Holding On

We're still waiting .... Ryan's office told Jack that they have at least 24 hours; according to Jack that's 10 a.m. today. Hoping to hear something, but if not Jack plans to go downtown to the Senators offices .... he thought maybe in person he'd be more effective. Maybe to them this is routine -- maybe if it was their family they might feel a bit differently!

BEFORE I GO TO BED UPDATE: Jack said that now Kohl, Feingold and Ryan's offices are involved -- according to him everyone is on board EXCEPT the guy who needs to send the e-mail ..... maybe before the day is done in Wisconsin it will be done -- I hope so -- by the time you get up tomorrow it is already afternoon here. If the Visa 37 e-mail is not sent by the time the offices close here it will not be received until Monday ...... my fingers are crossed and prayers will continue!

Good news -- the medical evaluation that Gabi needs to exit Sofia has been scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow. Rossi took our forms to the office and they were kind enough to schedule the appointment based on our I171 approval (the approval that normally causes immigration services to send the cable 37 visa letter -- the step that was missed). Having this done will speed up the process -- hoping to still be able to leave on the 16th.

Thanks for all the comments! I read every one of them to Hailee & Gabi at breakfast this morning, it may sound silly but those comments mean the world to us right now ....

I promised myself I wasn't going to bore everyone with my whining today --- I thought I'd bore you with a look into our life in Sofia ..... and help you to get to know Miss Gabriela Lynn Ollmann a little better.

Gabi really is an even-tempered child -- so far nothing has upset her nor has she expressed frustration at not being able to communicate with us. We do have a English/Bulgarian book of 1000 pictures/words that has been really helpful when we're stuck on a certain thing. She loves playing card games and we've taught her old maid, go fish and a modified version of crazy 8's. She has discovered Nintendo games and she LOVES playing them -- Hailee thought she'd bring her DS and her older Nintendo for Gabi ..... it worked like that for a day. Then Gabi figured out that the DS is nicer -- every chance she gets she grabs it. So far Hailee hasn't said a word .... but it will come, I'm sure!!!

Being the girly-girl that she is Gabi loves everything that we brought along to pretty herself up. Hailee is being a good big sister and going along with it .... yesterday they did their nails. Check out the beautiful decorations on their nails.

And we've done play-dough, Gabi decided I needed to get my picture taken too. She loves the camera and has taken hundreds of pictures of "stuff" - we had about 15 pictures of every piece of furniture in the apartment, every toy we brought, the different floors in the apartment -- (shhhhh -- I delete the pictures at night when she's in bed -- so far she hasn't noticed)
For never seeing play-dough before Gabi caught on quickly -- she made snowman after snowman. When Hailee tried to show her that she could make other things she shook her head and her little finger while telling Hailee "no" -- we see that little finger shake a lot.
Yesterday we went walking around the shopping district and had lunch at the Pizza Place -- Jack and I had been there so I was comfortable knowing they had English on their menus. Hailee stuck to the Marguerita Pizza but Gabi was more adventurous -- she had a spinach and feta cheese pizza. It looked interesting ..... she ate 3/4 of it, where does that skinny little kid put it???? And in case you're wondering where Gabi got the beautiful piece of jewelry she's wearing on her neck -- we did some beadwork too!

Believe it or not we have a "soap opera junkie" on our hands? She actually told Rossi to tell me that we shouldn't go out from 2:30 - 5:30 each day -- I didn't think she was serious, but ..... at 2:25 (before this she had checked the little travel alarm we have about 50 times) Miss Gabi got a cup out, carefully poured some juice into it and settled herself into this chair -- and there she sat for the next 2 hours!!!! At the commercials she would go to the bathroom or refill her juice. Oh my goodness -- she's 10!!! She also likes to have control of the remote ..... guess she'll have to work that one out with her Daddy!
It's a beautiful day today in Sofia. We decided to go to the park and actually ventured out much, much further than we thought. As long as there are landmarks that we can remember every time we turn I feel pretty comfortable. We happened upon this amazing square -- the flowers were so pretty we just had to get a picture. Check out the green purse that Gabi is carrying -- she's so cute -- we say we're going out and she runs to get her purse, she puts on her lip gloss, brushes her hair and puts her headband on, sprays on this body spray she has and she's all set to go ..... Hailee just rolls her eyes!
Hailee found it interesting that in every block there's a store like this -- cigarettes are displayed in the windows along with liquor. She asked me why these stores are everywhere -- don't they understand that people die from smoking? It's a good question .......
Ahhh, another wonderful discovery today was the fruit market -- they had the yummiest looking fruit. Gabi picked out nectarines and Hailee found the biggest raspberries I've ever seen. We purchased the nectarines and Hailee asked about the raspberries and the man at the booth said "not fresh" and pointed to a booth further down and said "very fresh there" -- what a nice guy ..... he gave up a sale so we would have the freshest raspberries! And he was right!!! We had them for lunch -- we'll be going back again tomorrow!

Isn't this church beautiful? The picture really doesn't do it justice. Outside of one of the entrances there was an old man, stooped over, Santa Claus beard with long hair -- as people left the church he would bow to each person. Hailee watched him for a long time, finally she asked why he bowed to people -- I asked her if she had noticed the cup in his hand and explained that he was hoping to get money from the people. She continued to watch him -- eventually she said that not one person had stopped and given him any money .... could we take him some? Of course we could -- so she did -- he bowed deeply to her and said something in Bulgarian. She came back over to us and said that she knew he was very grateful because he smiled at her when he bowed .....
Trolleys are everywhere and they are packed with people. I love the look of the bricked sidewalks and streets -- I don't like walking on them though, there are uneven spots everywhere and if you're not watching what's in front of you you're tripping all the time. I tripped twice today and both times Hailee gave me that; Geez Mom you're embarrassing me look, you know the one where they tilt their head and roll their eyes to the sky as they shake their heads back & forth .... hope she doesn't teach that one to Gabi!!!
The book fair in the middle of the square -- we found a book about Bulgarian culture & history in English for Hailee's social studies class and Gabi asked for a Snow White book .... really was hoping to find a larger puzzle because I brought 3 - 100 piece ones that Hailee has put together. She suddenly loves puzzles ... who knew?? Thought it might be fun to get a bigger one we could all work on -- no luck!
This picture is for the teachers ..... a good part of the morning and later in the afternoon are devoted to school work. Hailee has been journaling for English, doing math worksheets, reading and doing her comparision chart for social studies. Gabi must work on school work too -- we brought several workbooks for her. She has been working on writing numbers and doing math problems. We're starting at grade 1 and will work our way up -- I was surprised that she knew several color names when they were written in English. We also work with the English/Bulgarian word book -- going through the common words and having her repeat them in English. She's a very willing student.

As you can see, we're enjoying our time in Bulgaria and the time spent together getting to know one another is priceless. Before I go I wanted to share a SUPER POSITIVE moment that happened last night -- Gabi was in the tub and I left the bathroom to give her some privacy (these are the hard things -- how do you know if she needs you or she doesn't), after a little bit I heard this little voice calling "Mama" from the bathroom. I went in and she was sitting there pointing to her hair and the shampoo - she wanted me to wash her hair!!!! Washing her hair wasn't the super positive part -- I'd done that before ...... it was the fact that she called me "MAMA" -- until that moment she had not called me anything ..... it's a start!!!