The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The Good (Praises):

• As Mark posted earlier, we visited with our daughter for almost 90 minutes today. She was outside with her groupa and the caregivers must have seen us come in. When she saw us walk towards the play area, she came running up to us smiling. We took her walking around the orphanage grounds, stopping to swing for a while. And yes, her favorite toy of the day was the tape measure that I took to try to get her size. After about 45 minutes, she was ready to go back to her groupa so we took her back and decided to sit down on the bench to just be nearby and watch her. Within a few minutes, she looked to see if we were there and when she saw us, came running all smiles. When we left, she hugged and kissed us both. Yes, it was at her caregiver's prodding but this is the first time she has hugged Mark good-bye.
• There are some beautiful kiddos in her groupa! I know that at least one is available for adoption. He is an adorable little boy with special needs. According to Olga, there may be seven children at the orphanage who are eligible if the moratorium vote does not pass.
• Vitaly (our driver) took us to the market today to get some groceries. I think I may know a little of what it feels like to live among the rich and famous now - lol! He is kind of like having a bodyguard. I figured he would wait in the car, but he came in and kind of hovered in the background (in a good way). He tried to figure out what I was asking for and get it for me if he understood. I am so appreciative of his assistance.

The Bad (a.k.a. Lessons Learned):

• Ketchup does not make good spaghetti sauce! Tomato sauce and ketchup are the same word in Russian. I had selected what I was sure was ketchup for some hot dog type things we got. Via cell phone, Olga translated to Vitaly that I wanted tomato sauce also. So, he showed me what was a very similar package but the picture looked exactly like tomato sauce. I was happy until I added it to my ground beef, carrots, mushrooms, onions, and garlic. We may be sticking with buttered noodles with veggies and garlic next time - lol!
• Yesterday, I was scolded by one of the caretakers at the orphanage. A sweet little girl had come up to me while I was waiting for our little one to be dressed for outside. I was picking her up and swinging her - that's a no-no.
• Temper tantrums. Yes ... I can tell that our girl has a stubborn side. She is used to getting her way. She brought us an old newspaper ad with pictures. Aha! We pulled a little nursery rhyme book out of our bag to show her. She wanted to take it back to the other kids. She was very persistent so we told her no and put it away. That brought on some squealing and tears. No giving in for this mama. After a few minutes, I picked her up and we went walking. She calmed quickly and easily (so I guess that makes it a good thing, too).
• Food isn't to be wasted- Yesterday, we brought a banana to share with the little one - giving her little pieces one at a time. After a few bites, she began to throw it on the ground. So, that was the end of her treat. Today, we brought an orange and Mark gave her small pieces. On to the ground they went so again ... treat time was over with.

The Ugly (Transparency):

• I won't go into great detail about this right now - it's getting late and I am tired. But for those of you who are following in our footsteps and adopting internationally for the first time, be prepared that you will have moments where you need to rely heavily on your faith to get you through. It has nothing to do with how much you love your child and how commited you are to them. It's the reality of adoption and the reality of parenthood. It is God asking us to trust Him and to remember that His strength is made perfect in our weaknss. Yesterday was one of those days for me. I was able to spend some quiet time in prayer which provided me with much needed peace. I am also very thankful for some friends that I was able to share my heart with. They are truly a gift from God!
• One other "ugly!" The thing that I thought was a dead bug or perhaps dried leaf in the middle of our hallway floor this morning turned out to be a cockroach. Thank goodness I asked Mark to find out what it was instead of doing it myself.