We started our day by heading to the Ministry of Education and having our daughter officially assigned to us. For right now, we have been given permission to visit her, but this period of time is for us to meet her and then decide if we officially want to adopt her. This period of time is useful just in case we got here and discovered that she was not the child we thought her to be. What I mean by that is that possibly she would be out of control, extremely delayed, maybe showed signs of fetal alchohol syndrome--basically anything we didn't think we could handle.
However, for us, we had the joy of her being more than we expected in a positive way. Since she had been anticipating her "guests" she was very excited. Her caregivers and her smarts prepared her very well. She was so happy!! It was like as if she had been watching her friends go through this process and had been waiting for this day all of her life and it was finally here! It was also obvious to us that she has been well taken care of and is a favorite among the staff.
I won't go into the details of our two visits with her today, but here are some of the highlights. There was nothing like that moment when we sat in the playroom waiting for her and we heard her sweet, happy voice down the hallway. I'm pretty sure that if she could've run down the hallway she would have.
Another unforgettable moment was during our second visit when she very comfortably referred to Nate as "Papa" (Daddy in Russian). She definately enjoyed her time with both of us, but for me it was also a favorite memory when I was sitting with the translator who was reading to me about what her caregivers had journaled about her feats each month of her life. I was busy scribbling away while Nate and our daughter played together. There were many laughs and smiles going on in the background and I loved it! It's amazing how smiling and laughing can surpass language barriers!
We also were very pleased to have her come walking in the door. She is walking very well and gets around independently. It's not perfect, there is definately muscle weakness, but her ability to get around is far better than we had anticipated. We expected that we would have to carry her a lot, but our visit today proved our initial thoughts to be wrong. She is very determined and has such a spunky personality that it is to her benefit. When she sets her mind to something--she accomplishes it. She doesn't let her muscle weakness get in her way. We can only imagine what good nutrition, lots of exercise, more sun and medical care will do for her.
We were surprised to learn how well they have documented her life. We were able to learn more information about her family (or lack of it), her health, her milestones and her daily life. As they shared all of this information about her, I felt like I could not write fast enough. What a blessing to be able to have all of this info about her. I am positive that we have more information about her milestones than we have about our 3rd and 4th children! Again, her caregivers have done an incredible job and we are very grateful. Someday I believe she will be too.
When we took our daughter back to her group, she was very proud to show off her family book. Apparently during lunch, she told her whole group about our time together and and told them that she likes us. One of the caregivers said that when she came into her shift, our daughter was gushing with excitement and could not wait to tell her about her Mama and Papa who came to visit her today. The one heartbreaking thing though is that she keeps telling everyone that we will be coming back tomorrow to take her home to the US. If only we could! It makes our prayers to be able to return within the next 2-3 weeks and for the 10 day waiting period to be waived, all the more urgent. Our little girl is anticipating us taking her home on a daily basis!
Tomorrow we will return to the Ministry of Education to acknowledge our intent to adopt her and we will become officially matched until we return for court. On trip 2, we will go to court to have her legally become ours and to be able to bring her home.
Until you hear from us again, please continue to pray for us...we can feel them!
II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."
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Oh, Praise the Lord for answered prayers!!! The way you described your first meeting with her and how it really exceeded all of your expectations... Thanks be to God. You are so right about how much more of a difference a little sun, therapy, and of course love will make when she's home. How sweet she sounds- telling everyone in the orphanage about you guys! :-) I can just imagine how her cute little voice sounds as she plays with her new "mama and papa!"
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