My Soul is Satisfied

     I am sure that I cannot capture all that we have experienced with words, but I will attempt to give you a glimpse.  Our initial travel was around 16 hours and we arrived in Sofia on Sunday afternoon (Bulgaria is 7 hours ahead of Michigan).  We went to claim our single checked bag and found that it had not arrived, so we were to check back Monday evening.  They should be able to send it to the Varna airport for us.  Our Vesta translator, Anelia picked us and 2 other couples up and drove us to exchange currency and then dropped us off at our apartment for the night.  We somehow had enough energy to walk around and get some pictures of the city and the beautiful architecture.  After dinner we crashed and woke at 5am for a quick breakfast and our flight to Varna.  It was a short flight, we landed in less than an hour.  I am happy to report that I had no major panic attacks on any of the flights.  I survived the longest leg (Detroit to Paris, just under 7 hours) by watching episodes of Touch and Dexter, listened to The Avett Brothers and rounded it out with Les Mis.
     We were picked up by another Vesta translator, Plamena, who is to be with us all week in Varna.  This is the city the boys were born in.  The weather is beautiful and we drive along the coast of the Black Sea (of course comparing to Lake Michigan).  We expect to be taken to our hotel but are surprised to find that we are heading straight to the orphanage.  The clock on our Monday time with them is already ticking, so off we go.  We do not have any of the things that we brought for them or the Director as they are in our lost bag, so we stop at an open air market along the way and buy flowers (tulips!) for the Director.  We arrive at this building that is 5 stories tall and looks a bit run down but clean on the outside.  It is in a residential neighborhood close to the Black Sea.  Inside we sit and wait for the Director to be ready for us.  This whole experience is still very surreal.  Are we truly meeting the boys in a matter of minutes?  Oh my heart.  We are taken to the Directors office and we have time to ask any questions we might have.  We had written some down the night before, but I think we were too speechless at this point to really have any clear thoughts.  As we are talking, we hear noises from the other side of the door and a child crying.  The door opens and there they both stand.  A sight for this mama's eyes.  T is crying because he has not been in this room before, but he is quickly quieted with crackers.  P is wide-eyed.  They are scooped up and placed on the couch next to us, T next to John and P by my side.  They are shy but do not seem afraid.  I want to pull them in close, these boys, but it is too soon. We put coats on and take them out to the playground.  There is a slide, sandbox, bench style swing and a swing set off to the side.  Plamena is with us so she is chattering at them in Bulgarian and trying to engage them.  We had her go back inside and bring out a little horse and car with wheels they could ride on the driveway with.  They seemed to like this and knew how to push with their feet to move along.  After about an hour they began to warm up to us.  They would allow us to pick them up, hold their hands, nuzzle their necks, tickle them and we were actually getting some smiles out of them. It is a bit of work to get them to engage with us, but they do not turn us away or fuss.  Their eyes are even more gigantic and beautiful than their pictures and each smile is a gift.  Our time was over too quickly and we had to bring them back inside at noon.  I walked in with P holding my hand (we did discover that he can walk by himself!) and John carried a snuggling T back inside.  As they walked away with the social worker I could not understand what she said but I did hear her say mama and tatka (daddy).  Amazing.  We will see them each day from 8:30-12:30, not at all in the evening.
     We had lunch with Plamena at Godzila restaurant, walked with her down to the Sea Garden (a park by the sea) and then took long naps.  At 8 we were able to pick up our luggage from the airport and then we were on our own for dinner so we went back to the same restaurant we had been to in Sofia, Happy Bar and Grille...seemed fitting.  This morning we were picked up promptly at 8am and headed to the orphanage.  The boys were brought to us and there seemed to be recognition on their faces.  T walked right over to John with no hesitation.  We took them outside again and had some of the toys we brought with us.  They were very quiet and again took a bit of time to warm up to us.  The blow up beach ball that we thought would be a big hit was not terribly interesting to them, but a few of the other toys caught their attention.  We are pretty sure they both have allergies and had some raspy breathing by the end of the morning, maybe from being outside the whole time.  We do know that they each take Singulair.  T was very quiet all morning and was mostly content to snuggle with John.  P started vocalizing a bit and by the end of our time with them I had him saying mama and dada.  Of course, da means yes in Bulgarian, so he was saying yes, yes.  Before leaving we were able to feed them lunch and they are both such good eaters!  As they walked away with the social worker, T looked back and gave me that sweet little smile that I already love.  Tomorrow we do it all over again.