Pictures!!! Our First Visit :)

I think I am finally starting to feel a little more "normal"- jet lag really hit hard yesterday and I'm still not quite back to 100%, but at least I haven't had the need to lay down yet.  It took us a total of 34 hours straight of travel from leaving the region by overnight train- 12 1/2 hours back to the big city; 1 hour drive to the airport; first flight just under 3 hours to Frankfurt, Germany; and then rush to our second flight home to Dulles International- about an 8 1/2 hour flight.  Our train departed at 6:00 PM local time Wednesday, the 16th (9 hours ahead of the east coast back home), and we arrived home around 7:30 pm Eastern on Thurs. the 17th- which would be 4:00 AM Friday back in region.  We got VERY little sleep at all the entire week we were away- between the time change and our bodies refusing to cooperate- we were on the go a LOT, but when we did get a chance to lay down and catch a break- our bodies simply wouldn't let us fall asleep.  We would lay in bed for hours trying SO hard to just fall asleep- usually our bodies relenting around 2:00 am.... then we usually had to be up around 6:00 am to begin our day. So. Exhausting. But OH SO worth it!!

First, I'll begin with the two photos we received just a couple weeks ago- right before we departed to meet our precious girl.

  I am guesstimating she is around a year old in this photo

At age three

We still have to be hush about her birth name, and we are keeping it for her first name.... but I have been given permission to share her nickname!! We will be calling her Lina. :) And let me tell you- Lina is such a DOLL!!

When we arrived at the orphanage on Monday, the 14th, we were taken straight to the director's office.  We were given a chance to ask any questions we had- the doctor was brought in to address any medical questions, and then we were taken down to Lina's groupa- the room where she spends the majority if not all of her day.  As we entered the room- several children came right over and were all over us! They were so adorable, but it was quite overwhelming!  As soon as we walked into the doorway we recognized Lina right away- sitting in a chair eating an apple.  I immediately was overcome with emotion, but was able to keep it together without crying.  We made our way over to her and she was a little hesitant at first, wondering who we were and what we wanted.  We were told that Lina is more independent, preferring to play on her own and do things by herself.  I wondered how she would react to us and how comfortable she would be.

Since the other children were smothering us (I would so love to bring all of them home with me- they were SO precious) we took Lina upstairs to the psychologist's office- the photo above as well as all the other photos I have of Lina are all taken in this room.  The quality of the photos aren't very good since it was dark- the room was very warm and cozy- dim lighting, soft music playing, soft play mats on the majority of the floor as well as the ball pit, small slide, papasan chair, and a couple other chairs.  There were roped lights that blinked on and off in different patterns, and other textured little mats on the floor to offer different types of stimulation.  Lina was very comfortable in this room- we were told she comes here once a week to work with the psychologist.

I had to share this photo- Lina is full of all sorts of facial expressions!! She is so darn cute.

Lots of fun rolling back and forth on this big bouncy ball!  

As you can tell, there were several other adults in the room, and the psychologist in particular was speaking a lot to Lina.  It was a little difficult to interact with Lina at first, but at least she could see that we were ok. :)  Eventually the others backed off and Mike and I were able to interact more with her.

Lina putting the lights around me- she had them around herself at first.

What are all these people doing in here??

The magnadoodle was a HUGE hit- we were told by the caregivers that she loves to draw as well as look at books.  The moment I got the magnadoodle out of my backpack- she stopped dead in her tracks, looked at me take the pen out, and rushed over to grab it and immediately start to draw- she knew just what to do! And on top of that- she knew how to slide the lever across to erase the picture!  We were quite impressed.

Our visit ended much too soon- we only spent about a half hour with her the first day as not to overwhelm her.  But Lina wasn't ready for it to end either- she wanted nothing to do with letting go of that magnadoodle! We told them it could stay here, and initially they were going to keep it in the psychologist's office so the other children wouldn't fight over it.... but Lina was standing her ground!  She clutched it tightly, so they let her bring it back down to the groupa.  We walked her back down (she held my hand both ways) and brought her back into her groupa- and she was quick to push the others away if they tried to get the magnadoodle.  She sat on the step to a little loft in the room, and if anyone dared to disturb her while she was drawing, she lifted that little foot of hers and pushed them right away!  We said goodbye- "paka" and she waved back and said "paka" in return.  Back to the car for the bumpy 90 minute ride back to our hotel.