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: Along the Danube River

We had a little time for sight seeing in a town in Northern Bulgaria on the Danube River.

Church of St. Peter and St. Paul from the 12th - 14th Century

Andrew and Ivan Exploring

Danube River and Romania on the Other Side

Stacks of stones on the side of this cliff are ruins from ancient times.

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.