This morning we went grocery shopping for some food to make for lunch with Temenujka. We also decided to have a small Birthday celebration for all of the birthdays that we have missed with our girl. We picked up a cake and some balloons.
I love all of the snow here. Those are mountains in the distance! We are tempted to move to Bulgaria and live in one of these villages.
We started off our time by talking about the childhood of Tyler and myself. She was invited to share some thoughts about her life and we learned a bit more about her. She had a grandmother in the same village and she loved her. There was even talk of her going to live with her, until the grandmother died suddenly due to cancer. This poor girl has had so much pain in her life!
Temenujka was the honorary mayor for one day due to her excellent character.
The director of this center for family type accommodations, Naina, and me. She owns this house and it is over 100 years old. She runs this non-government organization and has been working with orphans for forty years. She inspires me! I told her that I would love to do what she is doing one day. She said to look her up when all of my kids are grown, and see if we can arrange something. :-)
Next we blew up some balloons and got out some party hats to celebrate all of Temenujka's past birthdays. We brought out a cake and sang to her. We gave her birthday drawings from her siblings back home. We gave her a watch that she set on our time, so she will know what time it is for us after we leave. She seemed to enjoy it, despite all of the focus being on her. She is such a shy girl.
Next I helped Temenujka make a shopshka salad, which has tomatoes, onions, peppers, cucumbers, and cheese. It is a very Bulgarian salad! Temenujka is quite the cook. They said she can make many dishes all by herself. In fact, she made traditional Bulgarian rolls for our lunch today. And they were amazing! This girl is so talented.
This girl peels cucumbers with a knife! She has some awesome skills in the kitchen.
Some yummy chicken and rice.
The rolls that Temenujka made. They were delicious!
Look at that smile! I love this girl.
So after lunch, we had a dance performance by Temenujka (and three other kids) that Temenujka choreographed. Then she plugged her MP3 player into the computer and played her current favorite song on it: I Love You Like A Love Song, Baby, by SELENA GOMEZ.
Apparently she really likes that song, because she played it three times in a row. Ha ha. We had so much fun dancing with her! At one point, Tyler knelt down on the floor and he was exactly her height!
During lunch, Naina was telling us about how the kids have chores that they do everyday. With a full table of food and many people eating, I commented that I felt badly for whoever had dishes today. The reply was that Temenujka did! Ha ha. So Tyler and I helped her to clean all of the dishes. She was so positive about working hard and she did a great job. It was fun to help her.
Next we played pick-up sticks, Spot It, and Uno with all of the other kids. Then later on, Temenujka asked to play pick-up sticks again. She is really good at it!
Some photos of the laundry room and bathrooms on the main floor.
And they still use a trash can to put the toilet paper in. It is hard to not throw it in the toilet!
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