Catching up with a tornado

As a warning, that is likely how this post will come off.  I've decided in the future, I will post after each visit to the orphanage, just to save from falling too far behind and having word vomit of the mind when I do chat in more detail with people.  Suffice it to say that a lot of emails home to mom are filled with 'oh yeah', 'also' and 'P.S.'.  Turns out, I have a lot to say these days and my mind can't always sort it out!

Until tomorrow then, let's catch up on the tornado that has been the past three days...

On our first day, we got to go back for an afternoon visit which was great since much of our time the first day was in the room alongside everyone else and we didn't know guidelines about what we could and couldn't do yet so it was a very uptight visit.  When we went back, Julia walked straight up to Robert and gave him a big hug!  Then she held my hand too as we walked downstairs and actually did not want Robert to set her down at first!

We held hands and walked over to the playground and started to break out the entertainment.  Little did we know that this would be her favorite part...

Oh my word, that little lady loves a good backpack!!!  We brought along Robert's camera bag and that is where we have stashed the toys each time.  She spends much of our time together opening and closing zippers, compartments and buckles and rearranging the contents.  She absolutely is enthralled with each one and is very happy to take toys out just to immediately put them away again.  It is fascinating to watch her work her way through all the little areas of the bag.

When we went back the next morning, we met another facilitator there who helped us meet with one of her doctors there and we got to hear all about her documented medical and family history.  They had so much information on her as she's been there since she was 1 1/2 years old as both a social and literal orphan.  The positive to be taken from that is it was very helpful for us to have access to so much of her history.  I now have everything from her Apgar score when she was born to her most recent measurements in September.  She's been seen by everyone from a cardiologist to podiatrist.  Her orphanage really is quite large and impressive and it's very apparent that they love and care for these children as best they can!

After the rundown, we got to play with her more again.  Our facilitator had to take a picture of her for court so we waited in the little hallway since we're not allowed past a certain little area.  Julia had seen us standing there so as they were trying to get her to look straight ahead, she'd stop to look over at us.  I'm not going to lie--we didn't move out of sight to help them with their photography. :)  Sorry, ladies.  It did feel great to know that she'd seen us and was getting excited for us to be there!  Again, daddy got a quick hug and we both got giggles and smiles.

We played on her little playground and walked around the building a few times.  That little bundle of light just smiles and giggles at EVERYTHING!  She is so happy and giggles so easy it is hard not to just melt.

When we went back for our third visit that afternoon, our hearts both just about burst.  When they went to get her and start getting her dressed, we could hear that little giggle right away.  Then she was flat out laughing.  By the time she came into our little waiting area, she was so excited she was practically dancing and was laughing so hard she could hardly contain herself!  It was another great visit with walks and more backpack time!  We did try out the bubbles tonight and it was a big hit.  On our walk, she'd stop us every couple of yards to blow the bubbles once or twice again for her.  Then she would help us close them and off we'd go again.

This morning's visit was much more...improvised.  In a rush to get out the door, we forgot the backpack!  And boy, did she remember!  She came out of the big room and walked up and hugged me first (not that I was keeping track of course!) and then Robert.  After she hugged Robert, she immediately started looking for the bag on his back.  She was fairly disappointed and made it known that she would've preferred we brought the bag with us.  (For not speaking any real language, she certainly knows how to get her point across! :) haha)  We played MacGyver a bit and kept her entertained the full two hours with just some toilet paper from my pocket and a spare hair elastic!!  Oh and leaves---she LOVED the leaves!  I would gather some in my hands and throw them and she thought it was great.  To top it off, she wanted Robert to hold her like a baby while I threw them around.  There was something splendid about that moment in the sunshine with her giggling over something as simple as tossing fall leaves around.  It was the stuff that Walt Disney himself would put in the movies!  So, so great and heart-warming.

Tonight's visit was going great.  We showed up about 10 minutes early and she was still eating.  We waiting outside in the hallway until she was done eating.  When she came out, she was happy to see us and again ran up with that happy hug.  Before the left, the nanny grabbed a wrapped cookie for her which she was very excited to eat!  (I will be seeking those out soon!)
Gotta say, love seeing my girl like this!!

Yuuuummy!  Cute little chocolate face!
We played more back pack, enjoyed some bubbles and ran with the ball some more.  She's still continuing to open up to us and the sass in her is starting to come out a bit more.  Love that we've got another daughter with some spark to her!  What else would we expect out of our little gals?  One thing I know...I love it.  I love the liveliness in both of them.  I love her--

and her--

and I can't wait to be home with both of them!