A Slice of Lithuanian Life

Hello! Today we slept in ... I asked Lina what time she wanted to wake up and she said 10 am. My kind of girl! She likes coffee, chocolate, music, jeans (not skirts!) ... if it wasn't for this pesky language barrier, I would swear we were related! She likes calling us her family and gives us hugs or lays her head on my shoulder all the time. That's enough for me ... I'm taken!

So today (after sleeping in and having some coffee) we took a taxi to the Akropolis ... a huge mall! KC's favorite pasttime. We were able to find Lina some non-high heeled shoes and got her a CD, so we didn't have to listen to the same 3 Avril Lavinge songs on repeat again. :) Then we ate at a Chinese restuarant ... KC's pick (you'll see why in a second). Lina is a great sport ... adventurous and brave. She ordered some kind of Chinese food wrapped in a pancake ... it was good! So KC got to pick the food because Elona picked the movie ... High School Musical 3: Senior Year! Hee Hee! Let's just say that KC is not into musicals. Lina thought it was okay ... my sentiments exactly.

After the movie ... since we had already boughten Lina a few items & she wanted a handbag, but the one she picked was fairly expensive, we had to try to explain to her that we couldn't buy everything we/she wanted. She basically has nothing, so it's understandable but we need to establish clear boundaries. We called Elona to help translate and Lina said she understood. She seemed sad for awhile ... I think she felt bad. She's trying so hard to be good and I think that she thought she messed up. We assured her otherwise and she soon cheered up. (Side note: don't be expecting any souveniors from this trip ... we don't want to send her mixed signals. Besides, those fur hats only come in brown.)

Before leaving the mall, we went grocery shopping at the Maxima. Hallelujah ... they have a Mexican section ... I'm saved! It took a while to find the spaghetti sauce, but I think that's what we bought. The family-size pizza is closer to a personal-size for KC ... our stomachs are shrinking to accomodate European portions. I like European portions! Except when it comes to coffee. Good luck finding a true "grande". Oh well.

The taxi ride home was fun ... Hollywood car chases through Europe have nothing on that taxi driver! Lina has been listening to her new CD ... I actually like it. I can't understand a word of it, but I like it. She also insisted on cleaning the living room. She actually kicked us out of the room while she was cleaning! She's a sweet girl ... good personality ... funny, resourceful, polite. I wish we could bring her home now!

Tomorrow we go check in with Adoption Services. They want to make sure that we are all doing well. These are the people that denied us early on because I'm 3 months shy of being the required 18 years older than Lina. Keep us in your prayers!

Oh yeah, Lina can text as fast as any American teenager (yes ... she has a cell phone ... I have no idea who pays for it though) and Lina is short for Linute (lyn-u-ette-a).

When in Lithuania ...
High heel boots are in ... running shoes, not so much.
Hats are in ... baseball caps, not so much.
Winter coats are in ... gortex jackets, not so much.
Lots of pedestrians ... pedestrian safety, not so much.

Michele

PS. I will try to get more pictures, but Lina is a little camera-shy ... hence the not-so-good pic of me above ... after all, no one is looking at me! Isn't she pretty!?!