Saying See Ya Later

Of course, she has no idea why we were there and showered her with attention. She has no idea why we left. When we come back she probably won't understand that either. The being said she does understand more than we think. You can tell she is trying to process what Mama and Dada means. She probably thinks we were just given easy names to say! She doesn't know what she is missing in a family. She has wonderful caregivers that may not be able to give her a ton of individual attention, but she feels safe with them. She doesn't know she needs anything else! Matt was saying today that it will be so fun when we can get her in speech therapy and she can really express herself! Right now she just looks at is like we are aliens (with iPhones!). 

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

The playground part 1

Playground part 2

Chao for now Daddy!

IKEA is here!! We didn't go. How would we get it home?! LOL

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 had a very long, but fun and educational day today! Of course, we started at the orphanage and saw our angel! She was in a great mood and responds very well to anyone that will feed her! So they give the bag of pretzels to me and I am her new best friend! They are trying to teach her to say mama and dada, but since I can't understand and she can't really talk that part is not going as well! No hard feelings, I really wasn't expecting her to start depending on us for much! That will take time! Plus there is going to be such a gap between this time and next time, I will be super happy of she recognizes us then! So after feeding her lunch our translator/attendant took us into the mountain where there is a Church built in 1012. It has 2 additions onto it. One in the 1200's and one in the 1700's. The painting inside is incredible and it is beyond intersting to see how the artist viewed Jesus and the saints at that time. Wow. I bought a book so I can show everybody! Then we went to the history museum and saw things they have been finding in graves as they built modern buildings. Some of these things were from 6,000+ years ago. It was incredible that these things have been saved. They had a collection of pure gold bowls and glasses that had been buried with a king that, she said, travels around the globe because it was such a rare find! It really was neat and I am not that much into museums!!!

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!!!

The BIG Day! -Day 1

I'm glad I didn't know what I was expecting today, because I could never have been right! So I left my mind open to pretty much any and every scenario! So here is how it went down…

Somewhat nervous of the unknown, was how it started. We met out translator at our hotel and she took us to the orphanage. We walk almost everywhere. (Many blisters!) She introduced us and we were taken to a VERY small room with some old mostly broken toys. They talked to us a minute about her physical history and development. They say she is practically perfect in every way. This is expected as they don't really want us to know anything that might be wrong. We will get her thoroughly checked once home! Then they brought her in. As a normal three year old she saw toys and we didn't exist!! LOL But once we started showing her some things and giving her food (who doesn't like someone with food!) she started warming up! It was beautiful out so we went outside for quite a while and played. She loves to swing. She let us hold her and she seemed to enjoy herself. Once back inside they brought her lunch and the caregiver helped me help her eat! That was great!! Then it was her nap time so we went to eat lunch.

In the afternoon we went back and had to stay inside because the weather turned. The room was so tiny that we lasted for about an hour in there and she got sick of it. She did however discover my phone and enjoyed the baby app i have on there for about 30 minutes. She also enjoyed the link blocks they had. Then we chased her around halls and stairs for about an hour. I can't say that was my favorite part. By that time her primary caregiver was with us so we didn't exist again! No food for bribing her to like us!! LOL

Adoption is such a hard thing. We are SO SO excited to have her and give her every opportunity to thrive (and she will). And at the same time, she loves the ladies so much that take care of her now. They are going to be so sad to part each other. They, of course, want her to have an amazing life, even if they are sad for her to leave them. She will not be able to understand why we are taking her away from the only home she has ever known. We can only pray for her and for us. That we may form quick bonds and that we can comfort her. I don't even want to think about how we will get her back to the US. We have a couple of months before we cross that bridge (or ocean)!

Here are your pictures of Day 1!

If you have food I will go anywhere!

We see kids all over with this rolling toy

more food

and more food

They must have thought she was going to freeze. It was 65 and she had on a winter coat two layers of clothes and a hat!

stylin

she thought I needed food (evidently she did not notice that I did not!

Our hotel (girls wanted a picture. We are in one of the towers so our room is like a triangle!)

Anyone there? 

did not take much to get her addicted!

Don't even try to take this away!!!!

A promise is a promise

I promised so many people that I would post everyday. We get to meet N tomorrow!! Less than 24 hours! I can't even get my arms around that! What an incredibly gracious God we have to get us this far! And a ton of support, that He has brought into our lives. It is so overwhelming. Thank you doesn't touch it!

Now I will focus on what we did today…

I slept for 15 hours last night, after being up for 24 straight hours to get here. I knew I was exhausted, but geez! Luckily when I got up it was 8 am here and I was ready to go for the day! Good thing to because the first thing we did was go on a walking tour of the city! It was so interesting and really was a crash course on the history of the country and a chance to see places that we probably would not have seen. We also saw many places to shop along the way, so we now know where to go back to later this week. They have a mineral spring here that they have built a collecting system around, so water flows 24/7 and people just bring their jugs down and fill up. It is, obviously, as pure of water as you can get so they collect it, take it home, cool it down, and drink it. No water filtrations or anything. It has no smell, and just taste fresh… but is quite warm if you try to drink it straight out of the spickit. There are many churches, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish, so it is quite a diverse city. The history is so rich, the city is built in layers, kind of. The things the Romans built are pretty low. As a matter of fact, they have been slowly uncovering it since they built their metro. Then a layer of the Ottomans, and a layer of the Russians, until todays modern buildings.

We ate breakfast at our hotel, where they have a VERY nice buffet set up. I thought the food was wonderful…. Matt was afraid he may not eat for a week! LOL We ate lunch at a very cute little restaurant that was authentic and this time we both thought the food was great! We both had different chicken dishes.

Here are some pictures…

What the????

There are lions everywhere

Mosque

Such neat architecture. Needed pic of it!

More things with lions

Old Church, unused now

Roman Ruins

More Roman Ruins

McD's EVERYWHERE!

Old Bath House, being renovated

Mineral water spring

Government building

Government building

Roman Highway between Constantinople to  somewhere (I can't remember)

Remnants of Roman wall that enclosed the city

Where the President is

Oldest building in city, old mosque turned museum

Tradition to have these little bracelets and hang on first trees to bloom

Russian Church under renovation

Cathedral- the inside was BEAUTIFUL!

More Cathedral

This guy….ya

Lunch