We are making progress.....day 14

Hello everyone!

We are making progress with Elizabeth. Today as soon as she saw us, she immediately puckered up her little lips and started to cry, but the care giver sat her on the floor and we sat with her, keeping ourselves a safe distance at first. It didn't take too long for her to quit crying and we were able to entertain her with a new book and the same angel of Machelle's that we used yesterday. The book had little flaps that lifted up to reveal a picture underneath and she spent about 15 mintues just opening and closing the flaps (you can see the leaf she is holding in one of the pictures). She would look at us both and not cry, again as long as we kept our distance. Eventually I was able to sit very close to her, but she's still a little shy with Tom. They say that most children haven't even seen men before, or if they have it was a doctor that was poking and prodding them. Tom sat in a chair and was able to take some great pictures and video of our little angel. She is just so beautiful. Even when she was crying yesterday....she was just beautiful!

She is very bright and was able to pick up how the book worked very quickly and I also had a toy that linked together and she was able to figure that out also. She was able to turn the pages in the book. She did really well for about an hour and then I think she was getting sleepy. As soon as she started to fuss the care giver rushed over to try to calm her. You can tell that she is loved by the care givers and I'm sure they will miss her after spending the last 19 months with her and watching her grown into this cute toddler.

All too soon, at 6:15, they came to take her to supper. We are supposed to get to see her from 5p-7p, but unfortunately, they take her early every evening. So far our translators have not came with us during the visits, so we aren't able to figure out why they take them early. We will look into this because of course we want to spend as many seconds with her as we possibly can.

She is very interested in what is going on around her. Tonight there were three other couples there visiting their children and she liked to look and see what they were doing. There is a wall with mirrors there, too, and she likes to look at herself.

We are very happy about the progess we made and will continue to take it one day at a time (like we have a choice, huh?). We look forward to each visit with her and can't wait to go back to the hotel and watch the video of her.

Today, instead of sightseeing with our translator (which costs money) we decided to walk around the town. It was a beautiful sunny day, still cool, but no snow, Yeah! We looked for a toy store since the orphanage director said that Elizabeth likes to play with blocks, but so far we haven't found one. We'll keep looking for them.

The other American couple that we are traveling with have been able to bond very well with their son, CJ. He is also a cutie and he has also warmed up to us so we enjoy playing with him, too. When I told them (Brian and Tamara) that I brought only 18 month size clothes, she said, "Boy you were optimistic, weren't you?" I guess that I knew God would give us exactly what we were hoping for. The only thing we didn't bring was a winter coat, so as soon as we are able to figure out her size, we'll go coat shopping. That'll be fun!

We also want to find some baby juice, as she seems to always be thirsty when we get there. The drink that they give her smells like tea. Hope it doesn't have caffiene in it! We will go to see her again tomorrow from 5p-hopefully 7p. Tomorrow is Sunday and we will miss going to church. Too bad we don't know of an English speaking one here like we found in Kiev.

We hope everyone in Monroe City and surrounding areas are doing great. We can't wait to get back to the good old US of A and see everyone. Thanks for the posts to the blog and forgive us if we aren't able to respond to each person. Hope you understand. It's 8:45pm and as soon as we are finished here, we'll head out to find some supper.

Some interesting facts about this experience...they say that the Ukraine is not for the meek or the weak. I agree fully as the stress of traveling, the confusion of trying to communicate, trying to buy or order food, not having American speaking television, figuring out the foreign money (by the way, Ryan, we are saving you some coins for your coin collection), riding around in a small cab (it's a 1971 Lada about the size of a go-cart and we have the driver + 4 people crammed in it all with the heat on high and the radio blaring while the driver is smoking a cigarette, trying to shift and talk on the cell phone while trying to dodge the numerous potholes...do you get the picture?). Another thing I would add is that this is the 15 day since we left the US and Tom and I have not been more than 20 feet from each other...so I would add that Ukraine is not only for the strong, but also for those couples who are truly in love and enjoy each other's company. Now if you were to pull Tom aside and ask him, he would tell you that he'd much rather be driving a tractor, lol!

Since we are killing time here, waiting for the beautiful pictures of Elizabeth to download, I will tell you that the other day I was wondering what was happening on Survivor (I'm rooting for Stephanie!) and the Amazing Race, and I just had to laugh when I thought "What? I am living survivor...I'm stuck in a foreign country for close to 39 days, I'm having to work for everything we eat (just trying to order can be a challenge sometimes), and I've had to live in some horrific conditions. " I can also relate to living the Amazing Race with all the planes, trains, and taxi cabs we have taken, and because every time we are in a taxi we are racing here or there. The biggest difference, though, instead of winning the million...we are getting the best prize of all...our daughter!

We love you all very much. Keep up the posts...we love hearing from you!!!! God bless!

Tom, Valerie, and Elizabeth