Hello From Our Daughters Home Town

Here is an update!!!
We have LOVED our time with Leanna! every minute. I think both Sean and I came into this visit praying that God would prepare our hearts for whatever condition we were going to find her in. Also, we prayed that our first meeting would be love at first sight for us all. God not only answered our prayers, but Blessed us beyond what we had hoped.
Leanna is a funny, giggly, active, beautiful little lady. When we first set eyes on her as we walked through the orphanage, I was struck by 2 things. 1. she is TINY. and 2. SHE WAS WALKING!!!! What??? We were told she didnt walk. The orphanage staff even told us they had given up on her ever walkinng, and that this was a miracle.
Leanna walked right up to us on that first meeting and gave me a huge hug. She has been like that every visit, not only is she comfortable around us but she LOVES all the attention she is getting!!! There is no question that she has some vision, I have been blown away by it actually. It is obvious that her vision isnt great by any means, but she does have some. Praise God! In regards to her delays, yes, she definately has some. There are a few things about her that we are not sure whether it is vision related or delay related. But, Praise God that both Sean and I have absolutely no doubt that Leanna is our perfect gift....and we are going to love her to pieces.
We got to enjoy 1 visit mon, 2 on tuesday, 2 today (wed) and then tomorrow we will see her in the morning and we will be taking her to get her visa photos taken. Then we have to say goodbye for now. ugh, not lookinng forward to that....at all.

In regards to Bulgaria. We have had a great experience. Our translators are so sweet and fun. We have really enjoyed spending mealtime and our visits with our translater, Sveta. We are also traveling with an Italian couple who are visiting their little boy, so they have a translater too named Plameta, and we love her too. Both translaters speak English really well.
I dont think Sean and I have ever eaten so much!!! HUGE meals and very yummy. This country really likes bread, cheese, cream, yogurt....basically, im in heaven. They also love to eat all kinds of different animal organs, but I can spare you all of that info.
a traditional breakfast here is our equivilent to fry bread....enough said. Im fat and happy.

The ladies at the orphanage seem incredibly kind. Bulgarian people seem kind of standofish as it is rude to engage people you dont know. But, if you engage them and let them know that you want to visit with them, they are so sweet and kind...and soft spoken. My favorite staff member is the orphanage psychologist. She was in most of the pictures we recieved in Leannas referral info. It is so obvous that she loves Leanna.

We have also met the orphanage Dr and Director and both of these ladies were kind, helpful and seems thrilled that we were going to be Leannas family.

 Church that we walked through.

 Enjoying a traditional Bulgarian lunch.

Leanna Laurie Deva Parker

Well, nothing like seeing your blog is on a massive list of Bulgaria Adoption Blogs to motivate you to write a post! I needed the kick in the pants, I have stuff to say!!!

 

So, we travel THIS MONTH! This is just to visit, but Ill take it! I am trying to be really guarded. I am going to want to pick Leanna up and just snuggle her....but, I am a stranger to this sweetie. Kind of a sad perspective, but it is true. She will probably be scared of us. My prayer is that by the end of our visit, she is warming up to us enough that when her caretakers talk about "Mommy and Daddy coming back for her" she knows who we are, and isn't afraid!

 

We will be in Bulgaria for 1 week! Just Sean and I. My Lovely mother is going to be here with the other short people. My kids are stoked to have Grandmama come. Frankly, I feel like chopped liver.

 

So, a couple other tidbits. We DID have a conversation with our agency about our plan to change Leannas name once she is home. Her Bulgarian name is "Deva." We will be giving her the name Leanna Laurie Deva Parker. Our agency was fully supportive and gave us kudos that we wanted to keep her Bulgarian name in the mix. So, WHY are we changing her name? Im so glad you asked! A couple reasons. We really want Leanna to  feel like she is, and has always been, a "Parker." Our other childrens names are Joel, Ryan, Luke and Megan. We really wanted Leanna to have a name that fit with the others. ALSO, We try to give our children family names for their middle names. My moms name is "Laurie." so.....Leanna Laurie. One of our sons doesn't have a family name for his middle name and is having a bit of a complex, but that's another story. Silly guy!

 

I also found out that we are allowed to take pictures at our visit! yaaaayyyyy! BUT, we cant post them on media sites. So, friends and family can request them and we will shoot you an email! Just to answer again the question about why we don't have pictures of Leanna on our blog. If this was a private blog, we would share pictures. However, we choose to keep this open to the public so that others can read our story and also so that people who have donated to our fundraisers can follow along.

So, here is a tease. You get her hair and cute little arms. Cant wait til we can share her photos..... Trust me, she is gorgeous!

 

 

Please continue to pray for financial Blessings on our family. God has provided hugely for this adoption. HUGE. But, we aren't quite there.....close, but not quite!!

http://www.gofundme.com/1xkacg