Albania Days 9 & 10

Day 9:

After 8 days of struggling to fill our down time (which is quite a bit between orphanage visits and the wi-fi is not consistent and the DVD player we brought doesn't work and it's 10000 degrees outside), we ended up with a busy day today.   Annie joined me at the orphanage this morning to help a volunteer physical therapist do physio-play therapy with the babies and some of the toddlers. This is a once per week event that stretches the muscles of children that aren't used when you don't play. Play is something that is ultimately taught and as wonderful as the Sisters are at the orphanage, they are overworked and understaffed. Keeping children safe, fed and clothed is priority--sitting on the floor to play with the little ones is a rare event. I've been apart of two weeks of physio-play now and the kiddos absolutely light up when the bag of toys come out (something they don't normally have access to).  While my girly and I went and made our own hairbands, Annie was in holding and massaging babies who don't regularly receive the loving caresses of mommas or daddies. 

The in-country director of our adoption agency met with us afterwards to review the foreseeable schedule over the coming weeks.  It looks like we will be here through mid to the end of July if everything goes as anticipated without any major hurdles but we continue to pray for favor and SPEED. Right now we are waiting for a government psychologist to clear time on her schedule THIS WEEK (it's already Tuesday evening as I write this) to observe us and complete her report for us to submit to our judge next week. 

The afternoon was spent in a taxi completing a whole list of errands. We walk everywhere which limits the number of items we can carry back to our apartment. We tried putting Isaac in charge of our last watermelon...he used it as a pillow and immediately fell asleep. Carrying him, the watermelon and 5L of water in my backpack to our 3rd floor walk-up apartment was a feat!

Thankfully, our taxi driver today has served most of the adoption families formally in our apartment and helped us navigate all our needs--FILLING his taxi with our items (including two more fans for our sweaty selves!)

Day 10: 

We made a list last night at dinner of five things we love about Albania thus far. The top four were all food!  Ladies and gentlemen, if you are going to have to move to a country to adopt your child pick a country with amazing food!  There is literal moaning at the table when we get to eat traditional Albanian food. SO VERY GOOD.  There is a lovely Christian couple around the corner from our apartment that own a traditional Byreke shop (Albanian philo-quesadilla = YUMMO). They invited us down today after my morning orphanage visit to fellowship. What a treat to actually know someone here and to share our hearts for the Lord. Our stay was longer than expected as we needed to shelter from the freak storm that blew in--we returned to our 3rd floor walk up apartment to find it flooded from the rain that poured in through the windows!

I'm getting to know this girly of mine. She doesn't have my genes or blood but the Lord has asked me to give her my heart...and therefore His. She is wicked smart and is a pro at puzzles. She craves one on one attention but needs to know that she is safe in that space. She has a cunning sense of humor (just found out she has been calling me "old lady" to my face and I didn't even know it! Boy did she giggle when I figured it out!!). And she L-O-V-E-S music and has already memorized the Albanian version of "No Longer Slaves" after hearing it on my phone just a few times.  She has been raised by women that love the Lord and have given her that same heart. I am honored that I now get to assume the Mantle of Motherhood for this girl and see her blossom into the woman God will have her to be.