Bulgarian Blogs (added to my favorites)

Today I searched for some more Bulgarian blogs to follow now that I consider ourselves in the 'waiting' stage of our adoption. Zachariahproject is a blog where the family has actually made their first trip to Bulgaria to meet their son, so they are waiting to return to pick him up some time in the spring. I love reading other people's blogs! If you go to the Kenofamily blog they posted two youtube videos about adoption which are awesome, I would post them on here but it takes me forever to figure out how to do it. If you know of any birthmoms they should watch the video's too, very touching and encouraging (made me cry).

I will try and post some pictures of Bulgaria if I can figure it out, soon so you can see what it looks like (old country vs westernized).

Sarah, leaves tomorrow for Russia ( my prayers and thought will be with her) how exciting!!!

Bounce Party

The first picture is the velcro wall that the kids loved. My husband lifted them up and put them on the wall to stick..it was soo funny. The second picture is my dauther (long brown hair in white shirt) with some of her friends in front of a slide and climbing wall at the Bounce Party. It was a fun place for 20 kids to run around and be active. Happy 6th Birthday Caroline.

Are we registered?

Hi I have been trying to be very patient, knowing that our paperwork had to be translated first and then submitted to MOJ, then there was Christmas and New Years so I waited until today to email our caseworker to see if she has heard anything from Bulgaria.

She informed me today that she was talking with our lawyer in Bulgaria today and that MOJ received our paperwork January 6th 2009 and we have been given a number, but it is unsure whether they have finished with our paperwork...so does that mean we are registered or not? I believe we are but we could still hear from them that they may need some more information? I hope not. I don't know what else we could get them. So I believe as of January we are officially waiting, that is my understanding. Hopefully this means it is about 12 months from now that we will receive a referrel of our son. You never know with international adoption!

In July we will have to renew our homestudy, which means we will be meeting with the socail worker again in our home, etc. And during the summer we will have to redo our fingerprints and some other paperwork like medicals.

Onto other things, Caroline had her birthday party at Bounce Party and has so much fun with her friends. The kids were sweating and just had a great time. I am so glad that we did this for her 6th birthday. Our youngest is saying she wants her party at Chuck E Cheeses. We have never been there as a family before so maybe next year we can do this for her and some of her friends from church.

Thanks for checking in with us and following our journey to bringing our son home. If you are following our blog and interested in adoption and/or Bulgaria leave me a note and I can answer any questions you have.

Update: my friend Sarah will be travelling Jan 31st to Russia to visit her daughter for the first trip. Please keep them in your prayers as she has never been on plane before. I am so excited for them as we have been waiting with them through their journey.

It has been 10 months since we started

It has been 10 months since we started our adoption process, first with the Ukraine and then switching to Bulgaria. Bulgaria is situated north of Greece and South of Romania. It used to be apart of the Soviet Union. Many Europeans travel to Bulgaria for vacation as the beaches are beautiful. There are many westernized hotels, waterparks and beaches for foreigners. Once you leave the beaches and go inland there is a stark difference. If you want to know more about Bulgaria there is a good site if you search under Bulgaria travel.

We are still not registered! Will post as soon as we hear something. Tomorrow the MOJ meets again to register families and give out referrals. Please continue to pray for us and our son. I am not feeling anxious or impatient at all, it can only be God's doing. I have learned that this is out of my hands and in God's control.

Life continues to go on. Next week is our oldest daughter's 6th birthday. She is very excited as she is having a friends party at Bounce Party. I will post some pics next week! How time flies, yet I can't believe she has only been with us for 6 years. She is such a joy and sweet girl! Children are a blessing from God:)

Still no news from Bulgaria. I did change my song to Third Day. The Lullaby song is the next one to play after this one. I love the words to this song by Third Day about our heavenly Father, our creator, our rock and Saviour. He is righteous, faithful and good to us all the time. And most of all he is sovereign and knows what is best for me and my family.

It is hard waiting but it helps to know God is in control and his timing is perfect. I have been batteling with some health issues (hives, allergies, sciatic nerve pain, numbness, sinus issues to name a few) and it is good to be reminded of what we have when we don't have it.. health in my case. Thank you God for our health, families and the good things we have been blessed with and can we even say thank you God for the pain, suffering we go through to get to who you want us to be? Happy New Year everyone. I hope this is the year that we bring our son home.

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus.