Day 3, More visits with Penny

We arrived a smidge early (go me, not late!) This is no small miracle, as I once again woke at random hour....to fall asleep four hours after that...and then had to be up in an hour after that. Blech. Thank goodness, they have no kidding around coffee.

Our visit this morning began well. The really kind nurse from the previous evening was on, and she was eager to get us settled. Penny seemed comfy, though I can't say for sure if she recognized me or not. We attempted to snap a few pictures, but Penny had a seizure. You know, I'm a nurse. I've seen plenty of seizures. But when it is your child, in your arms, and you are powerless to help them, it is a horrible feeling.  :( I vetoed any further snap shots, as I have no idea if the light on the camera could be exacerbating the situation or not, and I surely wasn't taking any chances. In spite of this, we got in a good long visit, and then were able to meet the orphanage director. She's very nice, though I truly have no idea how it is that one is medical director, chief of staff, and chief administrative officer all in one. This would be 3 positions in the private facility in the states....(and at least 6 at the vahhhh spa ;) )  She was able to get us some more info, and promised to track down a few odds and ends that I am hoping to get a hold of for Penny's medical file. We are also *nearly* certain, that Penny's room mate is Chad, who's auction is RIGHT NOW (shameless plug....our family loves this little guy and are so happy he is coming home too!!!!)

The orphanage is getting a bit of a make over!! The lobby has fresh paint and several of the upper level classrooms and nurseries will too. Those rooms have fresh windows and flooring, and a ramp for the main entrance is in the works too.....that's quite the grade, so I don't envy whomever gets tasked with figure that one out.....like you'd need to start from the other side of the street!!!  We were shown two of the rooms that will be renovated...and met a whole passel of 18 month olds who swarmed us!! Pat pat pat the legs...and the skirt, and the bags, and the hand gel on my purse, NEI! :D Too cute. It will be nice for them, when it is all said and done.

Our afternoon visit was briefer. Penny had another seizure earlier, so I think we were on close observation...or else I looked shifty or something, b/c the nurse watched us like a hawk! She was groggy, but I think she recognized me (and seems to love our facilitator!) We had some good snuggle time, and then---IT WAS SUPPER TIME! Princess P does not need to be asked twice to eat. I was able to feed her. I learned a lot feeding her (slowly....I'm fairly certain our nurse could have fed the entire ward twice over at my rate....silly American) and she ate the whole bowl clean. After this, she was as bright eyed as I've ever seen her, real life or photo or video. Unfortunately, that was go home time. Still, I am thankful. For some much info. For seeing some of her health "record" play out, and being able to recognize some major issues that seemed to not be there, but are need to know. For the director who is really, really trying to make improvement. For the nurses caring for her...even the ones keeping a close eye on slow feedin' Americans, lol!

A few prayer requests:

• For Penny's health-getting a mixed bag of info here. She is much better than she was, but she still has several major health concerns we need to get sorted out, quickly.
• For our pictures tomorrow-please pray that she tolerates our adventure out.....and that the weather is something, anything nicer than 40, drizzly, and cold.  (oh, and that I can convince folks that the leggings we brought are, in fact, capris.....really, they are "short" on purpose. ;-) ) They'd actually fit her in the waist.
• For funding to come in abundantly for the renovation work, and for a particular formula need.
• For the baba situation, which I do not want to get into publically. Just pray over it, Jesus knows the need.
• For any other SN children, particularly older children, to have their files know, identified, and ACTIVE with the MOJ. And please pray in advance for their forever families. In that swarm of 18  month olds, there were several who clearly had some SN's. Let us be vigilant, on their behalf, to pray them into homes just as soon as they are eligible for adoption. So that never again are families bringing home 21 pound teenagers. We serve a God who is mighty to save; let's be His hands, His feet, His wallet, and His voice for these least of these.

Should the weather cooperate, we'll try to get some nice outside pictures of Princess P. tomorrow where there is no chance of flash.

Day Two & meeting Penny

After only one random wake up, a second Benadryl, a better wake up, and a scrumptious breakfast, we were met by our fearless facilitator/ guide/ interpreter and headed off to the town Penny lives in. The drive was beautiful, lots of farm lands (though no "farms" i.e.: homes/homesteads as I'd think of them) and beautiful countryside. The drive up into the mountains was a bit rougher, with a LOT of fog (for the local readers, makes Afton Mountain look like mist!) This was God's gift to me, as the drop off's on the side of the road were steep. I'm no fan of heights. 

We arrived in the city (small sized, but definitely city, not town) and found her orphanage. Finally meeting her was a bit surreal. God provided so much more than I could imagine though. First and foremost, she allowed me to hold her. She's not bigger, but certainly a lot stronger, and more mobile than I'd have thought from her medical reports. She can move all of her joints, though clearly the arm up by her head is the position o'choice. Her fingers are super long & graceful, and she's got eye lashes that would put any Cover girl mascara model to shame :) Much like I used to do Miss Sarah's hair many years ago, it was pulled up on top, Pebbles style!! (and she has enough hair to pull up!) We got to sit up, lie down and watch her show off turning (and trying with reasonable success to sit up-scaring me nearly to death), and watch her eat. See one, do one, teach one, tomorrow is my day to try feeding her! I am not sure how much she cared about the toy I bought, but she certainly liked Laura's camera. Shiny, pretty, and directly to the mouth it goes. In many ways, like a 4-5 month old baby, as though she were in a state of suspended animation. But she is completely aware of what's going on, watching everything.

We found our hotel (for future traveler's to the area-yeah, WiFi in the rooms now!) It's pretty, set out from the city by about 15 minutes or so. Lunch was pizza-the small will feed two of us for two days, with salad, and Kaufland, which might be BG's answer to Walmart-with better coffee.

 The clouds banking over the mountains as we left Sofia. Pretty neat looking!

 

Miscellaneous shots of the country side...and tractor dealerships because I'm a redneck like that...

Street banners from Penny's home town.

Now, here she is, holding my fingers. She had a much stronger grip than I'd have figured. This could be due to the fact that this is the preferred sucking hand.

This one is during our first meeting. She had already gotten a hold of my finger. It's funny, in a small world sort of way, as the flannel used to make her bib is the same exact flannel my dear mother in law has used to make a baby blanket for Baby Grey.

 

 

I was able to get a few video clips too. Unfortunately for blogging purposes, I'm chatting to her using her "real" name, thus pretty well negating any possibility for publishing. 

 

After Penny's dinner (lil miss certainly liked her food!) we made our way back to the hotel, had a fun dinner with our facilitator (chatting food, customs, and politics), and I'm certain now it's bed time. I mean, it's at least 8 o'clock local time right?!? Somehow, I think I managed to be jet lagged in reverse.  Happily though, we figured out the heater, as the forecasted overnight low is a balmy 33* (and no, that ain't Celsius!)

 



Arrived & Day 1 in Sofia

We survived our trip over, making all of our connections and apparently better time through baggage claim & the currency exchange than the average. Go us! I slept all the way from Germany to Sofia, a much needed power nap. We got checked into our hotel and, after getting freshened up, Laura & I decided that we must NOT go to sleep now.....bad form at 2:30 pm local time. So we wandered about Sofia, scoring some tasty pizza en route. These are some picks

 

View from our hotel room-That's looking down, and the historic downtown region would be to your left.

Not certain of the name of every place, but we did see a 16th century mosque, the largest Sephardic Jewish Synagogue in all of Europe, and an Orthodox cathedral that was the site of a terrorist attack against the then king of Bulgaria in 1925. All in the space of about 5 blocks!! The statue has a gold face, but don't let the colouring deceive you-NOT sunny, and not warm. That's me up there, quite grateful I packed a fuzzy fleece jacket. We snagged some 1 lv slices of pizza (that was seriously good, cheap eats),  got some good exercise in, and talked to everyone at home on Skype.  Now, at the crazy late hour of 7 pm, I so think I am calling it a night! Tomorrow, we travel to visit Princess Penny! Please pray for us, for favour, and for the Holy Spirit to just go ahead of us every step of this trip! Thank you!

(More) English Funnies

Homeschoolers have the most fun with English grammar. For example, when was the last time you had the privilege of studying verbals?

What's a verbal you ask? Well, to misquote Shakespeare, it's a verb by any other part of speech. Verb-like, verb-lookin' words, used as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. AKA gerunds, participles, and infinitives.  Trolling the recesses of my high school experience, I vaguely recall the first two (honestly, I think I learned participle form in German, not English) and the final one not at all. Thank goodness my college best friend, who lives 10 minutes away, was an English major and has taught this craziness.

Verbals get a nifty little bit of diagraming, on the ole sentence skeleton diagram. A slightly lopsided pedestal type thing in the simple subject position, that looks more or less like a headless hang man doing a jumping jack.

I think I like my darling daughter's interpretive take them better though. After all, it would never do to confuse verbals with furballs.

Dates & Updates

I've been dreadfully quiet on the blog front. We've had a few rounds of annoying little viruses (with rashes-bonus!) and a whole lot of get ready for school.  We're into week three now, and nearly ready to launch the MFW component. I've organized, and reorganized binders galore. Now to actually DO it! I lead up our church's Wednesday Night Children's Ministry too (the 3 year olds to 5th graders only) and have been busy with our team coming up with a new plan (and some new energy too!) We'll be using What's In The Bible, which looks to be fun (I love the blue haired Sunday School Lady!)

We've been blessed with travel dates, bringing us in country to meet the girls the very beginning of October. Other than missing the state fair and yummy Virginia Tech BBQ & milk shakes, I'm TRILLED to be finally meeting these children of my heart.  Don't know the whole itinerary yet, but we do plan to fly through Germany. Might as well go to the one country whose language I know a cursory bit of, right? I'll be doing my best to try to blog along, but don't know the degree of Internet access that I will have everywhere. I also need to figure out where the heck to track down a European plug adaptor. Somehow, I'm not envisioning this as an off the shelf item at office max, though it could be! I've swapped out my fall clothes and working on organizing  my travel bags (not actually packing, but thinking about how and what I'll pack.) Basically nesting.

The summer garden is winding down. I need to get the last of the peppers and tomatoes picked. If time allows for it, I'm hoping to get a few fall crops in. Like garlic...a goal of mine to try planting for like...ever lol!

 I will try to get some school shots updated and keep you posted on travel plans. Any and all advice (good advice, not travel horror stories, 'K?) are welcome. We are working on gathering up some footie pajamas for the P. crowd as well. The upward soccer league locally also donated uniforms from previous season (new, just not current, and they get a new colour combo each year) and BALLS! Not as traumatic to pack as you'd think, but I need to get this organized too. I'm wanting to put together photo books for the girls too. Somehow, I have more ideas than time. Go figure!

Well, that's about all that's new on the suburba faux-farm. Hope you & yours are well!

Variable Measures of Productivity

(Just the title makes your eyes sorta glaze over, doesn't it? )

Well, here on the suburba-farm, on a rare day of no outing and synchronized naps, I've gotten quite a bit of stuff done. We've been blessed with late September weather in the middle of August. 70's, breezy, and sky the most perfect shade of blue.

The Tomatoes and Peppers all picked (and the last of the green beans, but they are big honkers, looking to become chicken chow :-p

A Full Clothes Line

 

 

 The future makings of tomato, basil, mozzarella salad-just add balsamic vinegar ......



And a little something pretty to dress up the table

 

What's going on at your place?

 

  As far as adoption updates, the Hidden Treasures auction as blessed us with nearly $1500. Basically that's all of trip one, 100% covered. We still haven't heard a peep about actual travel dates, though our verbal referral should now be an official signed referral.

 

 I added a web gadget of sorts, for coup-aid. They offer the option to purchase $50 worth of gift card, by way of Restaurant.com for $20-$10 goes to the organization, and $10 to our adoption fund. I'm reluctant to campaign too much for funding, as folks have been beyond generous. However, if you want a cheap eat out night, and feel like kicking in to the adoption kitty to boot, feel free to click away. I am confident we are probably very close to funded, but really have no way to know precisely, as the fees are not yet squared away. God will provide, regardless. Of this I have no doubt.

 

 



 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;  and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  ⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

   “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’   For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.   Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

(Matthew 6:28-34 NKJV)

Less than 3 days left!!!!

For our Hidden Treasures auction benefiting Princess Penny (and Princess Julie too-who began her journey in the same orphanage as Penny.)  Our family is absolutely in awe of the generosity of all of those who have donated, and that of those who are bidding so generously to help us get our girls home. File under 'Abundantly more than you can think or imagine'.

Life is trucking along here at Casa de 'Zinger at what appears to be the stable, make-you-want-to-chew-a-bottle-of-Tums, pace  that has set the tone for the entire summer. My mom had another scare with complications from her cancer, necessitating a week's stay in the hospital again. I was fortunate to be able to sneak up to see her on Tuesday. She's home again, briefly, but still HOME. Round 3 begins Friday.  We've had a bit of a virus running about the house too (it seems to be running about a lot of places) with some fever and generally feeling like dirt. Mr. P seemed to take the brunt of it this go 'round (someones got to, right?) running up a temp of 104!  Needless to say, not to much time to blog, so please accept my apologies for being so slack here. Work is still work. Busy, crazy, best nursing staff ever. Ce la vie....

No news yet on travel dates. We were warned to expect a minimum 4-6 week lag, and honestly, having already seen the evidence of God's wisdom in not bringing the much anticipated 'travel around the first of July' into fruition, I am doing much better in being still in the waiting ;) Of course, the circling insanity (and complete lack of sleep) could be helping too, but the other sounds much more noble! We can't get a drop of news about Julie, but were updated that Penny has not one, but TWO babas working with her. Again, abundantly more....

Well, that is absolutely all that is new, exicting, &/or crazy in these parts. The weather is lovely, and the grocery shopping is well over due, so I am off!

 

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20- 21 (NIV)