Meeting our son

It was a whirlwind adventure meeting our boy. We walked into the social worker's office in his town and waited. Our stomachs were twisting anxiously. We exchanged pleasantries through the translator and waited.

We heard footsteps outside the door walking quickly. In walked a beautiful site. The boy we had seen limited pictures of, read limited information on, dreamed of, and imagined the possibilities of was standing in front of us.

He was visibly shaking and mirrored the anxiety we showed on our face. He was introduced to us and gave us nervous embraces. He called me "mom".

Dan introduced us beautifully, using Bulgarian words for wife, daughter, and son. That did it for me. My eyes welled up and I was lost to a whole new love.

I was already so happy, so satisfied with life. I didn't realize my heart could grow to accommodate a whole other person! This beautiful boy became my son in a matter of seconds. Any doubt I didn't know I had was erased.

Plovdiv

We drove 2 hours to Plovdiv today which is on of the oldest cities in the world. It was so different from anything I've ever seen!

We drove around the city until we found a place to eat lunch. It was delicious and we were able to continue practicing out Bulgarian. We're getting better every time we try! Dan especially.

We found Old Town Plovdiv and walked the cobblestone streets after the adventure of driving down them and parking!

There was a beautiful monastery and a church and then the Ancient Roman Theatre built around 100 AD. It was breathtaking! We were able to walk all around it and explore, climb the stairs, and take lots of pictures. By the time we were finished, the sun was setting and we had to head back to the hotel.

Not having GPS led us to our first real challenge since we got here: me leading us an hour away in the wrong direction!! We finally saw signs for one of the coastal cities that Dan recognized and turned back. Thankfully we made it back to the hotel, just a little later than we expected.

We had a nice dinner at our hotel and we are hitting the sack early tonight! What an amazing day! What an amazing country!

Exploring Bulgaria

We have had an amazing time here so far! We have a fantastic hotel. The staff is super friendly, the rooms are really nice, and the food is amazing!

We are starting every morning with our complementary breakfast buffet or meats, cheeses, veggies, fruit, eggs, pastries and the most incredible yogurt!

Yesterday we explored Sofia after napping most of the late morning/early afternoon. We saw beautiful churches, architecture, and parks. We walked a couple miles from our hotel to see one of the coolest cathedrals I've ever seen.

We walked back towards our hotel after and stopped in a cafe for dinner. We had such yummy food and chances to practice our Bulgarian. We were rewarded with smiles and laughter. They were happy we were trying. One waiter answered my влагодаря (thank you) in Bulgarian and then proceeded to continue on talking to me. I had to confess that i didn't speak it and just blurted out "english!" Super embarrassing!

We went back to the room, played some cards and passed out. I think we all woke up this morning almost fully adjusted to the time change.

Day 2

Wow! What a long long day! We started in Chicago this morning with a tasty breakfast buffet. We had a nice ride to the airport and friendly staff checking us in. We got to hang at the USO until our flight, and then we were off to Atlanta.

We had a nice layover in the international terminal in Atlanta, and then we hit the long flight to Amsterdam. It was 7 hrs and we had movies, tv, games, dinner, and breakfast! It was a great flight!

We got into Amsterdam early and had to wait 4 hours for our next flight! We started to unravel a little as we were nearing the end of our endurance limits.

We all got excited when the Bulgarian Air plane showed up! The flight was a quick 2 1/2 hours and then we were here! It felt incredible to see this beautiful country from above and land here knowing our purpose.

We went through customs and were met by our adoption agency here. They were very nice and it felt great to be met here by someone!

We rented a car.... What an adventure! We had directions, but quickly learned that there weren't any street signs! The gps on my phone picked up just in time and we were back on track. We made it to our hotel despite the lack of signs and crazy drivers.

We are showered and about to get some room service, then we will sleep until hopefully tomorrow morning!

Thank you for all your love and support! If you are looking to pray specifically it would be Joe's stomach and for all of us to get used to the time change quickly.

We hope to do some tourist things until Monday when we meet our kiddo!

❤❤❤❤❤

In Chicago

It's been a great first day of travel, and a short one! We are settled into our hotel and getting ready for sleep.

We had a good friend take us to the airport and had a great meal at Root Down DIA.

The flight was smooth and there was a lady sitting behind us who spoke a little Bulgarian! She corrected Joe's pronunciation of "dopir dulu" or "touchdown"!

We have a 10:30am flight to Atlanta in the morning. Thanks everyone for your prayers, love, and support!

50's and sunny in Bulgaria next week!

I can't believe we are at the point where I am checking the weather and deciding what to pack! We leave for Bulgaria in 4 days! It's truly a different feeling than any other trip I've taken. I can't believe we are finally going to meet our son!

We have had the joy of shopping for him for the first time. It's such an indescribable feeling. Dan and I were in the mall and we decided to buy him a Colorado t-shirt to bring with us. As we were making our purchase I was overcome with tears of joy that we could finally buy our son something! It made things so tangible. I look over at the small pile of things we will bring for him and feel like it's not enough, but I know that nothing will be enough until we have him home.

We leave November 10th to start our journey to Bulgaria, and we will finally meet our boy on the 16th. We spend the 16-19th with him, before we wrap up our trip and come home to wait for the adoption to be finalized. We are finishing up the last bit of paperwork that will go to court with him after we are gone.

Please join us in praying for this unique experience we are all about to go through. For Dan and I that we can show all of our kids the right amount of love in the right ways at the right times. For our kids that they will see an instant connection in one another and form a bond that only brothers and sisters can share. That he will feel our desire for him to join our family and know how much we love him already. For his foster mom, that she will feel peace in this situation and see that we want the best for the boy she has been raising for us these past 4 years. For logistics: our trip, our time in country, struggling with the language we are trying to learn....

We are so humbled by the love you have all shared with us leading up to this moment. We truly do not feel alone in this, but lifted up by the many ways you have all partnered with us. Thank you all for supporting our adoption story. I can't wait until we can come back and share pictures and stories with you all! 

Referral = Done Deal! (Almost)

Proud Momma:

I'm not sure what I thought it would feel like when we got our referral. I'm not sure what I think now that we have it. Yep, that's right WE GOT OUR REFERRAL!!!!!

We just booked our flights to go meet our son! We leave November 10 and come back November 23. We'll be with our boy for a glorious 4 days in the middle of all that. We'll have a few days before we meet him to adjust to the time change and for us to focus on preparing ourselves and the kids.

Thank you to everyone who donated to our purecharity account! Your generosity provided us with $11,532!!! We were able to pay all of our Gladney adoption agency fees with it and a good portion of our fees for the agency in Bulgaria.

The garage sale and just people giving us cash paid for a lot of our home study fees, and a generous donor provided us with travel money to cover our first trip. We have been able to fill in the rest by the grace of God and his blessings on our finances. We also received a grant for $1250!

We only have about $4,000 left in fees for our agency in Bulgaria, our second trip to bring our son home, and then $1600 in social worker visits after we bring him home. I know that God will provide faithfully as He has so far!

It's been amazing to have all of your support, whether it's financial support, prayer, or kind words at just the right time. We could not have gotten to this point without you, and every bit helps! We are so excited to share these next steps with all of you. We have so many questions that are waiting for answers. We can't wait to get to know our son!

Proud Papa:

At each new milestone or event, this becomes more real. The length of time that this process takes is, in some sense, a blessing. It has given us time to gradually digest this life-altering pursuit. This is the most amazing news we've received, and if I'm being honest, it's also a bit terrifying. I look at our biological children and believe in our hearts that we've done a pretty decent job thus far, with a lot of help from family and friends. Still, nothing can truly prepare us for what's to come.

With this referral comes a certain level of certainty. It is certain that we have passed muster and have been granted the legal authority to adopt this boy, the rest is paperwork and his decision. The joy of that knowledge is too intense for my man-sized emotional range to express in a way that would do it justice. I'm bursting inside, but you probably wouldn't know it to look at me. Maybe I'm just tempted by the knowledge that, with that certainty, comes gobs and gobs of uncertainty. It's a paradox and it's real.

So now the hard and messy part(s) truly begin and I'm starting to think like his parent. Adoption isn't the answer to children without family or those in abhorrent conditions. A good home and a good family are the answers. Adoption is just the vehicle, that's all it's really meant for; child A to family B. Can we provide the good home and are we the good family he needs? We're encouraged that friends, family, and complete strangers in two different continents, countries, and states seem to think so. We're encouraged by how God has been, and continues to be, so obviously involved in this. His generosity and faithfulness, in every sense and meaning of those words, are indescribable, and we're all going to need more of it in the months and years to come.

In a few short weeks, we will meet him for the first time. He still may or may not be aware of our existence at this stage, but we have to trust that the people closest to him have his best interests in mind, and will prepare him in the right way and at the right time, however and whenever that is. For now, prayers are so graciously welcomed. For our travels, his response and reaction to this news, our meeting and our short time together.