Yes, it’s true.  We took a five year break from any and all things related to adding to our family in part because Khloe was a very hard adjustment (just being real) and, let’s face it, having three kids is hard enough to manage as it is.

So here is the big announcement: we are excited to inform all of you that our family, God willing, will all be traveling to Latvia this summer to adopt a little boy ages 4-7!  Normally, Latvia does not allow the adoption of one young child (current law is ages nine or above for one child, but they allow you to adopt younger children of a sibling group of three or more).  However, through a lot of time, effort, and energy I was able to get my husband Erik his Latvian citizenship this summer, so now he is a dual citizen!  Because he is now an official citizen of Latvia, we can adopt a much younger, healthier child.  How cool is that?!

Erik now brags that because he is a Latvian citizen, he is going to make Latvia great again or join the Latvian Olympic team in whatever capacity they need a middle-aged man who is in average shape.  🙂

I completed all the paperwork (which was a part-time job in itself) and now we are waiting for our referral.  We have been told by our agency that we should receive up to three referrals to choose from.  I am both nervous and exited about this.  How weird will it be to look at three little faces, read some information about them, and then have to choose between the three?!  But that is the process, or so we’ve been told.   We then travel to meet the little boy and have to stay in country for about a month, when we can travel back with him.  Erik and I then have to return to Latvia two more times to complete the process.

So why Latvia and how was I able to get my hubby citizenship?  My husband’s side of the family came over as World War II refugees and his mom and grandma have an amazing story of courage, survival, and down-right miracles which I started on this blog here.

We are inviting Irena, Erik’s mom, the little girl in the story, to travel with us because she speaks fluent Latvian and it would be great to have her help.  Because Irena fled during the war, her descendants are still eligible to receive citizenship!  Citizenship in this case allows us to be put on a “special list” to be able to adopt a younger kiddo.

International adoption can be very hard. We found Khloe in Ukraine, literally while driving back to the Kiev airport empty handed after what we thought was a ‘failed’ adoption experience. That was a challenging adoption highlighted by Khloe ultimately leaving the orphanage in tears because she did not want to go with Erik and cursing him out in Russian for the next several hundred miles. You can read our live blog of that experience here.

In closing, we would very much appreciate your prayers for a boring and smooth process (no shut downs or changes), that God would lead us to one very special little boy who is a wonderful fit for our family, the right timing to travel, and God’s grace and help along the way.

Thank you friends and family for your support!