Day 6

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Today when V greeted us, we could sense a subtle change. She was a little more open with us; she wanted to be beside me; she would reach for my hand when we were walking; she would give spontaneous hugs; and she was ready to pick at Tim first. She had definitely warmed up to us a bit more.  We didn't go straight to M this time. Instead, we went back to the city to have her picture made for her visa and passport. We didn't have room in the car for everyone for that long of a trip (about 20 minutes?), so we had to take them separately.   She and Tim continued their game of picking at each other on the way.   She giggled when Tim would just look at her.

 When we were finished, we went to M. He had a bit of a change, too.  He wasn't smiling like usual. He didn't greet us with hugs like yesterday. He didn't play or even talk. He was really just sitting quietly with us. Our translator soon told us that he was already sad about the fact that our visits would soon be over.  He had asked her how long it would be before we came back for them.  As soon as V saw him, she asked him if he wanted to play the memory game like yesterday and see if he could win this time.  He said no.

We decided to go ahead and give them today's gifts while we waited to go into the city again with M.  I gave V her bracelet that matched the one I was wearing.  She loved it. Then I gave her several other bracelets I had brought.   Finally, I gave her a new hairbrush and a pack of colored pony-tail holders. She loved them, and I was told that she really needed a new brush right now.  Tim gave M a bracelet, too.  This one was a paracord bracelet made by one of Tim's students. She made one for Tim, Colton, and Eli as well.  M had been admiring Tim's since we got here, and we had made sure Colton and Eli had been wearing theirs in the family photos we left them.  Then Tim also had an MTSU hat for him and one for himself. So, they had two matching items.   Despite his mood, he was obviously happy with the gifts.

We eventually did make it to get M's pictures done.  He was still very quiet during the trip. On the return trip, we decided to go ahead and give him the iPad to play with. We thought it would distract him from thinking too much about our week ending. We also thought that he could practice the memory game before playing with V. This finally put a smile on his face!  He played the memory game and a little bit of Angry Birds, watched a few moments of a couple of cartoons, and then found the music I had stored on it.  Thankfully, he stayed perked up the rest of the day.  But I have a feeling tomorrow will be hard since it is our last visit.

We picked up V and went to eat at a restaurant we had seen on the side of the road just before reaching the first village. M's director joined us again.  Now, some restaurants have English translations for each item on the menu. At this one, the "menu" was just a sheet of paper with no English. Tim has discovered that he likes something called a Shepherd's Salad, and they had that on the menu, so he was set. I hated to have our translator read the entire menu to me, so I settled on fried fish and French fries because she read that early on.  While we waited, M turned the tables on Tim and tried to teach him some Bulgarian.  Let's just say everyone was quite entertained.  We've got some work to do this summer.

When my food arrived, I was quite surprised to see the plate set before me.  At first it looked like a pile of black fries.  Then I noticed eyes looking back at me.  It was a pile of little, whole fish. Each one was about as long as one of your fingers. (I found out later they were European Sprats.  I'll try to post a picture later.)  I wasn't sure what to do because it looked disgusting, but I was afraid of offending someone.  Each of the kids reached over and got one and popped it in their mouths.  Tim and I joked that at least they were fried -- and anything has to be good fried. Tim also said, "It probably tastes like chicken."  finally I tried one. It actually tasted like fried catfish. So, I managed to eat about half of the plateful before the taste of grease got too heavy for me.

Later back at M's orphanage, we talked to them about names. Because of their ages, we decided to keep their given names. His sounds less American than hers, but we found out that first part of his name means kindness, and the second part means little one. So he is a little one full of kindness, and this suits him perfectly.  We did explain, though, that in our country people usually also have a middle name, and we had chosen middle names from our family since we had done that for Colton and Eli. We told V hers, and everyone seemed to like it. Next we turned to M, and he jumped in with "Ben!". This kid loves Ben-10!  We laughed, said no, and told him the named we had chosen.  He was okay with that one.   We played a few more games on the iPad before it was time to leave.

Tomorrow we must pack up everything and check out of our hotel before going to see the kids. After our visit we will be heading back to Sofia.

1)  Please pray that our last day would be a happy one.
2)  Pray for strength, especially for the kids, that they will feel a certainty that we will be back rather than a sadness that we must leave for awhile.
3)  Pray that the remainder of the process would be swift. We are told that it can take 4-5 months, and that all government offices shut down for the month of August.
4)  As usual pray for our fundraising.  We need to make up the deficit we had when we left for this trip plus raise the rest. There are a few grants that I can apply for when we return since we will have officially accepted our referral.

Several of you have mentioned being anxious to see pictures. Unfortunately I still can't post anything until the second trip.