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. :)

No Court Date Yet

I thought I'd post a quick update since it's been a while. We know that our paperwork has left the MOJ and was signed off to the courts earlier this month. We are currently waiting for the court system to provide us with a court date. We hope to hear something within the next week or two. We've watched other families pass court and travel to Bulgaria to bring their children home, and we can't wait until it's our turn.

We put up his wall stickers last weekend and are very happy with the way they look. We also picked up another dresser at IKEA last month. I still want to paint some wooden letters to spell out his name over his crib. I have his clothes and shoes in a pile ready to pack, so we'll be ready to go when it's time. Everything is coming together. We've been keeping ourselves plenty busy while we wait. Although the waiting is hard, it will be here before we know it.

Happy Birthday Nikolas!!

Today is our son's 2nd birthday. It's sad that we are not able to be with him, but we're happy that our case is moving along in Bulgaria and that he'll be home soon.

We received our updated I800A and I800 provisional approval on 4/16. Our Article 5 letter was issued earlier this week and was translated and submitted to the MOJ on Thursday. We hope to hear about a court date by the end of the month. Every form/signature is one huge step closer to bringing Nikolas home.

Before and After

We've been working on Nikolas' play room and bedroom over the past few months and are very excited with how they are both turning out. We still need to print and frame some pictures of Bulgaria for the play room. We're having so much fun getting ready for our little one to arrive. We're very thankful for our family and friends who have given Nikolas so many wonderful things. It feels great to have the support of so many loved ones.

Play Room - Before

Play Room - After

His bedroom has a World Traveler theme with planes, trains, boats and cars. We have some cute wall stickers to put up to match his bedding.

As far as paperwork goes, we're still waiting on our I800 provisional approval and expect it to arrive any day now. We should be able to send everything to Bulgaria very soon. We're still on track to bring our son home sometime this summer.