January 2017

Evania, do you want a ponytail today? Yes! How many? Five!

Taking apart the sewing table in preparation for the boys' bedroom. We decided that instead of saving the wood to reassemble, we'd put it to use in constructing the bedroom. You can see the furring around the concrete block coming along, too.

Cousin Gwen was here in January to celebrate Christmas! Here are the girls checking out stockings from Grandma and Grandpa.

Pretty baby is starting to get a camera smile (squint so you don't get the flash in your eyes!)

The Kelbe side...at least some of us! It's always so neat how many of my cousins make it work to gather together. I love being able to stay connected, and it's neat watching our kids growing up knowing each other.

A failed attempt at a photo of all eight of Grandma and Grandpa's grandchildren.

A much more successful attempt.

Owen's Christmas present from E V E R Y O N E was this super fantastic Lego car. It's even better in real life.

Happy Birthday, Gloria!

Windows are going in!

And, from the outside.

Rub a dub dub.

Camera smile!

Gloria is so good on the stairs.

Owen likes to help screw in the drywall.

And...off to Bulgaria to bring Bogomila and Tsvetomira home! This imposing statue is something Dad/Grandpa/Scott, Leah, and I saw on our walk around the city over the weekend before we picked up the girls.

We thought Owen would like this.

Best part is the guy gets to ride in it while they pick it up.

Leah with the large cathedral in the background.

Another neat religious building...with a neat car in front of it!

We knew we'd have some extra room in our suitcase on the way to Bulgaria, so asked if there was anything we could bring for the orphanage. Fleecy footie pajamas was the answer. So we picked some up on clearance, as did a few friends, and then with eight days to go our therapy center put on a pajama drive, and we ended up travelling with 201 pairs of pajamas!!! Leah helped me get them all unpacked, sorted, and ready to deliver over the weekend in the hotel.

Here we are walking up to pick up our Bogomila!

Sisters meeting for the first time!

I'm signing the paperwork that gives me final custody of my oldest daughter.

And a few photos with friends before we go. Leaving is tougher for Bogomila than for the other two we adopted, because she has people she will miss!

And then we were off to pick up Tsvetomira. Here's my tiny girl, ready and waiting to go home with her mommy.

Going over a few details...like how to feed with an ng tube!

Tiny, stiff little girl has no idea how her world is going to change.

Incredible view through the mountains on the way back to Sofia.

Someone that had worked with Bogomila when she lived in Lukovit had moved to Sofia, but was able to spend part of a morning with us during the week we were staying in the hotel. She knows some English, too, so we were able to communicate three ways.

Feeding Mira. A common pass-time for the week.

Peaceful, sweet girl.

Bogomila spent a lot of time listening to her music on our iPad, but she and Leah also played some games.

Another shot of Mira sleeping.

Girls being goofy.

Adam, the nurse who agreed to meet us in Sofia to help care for Mira, decided to arrive a day early, so was with us from Wednesday afternoon through the rest of the week.

A common sight: Bogomila with her music, and Leah writing in her notebook.

The bathroom nursing station. On the left, a canister of formula and a large water bottle for filling the smaller water bottles where we mixed our pedialyte or Grandpa-crafted saline for mixing with the formula. (The brown is her current pedialyte mix - probably cherry/green apple - not the most appetizing when you mix them together!) The brown mug is my soapy water mixing cup, and the yellow bottle is the detergent. On the right side are a bottle of medication, and a towel with all of the tubes, attachments, syringes, and bottles drying for the next round.

A common view. Bogomila with her music. Dad/Grandpa on the bed (surrounded here by cans of formula), Adam busy working on something (here we're crafting the adjustments to the chair so Mira can  use it to get through the airport), and Leah hovering wherever she's useful and interested. I'm taking the photo while sitting next to Mira, probably feeding her.

Our last night in Sofia, down in the hotel restaurant where we met up with Toni, the primary person in our Bulgarian adoption agency. She, due to a car accident when she was a young woman, is now wheelchair bound, so knows first hand the challenges of living with a physical handicap in Bulgaria. She can make it work because both of her brothers have made it their business to make sure she can get where she needs to go.

Mira and her chair!

Here we go! Bogomila's first airplane ride! On this flight, with Bulgaria Air, she can read the safety manual and understand the flight attendants. ;)

And me and Adam with Mira.

And one more shot from our trans-Atlantic flight, just before it got interesting. ;)