The girls decorated this plate as a gift for Gentrit. Brooke and Ali each had two sections to decorate with a memory for Gentrit of his time spent with his American "sisters".
Soon after our friends arrived to stay with us, Valentina decided that she would be taking Ali home with her to Kosova. It became such an ongoing joke that at one point I realized that Ali REALLY thought she was going to be going to live in Kosova. I explained to her that mommy would miss her too much. But Ali continued to call Valentina "Mommy" and I was Teta ("Aunt") Lori. Here's a picture of Ali packed up in Valentina's suitcase on the morning they left for home.
Taking them to the airport was really hard. I remember having a sick feeling in my stomach on the way there. I was not ready to say goodbye, but knew that this was a very exciting new start for Gentrit and his family. I cried and cried and we stood there in the airport lobby and watched them from a distance go through security until we could not see them anymore. Here is a picture of a distant wave.
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