New Years Day we boarded a plane as a family of 4 and flew to Lithuania where we finally met our 2 children, Asher and Annalise. After 2 weeks, we were able to leave as a family of 6 and begin a new book (it's too big to be a new chapter!) of the life God has planned out for us!
It was an amazing time- one that none of us will ever forget. It is humbling to see how God had planned for these twins to be a part of our family- they fit in so beautifully. Thankfully my sister, Rebecca, was able to meet us in Lithuania, and help us. I highly recommend international traveling with such an amazing sister- she put Mary Poppins to shame she was THAT amazing!
Now, for what will tell this story better than any words I would use- pictures!
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| Proudly introducing Annalise and Asher! |
These pictures are all taken at the Baby House. We went every day from 10am-noon and 4:30-6:30pm. It was a very small room where we were allowed to play, but it was sweet to be able to get to know these children that we have loved and prayed for, for so long. The Baby House was incredibly clean, colorful, organized, and you could tell that the twins had been very well cared for. Annalise asked after our first visit, when she would be leaving on her airplane? She was ready to become a Perreca! Asher took a bit more time, but he certainly warmed-up to us, and especially adored his big sister, Adeline!
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| Sister's in matching shirts balancing books- Day 1 |
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| Annalise loved her Daddy from the beginning- Day 1 |
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| Asher loved his Daddy from the beginning, too- Day 1 |
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| Sisters bouncing together- Day 2 |
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| Brothers/Partners in Crime- Day 2 |
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| Asher LOVES MegaBlocks- Day 3 |
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| He really warmed-up to us- Day 3 |
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| Annalise loved the hat MarMar sent for Christmas- Day 3 |
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| Loving her Mom- Day 4 |
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| Asher loved looking at the photo books we had sent- Day 4 |
Day 5 Al and I went to Vilnius- the capitol and 2.5 hours away- and made our case to the judge, asking for her to waive the waiting period. It was nice to have some one-on-one time with Al- and Adeline and Alden had fun with Aunt Becca who stayed behind. It was a long day, but one that was well worth it! The judge said she would make her decision the next day- she could have taken 2 weeks! What a huge answer to many prayers!
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| Family Photo- Day 6- we were waiting to hear the Judge's decision on waiving the waiting period- which she did! |
Once the judge made her decision, it was a whirlwind. Al, who had traveled back to Vilnius that afternoon, was able to pick-up the decree and order new birth certificates for the twins. He spent the night in Vilnius- in the apartment we would all be coming to the next day. That was nice because he was able to do the grocery shopping and set everything up for us! He arrived back in Siauliai Thursday morning, picked Rebecca, the kids and me up, drove to the Baby House, threw a party for the twins, changed their clothes and left! As we were leaving, American NATO officers arrived to play with the twins Group. It was neat to talk with them- and a little chaotic. It was good for the twins group to have something special to distract them. Once in the car, we headed to Vilnius- with a brief stop to get the twins new birth certificates were Al and myself were listed as their parents. 1hr into the trip, we discovered that Annalise is prone to motion sickness- good thing we had an extra change of clothes for her in the car!
In Vilnius we had several items that needed to be done in order to leave- 1)passports for the twins, 2)physicals and TB test and 3)immigration interview at the US Embassy. All of these went smoothly and we were able to get everything done by Wednesday- which meant that we would leave Thursday morning! While we waited for these things to happen, we walked around the city and tried to take advantage of the warmer temps (usually around 40, which was VERY unusual). It finally got cold and snowed our last few days there- what a blessing!
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| Officially Perreca's, in Vilnius, and waiting for their passports! |
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| Both twins LOVE the bathtub- they didn't even need water in it! |
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| Annalise wearing a dress that is the same as Addie's! |
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| Asher had been obsessed with snow in pictures that we sent- so he was SUPER excited when it snowed one night in Vilnius |
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| Adeline made a snowman! |
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| Chatting- Adeline was, and still is, an amazing big sister! |
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| We visited the church- there were so many kind and helpful Christians there! |
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| Matching brothers! |
There was a large mall not far from us called The Akropolis, and it was a great place to go and walk around. It was also nice in that we were able to introduce The Real World to the twins where people spoke their language. I really do think this helped them acclimate to America. The center of this mall is a huge ice skating rink- for $14, Al and the 3 big kids all went skating- what a bargain and what memories!
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| Ready to Skate! |
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| Diva- she loves my glasses! |
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| Family photo by a beautiful church- I love how everyone is making a different face! |
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| A local paper by us will print your picture if you take a picture of you and a copy of the paper in an interesting location. Who knew this would be the best family photo of all?? |
Alden took some time warming-up to the idea of having a brother- but once he did, he was incredible! He loves teaching Asher "things" and helping him do "stuff."
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| Working on the computer together- one of the few times Asher would look at a screen |
We left for America at 3:30am- it was that or spend the night in Brussels or Frankfurt. We decided to leave in the middle of the night with the goal of making it HOME for bed! 20+hours ahead of us, we were armed with snacks, plastic bags (Annalise gets car/air sick), Uno, stickers, movies, coloring books and crayons, etc. Overall, the kids were amazing. Asher was NOT a fan of seat belts but with the right snacks, he did ok.
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| Adorable and ready to go- pretty amazing considering it's 3:30am |
We were blessed to have met another adoptive family- they adopted 3 brothers- and were able to travel back with them as far as DC. In DC, our flight to Richmond was delayed 1.5hrs- once you have traveled over 20 hours, and you know that people are waiting for you in Richmond, that 1.5hrs took for-ever! Thankfully the kids did well, we survived, and they looked adorable in their A Team shirts I had a friend make!
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| The A Team! |
There was a large crowd waiting for us when we finally arrived in Richmond- landing marked exactly 24hrs of travel. It was such a blessing to be surrounded by so many people loving on us and rejoicing over our twins having a forever family! Gifts, hugs, balloons, tears of joy- it was such a sweet time- one that I will cherish forever.
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| Welcome Home! |
This only marks the beginning of our new journey- but it is one that we know we have been called to do! Life is louder, more emotional, more joyful, more everything- and we are thankful for it all!
