"That was a good visit!"

Maggie gets tickled because every time we leave the orphanage Barry says "That was a good visit!", but he's always right. We see Tabbi two separate times everyday, once in the morning and again after lunch and she doesn't just learn and change every day, but every visit. Every visit she is a little more comfortable, a little more adventurous, smiles a little more, laughs a little more and learns something new. Yesterday we had to get Tabbi's picture made for her VISA and since people in Sofia walk everywhere we were able to take her for a walk. When we got back to the orphanage Barry played all the music on his phone for her and she loved it! She danced, she "sang" and she was so calm about everything while the music played. We are thrilled to know that she is a huge fan of Third Day and the David Crowder Band!

Her lunch was a little late today and after such a big morning she was very tired, it was a precious gift to rock our baby for the first time and have her almost fall asleep in our arms. When they brought her lunch we kept her music playing and she was like a different child. She took her time, enjoyed her food and even smiled at us between bites. When she would reach for the phone while she was eating Barry would say "no no" or "wait" and she was obedient. She is learning so much with every new experience...and so are we. We have learned that music soothes her soul and we will have music playing every minute of our next trip!

After lunch they let us watch her take a "shower" so we would know what to do. She loved it and bath time is going to be so much fun! She's also going to fit right in with the Fullington crew because she loved the water.

When we returned after lunch she sat with me and we looked at some of the books we brought along. We have one with pictures from home, one that sings music and one that makes farm animal sounds. She has always liked to use our finger to push the buttons and make the sounds work but today she got her little fingers working and was able to turn the board pages. We started with the pictures from home, she held my finger and poined to the people in the picture for me to say there name. We went all the way through and said everyone's name but she really thought "Kate Kate beau beau, Kate Kate beau beau, Kate Kate beau beau" had a really nice ring to it! Next we moved onto the farm animal book. She held my finger and we went through and named every thing in the book then we started over. Finally she put my finger on the pig and I pointed to the buttons and asked her which one was the pig and she put my finger right on the pig button. A smart girl indeed! We matched the pig, the rooster, the cow and the lamb. She wasn't as interested in matching the duck but those don't last long around our house anyway so it's fine.

After books she went back to music. Then Barry showed her how she could see herself on the phone and she was delighted....so, of course like any good daddy would, he showed her how she could see herself on the tablet...bigger is always better! While they played with the tablet he taught her to wave at herself and, playing the video back, we are pretty sure she said "hi" which is the first word she's said that we could understand!

So, as you can see, it was a big day! Now we face the biggest and hardest day of all, our last. I start to cry every time I think about leaving her, having to hug and hold her enough today to last us three or four months, and worrying that she will think we have abandoned her too. We are so excited to come home and see our boys and all of you but we will be leaving a part of our family and ourselves behind in Bulgaria. Please pray that we can enjoy today with her rather than crying all the way through it and please pray that Tabbi retains all the progress she's made this week and that the still small voice of Jesus will give her a peace and reassurance that we WILL be back....as soon as they let us come!