News Flash

  I feel a BREAKING NEWS ALERT every moment I learn something new about my little girl.

 Sarah loves to be read to and inserts her own little exclamations, throughout.  I brought Brown Bear, Good Night Moon, 5 Little Monkeys, and other books, but she has her favorite!   She can turn the pages left to right, open the book, and point to the animals she recognizes.  Almost all our pictures we've taken have the book Brown Bear in them, and all of us have taken turns reading them.  It's her comfort, her routine.

 She loves her purse, necklaces, and bracelets.  She spends time taking them on and off, placing them in her purse or my red bag, and giving them to Andy.   She knows Mama's red bag is full of some good stuff.

   She is beginning to recognize her name.  I've spoken to her in both Russian and English.  Russian, at first, because this experience is overwhelming for me as an adult, let alone a 3 yr. old.  Today, she began responding to my English and her name more and more.  Andy was taking off  her outside clothes and she understood what he was asking.

      She can run, walk, climb stairs, and keep up with the best of them.  We have walked quite a bit around the grounds, and she never tires.  She was placing cards, flipping them up, and giving them to Andy and myself.  My friend, Peg at school, would be excited about her skills.

Too early to play black jack:)

     And the best, is she loves pressing her cheek to mine, to feel that skin to skin touch.    Today, she cried when we left.  She knows who we are now, and doesn't want us to leave.  I spoke, "Zofstra. "  Tomorrow...

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I've yet to figure out the orphanage schedule.  One day, we're allowed to visit in a room, another day we're pushed outside.  Yesterday afternoon, we showed up at 4pm, she came out dazed with a cookie, and then we were told to dress her for outside.  We're going with the flow, but if it gets too cold outside, we've been going back inside for the last half of of our visits. 

We met our lawyer on Wednesday, saw her Thursday, and today she had her baby.  Our translator is due the first of May, but they both have assured us that our process will go on, regardless of their status:)  Your prayers for our paperwork process are coveted.

Our translator calls the taxi for us and to pick us up, twice a day.  We looked into the bus, but we'd need to transfer buses mid-route.  Our cyrillic reading nor speaking is that good.  It's about $5 each way and takes 30 minutes by taxi to reach her orphanage.  

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The weather continues to be rainy and cold, but the forecast this weekend shows Sun.  Tomorrow, we'll be exploring this City By The Sea to capture its essence, head to the Opera, and see its beauty. 
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What a way to spend this one, precious, and wild life we have been given.  Thanks, Mary Oliver for your words. 

Paka!

P.S. Andy has been amazing at capturing Sarah's beauty from behind his lens.  Very blessed!