open doors and continued favor with the court <3