Wednesday

Today was our free day...nothing to do. We had breakfast at the hotel again this morning. This time I made Maria go through the line with me to see what she wanted. A nice waiter from the hotel helped us. He ended up just filling up Maria's plate with tons of food. I think she was crushing on him a little bit....she has her favorite hotel workers...he appears to one and the other is a waitress in the evening who has been great with her (more on that later). After breakfast we ended up taking a taxi to Alexander Nevski Church. Mean mom made her use her crutches again. She was able to walk up the ramp just fine and was let into the church from that door. Beautiful church and very nice people...we were able to meet the priest who was the one who made sure she was allowed to enter through the door near the ramp. After that she did need a short rest. While she and my mom sat, I went across the street to look at the lace for sale. Venders were sitting out selling their goods. Both mom and I ended up buying a few things as gifts for people back home. While mom was shopping Maria and I went to the cafe and had something to drink. Then we decided to look for a taxi and ended up taking Maria past the venders....ok, had no intention of buying anything....the child made out like a bandit....several of the venders just gave her things. All I could do is shake my head and think she is getting so spoiled! Finally got away from the church had lunch and went back to the hotel. She loves the iPad...specifically the apps Cookie Doodle and Cake Doodle. Ended up watching some tv and she was being goofy, silly girl. She loves to correct my Bulgarian and just will laugh and laugh at me....so now that I know she is ticklish, I have been getting her back when she does this. We are bonding....she is initiating all kinds of physical contact...leaning into me, touching my face, lots of eye contact. It has been great. We ended up going to dinner in the hotel again today. As we came into the eating area a waitress greeted us....the waitress Maria likes was further into the eating area...Maria walks past the first waitress right up to the one she likes and starts talking to her. This waitress has been great...the first day she did some translating for me and has done so each day since. Very nice sweet woman! Maria was silly again when getting ready for bed tonight. She is not the quiet timid girl I met in December. She is full of life and ornery! Oh, best part if today...I asked Maria "Maria happy?", Maria said "Da!" I have a very happy girl...no tears today. Someone asked I put in more details on the gotcha day....I will add some more once we are home. It is still very hard to think about the trauma and emotions the kids went through on that day.

Tuesday

Today I woke up with a happy girl. We had breakfast and were able to go to the mall. She is totally into clothes! I was a mean mom....I made her use her crutches verses her wheelchair. Ok, I did have reasons for this. I need to know how much walking she can handle at one time. I can say I was surprised. She was on her crutches from about 10:30-3:30 there were some sitting and riding in the car times during that time frame. She also continued to choose using her crutches the rest of the night. We had the doctor's appointment today which went well. Only two times where she teared up. She was very happy, silly, goofy girl tonight at bed.

Viviane and I are trying to find Maria's friend Z on the waiting child list. He is a very sweet boy who really wants to be adopted. We want to help find him a family. So, if you are interested in a smart 11 year old, who has some medical needs let one of us know. I have pictures and a video of him that I will share privately. I can't tell you how much it would mean to both of these kids for him to also have a family.

Gotcha day

Today was very hard, very emotional, not the experience I had wanted. So got to the orphanage around 10:30 this morning....found out that Maria's friend Z was being transferred to a different orphanage around 11. These two are very much like siblings....they did everything together. It was hard, emotionally daring experience. She is mourning the losses she is experiencing. There is little that I can do right now to make it better in any way....the only thing that has seemed to help is going on FB and looking at pics of other kids adopted from Bulgaria....especially Alexis who was a friend of hers from Stara Zagora. I'm so tired...it has been such a long day.

Officially in Sofia

We arrived in Sofia today around 12:40pm. After fixing the hotel arrangements (long story, you really don't want to know), we are settled in a very small hotel room. I seriously should have kept the hotel I booked and told the BG agency to deal with it. Don't have wireless in the room, so I'm not going to promise daily posts....it just might not happen. So ready to be done dealing with unprofessional people. Would not ever recommend this BG agency to anyone after what I have had to deal with this past year. Will write when I can...

Final day in Rome

Ok, I must say I'm not a good international traveler. I have no idea how you are suppose to beat jet lag...nothing is working for me at all. I woke up at 2am and was unable to fall back to sleep. So, going on little sleep right now. Due to that and the crazy heat here...we didn't do much today. We walked down to the Trevi Fountain...took lots of pictures. It was amazing to see. Too bad there were so many people there. I think we might try to go back so I can get some night pictures of it too. I'm completely loving my new camera and the pictures it is taking are beautiful!

On a more serious note, I have been thinking a lot of my friends back in Chicago. On Sunday I learned that a college friend lost his wife to cancer...I went to college with both of these amazing people. I can't imagine how Mike is dealing with this loss right now. I know he has lots of friends and family supporting him. He posted today that he and his wife had their last flight today to O'Hare....she will be laid to rest near where she grew up. I know the next few days are going to be hard for my friend's and they are very close to my heart and thoughts right now. I keep thinking about the song "Live like you are dying". How we all need to really embrace life....I can say Ruth had a very full life where she embraced others and new experiences as often as possible. She will be greatly missed.

Rome day 3

Well, we discovered yesterday that after lunch that all the crazy lines seemed to go away. So, we decided to wait till lunch time to go to the Vatican, specifically to see the Sistine chapel. Ok, what they don't tell you....if you just want to see the Sistine chapel, don't go to the Vatican...it is a good 10 minute walk from St. Peter's square. Also they need more signs that say where things are. Took us asking at least 3 different security guards before we figured out how to get to the Sistine chapel and the a tour guide was the one who really pointed us in the right direction. Ok, so once you get to where you want to be then you enter the maze that has no end. You are taken up stairs, down stairs, through hallways....look at naked statutes here and there (although they aren't quite naked, they thave modestly been covered with tiny fig leaves)....then you finally get to the chapel....it is small, really small....dark, security guards tell everyone packed in there to be quiet and no pictures or video. I think it took us about 90 minutes to get to the actual chapel and we stayed for less than 5 minutes. I will be honest I have some major issues with Catholism...and yes, I know enough about it and my own Christian beliefs to defend my stance. Although we saw many beautiful things today, it just reinforced what Chistianity isn't suppose to be about.

Rome day. 2

So, after sleeping in we decided to go to the Colosseum today. We took a bus down to the area. It was neat to see the Arch of Titus and the Arch of Constantine. There was also some archeologist who were excavating an area. It was interesting that many historical and tourist areas are sectioned off so that people cannot touch or get close to the actual site. This was the case with much of the Colosseum and the Arch of Costantine...as well as other sites we have seen while riding on the buses. Also, if you pay for a guided tour of the Colosseum you don't have to wait over an hour and a half just to get through the line o get in. We decided that waiting in line was not for us at all. The tour guide was very good and told many interesting facts about the colosseum. So glad we did the tour. It was rather hot and humid out today...so neither of us wanted to wait too long in the sun. Riding the buses was interesting too...obviously you are suppose to pay, but no one even tries and the coin machines on the buses weren't working. Got some great pictures today, will post hem when I can. Hope everyone going o he reunion this weekend has lots of fun. I will miss seeing everyone.