The Longest Day Ever

Whew.  It feels like we have been living one loooooong day since Wednesday.  Here’s a recap:

Wednesday, 11am: Becca wakes up from a mid morning nap, feeling so sorry for herself because it’s October and noooo court date

Wednesday, 1pm: Becca participates in Target shopping therapy, purchasing Fall clothes for Matthew and Eliana

Wednesday, 6:30pm: Becca’s phone rings, she looks at the number, and walks immediately out of the conversation she is a part of.  Within 5 minutes you can see a happy dance and Becca dragging Kyle aside at which point he checks his calendar and has a startled expression.

Wednesday, 6:45pm: Becca can be seen nearly running with a crazy looking wide eyed smile, bursting into Matthew’s church class, speaking incoherently, taking Matthew and leaving.  Matthew can also be seen, borderline hyperventilating from excitement.

Wednesday, 7:30pm-12:00am:  Becca can be seen continuing to express herself in half formed sentences, unable to make decisions, and relying on friends and packing lists to get it done.  Tickets are purchased, Kyle preaches to the middle schoolers and comes home to calmly eat and watch hockey...

Thursday, 12:00am-6:00am:  Kyle sleeps a few hours, Matthew gets a full night, Becca gets about zero hours of sleep.

Thursday, 6am-4:30pm: completion of allllll the lists, sis in law cleaning, folding laundry, providing sanity for sleep deprived, crazy Becca.

Thursday, 4:30-10:30pm:  pick up van from the shop, supper, airport drop off, Becca almost lost Kyle’s iPad and laptop at security, boarding plane

Thursday 10:30pm-6:30am(eastern standard time) flight to Munich; Kyle and Becca got maybe 3 hours sleep, Matthew got five.

Friday 6:30am-4:20pm (est.) longest layover, brief 45 min naps for Kyle and Becca 

Friday 4:20-8:00pm (est.): flight to Tbilisi; Matthew got a few hours of sleep, Becca and Kyle—not so much.

Friday, 8:30pm-12:00am (est): drove to Akhaltsikhe, this is 4:30am-8:00am local time, Saturday 

Saturday, 12:00-4:00am (est)/ 8-12 local: check in to guest house, unpack, breakfast, showers

Saturday, 4:00-6:00am/12-2 local: we met our daughter.

Let’s just camp out here in these two hours.  Our driver was having a hard time figuring out which house we were to go to.  But then, there they were, standing in the street and waving to us.  Eliana in her foster momma’s arms, hair in a ponytail up top.  She was shy at first, but Matthew quickly broke through her reserve.  For me...I expected to feel like it wasn’t real or maybe nervous or crazy excited.  Instead it just felt...normal.  Like, of course I’m here in the home of strangers, sitting on their floor playing with a little girl who will be our daughter.  Where else would I be today?  It just felt perfectly right.  Kyle’s biggest feelings were centered on how close Eliana is with her foster family and how heartbreaking the upcoming separation will be for every one.  Matthew thinks Eliana is the cutest and says he felt like “is this really happening?”

Guys, she is precious.  Funny, opinionated, smart, focused.  Sarah—she loves the backpack.  She spent soooo much time putting books in and taking them out.  I got to participate in her nap time routine with foster mom, which was so so so good.  Eliana and Matthew spent several minutes playing a hugging game where he would open his arms and she would launch herself in for a hug and then they would collapse in giggles.  She was most shy of Kyle for a little while, but by the end of our two hours she let each of us hold her briefly.

We had brief naps in the afternoon, woke up for snacks/supper, and are now preparing to sleep through the night while you guys go about your day.  Tomorrow (Sunday) we will go at the same time (12-2 local) to spend more time with Eliana.  Court is Tuesday at 3:30.  After that we will continue to visit while we wait for paperwork before taking custody and returning to Tbilisi.

Please keep the prayers coming!  There have been several other things going on behind the scenes in our personal lives back home that weigh on our hearts.  We are hoping to have WiFi connected soon so we can communicate with family more easily. In the meantime, we are thankful for technology and data to help us give brief updates!!