2013 Bulgaria Adoptive Families Reunion

Last weekend we attended the Bulgaria Adoptive Families Reunion in Cincinnati, Ohio.  This was our second year to attend the reunion and we have a wonderful time.  We started off our trip with a visit to Jungle Jim's.  We just happened to be there while they were cutting a massive piece of cheese.  The cheese weighed 784 pounds.  We picked up some yummy fruit for the fruit salad we were making for the reunion potluck along with lots of other goodies.  We love Jungle Jim's and stop by every time we're in the area.

We checked into our cabin at Winton Woods at 3:00pm.  Neither of us are campers, so their deluxe cabins are a perfect fit for us.  Our group had reserved 17 of the 18 deluxe and camping cabins at the park, and a lot of other folks had hotel rooms nearby.  Old and new friends started arriving right away and the fun began.  We enjoy getting together with this group because everyone understands the adoption process and the challenges of raising post-institutionalized children.  The kids have a great time playing with each other, too. 

On Friday night we had a nacho bar for dinner followed by an ice cream bar.  It was great catching up with friends that we hadn't seen since last summer and meeting others in person for the first time.

After breakfast on Saturday morning all of the kids participated in activities with others in their same age group.  We helped with the Toddler and Preschool games.  We had story time, played with the parachute and blew lots of bubbles.  The kids had a great time!  After a lunch break we went over to the splash park to cool off from the heat.  Nikolas did better than last year, but he was still a little scared of the spraying water.

After some time at the splash park, Nikolas took a three-hour nap.  The long nap gave us time to get our dish prepared for the potluck and gave him enough energy to stay up until about 11:00pm that night.  On Saturday night there was a potluck, face painting for the kids, cultural time, dancing to Bulgarian music, a campfire, glow sticks and lots of fun.

We said our goodbyes after breakfast on Sunday before heading back home.  We love the reunion and look forward to attending for many more years.  It's great for Nikolas to have friends with a similar background, and we have so much fun spending time with the other parents.  Can't wait to bring our newest addition to next year's event.  A big thanks to Viviane and Yvonne for all of your hard work!!

Travel Dates!!

Earlier this week we received our official referral and travel dates to go meet our little guy.  We'll be landing in Sofia on my birthday and driving to his town.  It's about a 4.5 hour drive from the airport and is fairly close to the town where Nikolas was born.  We'll spend the week there visiting him.  What a great gift!! 

We've been working on paperwork and travel reservations over the weekend and are getting excited about our trip.  We'll be staying in a small hotel (12 rooms!) that another couple from our agency stayed in just a few weeks ago.  They enjoyed their stay and let us know that the hotel has air conditioning, free wifi and a good restaurant.  Plus it's close to the shopping area and within walking distance of the orphanage. 

Since we'll only be able to visit our little guy for a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the afternoon, we'll have a lot of free time.  There is a very cool monument (see video) and a fortress (http://bulgariatravel.org/en/object/75/Shumenska_krepost) that we're looking forward to visiting while we are there.

And The Winner Is...

I'm happy to announce that our puzzle is complete and it looks great!  I enjoyed working on it and watching it come together.  My dad and grandpa will be framing it for us when they visit later this month.  We had a total of 41 families help out with this fundraiser, and we are very grateful to each one of you for your support.  Thank you so much for helping with a piece of our journey.

As donations were made, we kept track of the piece numbers for each family in a notebook.  For example, the first family purchased 10 pieces, so they had piece numbers 1-10.  Once we were finished with the puzzle, we used www.random.org to choose a number at random.  Our winner who purchased piece number 174 is Missy Bryant.  Congratulations Missy!!  I will contact you shortly about your Amazon gift card.  We are still fundraising with CoupAide.  If you are interested, click on the CoupAide link on the right side of our blog.  We'll be posting an exciting adoption update soon, so stay tuned!!

Final Puzzle Fundraiser Update

We are extremely grateful to everyone who has donated to our adoption fund to help us bring our little guy home from Bulgaria.  We are so close to making our first trip and are getting very excited.  We love Bulgaria so much and can't wait to get back over there.  Of course we're most excited about meeting our son for the first time.

We have sold 702 puzzle pieces, so there are 298 pieces left.  As a reminder, pieces cost $1 each, and for each $1 donation to our adoption fund you will receive an entry into a drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card.  At the end of our fundraiser, we will draw a winner.  (Donations can be made via PayPal by using the link to your right.)

Once our puzzle has been completed, my Dad and Grandpa will be making a frame for it with wood from my Great-Grandpa's fence.  We plan to hang the puzzle in our playroom as a daily reminder of the support we received to bring home our adorable little boy.

We have decided that we will close this fundraiser on May 31st.  We've had the puzzle on our dining room table for almost two months now, and we really need the space back!  We're praying that we'll receive donations for all 1000 pieces by the end of the month, but if not, we're okay with that.  We will not be posting about this fundraiser again, but we will announce the winner and post a photo of the framed puzzle once it has been completed.  We still have our fundraiser with CoupAide available for those who are interested.  (See link to your right.)

We are anticipating our official referral and travel dates very soon!!  Thanks again to everyone who has supported us in our journey.  Your financial gifts and prayers are much appreciated!!

Happy Birthday Nikolas!!

Nikolas turned four this past week and had a wonderful time celebrating his birthday.  We began the celebration last Saturday by opening presents and having dinner at Benihana.  Nikolas loves eating at Benihana.  Shrimp is one of his favorite foods.  After dinner we came home and had cake.  He had requested a blue cake, so I put some blue food coloring in a white cake mix and we had a blue cake!

Dinner at Benihana

With His Nabi Jr. From
Grandpa and Grandma

Eating Blue Cake

On Sunday we went to Cincinnati to celebrate Orthodox Easter with the Bulgarian Community.  We enjoyed visiting with the Martini family.  Their daughter Emilia also came home from Dobrich in 2011, and she and Nikolas had a great time playing together.  I'm sure he'll be excited to spend a whole weekend chasing her at the reunion next month.

Playing With Emilia

On his birthday he was so excited to take cookies to school to share with his classmates.  After school he had a surprise visit from Grandma, who stopped by to join us for a birthday lunch.  Nikolas has grown so much throughout the last year and we're so happy with the progress that he's made.  

We love you little guy and are so proud of you!!