Bringing Our Warrior Home: Trip 1 - Day 6

Today we went to the zoo. We rode the 11 tram to Mesa Park and walked over to the Riga Zoo. While on the tram, we met an American family from Idaho who was here visiting family in L@tvia. I talked with them for the whole tram ride and didn't really get to see any of the sights. The tram was very crowded and Warrior did not like all of the people and noise. When we arrived at Mesa Park, Warrior was upset for a half hour or so. We questioned whether we would be able to get through the zoo experience.

The zoo was interesting to say the least. Not very big, but a fair number of animals. The park was older (buildings and walkways) than zoos we've grown up with in America. Most of the animals appeared to be fed the same thing (green hay and tree branches). We saw some unusual animals such as camels and rare breed horses. We had packed a lunch and ate it in a small picnic area by the lake (Kisezers). It was cold and windy today (high in the low 60's, but we managed to dodge the rain today).

Towards the end of our visit at the zoo, an American came up to us and introduced himself. He had heard our 'American accents' and decided to introduce himself. He is a college student from Colorado going to school in Wyoming doing mission work for the summer with "The Navigators", an international interdenominational Christian ministry. He and some other college students he's travelling with were travelling to build relationships with other Christians in Belgium and Poland. He asked how he could specifically pray for us, and we let him know how he could! Specifically for our adoption and the challenges that we're facing this go-round with Warrior.

We're looking at renting a van for a few days next week so we can get out of the city and see this spectacular country. We'll probably drive northeast from Riga towards the Estonia border.

Today was a little bit better in terms of behavior than Friday, but we still had some major challenges with Warrior. This morning we had someone try to speak to him in L@tvian on the phone (a teenager being adopted by another American family). But, he wouldn't respond to her. We've contacted our L@tvian lawyer to see if she can move up our first social worker visit. We need someone to talk with him in L@tvian to let him know that this behavior is not going to get him a ticket to America. We appreciate everyone's continued prayers and support.