Actually we have been home for many weeks now. What an adventure! It has been super busy and we have been super tired also (hence the blog not being updated).
I will post this is a few parts. Part one the lead up to getting Little Miss, part two our time in Bulgaria and part three the travel home and part four our time home thus far.
Alrighty... part one:
Where to start... I guess the last time I posted was to say that we were given dates to travel. We were asked on Wednesday, April 16th at 2:00 if we could be there for the MONDAY (April 21). Ummmm....that seemed nearly impossible! We had a school concert that Wednesday evening to attend....needless to say that was the longest concert of my life ha ha! We had from 2:00-5:00 to call the travel agent to see if it was even a possibility to get flights that quickly...did I mention the Friday was Good Friday...yep, we were being asked to plan and fly out all during EASTER! Nothing was open on Friday so we had only the few hours on Wednesday and all day Thursday to SCRAMBLE like mad to make an impossible task possible!
Through all things God, we got our flights, hotel, banking, and babysitting arranged in a day! It was super stressful and exciting at the same time. We had no time to worry about anything. We just followed God's plan for us and took each task as they came. My mom wasn't able to make it here to babysit on the short notice we gave, so we just brought the girls to my sister's place for a week and my mom drove them the 6 hours home the following week so that they could go back to school. We, thankfully, did't end up driving the girls the whole 6 hours to my sister's place. Instead, their grandpa met us halfway (which is where the airport was). Such a blessing for us to have so many people help coordinate every detail!
It was much weirder preparing for this new addition to our family. I looked around the house thinking about what may have to be child proofed again, washing bottles and sippy cups, purchasing size three diapers and an assortment of squish-able baby food packs (that were non existent with my other children), packing bags for all of us and not just the maternity bag and diaper bag. Purchasing plane tickets and hotels and exchanging currency. It was all so different.
We flew out Easter Sunday. Our van was jam packed with all eight of our suitcases, donations for the orphanage, a stroller and a car seat. The kids were happy that the Easter Bunny was able to visit them at home. They were a bit nervous that he wouldn't be able to find them. Ha ha. It worked for me too because the Bunny filled their baskets will treats for the road. Good thinking Bunny! Poor Liz though, she left all of her Easter goodies on the first plane. She was quite disappointed until we told her to pick stuff out in London ha ha.
We met grandpa for supper in Calgary and after supper we parted ways. Grandpa took four of the girls and we waved them off hoping and praying that he would survive the following 3 hours with them. It was also the first time I really broke down and cried. I hated seeing them leave. I hated not being the one to drive them. My heart ached so much. I also realized that it was becoming super real at that point. We were going to be flying out to pick up our daughter forever! I'm surprised I didn't throw up ha ha!
Liz did amazing for her first plane ride! She had so much fun and was taking it all in. We took her on the double-decker bus in London. She enjoyed sitting on the top watching how close the bus comes to the trees. It was so cute watching her. She did really well for getting very little sleep. Liz left a small water bottle in her carry on from the first flight and had to get her bag scanned because of it. Boy, can she pack a lot of stuff into her bag!! We kept a closer eye on her luggage on the way back ha ha!
Once we got to Bulgaria, our agency met up with us to drive us to the hotel. They wanted to grab Little Miss as soon as we got there, however, the director of the orphanage said we had to wait until the following day. I was kind of glad to be given the extra day to set up our hotel room and to get a bit bit of sleep before getting her. We had made reservations online at one hotel but, because of the super crazy speed we did things at and the time changes, the agency in Bulgaria already booked us in elsewhere closer to their office. Somehow our Canadian agency failed to mention that Liz was coming even though we gave the agency plenty of time to prepare things for us to take her. It was an inconvenience as we had to make different room accommodations, but it all got sorted out
Liz was exhausted (to say the least). She was not feeling too well the night we arrived in Bulgaria. All the excitement and lack of sleep caught up to her big time. We think she opened our hotel door (sleep walking) while trying to find the washroom in the middle of the night. There was an alarm on the door but we don't know why we didn't hear it go off. We had two rooms in our hotel. Liz was in the main room on a hide-a-bed. The fear of her leaving the room again and her fever resulted in her bunking with me while hubby slept on the super uncomfortable sofa couch by the door. Ahhh. Good times.
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