One month down!
Is anyone else having a hard time believing it's been one month since Natalie arrived in the USA? I would LOVE to be in her mind and listen to her thoughts as she has experienced EVERYTHING for the first time! First time to a park, the store, in a cart, at the lake (still hasn't been on the speed boat yet), to church, to the schools, seeing a bus, house, van, car seat, big girl bed! Not to even mention the English she is learning. I am so thankful that despite having Down Syndrome and a stigma that goes with that, being that she can't learn, she soaks up information like a sponge. She is doing even more signs, she is starting to say words. She calls me Mom, over and over and over and over!!! She hugs and kisses and blows kisses. She loves her brother and sisters. She helps with laundry and knows how to dress and undress, over and over and over! LOL. She can climb over any gate or any other object that is in her way. I'm telling you, this girl is going to move mountains. And to think 6 weeks ago, the only thing she knew was her orphanage. Now she is free to learn, to speak, to explore, and to play in the toilet.........😝 (don't leave the bathroom door open!)
Time, An Interesting Thing
It seems like forever ago that we were in Sofia! I feel a little like a time traveller (you know what they feels like, right?)! It is a world away from here. Taylor always asks us if we are in a different world when we go to other cities, so for once I could tell her yes and mean it! It is definitly not America!!! We missed so many things about home! Mostly the availability of our own transportation and our proximity to stuff we needed! It was either a 15 minute walk or a $10 taxi ride! We got over that the first trip. Dragging three kids around was exhausting to say the least! Now looking back, it has almost been 3 weeks since we have had Natalie! It does not seem like that long. It has been 1 week since we got home! I won't lie or cover it up, life can be challenging! But so worth it when she smiles and laughs!! She is not used to anything here, so we are inteoducing her slowly to our (100mph) life! She has many institutional behaviors that we will be working through for many months. We are starting to teach her sign language, and I thank Lisa of letting us borrow her DVDs!!! I tried to get a picture of her signing eat, but I was not quick enough! She says Mama, but I don't think she is associating it with me yet. Pretty much anyone that takes care of her for 5 seconds is Mama! LOL. She lets me rock her to sleep so that is a good start for me!!!
Many people may still wonder why we did this. I saw this on Facebook the other day and I think it will help you understand. I told Pastor Ron long before we even started the adoption process that I felt like God was calling me to do something big. Big does not equal easy, or even in your comfort zone at times! There are many areas of my life where I don't consider myself worthy, or good. But I was able to do something that God willed for Matt and our family. And it was worth it. God will continue to bless us with Natalie forever!
Time to write and a connection
These are two things I have not had at one time in two weeks! We are currently driving home from Chicago and I am taking this 3 hours to try and absorb a little of what these two weeks have held! Funny enough, I can't even get my arms around it! This whole experience has been such a testimony of Gods glory and grace. I am so glad to just be home and start our new life! It's going to take awhile, as Natalie learns our language, and learns how to behave outside of an orphanage, but we have been covered in prayer by friends and family and there fore are going to work this out! I am excited for everyone to meet Her Royal Highness!! This may also take a little time! For right now.... We need sleep! LOL
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13 NIV)
Exploration- written Aug 24
I guess we really haven't ventured that far. But since we have no car and a 3 year old that acts like a 1 year old we are pretty limited. Today we wanted to go into the city and do some shopping at the open market/flea market that sets up near St. Alexander Nvevski everyday. There are many goodies to buy as souvenirs that are truly Bulgarian! Taylor had a blast using her own Leva to buy some things for her friends and for herself! Including a real accordion, don't ask!
Natalie does really well in her stroller so that is very helpful! She even slept all the way through lunch. Which has been at a different Happy's restaurant almost everyday! Lol. The girls know that there is food they like and each restaurant is very different so it doesn't really seem like the same place over and over!
While shopping for everyone, I have been trying to find things that I can give Natalie over the next several years. I think I'm doing pretty good so far! Just trinkets and such, but everything reflects her heritage, which I know she will be proud of!
She is already saying some words and she is mocking us when we tell her "shhh" and "no no" while wagging a finger. It is very amusing!!!
Here are some pictures from today...
Daddy's girl.
First of all, I want to say that this does not offend me in the least.... This is one Daddy's girl!! She sticks to Matt like glue! As Taylor pointed out this morning, "She can say Mama, but she really likes Dad the best!" Totally true. Why this is good... It shows she can attach herself to someone that makes her feel safe! And Matt eats it up. Talk about being wrapped around her finger! Hopefully by the time he goes back to work she will know that I am also Ok! Just not as fun! LOL. She does come to me sometimes, but when she is upset she goes to Matt every time!
The biggest institutional problem we are having right now is biting! I have not been bitten, but everyone else has. It is hard, because you don't want to severely discipline her too early, but at the same time, we need to make her understand that this is not tolerated! In fact, it makes the hair pulling seem minor! Caroline and Taylor have taken this all very well. We had already talked to them several times about institutional behavior and that there are many things she will do just because she has never had a family and she doesn't know how families treat each other. In the orphanage you fight for what you want. And whoever is the strongest, fastest, and smartest wins!
It's hard to believe we only have two more days! Then Thur we travel all day. We are going back to the mall today and maybe tomorrow we will go back downtown one more time! I really do hope we get to come back to Sofia, it is incredible to be surrounded by so much history and beautiful architecture. Although, Matt wants me to point out that there are hundreds of apartment buildings that aren't as beautiful! Ha. Just like any big city. But I can say, in Chicago you do not find ancient Roman ruins preserved in the middle if town! There is no church with murals of icons that was built in 1012, and added on to in 1259! And St. Alexander Nvevski Memorial Cathedral is in a class by itself. We are excited to share some of these things with Taylors class tomorrow through Skype! Maybe we will even be downtown and can show them live!!!
I have been collecting things we can save so that Natalie can see where she comes from. I don't know how much of this she will remember. Since she can't talk yet we don't know what she understands about what she sees, or even about us, for that matter!!!
We promised Taylor we would go to the mall today. There is a bowling alley, and Caroline discovered she likes the juicing stand! Who knew!?
What's rest? Written Wed
My total intention was to write everyday to let you know how things are really going since Facebook can be decieving! I don't remember what I said last so I will tell you what our typical day has been like. As you all are aware, none of us are used to chasing a three year old around. Much less a three year old that acts like a huge, very strong 1 year old!!! We all knew this was what was coming, but it still takes a bit to adjust! That being said, I believe we are managing well! The older girls are extremely helpful when they are not fighting amongst themselves!
So our hotel has a wonderful huge breakfast buffet and we eat there most days. Our day starts between 7-8, so not too bad! Natalie had been sleeping through the night, so that is a plus! She doesn't like the crib though, so she sleeps in whosever bed can get her to sleep first! She loves Bulgarian lullabies, so I downloaded quite a few to my phone and we listen to these as she relaxes!
She has gotten very upset one time. And I think it was because Matt wasn't with us. We tried to give him a break because he was so sick yesterday. He did get some medicine from the doctor but he waited too long to start treating himself. Men.
Since we have gotten Natalie we have been to the zoo (not too impressive, but something to do), gone to two different malls, and gone on walks. We have some food at our apartment, mostly snacks and drinks. She is used to eating adult food not baby food so none of that has gone over too well. I don't cook Bulgarian food either, so I will have to learn a couple of things. The food is wonderful! Did you know if you put Nutella and Rasp jam into plain yogurt it is AMAZING! Who knew?!
When we got her Monday, they brought her out and had us sign a paper. They gave us documents to take with us everywhere in case we were ever questions by the authorities. And then let us leave. They poured water down the steps for us to walk through as their tradition of good luck! Mariana told us many of the workers were so sad to see her go. It must be very hard for them and her, in an instant everything changed. I think they have been talking about it to her for awhile because she was ok with everything!
When we went down to the medical appointment yesterday we are not sure what the point was. Mariana talked to the doctor. Then the doctor listened to Natalie's chest. Then she said she was ok. No eyes, ear,s abdomen, or anything. You can imagine Matt's reaction to that later! It's obviously just a formality!
Natalie seems to react well to us all, but definitely favors Matt. With him being sick it is causing some stress. She loves to swing and there is a hanging bench swing near our apartment, so I took her out yesterday and she fell asleep on me. I could only silently thank her caregivers that loved her so much, as so many adopted children don't have the ability to cuddle like that for quite some time! I didn't have my phone at the time or I would have taken a selfie of us! Next time!
Not sure about today's plan, but if Taylor gets to chose we will end up at the mall with the huge play area!!
Mission Accomplished!
We did it! We got to the orphanage about 10am and had to sign one paper. Ironically we had to borrow clothes from the orphanage because all of her clothes are in the lost luggage with Alitalia. (Note to self- Alitalia is famous for losing luggage!) But we got her and that is the best news. Now, to get used to having a 3 year old that doesn't understand a word we say, but likes to get into everything! I have a few pictures from today that I will upload eventually. But for now, this is our biggest accomplishment today, hours late, but we did it!
Welcome to our crazy life! Written Tues Aug. 19
Natalie has been an amazing trooper. She must be mourning the loss of everything she knew, but she has hardly shown it. They love her so much at her orphanage. It makes our job as her parents so much easier. Yet my heart breaks a little that it even has to be like this at all. She has so much potential. It is so unfortunate that her parents didn't see it! Now we get to tap into it! So, right now the 2 hardest things are getting her to sleep, and telling her no. As for the second of those, I think it is a combination of not understand our language and just plain bring "stubrun" as Bobby would say! I am warning you now... Watch your hair and your glasses. Taylor has been so patient about her hair being yanked out of her head, I am very proud of her. It was so funny, tonight the girls, who have been bragging to everyone about all the caregiving they plan on taking on, got one whiff of our first dirty diaper and changed their tunes so fast, they ran the other direction.
Also, today we went to the Sofia Zoo which was.... interesting. We went to the mall, and I finally gave in and bought us some clothes. Alitalia better be paying me back for them, 5 days missing luggage is RIDICULOUS! All those cute Matilda Jane outfits I had for Natalie!! Ugh. We also took Natalie down to the pool, which is about half fun because everyone must wear a swim cap to get in and when our dirty feet stepped into the pool room we got reprimanded, by the pool nazi for not putting footies on before we walked in!
This is exhausting as predicted! Good night everyone!
Tomorrow is Gotcha Day!
In so many ways, this is like having a pregnancy. The biggest difference being the physical aspect. The second biggest difference is that we are 6 months overdue!! And the third, when we "have" our baby, she will be 3 1/2! That being said, the mental preparation is similar. Get a room ready, buy the necessities to travel with her, like car seat, etc. What will she eat? What will she like to play with? What all can she do? Are the diapers, clothes, shoes the right size? How will she react to us taking her from the only home and the only caregivers she has ever known? How well will she travel? (Hopefully better than Taylor!) What will she think of a house (she has never seen one)? Will she like swimming? How will she react to seeing so many people who love her already once we get home? What will our lives be like with her? (Will we eventually not know what life without her was like?) And so many what ifs that I don't have enough room!! I guess we will start to find out tomorrow. Following only the faith we have followed to this point! Praise God!
WE. ARE. OFF.
I thought this day would never come! Knowing that we are so lifted up in prayer from all our family and friends gives me such peace! We have been going through this adoption process for 18 months. She has been waiting for 3.5 years and she doesn't even know it! Soon she will see the outside world for the first time! Just like a baby, everything will be a first for her! Can you imagine the first time she sees a house, her house, she may remember it? A bedroom, her own toys, clothes, food? We take these things for granted because we saw them all for the first time before we have memories. They were always there. This next part of life will be such an adventure. I have no idea what the future holds, I just pray that it is rewarding for all of us! I will try to write everyday and post lots of pics!!! Stay tuned....
ONE DAY AWAY
You did read that right. We are ONE day away from flying half way around the world to rescue our Princess from her orphanage. Watch out Princess Kate there's a new Princess to steal the spotlight!!! I can't help but reflect back on ALL the times we thought the process took too long, because it did. Or did it?
February 28, 2013- I saw our Princess on Rainbowkids.com and she seemed to match the age and description of what we thought we could handle as a family.
March 1, 2013- submitted our first application to put our Princess on hold for us.
Mar 1- June1- Submitted multiple forms and spent lots of money on fees
June 2013- Home Study done
June-Sept 2013- wait for final home study
Sept- Jan- start immigration process send in dossier piece by piece to B to get translated
Jan 31, 2014- Dossier completely sent in
Feb- got official match and referral from country
Mar 21-28 2014- traveled to meet our Princess in B!
April wait
May wait
June 30, 2014- final court date! Our Princess is a Hess!! Given probable travel date of July 25
July 1-16- wait for decree to be signed
July 17- find out decree was FINALLY signed, but too late to travel on 25th:(
Aug 15- new date to fly out to get our Princess!
In there were many forms that needed signed/ notorized then apostilled, thousands of dollars, much anxiety and confusion, questions, many sets if digital and inked fingerprints, hundreds of dollars in postage... etc
Also in there were some health scares, plenty if time to recover, connections with new friends/resources that were meant for this purpose, much time spent with God, blind faith, and a world turned upside down by a car accident one week before we leave.
Many don't know about the accident. It was our oldest, Julian. He has been trying to get used to the idea of another sister (this will make 4 for him!) He was crying out for help and maybe we had been too busy with all this to notice😔
This week, we have spent hours together, just talking about his hopes and dreams. He seems to have an entirely new outlook on his life, including our Princess. God has a big plan for him. He knows God gave him an incredibly supportive family that loves him more than anything in the world and would do anything for him, if only he asks. He knows how incredible blessed he is to be alive. A few seconds changed his life. A few seconds that we would not have been here to help him through if we were out of the country, as originally planned. So now I thank God and that judge for not signing our decree on time!
We will forever thank God for His PERFECT timing that I have never given up on. I have had COMPLETE faith in it throughout this process. I just BELIEVED God was watching us and that He was composing something great. I will NEVER again doubt that God has His hands on the entire process and all those involved in it. This all brings me such peace!
And as for Julian, he is now a little more excited to meet our Princess, being saved from the orphanage where she has no future. Excited to show her a life that she can thrive in. He now feels bad that he isn't coming, but it's ok... Our trip got pushed back so far that I wouldn't have wanted him to miss so much school. We will all be able to bond once we get back! And I can't wait❤️
Full of emotions!
Grab a tissue
So, we FINALLY have our travel dates! The real ones. That won't change. Because, now we know these dates are from above! We leave on August 15. Bobby's birthday. Our first year of not having him here to celebrate and yet we have found yet another reason to celebrate his special day! As most of you know it is also Taylor's birthday! I have promised her we will celebrate in every country we go through on the way there! The beginning of our adventure to bring our Princess home! She will know, not only where she came from and how she got here, but also about Bobby, and why he was so very special and is her guardian angel!
Here is Bobby holding Taylor when she was three weeks old!
Taylor's Last Day
I guess that title sounds bad! LOL. It's really just Taylor's last day as the baby of the family! God willing, and if the judge agrees with Ian and Mariana, who are representing us tomorrow in court, N will officially be a Hess!!! I am so excited and we are so optimistic that it will go according to plan! I have just prayed that the judge have an open heart to N having a family in America that can provide for her every need and love her for the rest of her life! And that no legal complications hold back his or her decision!!! What a great feeling it will be to know that the only step left is to go get her and bring her home! We won't know our travel date until sometime after tomorrow. They will need to issue a new birth certificate, get her visa and passport work going and her orphanage will need to prepare to let her go. They love her so much there and I know it will be very difficult to say good bye. It is the only home she has ever known so I continue to pray that her heart will be open to us and she will quickly accept us as her family! We have so many plans for her. Vacations to take. Places to go. The girls talk about all the normal, every day things that we will need to show her for the first time! We need to finish the bedroom, buy a car seat, get the clothes washed, organized, packed! We have many things to think about for our trip. The girls want to come so we will need to buy all the plane tickets, get a place to stay for 10 days, figure out transportation while we are there, get packed, figure out what to do with a 3 year old on a plane for 11 hours!!! CAN NOT WAIT!
Do not be anxious of anything, by prayer and petition bring your request to The Lord.
Philippians 4:6
3 weeks gone
It has been 3 weeks since we said goodbye to N at the orphanage and left B\/lgar!a. (Creative huh?!) So far we have been waiting for our government to get the Visa applicatoon done and approved. We got the second approval on Monday and are now waiting for the letter that goes to B to get signed and get the court date set up. Can you tell I don't truly understand it, I just do what Super Nina tells me to do next!! We have to get medical clearances again, luckily, I feel okay, so therefore I am okay! We might have to get ANOTHER set of fingerprints done for the FBI, but I think ours are good until August so we might be okay there! Those have to be less that 6 months old. So I am really hoping that we go the first weekend of June. However, that means the girls have to miss their dance recital, so if it gets pushed back to the second weekend in June I won't be happy, but we can live with it. Any later than that and it's going to start getting very hard! This spring is so so busy that it will go very fast!
I want to thank everyone for supporting us! Please check out Reeces Rainbow and donate to them to get some of these special needs kiddos home to their families, or even just to be a prayer warrior for them! We found N on Rainbowkids.com, they also deserve support for what they do, it's just that with them you can't support the individual kids! Also, since Caroline and Taylor are going to come with us, you can support us by going to my Origami Owl website and designing an amazing living locket for you or someone you love (Mom). That would be awesome! www.loveyourowlahess.origamiowl.com, (you may need to copy and paste that!)
I also have jumped on board with It Works! I love this stuff! I'm telling you, this crazy wrap thing really works! If you would like to jump on board also, let me know! We can set up a FREE wrap! My wrapping website is www.wrappinitahess.myitworks.com (may have to copy and paste this also!)
Or click the You Caring button to the right!
The girls are SO excited to go! Their passports came today, so they are ready! Now we just need to come up with plane ticket money! This entire adoption is costing around the $35,000- $37,000 mark and we have been doing pretty well so far. Traveling halfway around the world twice in 3 months and paying our last $3500 has been a lot. God has this and it is going to work because it is what He wants. I have complete faith in that!
Just in case you forgot how cute she is...
Lol, she will fit right in!
Saying See Ya Later
It was sad to leave her today, but we know it is just part of the process. We have all the forms here signed and filed. There are a couple more things to prepare when we get home, and it will take close to 3 months to get everything ok through each government.
LOL. We did have McDonalds today. I hate McDonalds but I think we were missing American food! Although the authentic food here is wonderful! We had a great dinner at a local restaurant. They eat mostly chicken and pork. With various sauces, mushrooms, spinach, etc. they also have markets with tons of fresh fruit and vegetables. When we come next time it will be fun to be able to buy some of the fresh stuff! We will probably get an apartment next time so that we can have more fresh food!
Matt went to get us some of our new favorite dessert before we go to bed and get up at 4am to come home! This has been so fun, but we are ready to get back to where things are familiar, and we aren't the odd balls! It is so different being the one that doesn't understand anything! Although, many people here speak, at least, a little English! And they have been so kind everywhere we have gone! For that reason, I am looking forward to coming back!
Here are a few pictures from today...
The mountain (covered in clouds) just outside Sofia. Skiing is huge here!
Eating Caroline!! Ouch
Playground part 2
Chao for now Daddy!
Day 4- Visa picture
Today we took N on a walk to get her visa photo taken! The worker that came with us said it was the first time she had been on a walk outside of the orphanage. This is mind boggling. We asked Caroline if she could imagine being in her house her whole life and never going on a walk! It makes me realize once again that what we are doing for her is going to be the only way she will ever experience life and everything it has to offer! She is very delayed in her speech, however, she can understand everything she is asked to do (in Bulgarian) and can imitate gestures. So I guess we will be trying some sign language with her!! She is not potty trained as I had assumed she wouldn't be, but she is a wonderful sleeper! Point for me!
We went over all the official paperwork that will be presented in court on our behalf and reminded that it will still take another 3 months-ish to get everything complete. Traveling in June would be perfect. I would love to bring the kids over if we can pull that off, but it will be expensive!
Tomorrow we say see ya later to our new princess. It will be so hard to leave her here, even if they do love her and take great care of her... We are just ready to start our new normal. Matt has been so good with her. I think she has already wrapped herself around his finger! I am mostly good for pretzels! I think we need to learn a new method of distraction though! LOL
Funny story... We had the best cab driver tonight, bless his heart. He couldn't speak much English, we couldn't speak much B and he didn't know where we needed to go, even after we showed him the card! It was an expensive ride, but well worth it because we had so much fun laughing at ourselves for not being able to communicate! Thank God for my iPhone, I learned to say "turn left" (Naliavo)!
Chow chow!!
Day 2 Visit and History Lesson
We returned to the orphanage to visit for the afternoon and played in the tiny room for awhile, then we were able to go outside again! I will probably sound like I am repeating myself everyday, but this is the routine. It was nice, she gave us hugs and kisses when we left and made me feel even more guilty that when Friday comes we are going to have to leave her there.
We ate dinner at Leo's pizza again because it is the only place right next to the hotel. We haven't tried the hotel restaurant yet, maybe tomorrow! We then headed out to the mall to check that out! I got a couple of things I can't mention because they may be for people reading this:)
I am hoping tomorrow we can go back downtown for some souvenir shopping! Thank you so much for all the love and prayers you are sending this way! I find such comfort in them!! Until tomorrow.....
The snail house is used for a daycare or preschool. Matt knows more of the history but he fell asleep already so I will have to update later!
Half way? - Day 3
What? Half way through the week? We had a great day today! The morning was beautiful and we spent it outside. Did I mention how much she loves to swing... I mean like 30 minutes at a time! At least, right now, we have nothing better to do than swing!! She had lots of her friends out today with us. It is so interesting to watch the children together. They compete for everything, from toys to food! So, it may take awhile to teach her that she will no longer need to do that when we eventually get to take her home!
We spent a little time souvenir shopping today. There is not the abundance of souvenir shops here, so it has been a little difficult to find what we want. Apparently, B is very known for rose (oil, lotion, perfume, everything!) however, pure rose oil is VERY expensive! We have found a few things for the kids and I am trying to find things to give N over the years. Things are not as cheap as you would think so I am having trouble here also! But I have found a few small things.
In the afternoon we went back to the orphanage and visited again. However, it was raining so going outside was not an option. This is horrible, because the room we get to visit in is TINY!! Like maybe 6'x8'. It the size of a nice bathroom, with a bench and a small table and a few chairs. So not much room to do anything. Ugh. We ended up going up and down stairs and chasing her through the hallway.
I really hope and pray the weather is better tomorrow! I think we get to sign the papers verifying that we accept Natalie as our daughter! That will be so exciting!!! It will be so so hard to leave her here on Friday! Not thinking about it yet!
OMG. Forgot to tell about something I saw for the first time! Remember that I am easily amused! Apparently, a hundred or so years ago someone brought 100 Redwood Trees to B and planted them and they have continued to grow in the mountain!
I know you are jealous!
Here are some pictures from today!
Oh and look what I finally found! Maybe not one every corner, but at least on one!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)