Coincidence?

In the adoption process, everything happens when it's supposed to, no matter how much we want things to move along more quickly.  We are not in control.  Looking back at the past eight years, we have found it very interesting how things have lined up.   

We received Nikolas' referral on January 17th.  Little Brother's referral came on January 13th.

For both adoptions we arrived in Bulgaria on Super Bowl Sunday for trip #1.

It was four years from the time we started the adoption process until the time we brought Nikolas home.  Based on our previous timeline, we should bring Little Brother home exactly four years later.

Our dossier was registered with the MOJ one week before Nikolas was born.  We signed the paperwork to re-register our dossier with the MOJ one week before Little Brother was born.

Some may say it's just a coincidence, but to us it's a confirmation that we're on the right path. 

 

Also, we're still working to raise the funds needed for our matching grant.  Once we raise another $1750, Brittany's Hope will match the donations and present us with a $4000 grant to help us with our final adoption and travel expenses.  Go to www.brittanyshope.org, click on donate, choose "Special Needs Adoption Grants", and then enter "VanRoekel"  in Recipient Family blank.  Thank you!!  



Paperwork Update and Fundrasing Info

Just a quick update about what's going on with us.  We've filed our I800 form and were notified that it has been received by USCIS.  We are hoping for approval sometime in March.  We're also working on our documents for court.  Bulgaria requires up to have updated medical forms and current FBI background checks for court, so we plan on getting those taken care of this week.  We are due for a home study update in March, and that also requires updated medical forms and local background checks, so thankfully we'll be able to take care of everything at once.

We've been able to schedule Saturday morning Skype sessions with Little Brother for the past few weeks and have enjoyed them very much.  He definitely recognizes us and seems interested in us.  He loves our cats and meows into the computer whenever he sees one of them.  We think his foster family is amazing and are so grateful that they are allowing us to have so much contact in between visits.

We are doing a little fundraising to help with our travel expenses.  We'll most likely be travelling to Bulgaria this summer when flights are more expensive.  We'll be taking Nikolas with us, so we'll need to purchase three round-trip tickets and a single one-way ticket.  We left Nikolas at home with my parents when we visited Little Brother, and he hasn't stopped talking about how much he missed us while we were gone.  We think it will be best for everyone to take him along with us on the pick up trip.

Our family has been awarded a matching grant from Brittany's Hope Foundation to help us bring our little guy home from Bulgaria.   After we raise $2,000, Brittany's Hope will match that amount and award us a $4,000 grant.    This grant will help with our final adoption fees and travel expenses.  To donate online, please visit www.brittanyshope.org/donate, choose "Special Needs Adoption Grants", and then enter our last name in Recipient Family blank. 

I'm also still an Independent Consultant for Tastefully Simple, and everything I earn from that also goes towards our adoption travel fund.  The brand new Spring/Summer catalog just came out, and there are lots of great products available.  Visit my website at www.tastefullysimple.com/web/kvanroekel to order.  If you're interested in hosting either a taste testing party or catalog/Facebook party to help out, just let me know. 

We are so thankful to everyone who has supported us and prayed for us during this journey to complete our family.  We appreciate you more than you will ever know.  Thank you!!

Day 8 - The Journey Home

After about 3.5 hours of sleep our alarm went off and it was time to wake up.  We quickly got our things together and headed downstairs at 4:45am to wait for our taxi.  It was plenty wet and snowy out there.  The driver picked us up about five minutes later and we were on our way to the airport.  There was a bit of confusion because we didn't know which terminal we needed to go to and the driver didn't speak much English, but we figured it out.

 

We checked in and got through security with no problems at all.  We bought some more chocolate in the duty free area because we were able to find the large Oreo Milka bars that we liked so much.  Our flight out of Sofia was a few minutes late, but we were still able to make it to Paris on time. 

 

So on Saturday we saw the Eiffel Tower and had lunch in Paris.  That sounds so much better than it really was.  We had flown through Paris a couple of times before, but this was the first time that we were able to catch a good glimpse of the Eiffel Tower.  If you have ever been through the Paris airport before, you know what an annoying airport it is to visit.   We rode the bus around the airport and rushed to our gate only to find out that our flight had been delayed... by at least four hours.  We stood in a very long line to get new connecting flights, because there was no way that we would make our connection in Detroit. 

 

They finally set us up on a new flight to Atlanta that left late that afternoon and would get us home at 11:30pm instead of 4:50pm like we were originally scheduled to arrive.  It was the best choice, because all other options required us to spend the night in a hotel and fly home on Sunday.  They gave us each a 16 euro food voucher for our trouble, so at least we were able to grab something to eat in the airport.  

 

Our flight to Atlanta was uneventful.  We passed through customs without any issues and rechecked our luggage.  One of those bags would travel to Indianapolis with us, but the other would take a journey around the eastern part of the country and arrive home the following evening.  Our friend Mark picked us up at the airport since it was decided that 11:30pm was too late for my mom to have Nikolas out.  After a quick trip to Taco Bell, we arrived home safely from our long journey.    

Day 7 - Goodbye Little Brother, Hello Snowy Sofia

We woke up early on Friday morning so we could get everything packed.  After breakfast we walked over to the social worker's office to sign some paperwork.  We said goodbye to everyone at the office and then headed back to the hotel.  We checked out and said goodbye to the staff and then headed over to Little Brother's foster home for one last visit.

He was watching out the window for us when we arrived.  We went in and were able to spend about two hours playing with him.  We gave his foster mother the photo book that we had prepared for him. As she looked through it with him, he could easily identify us in person from the photographs.  We traded contact information so we could get set up to Skype with each other until we are able to come back for him.

We said our goodbyes to Little Brother and his foster family before heading back to Sofia.  The wait in between trips is so hard, but knowing that he is being taken care of by a family that loves him makes it a little easier.  We'll have contact with the family, so that helps, too.  It's amazing how easy it is to get attached to one little boy in just five short days.

It was very windy on our drive back to Sofia.  Our attendant dropped us off at our friend Noreen's apartment.  She is in Sofia picking up her three children.  We met through our agency, Children's House International, and she offered to let us stay at her apartment for the night.  We visited for a bit and then set off in the rain to pick up some souvenirs and to have some dinner.  We walked to the nearest Metro station and took the train to the Serdika station.  We knew that area had several souvenir shops and would be the best place to shop.  By the time we arrived at the station the rain had turned to very wet snow that was coming down rather quickly.  It was a mess out out there!  We purchased our souvenirs and then caught the train back to Vitosha Avenue.

We stopped at Pizza Palace for dinner.  It was a very nice Italian restaurant that had great food.  We had pasta and risotto followed by the best tiramisu for dessert.  We met a nice couple from the south of Turkey and chatted with them for a bit.  They were excited to see the snow because it doesn't snow in that part of Turkey.  I'm sure we'll be visiting Pizza Palace multiple times this summer when we return to bring Little Brother home.  On the way back to the apartment we stopped at a small grocery store to pick up some chocolate, since European chocolate is so much better than American chocolate!

We headed back to the apartment (without getting lost!) and enjoyed some wine and laughs with Noreen before crashing for the night.  Our cab was due to arrive at 5:00am, so it was definitely going to be a short night for us.

Day 6 - Visa Picture and a Walk

On Thursday morning we picked up Little Brother from his house and took him to Blagoevgrad to get his visa picture taken.  He fell asleep in the car on the way, so he was a little drowsy for his photo.  We took off his coat and hat and sat him on the little stool, and he was done in about 30 seconds. 

We walked over the grocery store to do a little shopping while we waited for his photos to be printed.  About ten minutes later we picked up the photos and were on our way back to Kocherinovo. 

We dropped Little Brother off at his foster home so he could have lunch and take a quick nap.  His foster mother called when he woke up, and we went over to the house to pick him up.  We are forming such a positive relationship with his foster mother.  We typically go through the gate while our attendant parks the car.  We wave through the dining room window and then walk right in to the house.  His foster mother told us that he goes to the window and watches for us now.  He seems happy when we get there.  He really likes Jason.

Today his foster mother gave us a CD of photos that she had taken since Little Brother arrived in her home.  We are so blessed to have over 200 baby pictures of our little boy.  It's such a great gift!  We're also grateful to have such a good relationship with his foster family.  I have a feeling that they will always be our family in Bulgaria and we will keep in touch with them forever.

We took him back to the hotel and Skyped with Nikolas.  After our Skype session we took a walk around town.  We walked around the city center and then over to an area that used to be a park.  The playground equipment was gone and we found a man who was letting his sheep and goats graze in the area.  Little Brother loves animals and didn't seem too phased that they were walking right by him.

After our walk we ordered some French fries with cheese and cherry juice from the restaurant downstairs.  Little Brother loves French fries and had a good amount of them for his afternoon snack.  After snack time we played in our hotel room for a bit before taking him back home.  We are so thankful that we've had so much time with him.

We relaxed for a bit after returning to the hotel and then met our attendant downstairs for dinner. 

Here are a few pictures that I took around the village: