"This Is My Family"

Well, it has been a week since we have touched down here in Riga.  We have grown accustomed to the late nights and the sunsets at 11:30 PM.  We've even grown accustomed to the rain and cool summer temperatures (well, maybe not).

We have learned the public transportation system like we are seasoned Riga-vites.  Of course it took us watching how the natives operate the transit cards to look like pros.  It also took us taking one trip on the correct bus but in the wrong direction to the end of the line and the bus driver politely telling us to get out of the bus to accomplish looking like we had swagger.

We've also picked up more and more words and phrases in Latvian. We still butcher the language but we try.  At the very least we get many people laughing with our pronunciations.

We've been here a whole seven days. Genesis tells us that God created everything in seven days.  Doesn't seem like a lot of time in the grand scheme of things.  Yet so much can happen in days, hours, minutes.

We first met Kris on Saturday afternoon.  We met him where he was, figuratively and literally.  We broke bread at Jaycee's house and met her family.  We met him on his "turf" and it worked out beautifully.  It was a great transition.  We've only know Kris for FIVE days!

Over the course of these five days we have grown closer.  We've gotten to know each other.  We've eaten together, walked together, shopped together.  We've laughed ... a lot ... together.  We've looked in bewilderment at each other when trying to decipher what the other is saying.  We've also had a few heart-to-hearts during this time - nothing major but important conversations.

Here's what we've got so far: He is fearless.  He is clever.  He is friendly.  He has a heart for family and is loyal to a fault (if you can consider that a fault).  He is high energy.  He has a very sharp sense of humor.  He pays attention to things going on around him.

Here's what else we've gotten in the past five days: a family.  We have a hodge-podge, stitched up, patchwork, duct-taped, quilt of a family.  Our ages range from 52 down to 3 months. Some of us don't understand the language the others speak.  Some don't speak the language the others understand. Some of us don't use words at all.  We live thousands of miles apart and come from many different backgrounds.  But we all share one thing - LOVE!

He was asked by his social worker if he wanted to go back to the orphanage instead of coming to America with us.  "She ask stupid questions," he said.  "I tell her 'No. This is my family.'"

We couldn't agree more.