We Met Vera Today and...

she is a princess!

And she knows it!

Before I share the story, let's begin with pictures shall we?

Because I know that's what you really want to see!

Okay, now that we've all had a Vera fix, let me tell you about our day so far.

Jon and I slept a little last night...not enough, but we did sleep a little. We got up this morning and I did somehow manage to eat breakfast, though my stomach was full of butterflies. Sasha came at 8:30 and we stopped at the social worker's office to pick up the inspector. She is a beautiful woman, as are all the women here. She rode with us to the baby home.

When we arrived, Sasha told us Vera is probably outside. There was a little fenced in area where a group of children were playing. Vera was out there somewhere! Be still my heart...and my stomach.

We went inside and Sasha took us to the director's office. Sasha told us that she and/or the inspector would ask us questions. They didn't ask us a darn thing! And we are not complaining! The director told us a bit of background about Vera. Most of it we already knew. I'll share more about that another day.

We left the director's office and Sasha took us outside. She said the children were outside playing and we would go meet Vera there. This is it...the moment we've been waiting for. We saw Vera right away, standing at a table playing with some cards. We entered the little fenced in area and made our way to the table where Vera was. As soon as we got to the table, another little girl reached her arms out to me and it looked like she wanted me to pick her up. Don't cry, Amy. Sasha asked Vera if she would like to go somewhere else with us and Vera said no. But she did invite us to come over and sit with her. So we did. She didn't really look at us, but I don't think either of us took our eyes off of Vera. She is precious. Just precious. I can't imagine anyone coming for her, meeting her, and rejecting her. The only sense I can make of it is that she is ours. And that's why so many have left her. She is OUR daughter.

We sat at the little table for several minutes and watched Vera organize the little plastic cards. She was very intent on them and jibber jabbered away. She is very talkative. And she smiled almost the whole time. At one point, one of her caregivers was trying to talk Vera into going somewhere different with Jon and I. She got upset and was close to tears. As was I. She didn't want to leave the other children. We said it was okay and we would stay there. She was happy again. As was I. One of the caregivers said something about needing sunglasses. Vera said she had some inside that she could use.

At 10:00 it was time for juice. All the kids in the group gathered up to go inside. Sasha said we could follow them. She said Vera was very guarded...not her normal self. We noticed that too. She didn't look at Jon or I in the face, but she would peek at us out of the corner of her eye. We followed her group inside and she kept peeking back at us to see if we were still there. On our walk in, Vera told the caregiver holding her hand that she was hot and needed a shower to refresh herself.

Yep. She's a princess.

Once inside, all the children took off their outside shoes and put on inside shoes. And sure enough, Vera pulled a pair of sunglasses out of her locker and showed her caregiver. We were asked to wait while the children used the potty and washed their hands. Then they all came in for fruit and juice. Vera came in first and someone had done her hair (as you can see in the pictures). So cute! They had also changed her dress, but all the others were wearing the same thing. After Vera got seated, a little boy came in. Cute as can be! I would've snatched him up in a heartbeat and kissed his little cheeks if I had been given permission. Sasha told us he is not adoptable. Don't cry, Amy.

Vera was the first one finished with her snack. She didn't want to go outside with us and asked if we could stay inside. Whatever you want, sweetie! We visited in the little entry way where the kids each have a locker. Vera wanted to show us her treasures. We were thrilled! She took a little purse out of her locker and brought it over to where we were sitting. Oh my. She is a pack rat! She pulled all sorts of interesting little things out of her purse. A little umbrella that used to have a doll with it, a little plastic dog, an old racecar, etc. She had lots of trash too. A lid to a plastic bottle, a piece of rope, a popped balloon, etc.

And then

I recognized immediately the next things she pulled out. Several little bracelets that the first family who met her had given to her. Vera asked Sasha if she remembered them. "The people you brought here who left gave these to me." Sasha told us she was hoping Vera had forgotten about that family.

She hasn't.

Don't cry, Amy.

After a few minutes I pulled something out of my backpack for Vera. It's a little pink purse with a pink fur lining that used to be Abbi's. Inside was a pink necklace and ring. I took it out and gave it to Vera. Her face lit up like you would not believe. She couldn't get it opened fast enough to see what was inside. She immediately put the necklace on. She said, "Spaciba, spaciba." (Thank you, thank you.) She asked if it was hers to keep and I said, "Da. Da." Big smiles. Then, I finally asked Sasha if I could get out my camera. I had thought about it over and over this whole time, but I kept hearing, "Not yet, Amy. Be patient. Don't overwhelm her. There's plenty of time to take pictures." Okay. I don't want to scare Vera. Sasha gave me the go ahead and I got the camera out. I took 2 pictures and Jon said I should show Vera. So I brought up the photo on the camera and showed it to Vera. She lit up! She took the camera and just stared at her cute little face. She told us how beautiful Vera is. :)

Then I opened my backpack again and pulled out a little mirror that I brought for Vera. I showed it to her and, well, go back up and look at the third picture. She LOVES the mirror! One of the caregivers walked by about this time, saw Vera's new things, gave a bit of an eyeroll (in a good way) and said, "You knew JUST what to bring her!"

After a few minutes of admiring herself, Vera pointed at my backpack like 'what else do you have in there?' All in due time, sweet Vera. I can't share all my surprises on the first visit!

Vera's baby home has a small swimming pool. Her group gets to swim on Mondays and Wednesdays for a short time in the morning. Sasha apologized and said that Vera wanted to go swim with the other children so we would have to cut our visit short. We completely understood. Sasha kept apologizing, but we were fine. Sasha said Vera would've been a little upset when all the kids came back from swimming telling her how much fun they had. Well, yeah...we understand completely! We wanted our first visit with Vera to be positive. I think God answered that prayer. Don't you?

Vera started to clean up her treasures so she could go get ready to swim. At one point she got up and left and had a tissue in her hand. She came back a minute later without the tissue. Sasha told us one of the other children needed to blow their nose so Vera brought her tissue to him. What a sweet girl!

After Vera left to go swim, Sasha asked if we wanted to proceed or if we needed to think about it. Neither of us hesitated. We want her. We want her now.

We brought the inspector back to her office and the whole way there she kept saying that she can't believe we're going to adopt Vera. Vera is finally going to be adopted. Vera finally has a family. She couldn't believe it.

We can't believe no one has snatched her up yet. She is a treasure for sure.

I'll share more later. Sasha is coming back at 4:00 to show us how to take the bus to Vera's orphanage. We get to visit Vera from 9 - 11:30 and from 4:00 - 6:30 EVERY DAY! Even weekends! I'm off to take a nap before our next visit with Vera this afternoon.

For now, will you please join us in giving thanks to God? We are so thankful that our first visit went well and that Vera did NOT scream at us. This was my worst fear.

There is much more to be thankful for today, but my brain has suddenly turned to mush.