Let this be a lesson to any of you who may have doubts...God really does know what He's doing!
I've asked my girls at home, along with Kenny to fill you in on some interesting details, so my blog will be short, well short for me on this momentous occasion.
The Children's Home was not prepared; the doctor was nice to me but not to Sveta. the doctor said that I mustn't take the green stuff off and DO NOT WASH HER UNTIL AUGUST 16. Dominic didn't get to see much of the place, although he saw a large contingency of orphan boys - mostly DS kids- the age of Vincent. I'm not sure how that impacted him. I signed papers, collected all of Julianna's papers, including some younger photos and a crucifix from her baptism. There was no big send off or fanfare as I had imagined being the first couple to ever adopt a child from this place. Sveta said she doubts if another child will ever be adopted again. That's very said...and unfortunately probably true for many decades to come!
When we left, Julianna sat in the back with me, and Dominc charmed Sveta with his humor and wit all the way home. She said if she ever has a child, she wants him to be just like Dominic. (No, she wasn't drinking...remember she was driving.) :) Julianna had raisins and a granola bar b/c she had no lunch. The Children's Home had packed bananas, apples, oranges, fruit juice, cookies and chocolate for us as we left. But I didn't open that in the car. I gave her a drink of water from my big jug of water. That was interesting. We stopped at a pharmacy to get vitamin C for her since our doctor thinks it will help her fight the tail end of her chicken pox.
We got to the church apartment, and I blessed myself on the way in....Julianna did the same. The girls will tell you more about these kinds of events that happened all day. Julianna had yogurt, bread with cheese spread, and lots of juice and water. Actually, she drank more than Dominc and I did. Makes me wonder if they limited her intake of liquid in the Children's Home.
Then, the shower...she knew what to do, and whatever she didn't know...she watched only one time...and repeated. She is very bright. i helped her to wash her hair and scrubbed her body...and the green wouldn't come off. I guess it did a little. But it's worse than permanent marker...some kind of antiseptic and drying agent. Dom got the chemical formula and is planning to check it out.
I thought she might nap...HaHa! Right! She laid down for 10 minutes and only with me. So, we got up and colored and skyped and played ball. All that good stuff. Dom fixed pasta for dinner with bread and sliced apples. She didn't want the bread, but loved the apples and pasta.
We finished eating during the prayer service that was going on in the church (3 people, I think), so I didn't want to barge downstairs. Dom went down early to sleep`after dinner. Julianna and I stayed to cleap up. Now, Julianna caught on to the potty sign very quickly...and when i say, Do you have to go potty, she can say "da". So...this is good. But, we were upstairs in the kitchen and I sensed she had to go. I didn't want to ask, b/c i didn't want to interrupt the people praying. Well, the look on her face when she wet a little bit. I could tell that she was used to being scolded. i apologized profusely for my stupidity and got her to the potty quickly. She really had to go! Then when we went into the room to change, she was just going to put her wet clothes back on! Now, that's sad!
We skyped a little more and colored...while Dom slept. Julianna kept bugging dom..it was hilarious to watch! She would not let him sleep. So, finally, after skyping Vincent and Ang earlier and my mom suggesting the baking soda for the green stuff...I looked it up on goole translator, wrote it down and took off with Julianna to the market to get Baking soda and water. She ended up getting ice cream for Dom, Sister Virginia, and herself plus yogurt. And can you believe I had to pay 1.5 rubels for a grocery bag?
We returned to a sleeping Dominic and very warm room, gave Sister Virginia her ice cream, and went upstairs to thekitchen for Julianna to have her Moragena...or something like that. It was incredible how fast she picked up on everything that we did. She knows to bow at the alter in the church and can bless herself.
We ended the evening with another shower, which was slightly warmer than the first. We tried the baking soda and it didn't really work. The soap helped to scrub more of it off. But it is really caked on...I guess since August 5! Poor baby!
There are more details to follow in another blog from home...just want to end on this thought....
I was lying in bed next to Julianna @ 10:00pm and she was restless. I had her put her head right on my shoulder next to my heart. I stroked her hair, and literally within seconds she fell asleep. Then...I cried...actually the first real cry of the day. You see, I felt over a year ago that God put Julianna on my heart figuratively, not knowing why or what it all meant and now, a year, after all of the trials that have been put in front of us and that are now behind us, He has placed her on my heart literally. Julianna is really with us now! Amen! God is good all the time; all the time God is good!