Another Day of "Joy"

We found out that Olivia’s given name (Radostina) means “Joy” in Bulgarian. And that is exactly how I would describe our second day with her…

We briefly met at the Social Services Bureau again this morning. When we saw Olivia, she was wearing a T-shirt and her diaper covered only with underwear. She was also wearing socks and dress shoes. I brought a bag of clothing to give to the foster mother for future use, and I desperately wanted to put a pair of pants on Olivia. However, I did not want to offend the foster mother in any way. So we spent a little time together, and then Jason and I went to a municipal office to sign and notarize a document regarding the use of pictures we take of Olivia. Afterwards, we drove to a park and met her there.

When we arrived at the park, Olivia had on a pair of shorts that I had sent in the clothing bag. I had a sigh of relief. Jason and I are both amazed at the “joy” Olivia has in life. She walks with confidence, swinging her arms and almost marching ahead of us. She is constantly laughing and smiling, finding happiness in the smallest of things. I don’t know if she had ever been on a slide before because she was unhappy about trying it out. But once she saw how fun it was, she wanted to keep doing it. She also enjoyed the swing and climbing on the playground structures, as well. As lunch and naptime approached, Jason carried Olivia on his shoulders (another thing she loves and repeatedly asks to do) back to the car, and we said our goodbyes until later in the afternoon.

One of the things we wanted to do while we were here was visit the orphanage where Olivia spent the first 3 years of her life. Fortunately, the director was kind enough to allow us entry to visit with him and tour the facility. The director was genuinely friendly, answered our questions thoroughly, and made us feel very comfortable. As we toured the orphanage, we were able to meet some of Olivia’s caretakers, and we did the best we could to thank them for taking care of our daughter. They all seemed very loving. We saw where Olivia slept and played inside and outside. I was biting the inside of my lip to stop myself from sobbing the entire time. It was obvious I was shedding tears, but I tried not to show my heartbreak to the director and caretakers. The cribs were lined up right next to each other, about 15 to 20 to a room. The room adjoining the crib room was a small playroom, which had a futon and one small cabinet of toys. This was also where the children would eat. When we stepped out onto the terrace, we could see the outside playground below us. It was very overgrown with weeds and there were a few rusty pieces of play equipment. When our visit was over, we waited outside the orphanage for a cab to take us back to town. I stood looking at the dreary building that was falling apart and reminded myself of how truly blessed we are.

After the fun and emotional morning, we sat down to lunch at a pizzeria and then went to a different park to meet Olivia again. She loved the bubbles we brought, but became disinterested in the sidewalk chalk pretty quickly. She was much too excited to run around the playground and play with mommy and daddy. You’ll see in some pictures that we bought her a pair of sunglasses to keep as her very own; however, daddy’s sunglasses were still a big hit. As evening approached, she raised her arms to me, I picked her up, and then she laid her head on my shoulder. I knew then that she was tired and it was probably time to say goodbye for the day. She also started putting her thumb in her mouth and playing with her hair….another sign of being tired. We gave kisses all around and we’ll plan on meeting her at the park again tomorrow morning.