Sneak peek at our travel week

        This week we had our first of three phone calls with the agency preparing us for travel, the Bulgarian culture, meeting the boys for the first time, attachment and so much more.  This week's phone call was just an overview of the week and what to expect (for instance, apparently everyone smokes in Bulgaria, so be prepared to smell like cigarettes).  We leave Grand Rapids on Saturday April 20, flying to Detroit, then Paris and arriving in Sofia, Bulgaria on Sunday April 21 in the afternoon.  We will be picked up by Stefan (AGCI/Vesta employee. Vesta is essentially the AGCI presence in Bulgaria) and he will take us to the apartment we stay in the first night. Riding with Stefan apparently could be quite the adventure as previous families have admitted to motion sickness while in his care. We have the rest of the day to unwind and rest or explore a bit of the city.  Sofia is fairly westernized from what we understand (think McDonalds and Starbucks) and there are beautiful churches and other sights to see.  I am guessing we will be exhausted so not too sure how much looking around we will be doing.
        Monday morning we will be picked up by Stefan and our translator and fly to Varna, which is situated on the Black Sea.  We will be taken to the hotel, check in, freshen up, and head to the orphanage, which is about 15 minutes away.  Also, apparently in the middle of nowhere, so there will likely be no internet access all week, unless we are up in the middle of the night and get lucky enough to get a connection.  We will meet and greet the Director of the orphanage (with suggested box of chocolates in hand)  and the boys caregivers.  And then the most surreal moment of our lives will happen when we meet our boys for the first time.  They might be shy, they might not want anything to do with us, they might cry.  I.will.cry. They might be curious, they might giggle. They Will Be Our Boys. 
        The first several hours we will be observed by the director, social worker, caregivers, janitor...a lot of people...until they are satisfied that we are not crazy and that the boys will be okay with us.  We get to be with them all day, every day we are in Varna, with breaks for their naps.  There is a small park we can take them to and we are encouraged to bring something different to do with them every day like colors, blocks, bubbles and anything else that might be engaging to two year olds that don't speak English and are hanging out with strangers.  We were initially told that we would get to be with them in the morning and in the evening every day.  We are super excited that we get full days with them, but also overwhelmed and nervous.  I'm pretty sure that's normal, so I'll just go with it.  And to add one more bit of craziness, we need to try and remember that nodding your head up and down means "no" and shaking your head left to right means "yes". Seriously.  But we get to be with them for four days, ALL DAY.  How cool is that?  The first few days we will be "special friends" and then they will begin to explain to them that we will be their mama and papa.  That we have to go home and get their room ready, but we will be back in a few months to take them home with us.  I don't particularly like that we have to leave them for 3-4 months, it feels really cruel to say "Hi, we're your family, but we're going to leave you for a while to start out with. No big deal."  I am going to have to pray into that A LOT.
        Friday we may get to see them one last time in the morning and then we head back to Sofia to sign some paperwork which will get things moving in the court.  We spend the night at the apartment again and the typical family heads home the next day.  We will be staying until Sunday and flying to Vienna to spend a few days processing, decompressing and being tourists before flying home Thursday/Friday.  And when we get home, we frantically begin to pull together everything and anything we could possibly need for them, including doctors and therapists.  And did I mention the kitchen re-model we are going to attempt in between trips?