A Unique Situation

Tomorrow is Alayna's "Gotcha Day" and we are so excited to finally have our girl in our arms! We have not shared this with many people but, when I met Alayna for the first time in March, I learned that her birth mother and grandmother still write/call/visit her several times per year (every birthday and Christmas as well as various holidays throughout the year). This revelation brought with it many different emotions as well as some stress in regards to how this might effect Alayna's adoption.

Once the adoption was finalized I asked Toni if it would be possible to contact the birth mother to let her know that Alayna had been adopted so that she would have a chance to see her daughter and say goodbye before we brought her home. For this to happen, the local social services had to approve the contact. The day before we left for Bulgaria, Toni contacted me to let me know that social services had approved, the birth mother had been contacted and that she and the grandmother had been to visit Alayna that day. To my relief, they were very happy to learn that Alayna had been adopted and were excited that she would finally receive the medical treatment she needs. They also requested to meet Richard and I. We gladly accepted!

We are very happy to have this opportunity to sit down with Alayna's birth family and get to know them, ask questions and continue our contact with them once we return home so that they can continue to watch Alayna grow and reach her full potential as the beautiful daughter of God that she is. We know that this relationship between two families that love her with also be beneficial to Alayna.

Tomorrow will be a very busy and emotionally charged day. Please pray that our meeting with Alayna's birth family will be positive and that we will be able to share our hearts for Alayna with each other despite the language barrier. Please pray that this transition will be smooth for Alayna and that she will be able to understand what is going on. Pray that we will be able to help her process through the change to the best of our abilities. And please, please pray for Lily. She is making great strides, but tomorrow will be a big day for her as well and we are a little nervous about how the events of tomorrow will effect her.

Today was another wonderful day and we feel that Lily has taken some very positive steps forward already. There is much to tell and I promise that those things will not be left unsaid, but it is going to be an early morning and a long day tomorrow and my bed is calling my name (oh, wait. . .I think that was Richard!).

Thank you all for your prayers and also for your encouraging comments! Those things are what keep us going when the going gets tough!

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