Day 2: The Boy, The Dog, and The Cookie

This morning after some scrambled eggs and toast, we visited the Ministry office again to meet the Director over the adoption program. They are very interested in our feelings about the adoption, if we are excited, and if we still want to go through with it. They seem to love all our questions (and we always ask A LOT of them...) and that we are so interested in knowing everything we can about our little girl's history. One day I know she'll ask us a lot of questions, so this is our only chance to ask them! We are finding out a lot about why she was just put up for adoption recently, and why a lot of other kids get stuck in the system.

We pull up to a house about seven or eight, and we yell to the cabby - oh, oops. Sorry. Who was humming the Fresh Prince tune just then? Ha. Well, we were met at the gate this time by our little one, smiling and happy to see us for Day #2. Hugs are still a little awkward, but we squeeze one in anyway and say "Szia!" to her. I have matured over the past 24 hours, and have graduated to "Jo napot kivanok" for the adults. Don't really know what it means, just know it's a better greeting than just "Hi!" and they seemed to appreciate it.

The foster mother and father brought in a little table and put out a huge spread of sandwiches, cookies, juice, coffee, and carbonated water (still haven't gotten used to that). She is so hospitable, it really touches my heart. I know this must be hard for her since she's taken care of our little one since birth. We really owe her a lot! Dad sat with Rita and the foster mother and asked tons of questions today...and we found out that she's been keeping a diary since she was a baby! She is going to have it translated and give it to us when we leave, so we have stories to tell. We'll also get a bunch of baby pictures and pictures throughout her whole life, and medical records. What a blessing!

The time passed so quickly - we ate up a good 4 hours just hanging out together in her room, and we talked her into taking us outside in the yard for a little bit. I asked her "Szeretsz szinezni?" which means 'do you want to color?' and her and I colored a bunch. I brought her a new Lisa Frank coloring book, some markers, and a pad of construction paper. She was really messy at first, but after watching me color some flowers really delicately she started to do it really slowly and started copying me and staying in the lines. She's very particular about keeping things organized, I learned! Don't take more than one marker out at a time, she'll make sure the last one is put back.

Surprise of the day: She REALLY TALKS! We were told that she hardly ever talks and needs speech therapy, but since we met her she has been talking up a storm, seemingly complete sentences. She gets a kick out of teaching us new words and listening to us butcher the pronunciation. She laughs A LOT, she seems really happy...maybe she's just laughing AT us, but that's ok. :)  Everyone is completely surprised at how much she's opened up to us. Dad said it best "My God is a big God, and when he orchestrates something He does it exactly right".

Some of you have asked about the boy, and how he's handling all this. I'm so impressed with his maturity during all this - every time we have to sit in a boring adult meeting he just sits patiently and waits...and he has been excited right along with us every time we see her, or talk about her. He's taking the whole 'big brother' thing very seriously...we've talked about how that's the job God has given him right now, and he's really taken it to heart. The kids get along great and seem to really enjoy each other's company.

The rules: I can't show her face until paperwork is finalized...so we'll see how creative I can be with the pictures.

The Dog: I think the dog's name is "Holey"...and he kept climbing through the back of the swing and licking me, and escaping off his leash. He had a mustache. And bangs! So in order to have a place to go back and remember her dog, here is Holey.

 

I absolutely love their garden and I want to frame this picture - isn't it lovely? It smelled so fragrant...but watch out, the bees are as big as mice, no joke.

And The Cookie: As we were swinging in the front yard I kept showing her my cookie and saying "cookie", and finally she started calling it a cookie when people asked what it was. She also said 'bed', and 'oos' for shoes. First goal - teach her how to say "sh". I think she'll catch on to "Angolul" (English) just fine!

Interesting fact - people in Hungary don't call their country 'Hungary'. Who knew?! Probably everyone but me. But they call it Magyarorser (I probably butchered that too), and the language is Magyar.