Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
New Photos and an Update
I can't believe I've been home for over a month! I hope the rest of the time goes by just as quickly. I am beyond ready for the kids to be here. I thought it was hard to wait before the first visit. But now that I've met them, it is even harder to wait for them to come home. I can't believe I can miss someone so much that I only knew for a week. But I've loved them for over a year. That's a long time to wait.
I've completed all of the second-stage documents that I need to complete, and now I am back to the waiting game. You would think I'd be good at it by now, but I'm not. Now, we wait for a court date. In the meantime, I am super blessed to be able to skype with them about once a week. Most of the time, between the 9 hour time difference and the internet connection being horrible, we only get to see each other for a few minutes, but at least I get to see their faces, and they look forward to seeing me. There is a wonderful caregiver who always takes the time during her shifts to let the children skype with me and give me updates on how they are doing. She is not obligated to do this in any way, so I am super grateful for her efforts. I have learned that Sam is doing great in his special school for the visually impaired, where he stays during the week. He is happy and learning a lot. I also learned that Sofia is daydreaming a lot in school about coming to the US. She asks every day when I am coming back for her. Soon, my precious girl, very soon. But she is also doing well in school and at home. It is so comforting to hear these things. Every waiting child needs to be cared for like this. Well, every child needs a family, but if they have to be waiting.....you know what I mean. I am so grateful for the care my children are getting.
During the skype sessions, we can't speak each others language at all. The only thing we can all say (in both languages) is "I love you". We just stare at each other and say "I love you" over and over :) I also get to see all of the other kids in the group home. They all crowd around the camera being goofy. They call me mama, because that's what my kids say, and they enjoy having someone to talk to. They will have me repeat after them (in Bulgarian) "I love you_____" and will fill in each child's name. They giggle and laugh each time I complete the sentence. Its so fun to talk with all of them, but it breaks my heart. Those kids are so precious. They need someone to go and get them. While I am relieved that they are in a good and safe situation (most orphans are not that lucky), they still need a family. You can tell how much they want to connect with someone and be loved.
Now for the good part! The wonderful caregiver was chatting with me on skype (we copy and paste from google translate, which is not exactly accurate in a conversation but we get the point), and she sent me some photos of Sofia from earlier this summer, right after she moved from the orphanage to the group home. One of the photos I love is of her first day of school. I am so blessed that I get to see a photo of my girl on her very first day of school. I know this is not the norm for most adoptive families and I am so happy I got to see at least one photo of her during this milestone.
Then I start thinking. When you look at the uncropped version of the photo, you can see some of the kids there, and they each had at least one of their parents with them. My little girl didn't have a parent to take her to her first day of school. But she smiled anyways. Oh, I can't wait until she is with her family, and will have all sorts of firsts that I will be sure to take plenty of photos of.
This is a photo of her soon after she arrived at the group home. She still has all of her baby teeth!
And the next 2 are from a trip to the beach. The kids in the group home get to go on field trips in order to be exposed to more things. I can't wait until she can go to the beach with her family!! But isn't she cute? :)
I have been promised some photos of Sam, so I hope to get those soon and will share them with you! I can't wait until I have more updates to share, especially a court date!
I've completed all of the second-stage documents that I need to complete, and now I am back to the waiting game. You would think I'd be good at it by now, but I'm not. Now, we wait for a court date. In the meantime, I am super blessed to be able to skype with them about once a week. Most of the time, between the 9 hour time difference and the internet connection being horrible, we only get to see each other for a few minutes, but at least I get to see their faces, and they look forward to seeing me. There is a wonderful caregiver who always takes the time during her shifts to let the children skype with me and give me updates on how they are doing. She is not obligated to do this in any way, so I am super grateful for her efforts. I have learned that Sam is doing great in his special school for the visually impaired, where he stays during the week. He is happy and learning a lot. I also learned that Sofia is daydreaming a lot in school about coming to the US. She asks every day when I am coming back for her. Soon, my precious girl, very soon. But she is also doing well in school and at home. It is so comforting to hear these things. Every waiting child needs to be cared for like this. Well, every child needs a family, but if they have to be waiting.....you know what I mean. I am so grateful for the care my children are getting.
During the skype sessions, we can't speak each others language at all. The only thing we can all say (in both languages) is "I love you". We just stare at each other and say "I love you" over and over :) I also get to see all of the other kids in the group home. They all crowd around the camera being goofy. They call me mama, because that's what my kids say, and they enjoy having someone to talk to. They will have me repeat after them (in Bulgarian) "I love you_____" and will fill in each child's name. They giggle and laugh each time I complete the sentence. Its so fun to talk with all of them, but it breaks my heart. Those kids are so precious. They need someone to go and get them. While I am relieved that they are in a good and safe situation (most orphans are not that lucky), they still need a family. You can tell how much they want to connect with someone and be loved.
Now for the good part! The wonderful caregiver was chatting with me on skype (we copy and paste from google translate, which is not exactly accurate in a conversation but we get the point), and she sent me some photos of Sofia from earlier this summer, right after she moved from the orphanage to the group home. One of the photos I love is of her first day of school. I am so blessed that I get to see a photo of my girl on her very first day of school. I know this is not the norm for most adoptive families and I am so happy I got to see at least one photo of her during this milestone.
Then I start thinking. When you look at the uncropped version of the photo, you can see some of the kids there, and they each had at least one of their parents with them. My little girl didn't have a parent to take her to her first day of school. But she smiled anyways. Oh, I can't wait until she is with her family, and will have all sorts of firsts that I will be sure to take plenty of photos of.
This is a photo of her soon after she arrived at the group home. She still has all of her baby teeth!
And the next 2 are from a trip to the beach. The kids in the group home get to go on field trips in order to be exposed to more things. I can't wait until she can go to the beach with her family!! But isn't she cute? :)
I have been promised some photos of Sam, so I hope to get those soon and will share them with you! I can't wait until I have more updates to share, especially a court date!
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