Bringing Ivan Home - Day 4 - My Birthday!

This is the second time I've spent my birthday in Bulgaria.  We had made plans to meet several other families at the Sofia Zoo on Tuesday morning.  Due to the rainy weather, a couple of families decided to postpone their zoo visit to the following day.  The weather seemed to be clearing out, so we went ahead and stuck to our original plans.  The temperature was cool enough and we knew that it was going to be hot for the rest of our trip, so we took advantage of the perfect weather.

We found someone working downstairs in the apartment building and had him call a taxi for us.  We didn't realize that we could have easily found a taxi by walking a few blocks to the city center.  The zoo was about a 20 minute taxi ride.  Taxis in Sofia are very inexpensive, so the trip only cost about $5-$6.  Zoo tickets for our family of four were a total of 10 lev, which is less than $6.

The Sofia Zoo is a lot different than a typical American zoo, but it was a great way to spend a few hours.  We met up with Ben, Heather and Delaney for a bit and enjoyed our visit.  We thought it was a little funny that the zoo had both a skunk and a raccoon exhibit.  Here are a few photos from our zoo visit:

We returned back to the apartment early that afternoon and both boys napped for a bit.  After the nap we had dinner at Pizza Palace with four other adoptive families who were also picking up their kids. We had met on the Bulgarian Adoptions Facebook group and decided it would be fun to get together. It was such a fun and relaxing evening.  Being with others who were going through the same process was very comforting.

After dinner we walked to the grocery store with Ben and Heather to pick up a few groceries before heading back to the apartment for the night.  It was a great day!

Bringing Ivan Home - Day 3 - Gotcha Day!

We woke up Monday morning and had a quick breakfast at our apartment before meeting our driver downstairs.  The drive to Kocherinovo was about 90 minutes.  The scenery was beautiful.  We saw plenty of fields of sunflowers along the way.  We arrived at the social worker's office just before 10:30am.

When we were in Kocherinovo in February we noticed a lot of stork nests.  The town is well known for the large number of storks that live there, and we were told that we should be able to see some stork families in the summertime.  It didn't take long at all to spot some storks in the nests at the town square. I wish we would have had more time in that area, but we were on a tight schedule.

After picking up Ivan's social worker we drove over to his foster family's home.  It had been almost six months, but I still remembered exactly where to turn.   We pulled up and went inside where Ivan was waiting for us. We visited with the family for a bit.  Nikolas and Ivan played and got to know each other.  And then it was time for Ivan to say goodbye to the family who has cared for him since he was only three weeks old.

I cannot say enough good things about his foster family.  They are a very sweet family who love Ivan so much.  I am thankful that we are able to keep in touch with them, because I feel like they are part of our family.  It's amazing how one little boy can pull two families together on opposite sides of the world.  

Ivan had a tough time leaving and cried for the first 30-45 minutes of the trip.  He then fell asleep and didn't wake up until we were close to arriving at the police station.  We met with Mariana, our NGO representative, to apply for Ivan's passport.  Mariana is the one who picked Nikolas up from his orphanage and drove him from Dobrich to Sofia four years ago, so it was nice to see her again.  We also met the Greene family who had just picked up their daughter.  They were with the same NGO, and we ended up spending a lot of time with them.

After wrapping things up at the police station the driver took us back to the apartment.  We dropped off our things and walked over to Vitosha Blvd. for a quick lunch.  We knew Ivan liked French fries, so we chose a quick fast food lunch.  We finished lunch and went back to our apartment to relax for a while.

Later that evening we had dinner at Wok to Walk and then stopped by the grocery store to pick up some juice, soda, bananas, yogurt and snacks to get through the next couple of days.  We also picked up some banitsa from a little shop that we were told about.  It was amazing!

We headed back to the apartment and got the boys to bed before enjoying some of that tasty banitsa!    

Bringing Ivan Home - Days 1 and 2

Our family of four arrived home from Bulgaria on Thursday, July 23rd.  I will write the blog posts covering our trip as I am able to.

The three of us left Indianapolis on Saturday, July 11th to begin our journey to bring Ivan home from Bulgaria.  Our friend Ron took us to the airport.  We were able to get checked in and grab a quick lunch before our flight left.  All of our flights were on time.  The 90 minute layovers in each airport were more than enough time to get to the next gate.  We flew through Newark and Vienna before arriving in Sofia at 12:40pm local time on Sunday.  Nikolas did very well on the flights.  He colored on the first flight, watched Shaun the Sheep multiple times on the second flight and played a game on the third flight.  Austrian Airlines is great about giving the kids little toys and games (and gummy airplanes!) to entertain them. We also think they have the best airline food.

After going through customs and picking up our bags, our driver took us to the apartment where we would be staying for the first part of our trip.  We booked the Kyoto apartment through Sara Tours and were very pleased with it.  The location was fabulous!  It was just one block from Vitosha Blvd. and very close to our NGO's office.

We unpacked and relaxed for a bit before heading out for a quick dinner.  We wanted something quick so we stopped at McDonald's.  We never eat at McDonald's in the US, but the quality of food is a little better in Europe.  After dinner we picked up a few groceries and went back to our apartment. We went to sleep quickly because we needed to be up and ready to meet our driver at 9:00am the next morning to make the drive to Kocherinovo.        

Bulgarian Adoptive Families Reunion

Last weekend was the annual Bulgarian Adoption Families Reunion in Cincinnati, OH.  Our whole family looks forward to the reunion every year.  It's always such a fun weekend.  This year was no different. 

We started our adventure with a trip to Jungle Jim's to pick up some goodies.  We arrived at the campground a little before 3:00pm and unloaded the car.  We immediately found some friends and started socializing.  After waiting out a very heavy rain shower, my friend Stephanie and I headed to a bakery to pick up a couple of birthday cakes.  It was quite a trip considering neither of us knew the area.  The bakery smelled great and the cakes were beautiful.  It was tough to resist buying some cookies for the ride back to the campground.

On Friday evening we enjoyed some nachos for dinner followed by a performance by the International Folk Dancers of Cincinnati.  We finished the evening with cake and ice cream to celebrate a birthday.

After breakfast on Saturday morning the younger kids took a trip over to Parky's Farm.  Nikolas loved the petting zoo, especially the chickens.  They also had a very neat play barn that the kids enjoyed. 

On Saturday afternoon we had a bungy operator come to the park.  Nikolas was very brave and gave it a try.  He's scared of a lot of things, so allowing them to get him strapped in was a big accomplishment.  It was great watching the kids fly through the air.  Most of them really enjoyed it.

The traditional Saturday night potluck was also a success.  We also had another birthday to celebrate that evening.  There were brief periods of rain throughout the day and it was very chilly, but we all managed to have a great time!

After breakfast on Sunday morning we all packed up and said our goodbyes.  We love this coming to this event each year.  It really feels more like a family reunion than an adoption reunion.  We've all known each other for quite a while and have become such a close knit group.  It's great spending time with parents who truly understand our family, and Nikolas loves playing with his friends who share the same background and culture.  

Here are a few pictures of our fun weekend!

Nikolas and Christo at Parky's Farm

Nikolas and Sofie

Christo, Nikolas and Alexander - These three get along so well together.

Nikolas on the Bungy

  

Introducing...

Our court hearing went well on June 8th and we are now officially the parents of Ivan Lukas VanRoekel.  We are so excited to welcome this amazing little boy into our family!!  And it looks like I'll be spending another birthday in Bulgaria. :)