Day 3 with E.

We have been gone to Bulgaria for 2 weeks! Now that we are home, I will be blogging all about our trip. Click theses links if you would like to first read about our trip to Bulgaria or meeting our daughter E or our 2nd day together.

From October 21:

We had a wonderful 3rd day visiting with E! She is sweet, funny and witty with the things she says, spunky, always cheerful and smiling, kind to the other children, and just a bundle of fun!

We spent our morning visit with her at the group home. Most of the visit was in the back yard of the orphanage pushing E. on the swing and singing to her. She loves for us to sing to her while we push her on the swing. We have been singing Itsy Bitsy Spider, Old MacDonald, B-I-N-G-O, Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes, ABC Song, and more. I have been racking my brain to think of more children's songs! By the end of the day, I thought I might loose my voice. She kept asking us to sing her another song. Her favorite is always the song with the words "I love you" which she sings along with us. If she got to a part with words that she didn't know, E. just hummed along.

Swing We Pushed E. on Behind her Group Home.  Photographed by E.

One of my favorite memories from this day was watching E. dance. Our translator Ivan, put some music on his phone on for her and she showed off for us. She was so cute clapping and singing along - sometimes with a huge smile on her face, sometimes with a look of concentration! Halfway through her dancing, she offered Andrew a hand and he began dancing with her. The first father-daughter dance! I loved watching them together! She is such a performer! She even got some twirls in and gave a bow when the song finished! After dancing with Andrew, she wanted to dance with me.

For our gift today, we gave E. a dress and leggings I had bought for her, just geussing on size, along with a matching hair bow. I just guessed on size based on the most recent height and weight measurments we had. Hoping they fit her. But even if they are too big or too small, it will be nice to see them on her so that we can know what size clothes to buy for the next trip!

We got to see her room, which she shares with a bedridden child. The room was very neat. On the wall was a calender, some crafts and artwork, and a black and white picture of her with one of her closest friends at the group home and their social worker. She has a bed with a bright yellow blanket with yellow flowers, a desk, and a cabinet for storing her clothes in. Across the hall is a bathroom for the children.

In the afternoon, we walked to a park with our translator and one of the caregivers from her group home. We got to talk with her caregiver about E.'s routine, her personality, what excites her, calms her, etc. We also were able to ask her about any questions/fears she has about coming to America and what it will be like to live in our home. We hope we can ease the transition for her by talking about it. The care givers have also done a good job of explaining the adoption process to her. 

Communication with E. ( and later with M.) was interesting. I had learned some phrases/words in Bulgarian (I love you, I will love you forever, Are you hungry, Are you thirsty, yes, no, You are beautiful, Sit Down, Stand up, Goodbye, Good morning, Hello, etc.). But our real life saver was our translator, Ivan. You could tell this was more than just a job to him. He cared for the kids and for our family. He went above and beyond to help us communicate with our children and to help them and us with bonding.

Ivan (pronounced Evon) our wonderful translator 
who did so much more than just translate. Photographed by E.

E. loves our camera. She loves to take pictures with it, to have her picture taken, and to sit and look at the pictures that have been taken with the camera. Some of the pictures she took are funny - close ups of our noses or such. But others are actually good, and captured neat moments from our trip that would have other wise gone undocumented! It is also interesting to see what exactly she wanted to photograph. It is like seeing the world through her eyes! And since she took the pictures, she isn't in them and I can share them with you!

At one point we had given Ivan the camera to take pictures and he hadn't started (probably because he was talking to us) and E told him "Come on. What are you waiting for? Start taking pictures."

Let me tell you another funny thing E said. E. told her social worker: "V., I didn't think may parents would be so young and beautiful!" (Apparently, she was expecting older, uglier parents?) Oh, you make me laugh girlie!

Andrew and I both love her so much already. For me, it has been a wonderful but strange experience to feel the love of a mother. How can I feel such a fierce protective love for someone I have only known in person for only a few days?

Click here for our 4th day spent with E.

I know you all want to see pictures of our beautiful daughter. However, I won't be sharing any pictures publicly on the internet. In order to be allowed to take pictures with E., we had to sign papers saying we wouldn't publish her name or photos online.