"Papa"

Sofia is amazing. She is so mellow, so easy going. She is up for anything and everything. Even when the orphanage staff shout her name and rub her face to wake her up because she's drifted off to sleep in my arms, she wakes up and smiles at them. She is a beauty, inside and out.

She very verbal for a 14 month old. She babbles, blows raspberries and tries to imitate me when I talk to her. In fact, she says "Papa" and looks at Hector when she says it. I kid you not!

We've had a lovely weekend with her and we have actually bonded a bit with the staff too. Even though there is a HUGE language barrier, we have communicated a bit back and forth with made up sign language to bridge the gap. They dress Sofia is the clothes we brought for her. They have a cubby where they keep her things. We bought diapers today and they put those in her cubby. We traded the blue ski pants for some pink fleece ones...that match her jacket perfectly! She's a fashionista for sure!

The staff let us do what we want with her (as long as we don't let her fall asleep!!!). We take her for walks, we play with her on the floor (I've even managed to do some physical therapy with her). I don't know if the staff have been easy going with us because it's the weekend and quiet around the orphanage but we were happy to start off this way with them.

Sofia's orphanage is run down but they are making some improvements. We are getting to know some of the other little ones in Sofia's groupa. There are flowers blooming everywhere outside the orphanage...tulips, cherry blossoms, lots of other blooming trees. We see older children outside walking hand in hand, very well behaved kids. They all look with curious eyes at us when we walk by. There are always a few that waving and say hello.

Tomorrow begins the process of making sure our case makes progress at the court. Marina, our facilitator, will be working hard for us all day. We look forward to touching base with her about how things are going.

We will continue to visit Sofia every day and continue to bond with her, get to know her and show her what love feels like. Today she really snuggled in to me and rested her head on my chest. I'm not sure she's ever been held like that before. It must feel like heaven to her because it sure feels like that to me.