She is wonderful!

We were picked up at 9:00 today by Petko and Rose (pronounced Rosie). When we arrived at the orphanage, we met with the assistant director who has had primary care of Gracie since she was 8 months old. She reviewed all of the medical information including the fact that she doesn't think that the doctor will continue her daily Singulair meds because she is doing so well. We found out that all of the directors are physicians in the baby houses and that she is due to be moved to a new orphanage for ages 4-7, but will stay here until we complete her adoption. She also had a urinalysis last week and all results were completely normal. Yeah!

During our visit, they brough Gracie in and she started jumping around and acting silly. Then she settled down and came over to see us. She sat on my lap and Mark's and she really does only weigh 21 pounds. She is a feather. They had her dressed up in this little sundress and hat and little pink shoes (obuvki) that she kept showing us. They had told her that she was going to meet someone special, but she called us mama and tatko (daddy) immediately. A little later we went outdoors and they separated us from her playgroup because all of the kids were crowding around and trying to get our attention. Every child was adorable and it just broke my heart. Gracie, who they call Dani (prounouced Donnie), kept telling the other kids that Tatko was pushing the swing and mommy gave her water...She is active, walks and runs well, and talks constantly. Even though she is one of the oldest kids, she is also the smallest.

She loved the bubbles, but she wanted to hold the bottle and the wand herself and kept putting her lips up to the wand when she would blow. She had bubble soap all over her face. She loves to swing and moved from one to the other where she would sit for 5 0r 10 minutes at a time. She tried to ride a little tricycle but the peddles were broken and she had to push it with her feet. Her knee is all scabbed up and when I asked her, "Boli li te?" (Does it hurt?), she shook her head "no" which means "yes." It really throws me off when people here shake their heads the opposite way.

When the other kids went in for lunch, she asked if she could go for a ride in the car. Finally, she went in for lunch, gave us all hugs and kisses, and we left. We get to go back from 4:30-6:00 today and will have the same schedule for Tuesday through Friday. We need to get more activities to take with us. She is a busy little girl.

We went to a large mall for lunch (mostly international stores) and had shopka salad, sausage, peppers stuffed with cheese and tomatoes, and a creamed chicken and potato stew which were all typical Bulgarian dishes. I could definitely adapt to Bulgarian food. It was delicious. Well, Mark is napping and I should, too...jetlag...Enjoy a few photos from today!

Here is our first photo together!

Tatko and Gracie

Bubbles taste bad.

This is her bed.