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❤️