There's No Place Like Home

Home sweet home! I arrived home around midnight on Saturday. Richard met me at the airport and, after a LONG day of traveling, what a welcome surprise to walk into a beautifully clean house full of peacefully sleeping children! My husband is such a gift!

My last visit with Alayna was a good one. We looked through pictures and went over names and faces again, drew more pictures and talked about when I would return to bring her home. During our Thursday afternoon visit Alayna asked if I would visit her on Saturday. I explained to her that I had to return home on Saturday, but that I would come back for her soon. She told me that she would cry when I left. It broke my heart! Toni explained to her that we would have to complete a few more documents before I could return to bring her home, but that we would work fast so that she could come home soon. To help quantify the time, Toni told her that, once she had finished first grade, I would return for her.

I left her on Friday with lots of hugs and kisses, her photo album, her bear, and a promise that I would return for her as quickly as possible. I already miss her terribly! Fortunately, the deep longing to return for my girls has motivated me into getting this next round of paperwork and approvals done as quickly as I possibly can.

My I800 with supporting documentation is ready to go and will be mailed first thing tomorrow morning! I am praying that the approval will be swift! Once the approval is issued it will be wired to the US Embassy in Sofia who will issue a letter to the Ministry of Justice stating that we may proceed with the adoption. More signatures are needed from the Minister after which our case will then enter the courts and a judge and a court date will be assigned. Once the adoption has been declared final in court, we will be able to proceed with obtaining new birth certificates and passports and Richard and I will travel to pick the girls up. On average, this next phase takes 3-5 months to complete. We are hoping that we will be able to return to bring them home by the beginning of June.

I promised videos once I returned home so here is the first installment! I accidentally uploaded both Alayna and Lily's videos into the same montage so you will have to watch the entire video to see both girls! All of the videos I have of Alayna are of her singing. This girls LOVES to sing (and she loved to watch her videos and sing along after I recorded them). Lily's videos generally consist of her giving me the stink face and then ignoring me (she LOVED operating the camera but didn't care much for being the subject)! I hope you enjoy my little ladies as much as I do!


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