Third visit

Wow! Things are just getting better and better. Today the girls took a short break to get their temperatures taken (the middle one had a fever, but it was getting better, and thankfully we are still feeling well in spite of sneezes and sniffles and kisses). Just before they left, Val asked if they wanted to go home with us and all 3 said "Yes!" enthusiastically (and perhaps with a hint of "Are you crazy?"). So tomorrow we are going to get the paperwork going with social services and the orphanage lawyer.

In fact, today was the first day that the oldest really seemed happy the whole time. The little one requires a lot of attention and the middle one solicits a lot of affection, so we have been trying to make sure the oldest one didn't get left out, but she definitely has warmed up to us now. Today she gave me a big hug as soon as she saw me, and Julie spent the first hour working with her at a make-your-own jewelry craft kit that was right at her higher skill level. Yesterday she had declined to get her nails painted, but today she was happy to do it. Then, I got to talk with her alone some while we drew pictures together and found out she likes sports, especially soccer. We ended up playing with a couple of little bouncy coosh balls that light up when they move, tossing those back and forth across the room, then keeping a balloon in the air with hands and feet. It was good to do something a little bit active even while inside.

We had a full 3 hours with the girls today and it just flew by. We did a small puzzle and played the matching game again to lots of giggles and exclamations. We also had books that change colors when you paint them with water-filled markers, and I went through both of those with the little girl, and also played catch with her while sitting on the floor and was pretty surprised how much coordination she has. You do have to keep an eye on her; twice we were distracted for a moment and suddenly found her pulling out Julie's netbook, which we had used at the beginning to show videos of our two little Hoosier nieces singing and dancing.

I think the oldest girl has felt pretty responsible for her sisters. Yesterday she was quite careful to straighten up the sofa covers and get things looking nice as we were packing up. Today, the little girl started slamming her coosh ball around as soon as we gave it to her and somehow managed to break it (not easy: it's made of rubber and also inflated?!). Her sister said, "I'll take that one and you take mine," which shows you something about her personality. So we are looking forward to giving her a chance to let go of that and have someone taking special care of her instead.

The room we meet in appears to be a library for the grade school, but it is very suitable for us, with an L-shaped couch, nice rugs, and two kid-sized tables with chairs. In the last 15 minutes, there were two other girls that wandered into the room, which kind of changed the dynamic, since they participated occasionally in the conversation, so it was not quite as private and comfortable. However, Val told us on the walk back to the hotel that he had not asked them to leave because he heard them saying to each other, "Look how happy they are that they are going to have a family," and "I wish I was getting adopted." Also, our girls did not seem embarrassed to keep playing with us.