We're Going to Bulgaria...Soon

When we were filling out our adoption applications 4 years ago, we had no idea what we were getting in to.  And as we have been waiting for the Bulgarian government to match us with a child to adopt for the last 3 years and 2 months, we still didn't know what was going to happen.  On June 21 we received an email from our agency that surprised us and took us from (mostly) patiently waiting to loving a little girl we have yet to meet.

I was sitting on a swivel chair at the local bowling alley with Hannah and 3 of her friends chaperoning the big, end of year fifth grade field trip.  I had gotten my phone out to take a picture of the girls (that came out horrible due to the bad bowling alley lighting) when I noticed a new email from our adoption agency.  I considered not looking at it right away in the name of being fully engaged in life, but the girls were busy ignoring me, so I clicked on the email titled "Special Treasure."  Our agency was, as they have frequently, advocating for a child that needed a family but was difficult to place due to her health history.  I read her bio as Brittany Spears played in the background and then I scrolled down to come eye to eye with the largest brown eyes I have ever seen on a 2 year old.  My first thought was, "she is absolutely adorable!"  And then my stomach twisted into knots.  I quickly turned off my phone and put it away.

A couple of hours later, I met Shad at our house so we could head to the school together for Bethany's kindergarten graduation.  (Yes!  I said KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION!  How is she a first grader???)  As we pulled out of our neighborhood I asked him if he saw the email from our agency.  Our conversation went like this:

Me: "Did  you see that email from our agency?"

Shad: "Yes."

Me: "Did you just want to stick her in your pocket and bring her home with you?"  (This is a term of endearment that I learned back in my nursing days.)

Shad: "Yes!"

It got very quiet in the car.

Shad: "What do we do about that?"

Me: "Well, I guess we need to call our case worker to get more information."

Five minutes later I was standing outside the school gym leaving a voicemail for our caseworker.

The seven weeks since that phone call have been a whirlwind.  I have counted over 70 emails between our caseworker and me.  There have been conference calls with a doctor that specializes in internationally adopted kids and their special needs.  We've filled out pages and pages of paper work, including an application that was sent to Bulgaria asking them to match this little girl with our family.  2 weeks later they said YES!  After 3 years and 2 months of waiting for them to match us with a child that is 0-2 years old and a boy or girl, we ended up finding our girl in an email.

We are so, SO excited that we are very close to traveling to Bulgaria to meet our little girl.  And we are also nervous.  I want to be real about this.  It's not going to be easy.  First of all, just the transition of bringing this little girl out of her world and into ours will be trying and challenging for us and devastating for her.  What will be a happy and exciting day for us will be a confusing and scary day for her!  I pray for her fragile little heart frequently and I would love to ask you to join me in that prayer.  Secondly, she has a pretty complex medical diagnosis.  What we have been learning about our little girl is that she is going to need specialists and a lot of testing before we know exactly what she is going to need medically speaking.  We already have her lined up with a specialist at the local children's hospital.  (I am not trying to sound mysterious by not just flat out saying what her medical needs are.  We just aren't quite ready to make a big announcement about it yet.  Just trust me when I say, we are praying that we can get her here as soon as possible so that we can get her whatever tests and treatment she needs.)

Where do we go from here?  We are waiting for US Immigration to process some paperwork and get our fingerprints done.  Once we have their approval, we will start planning to travel on our first trip to Bulgaria.  It is a two trip process.  On the first trip, Shad and I will travel to the city where she lives and spend 4 or 5 days with her, getting to know her and her getting to know us.  Before we head home, we will submit some adoption paperwork in Bulgaria.  And then, we leave her and come home to wait (which will feel like an eternity!).  Paperwork in Bulgaria and the US will be processed and eventually a judge in Bulgaria will sign off on the adoption making her legally our daughter!  Then we will be invited to travel back to Bulgaria to get our girl and bring her home.  We predict we will be traveling on our first trip next month or October at the latest.  And we should be bringing our girl home around the new year.  After so much waiting, it is still a bit surreal that this is actually happening!

I would like to say that the big kids are all very excited about their new little sister.  We do not underestimate the changes that are ahead for them and we talk to them about it frequently.  Josh was a little disappointed that he was going to have "another little sister."  When I showed him one of her videos where she is interacting with her caregiver, I watched his face slowly melt into a smile and then he said, "OK.  She is adorable!"

I wish I could show you her picture here on the blog, but I can't.  Not until she is legally our daughter.  If you would like to see her big brown eyes, meet me for coffee and I'll be happy to whip out the picture on my phone that Bethany hugs, kissed and says, "Oh my little sissy" to all the time.  We would love your prayers and support as we continue to move forward with her adoption.  I would ask specifically that you pray for God to prepare her little heart for the HUGE life change that is coming her way, for her caregiver's heart as she has cared for our girl her whole 2 years of life, for Shad, the kids and I as we prepare to care for and love this little girl and for her health to hold steady as she remains in Bulgaria.  We cannot wait for everyone to meet our new family member!