It is quite outside in the morning which is odd since the nights are so loud. The loud stray dog bark-a-thon has been replaced by sweetly singing birds and squawking seagulls. It seems the joy-veal population of Bulgarians have not emerged from their homes yet to walk the streets laughing and boisterously speaking to one another.
I regret not being able to post yesterday to update you all, however we opted for the most important things to get done and once those things happened it was after midnight here. Grace was able to update her blog and add pictures and videos of Sam. If you haven't watched them yet you need to!! I got to see my son yesterday as well via skype...he waved at me and gave me a kiss!
As I write it is 6:48am on Tuesday morning. Yesterday we got to visit the orphanage for the first time. We took a lot of really deep breathes before we went in as we had no idea what we would find there. Being in a country where you can't understand the language or read it you kind of learn to go on feel, it felt very intense. Staff walked in and out, our translator told us to sit in the entryway because it could be a moment before they were ready to take us in but none of us wanted to sit. Even following a staff member to the elevator seemed confusing, I will talk more about the elevators in this country later!!! We were put in a very small room, it was the four of us, Grace and I, the translator and another father who is adopting 3 boys from this orphanage. As we were waiting nervously for them to bring the children in, one of the kids Grace recognized was zooming by on a wheely thing. We called his name and it was confirmed by the woman following him around. I began getting his attention and taking pictures and that was when the climate got even more intense. Several staff people appeared out of no where speaking loudly and with agitated motions...then the words that we dreaded, no pictures. Our translator told us we couldn't take any pictures of this video. all my dreams of capturing Graces first moments with this child flew out the window. HOWEVER i will tell you, she glowed like a mother holding her infant for the first time after a 30 hour labor. The joy was written all over her, she just kept saying over and over again, "she is perfect, Anna, she is perfect!" And she is.
Grace had prepared herself for the worst and went into this meeting not expecting too much. And perhaps that is why our socks where blown off. Sam is so expressive and she plays with Grace so well. They share a language of smiles and laughs!! Our lawyer fixed our problem and by the second visit yesterday we were able to take pictures and shoot video. I filled up the whole memory card on that visit!!! Our afternoon visit was amazing, the tense staff had disappeared and in their place were the sweetest women in the world. The babas began parading by our room to say hello carrying kids being adopted by other moms in the states. These babas were dedicated women, in fact later that day we watched a video of one of them giving up a child who was going home to America with his adopted family and you could hear her sobbing as she let him go. A few of the kids we saw were ones we were hoping to check on so this was a huge blessing. I think they were waiting for me to take pictures but after our battle I wasn't going to risk taking pictures of other people's kids :(.
We are hopeful for some awesome visits today. I am going to try to upload my videos of Grace's before and after interviews but I won't be able to imbed them in this blog as it could take a while for them to load. From the heart of Bulgaria I write you....pray for us, pray for these kids, pray for the 3 boys being adopted by the other american here. Two of them are very sick and one of them is VERY small....I am still shocked by their sizes....it is hard to take. The changes in administration should be helping pray that they are!!!! Also pray that Grace and I will be able to sleep, mostly Grace while I got in 5-6 hours she only had about 2 and in order to turn herself around she will have to have a long day with no naps today!!!
love you all and miss you.
Thank you so much for your posts. It is nice to know what is going on "inside" even though it makes my heart sink. I know you are such a blessing to Grace, therefore a blessing to our entire family as well!! I am so glad you were able to see your boy and that he blew kisses at you. :) I'll be praying that you both get some rest.
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