Seeing the Sights

Another night of restful sleep prepared us for the adventure we shared with Olivia today. We met at a park this morning where Olivia saw me and ran straight into my arms for a big hug. What a way to start my morning! After that greeting, she quickly asked for Jason’s sunglasses and began to march around with them. She discovered that when she poked Jason’s cheek (which was filled with air), he made a funny sound. That trick received many giggles.

We were only at the park a short time before we left to visit a monument in Shumen. This monument was built 30 years ago in recognition of the 1300 years of Bulgaria’s existence. When we arrived, our translator told us not to speak. We said OK, and walked slowly away from the ticket booth. There was some discussion about what to pay to enter the monument. The translator told me it would be 5 leva (Bulgarian currency) for all of us to enter (Jason, me, Olivia, the translator, the foster mother, and the social worker). I gave her the money, and when she returned, she said the ticket receptionist asked where we were from because apparently we sounded American.  Her comment was that she had given us too much of a discount because we were American. That has seemed to be the mentality since we’ve been here. The Bulgarians see “rich” Americans coming, and feel like they can gouge the prices of their products. Fortunately, our translator knows this and has been watching out for us.

After spending some time at the monument, we found a hiking trail through a nature center. This seemed to be a place where kids visited to go to camp during the summer. We could tell Olivia was getting tired, so we decided to go back into town.

She fell asleep in the car, while she was in her less than acceptable car seat. When we arrived at the park, we parked right next to an outside café. The foster mother and social worker waved us to the café and left Olivia in the car to sleep. I felt very uncomfortable leaving her, and encouraged them to roll the windows down in the car. I had not noticed that one window was already rolled down. We sat at a table where we could see the car, and Jason went over several times to check on her. I told our translator that we would be arrested in America if we left our child(ren) in the car like that (I should mention that we were able to see the car the entire time - we're not completely insane...). We enjoyed a light lunch and when Olivia woke up, she was not in the best of moods (she’ll fit right in at our house!). But, we got to spend a few more minutes with her until they left for the day.

Tomorrow we will meet later in the morning since the foster mother and Olivia have a court visit, we think to review how things are going in the home. We have been told that it will be 4-6 months before we can bring Olivia home. This was a shock to us since we have been told previously that it could be 1-2 months. It’s very frustrating, and we ask that you pray for us as we enjoy this time with her and that the goodbye’s on Friday will not be torturous.

There have been several frustrations, unexpected events, and nuisances throughout this short week. But, we have to remind ourselves that God is good, and he has given us a beautiful child in Olivia. And, if we have to endure all of this nonsense to get her home, then we will. We cannot imagine our lives without her, and we know she will fit right into the chaos that we call our lives! “Ciao” for now.