Having to say goodbye to Donei's only brother......

Donei gave Andy his guitar as a present to remember Donei by

Hearts are hurting here tonight.....................                      
Its been an emotional day/night in many ways~
As I left off last time we were going to be having some time together with Donei and his little brother Andy. They arrived in town last night and we went into the city to meet them at the famous "Pizzaria." Donei said that Andy loved the Pizzaria and thought it would be a good idea to take Andy and his family there for dinner. We enjoyed meeting Andy and it was really precious to watch Donei and Andy love all over each other. Donei is so cute with his little brother~ helped him with his ketchup, let Andy climb all over him, etc.....

Last night after we got home Donei was in a talking mood and sat with me on the couch. At one point he told me that if he was older he would have adopted Andy himself. When Andy came to CLM he was only 6months old I guess. Donei was already here and had no idea he even had a brother. Donei didn't show much interest in Andy from what we are told through the years and when Andy was around 6 he was adopted. This was very hard on Donei and he has since changed his tune about his brother. Andy & his mother have been visiting Donei since Andy's adoption. They had no idea Donei was getting adopted until last week when someone here at CLM contacted Andy's mother asking them to come visit.
We then spent the day with Andy and his family today around CLM. Andy and Donei played around on the field during soccer, basketball and then the big game of volleyball between the girls and the guys.
Andy's family do not speak English and we don't speak Portuguese so communicating was a little difficult at times but we did have Mike, Mary and Viktoria helping us these past two days.
Donei gave Andy his guitar and Andy was very excited (he's 8 so we'll see how long it last!) Andy's mom cried, as I did too!
There was a few times that Andy's mom and I broke down crying...............We hurt for our boys being separated by countries. But we did exchange emails, addresses, phone numbers, skype addresses, etc....so the boys can stay in touch and hopefully again one day soon be able to see each other again.
Donei did really well saying good-bye to Andy........I'm sure it will continue to be hard on him through the years. However Regina (Andy's mom) and I held each other for awhile and cried~
Then because we are leaving tomorrow for the waterfalls "Foz" we will be gone for 3 days and Alyssa & Steph will not be returning to CLM with us. They will be leaving for home on Tuesday. Well Alyssa & Steph went upstairs in the big house to say good-bye to all the little ones.......they came back over to our house with Luana in tow.........she was crying...........She thought we were all leaving..........My heart is still broken for that little one as I sat on the floor with her in my lap. Alyssa was bawling, I was bawling, Marina (short-termer here from IL) bawling............We had to have Donei translate to her that we were not leaving and would be back on Tuesday but that Alyssa & Steph were the only ones leaving. She still was upset because Luana loves her sisters! Oh so hard................I have done pretty well with Luana these past few weeks but that little girl just ripped my heart out tonight and I know its gonna be so hard when we do have to say good-bye :(

We had Steven Curtis Chapman playing on our ipod and the song "Cinderella" came on and Steve started dancing with her in our kitchen................precious

We have been told that Luana will be liberated for Adoption in 60 days (urgh...!) and put on the list for National brazilian adoption. There doesn't seem to be anyone who knows exactly "how long" they are put on this list until they are available for International adoption. We first heard 6 months, then 1 year, etc.......
I wish we could tell her how much we DO WANT HER and we will come back if we have too~
Praying for God's peace and understanding of what is going on with Luana...............and praying for her little heart....

Off to the "Foz" first thing in the morning..........Hopefully we will have internet connection to continue to post on the blog~
Chow!

Donei and Andy

Families bonded together forever...........through the miracle of adoption