Would a Rose by Any Other Name Smell So Sweet?

Have you ever thought about names, name meanings, and what makes a name beautiful? Here are some great opinions on names. 



Juliet:

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself."

-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Anne Shirley:

"Well I don't know.' Anne looked thoughtful. "I read in a book once that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I've never been able to believe it. I don't believe a rose WOULD be as nice if it was called a thistle or a skunk cabbage.” 

― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

Diana Barry:

'Oh, I don't think so,' said Diana. 'Anne seems to me real stately and like a queen. But I'd like Kerenhappuch if it happened to be your name. I think people make their names nice or ugly just by what they are themselves. I can't bear Josie or Gertie for names now but before I knew the Pye girls I thought them real pretty.'

'That's a lovely idea, Diana,' said Anne enthusiastically. 'Living so that you beautify your name, even if it wasn't beautiful to begin with...making it stand in people's thoughts for something so lovely and pleasant that they never think of it by itself. Thank you, Diana.”

― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea


Emilia, we are sure you would be just as sweet if you had a different name! We think your vibrant personality makes your name beautiful!

Just like with Martin, (wrote about his name here) we are keeping Emilia's first name due to her age and the fact that it is pronounceable in English - besides the fact that it is beautiful and we love it! 

Also, like Martin, we will be changing her middle name, which isn't pronounceable in English and has the "ova" ending that means "daughter of" like traditional Bulgarian middle names. Her new middle name will be Rose. It is a family name in Andrew's side of the family. Andrew's grandmother, sister, and niece all have Rose for either a first or middle name. So Emilia will have a great grandmother Rose, Aunt Rose, and a cousin whose middle name is Rose! Doesn't Emilia Rose have a nice ring to it?!

Emilia's Name Fun Facts:

• Emilia is ranked # 208 in US popularity, but Amelia is ranked # 17 (in year 2013). This name has grown greatly in popularity in the US in the past few years. Emilia is very popular in European countries right now! I can't find statistics for it's popularity in Bulgaria.
• The name Emilia originates from the Latin “Aemilia,” which derives from the Roman noble family name “Aemilius.” It is believed to come from from the word “aemulus” meaning "trying to equal or excel.” Emilia works very hard to over come her Cerebral Palsy and master gross motor and find motor skills, so the name definitely fits!
• We aren't for sure if Emilia's name is spelled "Emilia" or "Emiliya" in Bulgarian because we have seen in translated both ways! 
• We think her nick name is "Emi" because the Cyrillic equivalent was on the back of her shirt for a table cricket tournament in which she played.

Our sweet girl had an opportunity to participate in a table cricket competition for children with disabilities. The Bulgarian/Cyrillic letters for her nick name, Emi, are on the back of her T-shirt.

What's in a Name?

Our sons name was Martin Anev _____. You may be wondering "What will your son's name be? Will you give him a new name? Did you choose the name Martin? Is Martin Bulgarian? Anev sounds Bulgarian, but Martin doesn't!"

The practice of renaming is very common in adoption. We understand why some people choose to rename their children and others don't. We are thinking about partially renaming Martin. We will keep his first name, probably modify his middle name, and change his last name to ours!

Our son's first name is Martin. We think his name was given to him by his birth mother. For a child who is 11 years old, surely his name is by now his identity. We wouldn't dream of changing his name and taking his identity and taking what is probably the only thing he has from his birth mother.

Fun Facts:

• The name Martin comes from Mars, the ancient god of war in Roman mythology. Martin means "Warrior of Mars" or  "Warlike." (Martin, we think it is fitting that you are called Warrior! How many adversities has life given you, that you have struggled through! Keep fighting! We are coming to bring you home!)
• While Martin is ranked #265 in the US for a baby boy name, it is a much more popular baby name in European countries. It is not a traditional Bulgarian name, but has recently became more popular. Even so, it would not be as common as other traditional Bulgarian names.

In Bulgaria, middle names are different in the US. Children's middle names are traditionally either their the mother's or father's first name with an "ev" ending for boys and an "eva" ending for girls. The ending means "son of" (or "daughter of"). We are considering changing Martin's middle name to Andrei. This is the Bulgarian form of Andrew and a masculine version of the base of his current name "Anev" minus the "ev" ending. In this way, we can still honor the birth parent he was named after. Besides the connection to a birth parent, Martin's new dad's name is Andrew and my middle name is Ann and he will have a great Aunt Ann! So the middle name Andrei will connect Martin with his new family, his birth family, and his birth country.

Artwork drawn by Martin Andrei in March of 2014

Court Date, Trusting God and Being Patient in a Microwave, Fastfood Culture

Yesterday was a day full of all kinds of emotions. Our case came before a judge in Bulgaria and our kids met for the first time ever! The morning started out with nervous anticipation and the expectation of good news. (At least those were my feelings. Andrew on the other hand has been worrying for days about how M and E meeting for the first time would go and whether they would like each other. So all he probably felt was anxiety!)

Last night I went to sleep breathing prayers over the court hearing and our children and this morning I woke up early and instantly prayers popped into my sleepy mind. Bulgaria is 7 hours ahead of us. I wondered what time the court date was scheduled. I wonder if it was over or happening right then and if M and E had met yet.

I (thankfully as it turned out later) had the day of work. When I got up I sent an email to our agency telling them "I was on pins and needles" waiting to hear how court went. I kept near my cell phone and the computer waiting for an email or call from our agency. It felt like a long time waiting and waiting to hear any news.

The first news came at 9:42am. Surprisingly it didn't come as expected from our agency, but from the orphanage directer of E's group home.

"Hi Katie. E. is very happy that she met her brother and he also. There were walking hand to hand and talking about how will be their new life at USA, so don't worry , they like each other a lot. But the judge was not in good mood and she move the court date at 27 this month, as the social worker told me. This is not a problem, just u will wait one or two weeks more. She said also that at the end of may you will be possible to come for E. and M. ! :) Everything is going great !!!"

My heart leapt when I heard how well the meeting went and I felt tears welling up in my eyes. And then the disappointment that there must be some hangup with the judge. She was postponing our court date until next Monday? Now I really couldn't wait to here from our agency to see what the holdup was!

I quickly called Andrew at work and read the email to him. He says all he felt was relief and joy that M and E meeting went well and had tears in his eyes too. Andrew's relief and joy were so great that he couldn't be disappointed about the delay until next Monday!

The next person I heard from was also unexpected. A photo of M and E accompanied by a smiley face emoticon via facebook from M's foster family in Bulgaria. After that I got a sweet message from Dimo, our driver during our first trip to Bulgaria.  Dimo wrote that M and E had an instant bond and "any words would be weak" to describe their meeting. He also wrote that M helped E navigate all the steps at the courthouse and that our agency would send us photos of the meeting! He did not mention the judge or what the hold up was.

Finally, at about 12:30, I received a call from K. our case worker at the adoption agency. She told us that everything went well with the judge, except for one thing - the judge was requesting that we have an updated FBI background check. The judge would hear our case again next Monday, June 27. Exactly a week to get new FBI background checks! K also told us the meeting between M and E had went well and been very "emotional." She would email us pictures as soon as we got off the phone. 

What beautiful pictures they are! Full of joy, love, bright smiles, hope, and excitement! I can't share their beautiful faces online yet, but here is a little sneak peek of how precious these photos are!

Me Helping E down the Courthouse Steps

Instant Bond of a Soon-to-be Brother and Sister

At this point I am feeling very frustrated. I love M and E! I am ready to be a family of four! Seeing there sweet pictures only increases my desire to bring them home! I am not angry at the judge. I appreciate the fact that she takes her job seriously. All to many children in this world are trafficked for slavery or criminal activity. I am glad this judge is making sure that children are going to safe and loving families! I just feel frustrated that there has been a delay. I would happily do anything the judge requires of us to demonstrate that we are a safe, loving family for M and E.

This must be how God feels, only more so. He longs to adopt us as his children. Yet so often we delay in saying yes to Him. He would go to any cost to pursue us and make us his own - He would even die on a cross to have that relationship with us! Sunday in small groups we from Luke 15, the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The shepherd left the 99 to find his 1 lost sheep. The women swept her house and looked diligently to find her 1 lost coin. The father watched and waited and longed and finally his son came home. I think my life right now is the Parable of the Persistent Mother. I will take whatever steps I need to bring my children home! I have worked for 2 1/2 years for this and I am not going to let a little old background check get in my way!

The momma bear in me went right to work to solve the problem in the fastest way possible.  At the agency's suggestions, we called the FBI to see if they could reissue an updated report without us going through the whole long process. I knew this was a long shot - a really long shot. No they could not. We would need to get fingerprinted and again and mail in our fingerprints along with a form and we would receive the background check in the mail in 12-14 weeks. Or, we could go through an FBI channeler and have them expedited. Option 2 please!

So, I went to the FBI channeler page of the FBI website and found a channeler with offices in our state. The directions said to go to a local office and get fingerprinted and mail in the fingerprints along with a form and the payment for the expediting process. I called them. What to do you know? They had a the local office (okay local as in 45 minutes away) were we could get our finger prints scanned and instantly sent to the main office instead of having to mail them. This would save a few days of time! They also allowed us to scan and email in the accompanying forms rather than mailing them. Again, to save time. For an additional fee, they could email us the results when they had them back from the FBI, as well as send us a hard copy in the mail. Perfect! I filled out the forms right away, scanned, and emailed them. Next, I drove to be finger printed. Andrew had just gotten of work and we met at the finger print place and had our prints taken again! We have done our part, now all we can do is wait for the results! Hopefully, they will email us the results in 3-5 days as promised!

On the way home as I drover through rush hour traffic, I thought about lots of stuff. I thought about how this was not the end of the world. It was only a delay. The judge hadn't turned us down. She had only requested more information. She was even willing to take scanned and emailed copies (with the expectation of hard copies that have been apostilled to follow). I know this adoption will happen in God's timing. I feel like I have been patient so long already. But I will be patient a little while longer. (And patience is not my forte. What can I say, I am an American used to instant downloads, fast food restaurants, microwaves, etc.)

I also thought about how God was in control and allowed this to happen. That He knew this would happen and must have some purpose in allowing it that I can't understand. I thought about how God loves these children more than I ever can. He loves them perfectly.

At home, Andrew and I ate our supper and talked about all the days excitement and frustration. After diner we worked on the kids rooms until bedtime. This morning when I woke up, I didn't feel all the frustration. I feel only peace. 

My verse for this week is going to be:

"Sing to God, sing praises to his name;

lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;

his name is the Lord; exult before him!

Father of the fatherless and protector of widows

is God in his holy habitation.

God settles the solitary in a home"

Psalms 68:4-6a

Because I know that God wants this adoption even more than I do!

Court Date Scheduled!

Our court date is scheduled for April 20! (We do not attend court. Our NGO has power of attorney to represent us.) We should be able to bring our kids home in May or possibly in June.

Even though we won't be at our court hearing, our children will be! Because our children are older, they will go to court and give their opinion on whether or not they want to be adopted. (If they were 14 or older, then they would have to give their consent to adoption.) Interesting, side note, our children will meet each other for the first time at court! Our NGO has promised to send a photo!

Best Anniversary Gift!

Last week, we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! The day before our anniversary, I told Andrew, "the best gift we could receive for our anniversary would be getting the Minister of Justice's signature" on our case. We submitted for the signature in January and expected it a month ago in mid-February and were still waiting. Sure enough, on our anniversary, I got a phone call from our agency. As soon as I saw the name on the caller ID, I got hopeful and excited! Our caseworker told me that our case had received the signature that morning and had been taken to court! (We are now waiting to be assigned a judge and scheduled for court date.)

I love living life with my wonderful husband everyday, through the good, the hard, and the ordinary. I love celebrating together when life brings us happy moments and supporting each other in life's difficulties. Our 5th anniversary and receiving signature were both definitely cause to celebrate! We went out to dinner and to the symphony.

At  dinner we had a window booth above a river - the day was rainy but the view was still beautiful! The river was high from all the snow melt off and recent rain.

At the symphony! We heard the world premier of Lo, a violin concerto composed and played by Pulitzer prize winner and violinist Caroline Shaw!

Adoption Shower!

Our small group at church hosted an adoption shower for us! Andrew and I had a lovely time celebrating our coming adoption with friends. We felt surrounded by love and support on our adoption journey. We feel blessed to be surrounded with such friends!

Everyone wrote a card for us with either a note of encouragement, parenting advice, Bible verse, or activities to do together as a family. During our first year with our children home, whenever we need a little encouragement or some new parenting ideas, we can take a card out and read it. The children at the party wrote notes or drew pictures on cards for M and E.

Andrew and I opened gifts together! We loved the games and Legos, cute clothes and PJs, sheets and more that we received. One friend was even so thoughtful as to give us a huge box of snacks and cereal, telling us "you have no idea how much your grocery bill will go up once your children are home." Our small group went together and purchased a twin mattress and box spring for us! Thank you!

After gift opening, our friends made a circle around us and prayed for our adoption and for us as we from a new family. Then we ate a combination of delicious American and Bulgarian foods and cake for dessert!

The excitement of looking forward to the shower all week, the fun of the shower itself, the fellowship with friends during the shower, and admiring the gifts again when we got home helped us get through another week of waiting until we see our children again.

Happy 11th Birthday, M!

Last week our son turned 11 years old. Unfortunately we weren't able to send him a gift. We did send him pictures via email to let him know we remembered his birthday and celebrated it. Happy birthday, our dear son! We look forward to celebrating it with you next year and for many more years to come!

M's birthday gift is sitting on our end table waiting for him!

Chocolate Cupcakes on M's Birthday

Nesting

Our paperwork is slowly crawling thru the Bulgarian system. We may (waiting to hear for sure) have received our MOJ signature and our case might be on it's way to being assigned to a judge! (Our agency told us last week that they expected this, so hopefully!)

The wait the last few weeks has been hard. We miss our kids a lot. It feels like such a long time since we have seen our kiddos. With not hearing much about the progress of our case, it feels like it is dragging on and on. (Perhaps progress is being made, but news of progress is sometimes slow to cross the Atlantic and get to us!) We knew there was a possibility that we could bring our kids home as early as some time in March, but we told ourselves it would probably by April. Now it looks like that it definitely won't be March. I am still hoping for April, but also preparing myself that it could be even May.

Thankfully, we had a short note from E. and she seems to be well, but she says she misses us. I sent a short note to M.'s foster mother and she replied that M. said he loves us! So that is nice. But still, I can't wait to hug and kiss those two! I dream all the time about picking them up and what our trip will be like and bringing them home forever. I often add in little prayers for the kids and our upcoming journey as we will adjust to being a family together.

In all this waiting we have been nesting. We visited a school we are considering and have another school we are planning to visit soon. Andrew and I (okay, mostly Andrew) have been remodeling the upstairs of our cape cod home to have two bedrooms and a bathroom for M. and E. Andrew is great at electrical wiring, moving plumbing, and drywalling. I can follow directions, help out when he needs a second pair of hands, and clean up the dusty mess. (Thanks to Mark for coming over and drywalling a few Saturdays ago and to Duane who is coming over soon to help Andrew lay trim and to Melissa and Same who are coming Saturday to help paint!)

Drywall Finishing

 We (mostly me) have also been working on sanding and painting furniture bought of Craigslist.  It helps me to keep busy during the waiting and it is exciting to prepare their rooms.

Andrew put the first coat of primer on the dresser and I did the nightstand.

We also had the fun of going to Target and registering for an adoption shower some friends are throwing for us. We liked picking out bed sheets and cute kid clothes, as well as a few toys.

Registering at Target for Our Adoption Shower

How's that for a short update? I am off to buy paint now!

Happy 12th B-day E!

Last week, we celebrated our daughter E.'s 12 birthday. We chose a Hello Kitty watch for E. weeks ago and mailed it to another adoptive mother who is traveling to Bulgaria this month and will give it to E. for her birthday. E. will receive it a late, but at least she will now we are thinking about her!

Since we couldn't be with E on her birthday, we decided to go out for cupcakes! Andrew had chocolate mocha and I chose a lemon.

It was fun to celebrate our daughter's birthday. At the same time I felt sad thinking that we had missed celebrating the previous 11 and we wouldn't be able to celebrate her birthday with her until next year when she has her 13th birthday.

Update: We are still waiting on a signature from the Bulgarian Minister of Justice. Once we receive this, our case will be assigned to a judge in Bulgaria. the judge will schedule our case into his docket. After our case is approved by a Bulgarian judge, there will be a 7 day waiting period and we will officially be the parents of M. and E. Then the paperwork will be translated and we can pick them up. We hope to pick them up in April.

Quick Update

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick update on our adoption. We submitted our I800 with in a week of returning from Bulgaria. We received approval Dec. 2 and fillout out our DS 260 on Dec. 4. Our Bulgarian NGO represented us for our Visa interview on December 12 and we received article 5.

We are now waiting a signature from the Bulgarian Minister of Justice. Then we will get assigned to a judge for court. After passing court, M. and E. will officially be our children! We hope to bring them home in April.

Dear M and E,

Next Christmas we will be together! I dream of the fun we will have making Christmas cookies and playing with the nativity set. How I love you! I miss you every single day! You are always in my thoughts and prayers. 

XOXO, With Love,

Momma

Sight Seeing in Bulgaria: Kabile

While in Bulgaria, we had an opportunity to visit Kabile, an archaeological site. Kabile, an ancient town, is situated around and on a huge rocky hill/mountain surrounded by flat land for miles, making it the perfect fortress.

When we visited Kabile, we toured a small museum before climbing the hill. We saw lots of artifacts (Pottery, Tools, Coins, Statues/gods, jewelry, etc.) from as early as 2,000 BC from ancient Thracian times, up through Greek and Roman times into the time of the Byzantine period. Andrew and I were fascinated to see how people grew in knowledge, from having only pottery through the iron age. It was very cool to look at things left behind by ancient things from thousands of years before of Christ. It was weird to think about civilizations that lasted hundreds of years, then conquered by another civilization that lasted hundreds of years. I felt a little strange, almost insignificant as a person. People live and die and time marches on. I also thought about how young America is and how, with the exception of some Native American artifacts, we don't have very many artifacts or cool things from ancient times. The oldest is maybe 400 years old - not thousands and thousands of years.

Fossils, Including an Elephant Tusk

Ancient Pottery 

Artifacts from the Iron Age

After the museum of artifacts, we walked trails outside, past an ancient Roman bath, more digs were they are still unearthing artifacts, and up the huge hill, with several pauses to catch my breath. On top of the hill, was a sanctuary for the Thracian goddess of fertility, Cybilla. There are still huge rocks positioned North to South and East to West that were used for sacrifices. From the top of Kabile, we could see a long ways. What a view!

Ruins of Roman Bath

Dimo, Our Driver

Ivan, Our Translator

We climbed to the top!

Saying Goodbye to M.

We have been gone to Bulgaria for 2 weeks! Now that we are home, I will be blogging all about our trip. Click theses links if you would like to first read about our trip to Bulgaria. We first spent 5 days meeting our daughter E, then 5 days with our son M. You can read here about the day we met our son M.

From October 28: 

We met M. and his foster parents at the Social Welfare Office and went inside. M. sat between Andrew and me. We sat in their for a while and signed some papers saying we had visited with him for the past 4 days and today. We thought we would have the morning to visit with M. then we would say goodbye because we would have to travel in the afternoon. However, the Social Welfare Office informed us that M. needed to go to school. (He had already missed Friday and Monday visiting with us.) Our visit was shorter than I expected, just the time in the office. 

We went outside the office building and took pictures of M. with his foster parents, of M. with us, and of  M. with both his foster parents and us. Then we all said our goodbyes and had goodbye hugs and kisses with M. right in front of the social welfare office. M. got in the car with his foster parents and went to school. We waived and blew kisses to him as drove away.

I don't know if it was the suddenness of the goodbyes, or the fact that M. is in a foster family, or that I had already done this before with E., but I didn't cry. It was hard and I miss my son every day, but I know we are coming back for him!

Since we have been home, I have received a few emailed photos of M. from his foster mother. (And also of E. from her orphanage director.) It helps to know they are well, but I miss them both everyday! Sometimes I look over their pictures and videos. Sometimes I cry. I miss E.'s radiant smiles and hugs, and M.'s spontaneous laughter and kisses! But I tell myself only a few more months and we will all be together as a forever family! 

I know you all want to see pictures of our handsome son. However, I won't be sharing any pictures publicly on the internet. In order to be allowed to take pictures with M., we had to sign papers saying we wouldn't publish his name or photos online.

Day 4 with M.

We have been gone to Bulgaria for 2 weeks! Now that we are home, I will be blogging all about our trip. Click theses links if you would like to first read about our trip to Bulgaria. We first spent 5 days meeting our daughter E, then 5 days with our son M. You can read here about the day we met our son M.

From October 27:

Although it was still cold, the sun was shining! We did not spend the day in our hotel room! We went to a near by larger city to have M.'s photo taken for his Visa. M.'s foster mother came along and sat up front where Ivan, our translator usually sits. Ivan sat in the back of the hatch backed car on a seat that flips up out of the floor. M. sits in the back seat between Andrew and me. M. though Ivan sitting basically in the trunk was funny. He said to his foster mother. "Look, Uncle is sitting in the back like luggage!"

After we had M.'s visa picture taken, we went to a near by mall that had a play area with a big inflatable bouncy house/slide. M. loved it! Next, M. did sand art pictures at a little shop. I would peel off a sticky section for him and then he would spoon the sand over it. Here is a beautiful rose he made for me!

M. also loved the escalators and automatically opening doors at the mall. Andrew took him up and down the escalators just for fun! M. found the automatically opening doors fascinating. We spent probably 5 minutes just standing in front of the doors making them open, walking in and out, etc. Oh, the laughter and smile over the things we take for granted! 

On the way back home, M. was quite. We think he might have been realizing this was one of our last times together and been sad. Also, we think he was sad to leave all the excitement of the mall, tired out, and possibly over stimulated at the mall. Once we returned to M.'s foster home, he perked back up. He sat on my lap and looked at the photo album we made him. We talked about what it would be like once he was adopted and lived with us in America. M. was full of lots of plans for what life will be like. He said he wants a red fast bicycle like daddy's and a basket on the front like momma's. M. thought with a basket he could ride to the store and get a loaf of bread, etc. for me. I am thinking to myself, "You are very sweet and helpful to volunteer, but NO way would I let you ride to the grocery store by yourself!"

We also had a chance to chat with M.'s foster mother and ask her questions. Then we said goodbye for the evening.

I know you all want to see pictures of our handsome son. However, I won't be sharing any pictures publicly on the internet. In order to be allowed to take pictures with M., we had to sign papers saying we wouldn't publish his name or photos online.

Day 3 with M.

We have been gone to Bulgaria for 2 weeks! Now that we are home, I will be blogging all about our trip. Click theses links if you would like to first read about our trip to Bulgaria. We first spent 5 days meeting our daughter E, then 5 days with our son M. You can read here about the day we met our son M.

From October 26:

View from our Hotel Window

Once again the beautiful snow was falling. We didn't realize it was daylight savings in Bulgaria (a week before ours in the US) and we woke up at our usual time (no alarm clock needed - we just woke up around 7am each morning). We went downstairs to the hotel lobby to meet our interpreter and driver, but of course they weren't there. The lady behind the desk communicated through pointing at her cell phone that the time had changed. So we went back upstairs for another hour.

Because the roads were snowy and trees were down, our son's foster father brought him into town to our hotel. We spent a third day together in our hotel room. Poor energetic kid confined to a hotel room for 3 days! We played all the same things together - Playdough, Go Fish, Crazy 8, batting the balloon around. Andrew and M. had a great father/son time wrestling on the bed. Andrew laid on the bed and M. would run and jump on him. I loved watching them! 

Playdough  in our hotel room!

Instead of going to the restaurant we stayed at the hotel and had chicken soup with fresh lemon to squeeze in it and fresh bread. Mmm! Perfect on a cold snowy day!

We took M. home in the afternoon and returned to our hotel to find we had no electricity! I am sure it was because of the snow and the trees that were down! (We had also had 3 different times already when there was no water! We would turn on the sink or shower in our hotel room and nothing would come out. After a few hours, the water would return.) I told our driver and interpreter not to worry, we had packed our sense of adventure with us! Andrew had also been smart and packed a small flashlight with a new battery. I told him we wouldn't need that, but he said we might need it and he was right. It got very dark early and we went to bed since we had no light besides the flashlight. I was worried about the cold and we piled on extra blankets. After we had been a sleep for a while, the electricity came back on and we were awaken by heater clicking on and all the lights in our room suddenly coming on. We must have left a switch up! I got up and turned them off and went back to sleep.

The story continues about day 4 with our son here.

I know you all want to see pictures of our handsome son. However, I won't be sharing any pictures publicly on the internet. In order to be allowed to take pictures with M., we had to sign papers saying we wouldn't publish his name or photos online.

Day 2 with M.

We have been gone to Bulgaria for 2 weeks! Now that we are home, I will be blogging all about our trip. Click theses links if you would like to first read about our trip to Bulgaria. We first spent 5 days meeting our daughter E, then 5 days with our son M. You can read here about meeting our son M.

From October 25:

Maybe it was the falling snow that lifted my mood, or maybe it was an encouraging email that I received from my friend V.  or maybe it was the cold medicine I was taking and a good nights sleep, or maybe it was looking forward to spending time with M. himself. But I was definitely over my blue mood.

Beautiful snow began to fall!

Our second day with M. was cold and snowy. We picked M. up from his foster parent's home and spent our day in the hotel room again. We played Playdough, Old Maid, Go Fish, Crazy 8, and batted around the balloon. We brought a box of K'Nex that makes an airplane. He was excited about the airplane but found it difficult to build, so we helped him. We really just enjoyed getting to know each other and M.'s personality, sense of humor, and hearing his laughter. We need more laughter in our home and I think M. will definitely bring that!

We spent the first 3 days visiting with M. in our hotel room!

We also discovered M. is very affectionate! I think he is making up for years of not having affection. He wanted to hug and kiss and kiss and kiss!

In the evening, we drove M. back to his foster home. The snow was beautiful. We didn't go in because of the snow and needing to drive back to our hotel while the roads were still okay. I was a little worried we would have trouble picking up M. the next day for our visit. 

The early snow on grapes on the vines in M.'s foster family's garden. 

The story continues about our 3rd day with M. here.

I know you all want to see pictures of our handsome son. However, I won't be sharing any pictures publicly on the internet. In order to be allowed to take pictures with M., we had to sign papers saying we wouldn't publish his name or photos online.

Meeting M.

We have been gone to Bulgaria for 2 weeks! Now that we are home, I will be blogging all about our trip. Click theses links if you would like to first read about our trip to Bulgaria. We first spent 5 days meeting our daughter E, then 5 meeting our son M.

From October 24:

When I first woke up, the sun was starting to peek out. But the day turn out to be overcast and cold. This was exactly my mood. I wanted to be excited and happy, but the like the sunshine covered by the clouds, my mood was overcast by leaving E. the day before combined with a cold I had caught, the jet lag that was probably catching up to me and the dreary weather. Andrew and I both felt the sadness of leaving our daughter the day before. At the same time we felt nervous excitement to meet our son. 

When we went out to the car, our driver Dimo discovered that the car had a flat tire - more of a slow leak. Dimo drove us to the Social Welfare Office and then went to get the tire fixed.

Andrew and I went into the Social Welfare Office with our translator, Ivan. I assumed it would be the same as with E. We would meet somebody official, then we would go to meet our son. 
We walked down a hall. When we stepped into the office, I was surprised to see M. sitting on a chair in front of one of the desks. As soon as I saw M., I knew it was him. I recognized him from the pictures we had received of him. He looked nervous, fiddling with the wrapper of a roll of bread. (He told us later he remembers watching us get out of the car in the parking lot - that he could see us out of the office window.) I went immediately to him and said his name and knelt down by him. It is all a little fuzzy now in my memory as it all happened so fast. I sat on the left of M. and Andrew on the right. We pulled our chairs right up next to his. I asked him "Gladen Lisee?" (Are you hungry, pointing to the bread roll.) M. said no. After a few moments. He looked at me and said "momma" and at Andrew and said "daddy." He took turns snuggling up to Andrew and me, going back and forth. He looked pleased and happy! Here was the son I had been waiting 6 months to meet. I just wanted to finally touch him. I stroked his silky black hair, and rubbed his back. 

After a few minutes, M. pointed to Ivan our translator and said what sounded to our ears like teacher (something like che-cha). Andrew said "da, yes, teacher." M. was actually saying the Bulgarian word for uncle. It stuck. For the next 5 days, M. called our translator uncle. (Later when he met our driver, he called him "my man!") 

After our Ivan got everything settled with the people at the social welfare office, Ivan, M.'s Social Worker, Andrew, M. and I walked to a park together. Well, the social worker and Ivan walked. Maybe walked isn't exactly the right word for how Andrew, M., and I got to the park. Andrew and I each held one of M.'s hand. As we went down the side walk, M. wanted to jump. So we said, "One, two, three, jump!" And M. said, "edno, dve , tri..." M. had a beautiful joyful laugh!

On the way to the park, M. showed us the school he attends. Then M. told "uncle" about a toy store. M. explained that it had more stuff besides toys, like perfume, if we wanted to buy something. Not a toy for him - something for us. But the store did have this toy...

M.'s School

At the park, we discovered M. like to swing too. We are definitely going to have to put a swing in our back yard! He didn't need pushed like E. did. He could pump his legs himself. I gave him an underduck anyway, just for fun! He laughed. M. wanted me to sit on the swing next to him.

After swinging, M. announced that he needed to go to the restroom. We walked to a restroom. Next door to the building with the restroom, a chicken was being killed. As we left, M. said "Mom, check this out!" I didn't look. (I want to continue to enjoy eating chicken!) 

We walked to the toy store. Sure enough, M. went right to the gun with a red and a blue laser site on it. He must have wanted it for a long time. it cost 4 Lev or about $2.50. I am wondering, "Is it culturally acceptably for us to by the gun for M.?" It must have been because our translator offered to buy it for him. No, we could buy it for him.

Next, we walked to a pharmacy and got some over the counter cold medicine. As we walked together, M. had a blast pretending to shoot things. He also like to pretend to be a policeman. M. would have us put our hands up and pretend to frisk us. Then he would laugh!

M.'s social worker decided we were fine together. She said we could take M. to our hotel since it was cold. We walked her back to the Social Welfare Office, then walked to our hotel with M. and our translator.  

In the hotel, Andrew and Ivan had coffee. M. and I had herbal tea. I took my cold medicine - a powder that dissolved in a cup of hot water. It was lemon flavored with a yucky after taste. 

We all went up to our hotel room. We were about to see how a boy with lots of energy did in hotel room for several hours. M. is full of energy, but he also has the ability to self-regulate and calm himself. First, we played with a balloon, batting it around and trying to keep it from touching the ground. Again, we got to here M.'s beautiful laughter! After we played with the balloon, I got out the picture album I had made for M. to show him our family, our home and his new sister and grandparents.

When it was time for lunch, we all walked down to a restaurant for lunch. The restaurant had a Foosball table that cost about a quarter to play. M. wanted to play, so we did when we had finished eating. M would laugh and cheer, saying "goal, goal" no matter which side the ball went in.

After lunch, we check back in with the social worker and then returned to the hotel room and played with Playdough, and played Go Fish and Old Maid.

At 4pm. we went back to the Social Welfare Office and signed some papers about our first day visiting with M. Then the social worker rode with us to the village where M. lives with his foster family. I like seeing where M. has been living the past few years. A quaint village with houses with little gardens and grape harbors. His road is a dirt road and he directed us to his home. M.'s foster mother greeted us and invited us into the home. We got to meet M.'s foster father, foster mother, foster sister (the biological child of his foster parents) and foster grandmother. We sat down at their table and M.'s foster mother served us cookies and coffee and tea. It was nice to get to know everyone and a nice way to end the day.

Side note: M.'s foster parents are not related to M. in anyway. Just like foster parents here in the U.S., they have received training and had M. placed in their home. M. does not call them mother and father though. In Bulgaria, foster parents are trained not to become too affectionate to the foster children, and not to let the children placed in their home call them mother or father. M. calls his foster parents by their given name.

Read about our 2nd day with M. here.

I know you all want to see pictures of our handsome son. However, I won't be sharing any pictures publicly on the internet. In order to be allowed to take pictures with M., we had to sign papers saying we wouldn't publish his name or photos online.

Saying Goodbye to E.

We have been gone to Bulgaria for 2 weeks! Now that we are home, I will be blogging all about our trip. Click theses links if you would like to first read about our trip to Bulgaria or meeting our daughter E.

Andrew paid the hotel bill the night before. When the alarm went of, I didn't want to get up. I laid in bed for a few moments and a song to sing to E. popped in my head. She was always asking us to sing to her, so this song would just fit the occasion - May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You.  E. wouldn't understand it's significance, but it felt like a prayer of blessing over her. I found the song on Youtube and listened and sang along as we packed up our suitcases. We had breakfast and loaded the car.  

We had been blessed with beautiful sunshine on the first 4 days together. On our last day together, it was overcast and threatening rain. As our Ivan, our interpreter said, even the weather was mourning. E. greeted us and we spent a little time outside swinging while the rain held off. The rest of our visit was spent in a room inside due to the cold. To us, E. seem a little bit different than she had the other days. Almost like she was holding herself aloof slightly, to prepare herself for our separation. E.'s psychologist and speech therapist stopped by and we had a chance to chat with them. Then we had our last time with E. The aloofness was gone and the three of us enjoyed being together for ten or so precious minutes. We sang to her and snuggled her on our laps. Then it was time to say goodbye. Andrew carried her to the front door. I still have the memory fresh in my mind of her snuggling her head on his shoulder as we walked to the door. Then she wanted me to pick her up. I lost it for a moment while I held her, but E. couldn't see my face because her head was now snuggled on my shoulder. Andrew got a tissue and wiped the silent tears from my eyes. We had group hug and individual hugs and kisses, told her how much we would miss her. That we promised we were coming back for her as soon as the documents were ready. That we loved her so much! When we walked out the door, she was saying her final good byes to Andrew and I took a few moments to take deep breaths and get my tears under control. Then I said my final good byes and we walked out the gate and got in the car. We blew E. kisses from the car as it pulled away and she waved and blew kisses back. When E. was out of site, I let myself cry. How I miss my girl so much already! How cruel it is to have to say good bye to her! (We can email and send pictures to the director over the group homes in E.'s region and E. will get them. Nice to have some communication while we are apart.)

Before we left town, Andrew had to stop at a money changer and change some dollars to levs. Then we went to the Office of Social Welfare and our translator dropped of some paperwork about our visits. All this official business help distract me.

We had a drive of around 3 hours, maybe longer, to the town we would be staying in for our visits with M. On the way, we stopped for gas for the car and sandwiches from the gas station. Andrew and I also split a cherry filed croissant. It was delicious! We went through a mountain range on a windy road. Made me carsick, so we stopped and got out for a little while. Brr. It was colder up here. 

The rain and the separation from E. had us all in a depressing mood. I am sure the drive was probably pretty and I tried to soak up my kids' country. Eventually, I fell asleep in the car for a while, laying across the bench seat with my head on Andrew's lap for a pillow. When I woke up he went to sleep.

Rain all the way to the town where we would visit our son M.

We finally arrived at the hotel. It was the only one in smaller town on the Danube River. A town that used to be a big and important but was now somewhat forgotten. The hotel looked like it was fancy back in it's day. It had dark wood  interior and a cool painted ceiling. When we arrived it was felt cold, dark, and empty. Almost spooky. We were the only guest from what we could tell. I am sure our mood didn't help our perception at all. However, the rooms seemed clean enough and that was all I cared about. We had internet too, which was an extra plus. We weren't sure that we would in this smaller town.

Hotel Lobby, photo taken a few days later on a day when the sun was shining!

The next day we were going to meet our son! That was exciting and something to cheer us up! How strange it is to feel so many emotions - to be sad about saying goodbye to E. and excited and nervous about meeting M.!

Click here to read about meeting our son M.

I know you all want to see pictures of our beautiful daughter. However, I won't be sharing any pictures publicly on the internet. In order to be allowed to take pictures with E., we had to sign papers saying we wouldn't publish her name or photos online.