Our Twins!

Let me start out by saying it was a long drive but well worth it! I honestly went with no expectations. I didn't want to have this white picket fence picture in my mind and then come away with a dump experience so I was prepared for anything. I really didn't have time to let questions go through my mind such as, what if they don't want to come near us or what if they don't connect with the boys we already have etc. So, I actually slept quite well all the way up until the night we met them, that night my mind was just replaying all that had happened. I will try not to drag this out and bore you but there is just so much to tell.
They live in a home with 19 kids total. When we first got there we had a few minutes with them before all the older kids came home from school, then it was chaos!! Kids everywhere, wanting there picture taken, wanting attention, wanting to touch the baby, etc. It was actually good for me to mostly be able to watch them and see what they were like. The interesting thing was we were sitting in the middle of a big play room, really not paying more attention to them then to any other kid in the room when Gheorghe came up to me and asked if we were taking he and Gina home with us. I asked him if that was what he wanted and he said ,"YES!" Two other little girls made comments, one said: "how nice for Gina and Gheorghe that they are getting parents." Another little girl asked me if Gina was going to be mine.
Gheorghe warmed up right away to Baron and Gina warmed up quickly to Zach. When it was time for us to leave for the evening Gina asked me to not leave with "the boy" referring to Zach. We told them over and over we would see them again tomorrow. The next day all the kids were at school except for 5 kids so we had a lot of alone time with them. They were all smiles and playful. We gave them their twin teddy bears, some candy, and a picture book of our family. On this day, Spencer also warmed up and became friends with Gheorghe. They were running around holding hands and playing.
We met with the director of Casa Alba and with the twins social worker. The adoption process itself won't take long compared to normal but the process of getting them placed with us may take several months...please pray for a miracle! We will go back and visit them next weekend and then they will come to us. We have to have 6 visits with them which isn't a problem except it is a 5 hour drive there and we have to cancel some church things in order to make the trip. I guess from what I understand, everything depends on the court date we get. The first one is they have to be declared adoptable by the director of Casa Alba which won't be a problem...just depends on when she gets before the judge. Then 30 days later I believe that they can request to be put in our home on the second court date. Compared to what other Americans have gone through to adopt our case seems pretty cut and dry and "painless". We will call our social worker tomorrow to see if there is anything she can possibly do to speed up the process.
Back to the visit. Gina just latched on to Zach and he loved it. Both G's love babies and so they wanted to dote on Nate but he was exhaused from no nap and from the long trip and was overwhelmed by all the attention. I was thrilled that G & G seemed to have fun with our family and questioned us about coming home with us. We were told that on our next visit we can tell them we want to be their family. I am so excited for that. We will go next Friday and Saturday. Pray that God continues to give us peace with all the traveling and red tape we must go through. Pray also for this transition phase and that they can learn quickly how a family works. Pray also that after we tell them we will be their parents that they can accept and understand why we can't just up and take them home with us and pray for a miracle as far as getting them into our home quickly.