On Monday February 10, 2014 we were able to bust Rumyana & Doychin out of their orphanages once and for all. Our first stop was Rumyana's Orphanage. We were greeted by the Orphanage Director with a big smile. All the Caretakers who were working were all gathered in a room with Rumyana and the other children. All were saying their goodbyes to her.
While they said their goodbyes Chris & I sat with our translator (Dimitar) and the Orphanage Director. There was a ton of paperwork to sign and even more things to go over. She (Orphanage Director) gave us the run down of ALL of Rumyana's medications as well as a 10 day supply.
After all of the paperwork was out of the way we got to go in and see our girl. We were surprised to see that they had the photo album and all the toys I left for her on the first visit in September ready and waiting to go home with her. They also had presents. She was given a little bear that her favorite caretaker bought for her. They made her a little photo album of her with them in the Orphanage. She also was given a few other things. It was all very sweet. Probably the sweetest thing was the card that Rosi wrote for Rumyana. I cried as Dimitar read it to me.
One of the things that was shared with us was that Rumyana was baptized. Most of the Orphanage workers are Orthodox Christians. They gave us her baptismal certificate. (We were quite surprised to hear she had been baptized).
As we were getting ready to go they asked us if we brought clothes to change Rumyana into. We told them we did and they looked and seemed a bit sad. We said we didn't want to take clothes that another child could use. They then told us they were here clothes and no one could use them. So we kept her in the clothes from the Orphanage (which made them all smile). We attempted to put on the sneakers we brought for her, but they didn't fit. So...we traded the new sneakers for her shoes she wore there. They also threw in her inside shoes as well. Yes, I did say her inside shoes.
After a long and teary good bye at Rumyana's Orphanage (and promises to email pictures) we were off to get Doychin.
Doychin's Orphanage was much different. I'm not sure who greeted us, but it wasn't anyone quite as cheery. A worker waited with us and our translator while the Social Worker got paperwork ready for us to sign. At one point they brought Doychin out and then they took him away again.
The Worker asked if we had clothes for him and as we pulled them out she just shook her head and told our translator that it was all way too large. I did mention to our translator that we got the sizes based on the measurements they had sent us. (We had even returned all the much smaller clothes that we had gotten after receiving the information about his height/weight). Oh well.
After shaking her head at the too large clothes for a few more minutes the caretaker finally decided the socks we brought for him were acceptable and she took those back to wherever Doychin was. When they finally brought him out he had on a long sleeve shirt, boots, and snow pants. They would not put him in any of our clothes.
We signed some paperwork so that we could take him out of the Orphanage. One worker brought him a toy as a going away gift. They also gave us back our photo album we left for him of our family. They included several pictures of him. A baby picture, a picture of him on his 2nd and 3rd birthdays, etc. We were excited to get this gift. (We also got a cd with pictures of Rumyana on it). These are real gifts as we do not have any of that for Milana. Just one baby picture they gave us at our SDA appointment.
After signing the paperwork they also decided the coat we had just wouldn't work. So...they gave us one from the Orphanage and we gave them his brand new coat. The Social Worker looked a little confused, but just rolled with it. (She was so very nice)!
Finally we were able to get out of there and head to the medical appointments. Before leaving (both orphanages) they poured water on the ground for us to walk over. I wish I could remember what it means, but it was such a crazy day I don't. It's something they do for all families leaving with their children.
Our next stop was the medical appointments. First each little had to have blood drawn. Easier said than done. Neither of them have good veins and it was a pain to get blood. They ended up getting it from their little hands :( Rumyana screamed like a crazy lady as soon as she saw the needle.
We got to cut in line ahead of everyone waiting to see the doctor. (This was nice). The appointment itself was pretty uneventful. The doctor basically copied information from the paperwork I had brought with us (that was given to us by the Orphanages). He checked their height/weight, listened to them breathe, and that was about it.
When we got back to the hotel we were ready to relax a bit. Both Doychin and Rumyana were wiped out from the long day. When we went to take Doychin's snow pants off (let me just interject here and say it was at least 60 degrees outside) we noticed that he had NO pants on under the snow pants. And they were upset with me because we would have had to roll up the pants we brought?? Seriously???
