Beauty and the Beast

Alex did a great job as Gaston in the school production. The whole cast did a marvelous job. We enjoyed the play and so many people have told us "we didn't know Alex could sing" SURPRISE ; just because his parents have no musical ability, doesn't mean he doesn't:) Actually all our kids can sing and play instruments, must be it skips a generation.

Sun!!!

So I am happy to say the sun has come back out. YEAH!!! all the snow has melted and this snowman was short lived.

Airplane Mode

That's how I feel about where we are at. When we put our cell phones on airplane mode, we want it on but not wasting battery life and always searching for a signal. We have contacted the home study agency our placing agency and the finger print clearance still has not come through. 2 weeks and they are done digitally so it's not like they are mailed anywhere, they are sent directly. So I am trying not to waste energy (time) stressing about when or how it will happen. I have to quit stalking my email looking for something and just enjoy all the other good things that are going on. Alex had his school play and it was wonderful, he made a great Gaston. We went to all 3 performances. On the Sunday afternoon one we had 15 people in for lunch and then went as a group to the school. I will try to post some pictures soon. He was so handsome:). This week on Good Friday our church is having a play, and Alex and Elaina are in that. Yesterday Sara,Jessi and myself went and set up the stage. And I think it looks like an authentic Roman court room. We have a little tweeking to do tomorrow but otherwise we have it set. If you live in the area its' 7pm Friday at our church. It is called The Trial of the Ages. Phoebe also had a piece of her art work go on display at the county Arts Council so on Saturday we went to the art display and awards program for her. I will also try to post a picture of it. She did a great job it is quite beautiful. Dan and I feel better about all the paper ,tape,markers,and glue that the girls use (on a very regular basis) it has not been for nought.:) We continue to be busy and hopeful, why well because we can't be anything else

Quick update

This week we had Alex state finger printed and a home study done. WHEW!!! We are supposed to take him Thursday ,but the school play starts on Thursday, so the problem is miss the production for the whole school and go get it done....because this is really...really...really important.....but so is his other commitement. UGH So I am thinking we go on a different day then the appointment, we have never done this before and I hate to be obnoxious but we really need this done. Decisions decisions. I am posting a picture of my grandson Wesley, I took him away for Monday afternoon with gramma time.

Set backs

We have experienced some set backs with bringing Anna home. Nothing earth shattering just very time consuming and frustrating. Alex has turned 18 so now he has to be finger printed and cleared on the state and federal levels. What it means is more paper work and time and money. We were hoping to travel in May but at this point in time that would take a miracle. Not that God couldn't do that it's really more frustrating than anything. We would love to get her home and start on the next phase of this which is atatchment and bonding. We will persevere.

Pictures from Bulgaria

Catching Up

So we made it to Bulgaria and back. WHEW!! We have actually been home for almost a month. We did not post publicly that we were leaving because we didn't want people to know we would be out of town. Everything went so great. My daughter Sara and her family came and stayed at the house with the other kids and we were off on January 19th. Bulgaria was a great place to go to. We never once felt un-safe ,the food was great and the people that we met were so friendly. We flew into Sofia and then drove down to Razlog the town where are daughter is. We visited 5 days with her in the morning and afternoon. She is in a very good family/group home. The ladies that take care of them do a great job. They put a lot of time and energy into the kids in the home. Svetla is more delayed then we thought, but after spending 3 days with her we knew that we needed to focus on what she could do and not on what she couldn't do. We had to do some serious praying and soul searching while we were there. But she is so full of life and her laugh is so contagious, and when we got her to smile at us,well, we knew we would not leave her. She will need lots of support so I have spent some time trying to figure out the best way to help her when we bring her home. I am really not sure what the best way to proceed with her, do we keep her home in the fall and homeschool or get her right in because she needs speech therapy and possibly some OT. I have lots to think about. We have filed the immigration paperwork and are waiting on getting the approval,once that comes the US embassy will be notified and then the in country staff will try to get us a court date and then we travel to bring her home a few weeks after court, in all it can take 15 weeks between visits. UGH!! We would love to bring her home in May, or before. We have just learned that the Bulgarian government has resigned so not sure how that will affect us in getting through the process. We are praying that the process will stay on track or hey maybe even speed up,:) I wanted to post some pictures of the trip but ummmmm, well I can't find the camera so as soon as I locate that I will post some. Like I said Bulgaria was a great trip and we swa some very beautiful places and our girl is too cute.