It's VERY quiet

Neither Craig nor I have had the heart to write any updates on the blog since the kids left. The night before departure was church. After church was over Rebeka cried with a friend and it was hard to get them to stop crying. Most of the way to the airport was silliness--I videod singing and stuff and Robbie slept most of the way there. At the airport, Rebeka & Robbie were reunited with friends (well Rebeka was, Robbie mostly stayed with us) and she was happy for most of the time. But the closer it got the more she started crying. Robbie said, "Robbie America!!!" over and over again. Rebeka kept saying, "Mommy!! I miss you. I love you!" It was so hard to say goodbye especially knowing we may never see them again. Craig was allowed to go to the gate with them to help Robbie and I stayed behind with our 3. I cried. Eileen tried to cheer me up and even said, "We make you happy, right?" Of course I showered her with love and said yes but explained to her that it's okay to cry when you miss someone. But I did stop crying for her! After that we went to visit with other waiting families while we waited on Craig to come back. We laughed mainly to keep ourselves from crying.
It was weird on the way home though. Very quiet and 2 empty carseats. We still haven't taken them out of the car. We decided we couldn't go home just yet so we went out to eat and then driving around looking at houses we can't afford (something we do for fun--I know we're weird) and then finally home.
Home was both a relief and sad at the same time. Eileen asked me how I felt about them being gone and I said, "I'm a little happy and a little sad." She said, "I feel exactly the same as you." Craig has had a much harder time with it than I have but I've had my moments. Like the day after they left I went to Walmart and as I was walking over to get bananas just started crying because Rebeka & Robbie liked bananas so much! It's okay to laugh--I laughed at myself afterwards too!
It is nice to have my 3 along again though. I can give them much more attention and they love it. They haven't said too much about Rebeka or Robbie. Merrick has occasionally said, "Mom, Beka hit me" as he grabs his head. "No, sweetheart, Rebeka's not here." "Beka Latvia?" "Yes." "Oh." Silly little man. We started school Monday (we're homeschooling this year) and so far it has gone mostly well. Eileen still has her strong-willed personality but for the most part she has been very obedient. And she's very smart. If she learns nothing else this year (which she will, don't worry) I hope she learns a ton about Jesus and her own personal character development in her walk with Christ.
Craig and I have been wondering why God wanted us to host Rebeka & Roberts if it wasn't to adopt them. We have been praying and asking "Why God" so many times. Well, I'm not in any way positive of an answer yet BUT we have one reason so far. At the farewell party, we met a 10 year old boy named Sergeis. He is from the same orphanage at Beka & Robbie and so he spent most of the night with our family. He was great with Robbie--helping him and playing so nicely with him. Not like most older boys. I talked with his host mom the next day about him and she told me so much great stuff about him and the few problems she's had with him. (He doesn't get along with other boys his age in the home and she has a 9 year old son that he didn't get along with.) But she said any other age kid, boys or girls, he gets along wonderfully with, which is what I saw at the party. Well, that night he came bowling with our family and then spent the night with us. He was really great. Played with everyone. Was the peacemaker if someone was arguing. And when Eileen felt left out of a game cause Rebeka wouldn't include her, he made sure he told her she could play on his team. (Then Rebeka got jealous and he said they could just all play together and things were fine again. Very good job!) He loved Merrick & Adalynn and Addie even tried to say his name which was funny to everyone. Long story short (sort of) we are hosting him at Christmas! His summer host family is going to help where they can as well! We are very excited about having him here at Christmas and are trying to focus on that! It is hard though since we still miss Rebeka & Robbie and want to find them a forever family.
Even though Rebeka said she would email us soon, we have not heard from her yet. We are very anxious to hear any news of them and hope they are doing well. We will post any updates we have as often as we can. We will also probably be starting a new blog for Sergeis' visit and will post a link to that when we do. Thanks for all the prayers----keep 'em comin'!!

Prayer Requests:

A forever family for Rebeka & Roberts

That the other boys will be nice to Robbie

That Rebeka will learn to see herself as God sees her

A peaceful Christmas visit with Sergeis