Day 3 - We meet Akvila

Ok, we finally got to go see Akvila, break out the kleenex.  But lets start from the beginning.

Last night we could not sleep.  I don't know if was because of the time change or since we knew we were going to the orphanage, but our brains would just not shut off.  So, this morning when Peg got up, she made some breakfast and we got ready to go to the orphanage.

On the way there Elona tells us there is a chance that we could bring her back to the apartment and keep her here until our court date on Friday.  This surprises us!!  The orphanage is under quarantine to outsiders.  No one inside is sick, they just don't want the kids to get sick, because a couple of years ago a couple of kids had died.  So we may not be able to go inside.  But it is Akvila's choice if she want to come to the apartment or not.

So when we arrive, they allow us inside and we go upstairs to her part of the orphanage.  Elona speaks to the case worker in Lithuanian that Akvila has guests.  She comes out wearing the jumper (zip up sweater) that we had her name put on (Thanks to Bowen Embroidery in Mt. Juliet, TN) and she goes straight to Peggy and says "Momma" and gives her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.  After a couple of seconds of hugging she comes to me and says "tėtė" which means "dad" and gives me a hug.  She then goes back to Peg and hugs her again.  In an orphanage, children rarely see men, so she is not used to me yet.  After the hug she stands back to a wall and speaks to Elona and says "momma is very beautiful and dad is very strong and big."  The other kids that are there want to play and see what Peg has in the bag.  So we finally get to move to another room (Akvila hand in hand with Peggy) and we can play and talk without the other kids.

Akvila starts to play around and we get a couple of pictures.  Peg gives Akvila the bag, which has a teddy bear (after closer examination, it is a cat) and a package of cookies.  Elona then talks to Akvila asking questions about what she likes (food; which she loves bananas) and what she likes to do (play with dolls, help the other caregivers and color).  After about a half an hour, Elona asks Akvila if she would like to go to the apartment with us.  Body language explained it all to us.  She shook her head no and she got very quite and kept her head down.  Elona spoke to her a lot, but Akvila would not say why she did not want to come; it took a few minutes then Akvila told her something.  Elona explains to us that she really wants to come, but since we do not understand what she is saying and "visa-versa" she is scared.  We told Elona to tell her we understand, we will come back and see her tomorrow and that we will practice our Lithuanian and try to understand her more.  So it is her lunch time and visiting hours are over.

She goes in and eats while we spoke to Elona.  Elona is very surprised she did not want to come.  She got to pack her stuff (on Friday); what she could bring and was all ready to go.  We told Elona we understand and were not upset by what had happened.  We told her we don't want to force anything on her just yet, not until we have to.  After lunch, Akvila came to the room we were waiting in to say goodbye.  We hugged and kissed some more... well me not as much.  She was happy and she knew she would see us again tomorrow.

So we left the orphanage about 12:40 hrs and came back to our apartment without our little girl.  :-(

Here are a few pictures that we took.  Some are a little blurry because she was running around alot and some are a little darker because of the sun shining in the room.

So, I hope you all have enjoyed today's installment.  I myself am almost in tears just thinking about how this day went.  It saddens me some that she didn't come with us.  But soon she will be with us all the time.

Oh BTW, today is our Anniversary.  I am a little confused by the times here and in the states.  I thought yesterday was the 30th of January.