Albania Days 25 & 26

Day 25:

A much better day for my girly. Yesterday when I left her she was upset and hiding on her bed. All I could do was sit by her and pray and tell her how much I loved her.  Today she met me at the door with a huge hug and smile. When I asked her if she'd like to come with us to eat some byreke at our friend's shop, she literally skip-ran down the hallway to tell all the Sisters with an excited giggle: Byreke with MOMMY!  Oh my girl, that I can show you God's faithful love for us all. Mommy always comes back. Father God is ALWAYS there for us. <3 

 This second photo cracks me up!  "What IS he doing?!?!"  He is being Isaac, my dear. He's being Isaac.

We gobbled up our byreke and played some CandyLand at the orphanage. Girly is learning her colors FAST. And Isaac was able to help correct the mistakes...from across the room while on timeout. Way to multitask Isaac. 

In the evening our new friends brought us to Fish City, a seafood processing plant just out of the city limits that has been turned into garden grounds and restaurant. It was a perfectly cool and breezy evening, perfect for exploring and fellowship.

A massive sculpture of Skandenbeg. This dude is seriously revered here. 

Annie took another opportunity to climb up the statue--she is getting good at this!

 The statue itself is built on top of an old Communist tank bunker:

 Old WW2 bunkers and warehouses:

Day 26:

Another good day for my girl. We had a little chat before we left the orphanage about coming back to "the Mother's house" after our visit. She was solemn but understood and even brought one of her friends from Shkodra back to the apartment with us for lunch and a movie. I loved seeing her give Sophia a tour of her 'home'---she is so proud of our little Albanian abode.

We ate, learned the word QUESADILLA *wink*, played some games and watched Cinderella. She is learning her place in the family and my prayer is that her heart is learning to trust that place will never go away. In a life that has never known permanence, relaxing into HOME is a learned skilled.

Still no word from our judge. Our Sassy-Polish-Sister-Friend welcomed herself into the courthouse on Tuesday and found the judge in the hallway. When he said he was late for a court case she responded with "Perfect. You have time to meet me in your office!"  This nun knows the power of her robes!!  Unfortunately, he didn't offer any new information so we continue to wait...and pray for forward movement. Thank you for joining us in claiming open doors and continued favor with the court <3