Bead Necklaces and Beautiful Smiles

What a wonderful day! I could not have imagined it being any better, or any more different than what we expected. We thought we were going to the orphanage for a meeting with the director to ask any questions we might have, after which we would be taken to something like a cross between an interrogation room and the waiting room at the doctor's office where we would meet Yanka for the first time and spend the morning with her. That couldn't be different from what happened.

We arrived at the center and were immediately shown into the main activity room where we were met by three or four adults and about ten kids. It was immediately obvious from the smile on her face and the excitement bubbling inside her like a pressure cooker which one was Yanka, even if we hadn't already seen the pictures and videos. She was beautiful! I found myself experiencing emotions not much different from the first time I saw each of our other children. She was introduced to us as her visitors, shook our hands, and then immediately went back and gave Carolyn a huge hug. She was a little more reserved with me because she has very little interaction with men, but it was not nearly as bad as I was afraid it might be. We went into the director's office and Maggie had a quick conversation with her. Meanwhile, one of the other ladies was helping Yanka put on a coat and Yanka was already telling her we were her mommy and daddy. It turned out that they were letting us take her out by ourselves to spend time with her. We had to bring her back for lunch and a nap in the afternoon, but we picked her back up after 4 and spent a few more hours with her.

She was a little shy at first, but is very sociable, talkative, and friendly. She is very inquisitive about everything around her, and Maggie spent a good deal of the day answering questions. The weather was beautiful, so we took her to the central part of the town, a traffic-free shopping and restaurant area to walk around. She stopped at several shop windows and wanted to know what everything was, and for everyone she saw she asked about what they were doing.

I started taking pictures with my iPhone, and she immediately wanted to see them. I zoomed in on one and she loved being able to slide it around and zoom in and out. Then she started taking pictures of everyone and everything. Carolyn pulled out her phone and showed her a couple of videos of herself. She also found a couple of Severina, and Maggie asked if she might like to meet her one day. She said she would, but noted that she was very young. Like most kids, she picked up the whole iPhone thing quickly, could find her videos from the home screen, and explored the apps on both phones. From that point on, she didn't go very long without asking for one or the other of the phones.

After walking around a while, we found a cafe to get some juice and coffee. She wanted her juice in a bottle, and showed how she could pour it into a glass. She kept stirring Maggie's tea and my coffee for us and kept wanting to add sugar to my coffee for me. While we were there, Carolyn pulled out a bead kit she brought, and Yanka very diligently strung enough beads for a bracelet and necklace, easily 100 or more in all. She was so pleased with them and showed them off when she went back for lunch.

She really wanted to swing, so for our afternoon time, we brought her back to a wonderful riverfront park on the Danube right behind our hotel. It had probably ten or more small playground sets scattered along the riverfront. She went from one playground to the next, trying every slide and occasionally swinging as well. She would approach each new slide a little fearfully and wanted help both climbing and sliding. She would show more confidence on the second try, and by the third or fourth, she was on her own. She even met a friend on the playground, an older girl she apparently knew from a previous orphanage. She was very excited to tell her friend she had a mommy and daddy and her news elicited a big hug from her friend. She then introduced mommy and daddy and Maggie.

We were very impressed with the orphanage situation. It looked a little rough on the outside, but most of the buildings in town are that way. Inside was bright and cheerful and very clean. More importantly, all of the workers were very friendly and the kids all seemed truly happy. They are going out of their way to ensure we have a good opportunity to visit and they are genuinely excited for these adoption opportunities. Yanka was apparently well coached on the importance of behaving properly while out with us, and she asked is several times how she was doing. They are doing a fantastic job with the kids. Both times Yanka came back, all of the rest of the kids met her at the door to find out what she did while with us. When we dropped her off for dinner, we sent her in with a bag of tootsie pops to share with her friends. She was very popular then and ate up the attention.

The forecast for the rest of the week involves rain and snow, so we are planning some calmer indoor activities. We are looking forward to being able to slow down and start connecting with her. Today was such a whirlwind of activity that we didn't have much focused talk time. However, it was a lot of fun and I wouldn't trade it for anything.