Another Update

Another amazing (and only slightly edited) update - this will likely be the last as our friends will be moving on to the next leg of their trip today. Many, many warm, happy and anticipatory tears for me this morning. That's it for any last remaining shreds of emotional caution - my heart is yanked out and now held by this precious little girl... our daughter!



Ed and Vonda,

I hope my descriptions aren't going overboard, as a mother, I know you would like to hear every detail.

We went to morning chapel today, there were about 20 women as well as four little girls, one of which was Eva. She had on an orange velvet dress with some gold embroidery. She also had a barrette right in the center of her bangs. She watched us closely, I am sure she remembered we are the people who gave her the gifts from you. She was great during chapel. She sat on the floor next to a couple of older girls, maybe around 10 years of age. She rested her head on them. She was very quiet. After about 15 minutes, she began to move around a little bit, she would play peek a boo with us using the caregivers' dresses. Then she would occasionally wipe her nose on their dress! Just like any other 3 year old. She looked very beautiful in her dress. Chapel was beautiful. There was a lot of singing in their language. It sounded like one hundred Angels singing rather than a 20 women. The Chapel was very nice as well, with beautiful statues and stained glass. While the caregivers took communion, Eva walked right up front and stood by the Alter, watching the priest hand it out. Eva seemed very comfortable there. (Much better behaved than [our daughter] (also 3) is at Church). :)

After a while, Eva came over and sat by us in Chapel, she handed us the hymn books and looked in them like she was reading them and singing.

After Chapel, we went up to her classroom. There were about 8 children in there. They were all fascinated by our video and digital camera. We got a lot of photos and video. Eva seemed to really like Shawn. She sat on his lap and loved looking at the video buttons. All of the children kept saying [Eva's beautiful middle name] as we re-watched the footage of her. She laughed and smiled. She also held [our son] and kept giving him kisses. None of the caregivers in the room spoke English so we were unable to communicate with her with words.

We were told by one of the social workers yesterday that she always has her duck purse on. She doesn't want anyone else to hold it, and she always carries the picture of her parents inside of it, looking at it and showing it to others.

You will be so blessed when you meet her, she is a beautiful, energetic, and happy little girl. She seemed well cared for and very happy with her people around her.

We will continue to keep you updated. We will also have you over soon to show you the photos and the video we took of her. I hope [our son] and Eva can be good friends.