Positives

Having lunch with Grandma and Grandpa at Arctic Circle
James, Caleb, Papa, Grandma and Steven
Frank (Billy's developmental tech) and Billy
Scheri, Abby and Teresa. The slide in the background is the one Abby was enjoying so much.
Letter from Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Dear Toni, Dixie and Carla (and now blog friends as well)

We are doing pretty well, outside of being very tired. Jet-lag is a killer, isn't it!!

Abby did much better on the flight than I'd worried she might. She kept herself occupied watching the on-line cartoons and kid movies on the individual screen right in front of her seat. She listened to them in several languages-unfortunately Bulgarian wasn't one of the choices. It was funny because she'd need help navigating the screen and I wouldn't be able to because she'd have it in Japanese or something. We got to our house about 3 am on Sunday morning--so she didn't have any trouble at all going to sleep that night.

Abby really seems to like our kids and they like her as well--except when she's being really demanding and bossy. Smile. Both Teresa and Scheri have enjoyed fixing her beautiful hair. She hasn't wanted to have a lot to do with me but we have had some little breakthroughs. For instance,today she called me "mommy" quite a bit rather than "Anna". Tonight she enjoyed a story I read and wanted another. Also she wanted my help tucking her into bed tonight. Those are positive steps. And she spontaneously gave Kevin a hug.

She sure isn't eating much. I'm sure our food is just so strange to her though she didn't eat much there at the Hotel either--and THAT was Bulgarian food. At some point I imagine her healthy appetite will kick in and she'll be hungrier. Now if I'd just let her live on ice cream and potato chips her appetite would be GREAT. LOL.

Overall, considering the rough days we had there in Sofia, it's going OK.

Thanks so much for asking.
Love,
Joy

Note from Friday, July 22, 2011

I've been getting pretty sick of Abby calling me "Anna" so first thing this morning I just said, "My name is Mommy." She smiled. Sure, several times during the day she slipped and called me by my first name but then quickly added, "Mommy." I really felt like she was using Anna as a way to keep me at a distance.

We played a game of Old Maid and three rounds of Uno (Abby won once.) Abby asked me personally to catch her when she was afraid to go down the tube slide at Arctic Circle. (After about 3 times with me catching her, she just took off on her own. Even started following Caleb and Steven's lead and coming down head-first!! She had a great time.) She took a second helping of cereal for breakfast, ate all of her kid's meal at lunch and her dinner here at home. Yes, I did give her small portions but still she didn't refuse anything--didn't even whine about her milk. When Scheri fixed her hair, Abby made a point of showing it to me. At bedtime Abby finally cracked a smile when I kissed my finger and touched her right cheek, then kissed my finger again and touched her left cheek. She also showed me an owie on her finger and let me kiss it.

I know these may sound like small steps but to me they are incredibly exciting. I feel like slowly but surely I am winning an entrance into her heart.

Sunday, July 10, Bora Park Hotel, Pavlikeni

Today is Kevin's 50th birthday.

We had the yummy breakfast buffet at the Budapest. I had scrambled eggs, sliced cold-cut ham, yogurt with oatmeal and apples in it, a couple kinds of cheese (one was light yellow and the other was white and real soft like a person might use to make cheese balls at Christmas time), roll with butter, Forest Fruit tea with honey, apricot nectar.

After breakfast I checked at the front desk and was disappointed to hear that our luggage had not arrived. I headed up the elevator to our room and worked on getting my 2nd shirt and jeans drier. Kevin had gone back down to the desk to let them know we were having major flooding from under our tub. He'd just returned when there was a knock at the door--our luggage had just arrived!! I was so happy: Abby's clothes, Amanda's gifts for Paula, all the little lotions/perfumes/hand sanitizers for the workers at the Center are needed in Pavlikeni. And I was delighted to have my other clothes. Thankfully we hadn't yet departed on our planned shopping excursion.

We we then had to sort what needed to go to Pavlikeni and what could stay in Sofia (they've agreed to keep our big suitcases behind the desk or something so we don't have to pay for the Sofia room tonight yet don't have to haul everything with us to Pavlikeni)

When I got down to the lobby to meet with Marty and Toni, I was a bit red-faced to find out Kevin had put my jeans, shirt and bra out to dry on the planter right outside the lobby where the sun was in strong force!! Yipes! We picked up Toni's cousin to assist Toni and then headed for Pavlikeni. It was a HOTdrive. Marty had the air conditioner on except when passing through tunnels and when he lowered his window to smoke. We stopped at a gas station to use the bathroom and again at our regular place where we got our usual sausage sandwich--this time with tomato slices rather than cucumber.

We arrived at the Bora Park Hotel in Pavlikeni about 5:15 p.m. and got the same room as last time. I really think it must be the honeymoon suite with that huge round bed. Walking into the living room with it's blue and yellow couch felt like coming home. This time, however, the pool downstairs was very active.

We met in the lobby at 6:00 p.m. to go to dinner with people from the Center. It was wonderful to see Mariann (psychologist) and Villi (care giver) once again--I truly like these two ladies very much--and very nice to meet Veni (a volunteer.) They led the way to an eating joint beside a small lake with a small swimming pool and outdoor dining. Kevin and Marty kept adjusting the umbrellas to provide as much shade as possible. Finally at Kevin's suggestion, we moved to another table with better shade and more breeze. I felt like the sausage sandwich was still heavy in my tummy so just had shopska salad and 3 Cola Lights.

There was lots of good conversation, laughing, and warmth around that table. We were told that Abby is very happy. They had a big going-away party for her there at the Center with about 50 guests, games outside. She is the first one to be adopted from here! They said the whole town in happy for her. At some community event she had recited a poem about when God takes something out of your hand, He puts something else into it. At the Eastern Orthodox church service this morning, they said a special prayer for her. I will be receiving her baptismal certificate. Veni told me that Abby was afraid she wouldn't be able to tell us what she wants so she helped Abby make some picture helps (thirsty, hungry, shower) Abby also told Veni that she would love to have Piglet on her birthday cake in August.

I tried to tell Mariann how much I appreciate all of them, how blessed Abby is to be so loved. She will forever benefit from that base. Honestly, I don't know whether we can live up to all of this. She has truly been treated like a princess. I'm afraid she will be very disappointed to just be 1 of 7 children. The world will not revolve around her at our house.

Oh Lord, please help us. Help us love her. Help her love us. Through good times and bad. Help us communicate. Please bond our hearts. Please work in our children's hearts. Please help us find a bigger house. You know, Lord.

July 9, Budapest Hotel, Sofia, Bulgaria

It's a good thing that there's no truth to the rumor that bumps in the road mean you're not in the will of the Lord. First off, we didn't get to Jonita's house until past midnight on Thursday/Friday. Kevin had thought he might have a shorter day at work but that didn't happen. I'm not really griping because the additional hours mean additional paycheck. However, this was one day that fewer hours would have come in handy. By the time he got home we still had to run a few official papers over to Mom and Dad's (temporary guardianship, updated wills, etc), run by the baby-sitters (where our kids already were) so Kevin could say good-bye to them and we could leave the suburban. We still had to run over to Murtaugh so Kevin could turn off the water at the park, get gas in the car, find a place that was still open so we could grab something to eat on the way to Boise. So anyway, we got to bed very late.

On Friday our flight was supposed to leave at 7:10 for Chicago so of course, we were there at 5-something-a.m. Then we discovered our flight would be about 45 minutes late because our crew had had 2 hour weather delays flying out of Denver the night before and weren't allowed by law to be back in the cockpit so soon. Obviously that made our connection time a bit tighter when we did get to Chicago. Both of those first flights were rough enough that I was glad I hadn't eaten breakfast. I'm pretty sure we were late getting out of Chicago and at Dulles it was absolutely dumping rain. We had to wait quite awhile out on the tarmac for enough opening in the storm for us to depart. By the time we FINALLY got to Munich (I'm just being honest here--that flight totally taxes my ability to sit still) we had enough time to find a restroom and get freshened up a bit and then basically proceed to our gate.

It's fine with me to not wander aimlessly around an airport for hours and hours but apparently--due to the various delays--the connection at Munich was a bit too close because none of our checked luggage made it to Sofia. It seemed like there were about 15 people in front of us at the lost luggage office there in the Sofia airport and one lonely dude in the office trying to deal with it. I have no clue what the first group's complaint was because I honestly think they were in the office for 30 minutes. Like I wrote in my journal, the line was moving at the speed of a dead tortoise. Kevin even asked if there were forms that could be handed out in line so we could all be filling them out while we were waiting but that was a no go. Finally a 2nd office-guy showed up and he seemed to get the next group in and out pretty quickly. Kevin said some of the folks also ended up finding their luggage after all. Anyway, the line seemed to shrink to half the size. And eventually, by the time the line was down to about 3 or 4 people, a 3rd guy took up another desk in the office. My concern, of course, was that Toni would be outside waiting for us and wondering where in the world we were. Kevin was able to go to (not through) the outside door and tell her what was happening. By the time it was our turn, I think it took us only about 5 minutes (definitely less than 10) to describe our luggage, and fill out the form.

By that time there wasn't even anyone manning the table where you say you have nothing to declare so we headed right on through. It was great to see Toni and Marty--like old friends. I was sad to hear that Toni hadn't been feeling well.

They delivered us to Budapest Hotel--this time no balcony (which is totally understandable since we'll have a child in the room) but it's a larger corner room with a full-size fold-out bed for Abby. The men and women in the lobby at Budapest are all so very nice.

I thought I had a 2nd set of clothes in my carry-on baggage--well, I did except I'd somehow packed 2 pair of socks and no underwear (TMI, I know) And Kevin had everything except an extra T-shirt. So one of the first orders of business was to wash out clothes in the bathroom sink. I didn't even have my handy-dandy individual pkgs of Tide--had to use bath gel and hand soap. I hung my jeans in the window knowing they would take awhile to dry.

I was definitely hoping our luggage would be delivered to the hotel later that night or first thing in the morning because of course on Sunday at 12:45p.m. we were scheduled to meet Toni downstairs and drive to Pavlikeni. My gifts for the orphanage workers and Toni were in my lost luggage. What would I do with all that stuff if I couldn't give it to them? My phone/camera was dead as a doorknob and my charger and connectors were in the suitcase. How could I meet Abby again after all these months and not take pictures?

Kevin and I crashed for awhile and then we headed down town -- this time going in the reverse order from our walk in February. It was nice to see flowers, fountains, trees with leaves (I think they were chestnut trees) There was an OLD church we'd visited before but had been unable to purchase the English booklet about it due to no leva. So today we had our leftover leva but the place was already closed up by the time we got down there.

We got pretty thirsty on our trek--the weather was hot and muggy. We got 2 waters for 2.70 lv from one of the many outside bar/restaurants set up under big umbrellas. Later we passed a little snack shack along the sidewalk and Kevin got a bigger water plus a orange pop for only 1.40 lv!! He also found me a big Diet Pepsi (Coke is much more easily found.)

We ate the downstairs restaurant at the Budapest. I had the "Good Woman" pork; Kevin had a chicken breast and pasta with a multi-cheesy sauce. He had a side of majorly cheesy fries.

When we went back to our room I went ahead and washed out my other pair of jeans since the first pair was fairly dry and my other T-shirt not knowing how long I would have to live with the two outfits. Kevin washed out his T-shirt. (His other option was long-sleeved. Yikes!!)