Reflection

We are sitting here waiting for Daina to come pick us up to head to Rauna. We didn't sleep much, in fact, we slept for about 3 hours, got up for awhile and then dozed for a couple of more. During my awake time I was praying and thinking about the girls and what it will be like today to see them. I think back to the first time I saw a picture of them and something stirred in my heart. Over those next few months I prayed for them to find a family, not knowing for certain that it was us! I wanted it from the beginning but didn't let myself think it could happen until that first day we spent with them at the lake. I just wanted to hug them so bad, to tell them that no matter what had happened in the past, they deserved and would find a future full of faith, hope, and love. I watched a sulled up Agnese open up as soon as Tim started interacting with her. He was trying to learn the colors in Latvian and she giggled and smiled at him and I knew that he was meant to be her daddy. Then I watched Ryleigh and Daniela jumping in the lake together, not really able to talk to eachother very much, but nevertheless, they found a way to just have fun! I wondered that day if they noticed Reagan and thought about how we had to have adopted her. Did they even comprehend that concept of adoption? On the way home my heart was about to burst, but I didn't want to talk to Tim about it in front of Ryleigh and Reagan. And then Ryleigh started talking about how she felt, about how when she held Daniela's hand and jumped in the water, it felt like they were sisters. I told her that she was being silly, that she felt that way about Jordan, too. No, she said, it was different. She asked if we could adopt them. She was so honest and bold and I know she started praying, too. It took a few weeks for us to come together as a family and really make sure it was God's will. Every second we spent with them, it was made more clear that they were meant to be in our family. We spent so much time just trying to show them what life was like at our house, to make sure they would understand what it would be like to join the Tucker family. Tim taught them to swim at my parents' house. They saw a lot of our life, but the one thing I really wanted to do was to be the one to tuck them in at night. Stacy had that privilege as their host mom and we had to respect the rules of the hosting program. But every night when we took them home, I longed to be the one to pray with them, to tuck them in and wish them a good night's rest. So, as I am sitting here now, I am acutely aware that tonight will be that night that I have been waiting for...

God is so good! We could not have come this far in the journey to our girls if we did not have the support of our family and friends. Thanks for following us... today is the start of a new chapter and we will post again later!