Embassy Appointment, Market Shopping and Tears

Leila slept almost 14 hours last night, and today she seemed better and brighter. We are learning about one another and communicating the best we can. We are trying to pick just a few rules/manners to focus on so as not to overwhelm her. That is hard! Grace, grace, grace. 

While Leila and Immanuel had English lessons we took a trip to the Grand Market with Juanita, Halima (the wonderful cook) and Fati (Halima's assistant but our market negotiator for this moment) to do a little shopping for some people back home. The LINK doesn't take teams to the market anymore - I think I almost got hit by flying mopeds a few times and sellers are constantly going "Come here. I have something you need to see. Something for you!" And the number of beggars is multiplied and truly we were the only light skinned people. I covered up well so as not to stand out too much. Geoff did some hard core negotiating, I hid while he did so and we left with what we came for. All in all, it was a success!

In between negotiations, he called our evasive Embassy contact (we seriously need a customer complaints line for the government) 3 times. This was after he texted Geoff this morning and said he'd call in the afternoon, which he didn't, so Geoff called. He never picked up, but while on our way back to the LOC he called back. Finally! He told Geoff to come to the Embassy at 1pm tomorrow, to not bring Leila and my presence was optional. Strange because we thought I needed to be present for this last step. Please pray this is a positive meeting and the next step toward getting Leila's visa. We are grateful for movement!

We came back and joined the Rivas and Immanuel where we played with some play-doh and practiced letters before it was time for dinner. After leftovers with the Rivas and Immanuel, the pastor from the orphanage came to get Immanuel. Leila and I went downstairs to greet him, and as soon as she saw him she burst into tears. Heart. Breaking. Scary. She hates us. She wants to go back. What have we done! For about 3 minutes I'm sitting there thinking all these things because I can't understand their conversation. It was terrible, so then I started to cry. The pastor called Rodrigo to come down and translate.

She is not unhappy or mad and definitely doesn't want to return to the orphanage, but it's hard to communicate sometimes and she's used to always having dozens of kids around her (aka we are probably a bit boring). She is transitioning. And it's a huge one! What a humbling moment. The pastor offered his thanks again for inviting her into our family. She left his lap and came straight to me where she cried some more on my shoulder. It was a hundred degrees inside, so we were a hot mess by the end of it. I am so thankful she opened up to him and that we will see him a few more times because I think it will help her transition better. 

We had a very sweet hour together before bed with tickles and giggles and stories. I am learning how to be a mom in new ways and am so grateful for your prayers!