We Have Nikolas!!

We made it to Sofia safely and Nikolas has been with us from the beginning. Our flight arrived around 4:00pm local time on Monday. Mariana from our agency had brought Nikolas to Sofia from Dobrich, and they were already here when we arrived. They took care of everything at the passport office for us, and the passport should be issued on Wednesday afternoon. We came right to the hotel and dropped off our bags before going downstairs to take Nikolas from Mariana and Violeta. He did well on the trip, but he did get carsick. Hopefully the plane ride won't be as bad. We changed his clothes when we got to the room since he didn't have any shorts on. He's very good at letting us take care of him and even tries to help. We brought all 18 month clothing, and it's way too big. We had one pair of adjustable waist jeans, so we pulled those as tight as we could and rolled up the cuffs. They worked just fine, but we're going to have to pick up a couple of 12 months pairs of shorts at the mall tomorrow. The others just fall right off of him.

He's been a very happy boy for most of the evening. We played a lot and he's done great. He's talking some now, but we don't know what he says. He laughs a lot and seems to be a very happy little boy. He had some fruit puree and gerber puffs to eat and seemed to like both. We are very happy that he chews food and seems to be a good eater. I ran to McDonald's in the rain to get some dinner for us since we hadn't eaten much all day, and Nikolas enjoyed a couple of fries. During our visit to the orphanage in February he was only eating soft foods, so the ease of feeding today was a welcome surprise.

A little before his bed time we put on his pajamas and he played some more. They told us that he goes to bed around 8:00pm, but he didn't want to sleep tonight. He let me rock him to sleep, but then he woke up when we tried to put him down. He snuggled quite a bit. Jason went to bed and Nikolas was next to him babbling for a while. I don't hear any more noise, so I think he's finally asleep. Now I only hope there's room for me in the bed!!

It's been storming here all day today, so we weren't able to get out this evening. If the weather cooperates tomorrow, we plan to take the subway to the mall in the morning to pick up some shorts for Nikolas and then stop for a few groceries. He naps from 1:00-3:30pm, and then we have a meeting with Violeta from our agency at 4:00pm to go over some paperwork.

Things have been going great so far. He's been very relaxed and we haven't observed any disturbing orphanage behaviors. Will update tomorrow when I get a chance.

Almost Ready

We are getting closer to our trip and are very excited to finally be bringing our son home. We've been waiting for this day for almost four years, and it's hard to believe that we'll have him in our arms forever in just a few days. Nikolas is packed and ready to go. I've spent the day cleaning the house and running errands and have finished doing almost everything on my list. Tomorrow will be spent finishing the laundry and packing. At least if I forget anything, there's a drugstore and grocery store very close to our hotel and the mall is only two subway stops away.

The weather is Sofia looks good. Highs are in the low 80's and our only chance of rain is on Monday and Tuesday. We're hoping that Nikolas likes going outside so we can get out and explore a little.

We'll be posting updates throughout the week!!

Travel Arrangements Made

We leave for Bulgaria in two weeks!! We booked our flights with the help of Sheldon from Golden Rule Travel. He was able to get us great flights for a great price. I highly recommend Golden Rule Travel to other adoptive families. We will arrive in Sofia around 4:00pm on Monday, July 25th, and Nikolas should be arriving from Dobrich that same afternoon. He is being brought to Sofia by a representative from our agency, so we'll have our little guy as soon as we arrive. We're scheduled to fly home on Saturday, July 30th if everything goes as planned.

We'll be staying at the Radisson Blu Grand Hotel in Sofia. We stayed at this same hotel for a couple of nights during our first trip, so we decided it would be a good choice for this trip. The rooms are nice and we already know the area. They have a nice restaurant, and there are a lot of restaurants, monuments, cathedrals and shopping areas nearby.

Now that all of our travel plans have been made, it's time to start packing and getting things together around the house!!

We Have A Son!!

Our court hearing went well today and we are now the proud parents of Nikolas Ali VanRoekel. We will be able to go to Bulgaria to bring him home in about four weeks. We should have our official travel dates later this week so we can start planning our trip. We are very blessed and are so excited to begin the next chapter of this journey.

Court Date!!

We found out this week that our court date is scheduled for Monday, June 27th. We could be reunited with our sweet little boy in as little as 4-5 weeks!! Praying for a favorable decision on Monday. :)