Finding God's Grace: Day 4: The Embassy

Today is the final day of paperwork...We get the Visa approval from the US Embassy in Sofia. Grace and I both slept restlessly last night, so I am really tired. We got up around 8:00 when Grace woke us up saying that she wanted breakfast. I made over-easy eggs, toast, sliced bananas, juice, and a custard-filled roll. Mark has to be starving because we keep sharing with Grace. (Little does he know that it is part of the holiday plan.) We were ready for the 11:30 appointment, but we got a call postponing the appointment till 1:30, so we took an early nap. I have been carrying Grace (at her insistence) most of the time, so I have been physically tired.

Somehow they forgot to take the pictures for the Visa photo when we got the passport photos, so we stopped downtown at the photo shop. While we were there waiting, a group of dogs met on the street and started barking and chasing each other. Grace loves dogs and was watching them (and talking to them and everyone else in the store). As we were leaving, Rosi told us that Grace said, "I hate those dogs when they are laughing like that." Too cute.

Then we were off to the Embassy. It is very secure and they make you go through metal detectors and security. Mark took care of answering most of the questions while I watched Grace. I'm glad that they had some toys there. She loves building things with those large lego blocks and found a string of large blocks to pull around the big empty room. It took about an hour to finish, but we got Grace's birth certificate and the final document approval. Her visa and immigration approval will be ready for tomorrow. We really wanted to get a photo of all of us outside the Embassy, since cameras aren't allowed inside, but right after we walked out Rosi found a cab and we didn't get one. We are trying to figure out if we are going to get another cab to take us there just so we can have this photo. It seems like a lot of extra effort for something simple, but this was an important event for her adoption...We'll see.

We have been so happy with the way Grace has been bonding with us, but today put it into perspective. We are still just new caretakers. She called Rosi "mama" several times today and told her that it was alright if she left with her instead of us for a while. She is so used to having many adults caring for her, that she really doesn't understand how a mama is different than her previous "aunties."

We went straight from the Embassy to the Mall because we didn't bring enough pull-ups and we need a few more groceries for the rest of the week. It was hard to take her photo there, because she kept looking all around at the people and displays. She said "hey" to everybody who walked by her. We found out that she likes a few McDonald's french fries with her ketchup (like Daddy), she rode several escalators, rode in a grocery cart that looked like a little car, and rode for a few minutes in a 50 lev electronic car ride outside the grocery store. We also ate some Bulgarian food from the buffet and we now know that all three of us love the Bulgarian cheese that they put on Shopska salad.

We walked the 10 minutes (now 20 minutes because we let her walk) distance through the park back to the apartment with our groceries. She kept asking to be carried and we said "po kasno" which means later because my back and shoulders are killing me and we really wanted her to be tired so we can get some sleep, too. Mark said that it took several minutes to get the circulation back in his fingers after carrying those grocery bags all by himself while I walked with Grace. (Poor baby.)

Grace had such a wonderful evening at home. She was calmer and played better tonight. She organized the pattern blocks by color and shape, finished one of her lacing cards (by herself, of course), put stickers on a paper with Daddy, rode on Daddy's shoulders, played with a little flashlight in the apartment with the lights dimmed, and put magnetic stickers on a sticker book. She also figured out how the paint with water book worked and finished one of those pictures today (in addition to her normal washing the dishes and apartment routine after we eat.) Since we had already eaten supper early, we had some toast, bananas, and juice for a snack at home. When we sat down, Grace held out her hands to us because she was expecting Mark to say grace before we ate. Then after the prayer she said, "amen." Her new favorite English word is "please" and she also says, "molia please" instead of "more please" but it is close.

At bathtime tonight there were no tears at all. She sat in the water and splashed and played and poured water over her own head and giggled and smiled. You would have never known that just yesterday she was still scared. She also has been dry all the time that we have kept her in regular training pants over the past 2 days. She has only been wet at nap time and nighttime when she is wearing "pampers." She even told us that she had to go to the bathroom once today by herself. Today she decided to dress herself and it is amazing to watch. She stands on one foot to put on her socks and stands up to put on her pants. She also sings all the time. She has the sweetest voice...I just wish I knew what she was singing. Mark videotaped her singing a couple of songs. Someday she will enjoy hearing them, I'm sure.

When we put her to bed a few minutes ago, after more popcorn, she went to sleep in just a few minutes with no rocking back and forth at all!