Day 5 and 6

So here is the day five and six recaps since I was too lazy to really go in and make the updates yesterday!

Day five started out pretty benign and stayed that way at the end of the day.  It was a sunday, so not much was really going on, even though most things were still open and doing business.  One of the things that we noticed this time that we really didn't notice last time we were doing the adoption with Lucy is how few people seem to be going to any kind of religious service of any kind.  Whether it be to an orthodox church or a synagogue or mosque or whatever.  Just would have thought there would be more activity around religious settings than there is and last time I guess we just didn't pay much attention.  Maybe we jsut didn't see it and it is happening.  Not real sure.  Just thought it was interesting to note.

Other than that note, the rest of the day was pretty straight forward.  We got up and went to see Harper at our normal time in the AM and had a nice time with her playing and having fun.  She likes the simple things in life it seems.  She likes playing with plastic bags, she likes playing with us and she likes to just generally have fun running back and forth between us and giving us big hugs.  We tried buying her a new doll the other day and a little purse with some things that would resemble minature "getting ready" stuff like a hair dryer and brush etc... She wanted nothing to do with anything we brought, except the bag.  She played with that bag for probably 45 minutes, waving it around, putting her head in it, putting it on top of her head like a hat... It was endless fun for her.  It was the classic example we all have seen before of the child loving the box more than the present inside at Christmas.... Classic...

We wrapped up the day with some singing from the phone.  We are playing a few songs for her everyday from my phone from Sesame Street or Elmo or Ralphs World or something that Ragen and Lucy love so she will start getting used to it.  She sings along sometimes with a really cute high pitched voice that makes us both laugh.  Not for very long, but she tries which is pretty cool.

Day six started off by Dena and I wanting to buy a few new clothes for her to wear, as everytime we see her she seems to have the same thing on and she really stinks something pretty fierce.  We sense that she is not getting much in teh way of baths so we thought maybe some new clothes would freshen her up a bit.  So we went around to a few clothing stores in town and tried to look around for something that would be good for going outside when it is nice yet, indoor friendly as well.  Dena found some pants and a shirt that looked good and so we picked it up along with a few other things for her.  She needed some new shoes so we picked up those as well.

When we got to the orphanage, we could not wait to put on the new clothes and see what she thought.  We had no clue what would happen next and we dropped our jaws when we saw it.... We pulled out the clothes from the bag and ended up showign them to her.  She actually held up the clothes to herself as if she was looking to see if they were big enough or if they looked good on her.  That was funny and surprising, but only a start.  Then she started to rip off her shirt that she was wearing and had no regard for whether or not it came off without tearing.  As she took off her own shirt, Dena and I raised an eyebrow and took it in, feelign pretty good that she could take off her own shirt, good progress for a child in an orphanage and having Down Syndrome.  Then what we saw next blew us away.... She actually started to put the shirt on and not just put on over her head and play around. No, she actually put the shirt all the way on and then looked at us after wards as if to say, ok, whats next!  We were stunned and blown away.  It just was incredible to us that she was doing this on her own.  We looked at each other and just laughed.  Pretty cool.  Then she proceeded to take off and put on this same shirt 3 times in a row with no help from us.  And again, this was not just a plain t shirt.  It was a longer shirt that had a hood and was not easy to tell which was the front and which was the back.  She is s sharp cookie as Grandpa Sader would say.

So after that display of sheer genius, we just were happy as clams and had some great fun with her from that point forward.  We have noticed that she likes the juice we are bringing, so we started to bring a full bottle at every session and try to give to her slowly.  She does seem to have a problem with reflux or something as everytiem we are there, she seems to spit up a bit and she does it before we give her anyting to eat or drink. Not sure if she has a snack just before we come or not, but something seems to make her a little sick everytime we are there.  Mostly when she bends down and forces pressure on her belly while reaching for something at her feet.

So we are on to day 7 in country and already itching to see our girls back home.  We miss them so very much.  They are being loved on and taken care of in awesome fashion by family, but we still miss all their little isms.... We did Skype with Ragen yesterday as Lucy was sleeping and Ragen just set her head on her hands and looked into the screen and smiled and it just melted us.  We miss them so much and are ready to just scoop up this little brown eyed beauty over here and make our way home.  But we are unsure of when that will be at this point.  We have hit some snags in the process that are making things a bit more unpredictable than planned.  So prayers would be great for a smooth ride the rest of the way and timely court date for bringing her home.

Much love to all reading...