Here we go!

I was driving to my hair cut appointment at lunch on Friday, and our coordinator, Sheryl,  from our adoption agency called. Sheryl said that she had some news. Her tone of voice led me to believe that Bulgaria had questions or needed some more paperwork from me and Rob. I was steeling myself for this news when she said, "Are you sitting down?" I explained to her that I was sitting down, but I was sitting in my car as I was driving to an appointment. She then said, "You might want to pull over. Bulgaria has called and they want you to come in two weeks."

Yes, TWO WEEKS! Remember how I said that I think God has a since of humor in my last post? Maybe this is an example or maybe it is an example of how when you give things up to him and hand them over, then God takes the reigns and does what you think is impossible. I was finally coming to peace with the fact that we were probably not going to meet our son until after the new year. I had been praying about this daily and knew that there was a purpose in delaying our first meeting until after the new year, which might not be made known to me until a later time. Rob and I had begun researching the weather in Bulgaria for January, and we had even been to REI to look at snow boots and heavy duty winter coats.  But now, it appears we will spend the Thanksgiving holiday with our little boy!

I have so many things to do in the next 12 days so if you have any good travel tips, especially regarding Bulgaria, please send them my way. Luckily, we will not need the snow boots or the ski parka in November as we would have if we had traveled in January. The weather in Sofia today and for the next few weeks is amazingly like the weather in Tennessee during this time of year. The high today in Sofia is 61 degrees and the low is in the 40s....just like here. I am thinking that laying with a shirt, cardigan and jacket is the way to go that way you can add or subtract as needed.

I did buy our little boy a winter coat over the weekend to take with us as was suggested by some friends in Bulgaria. I plan on buying a few other items of clothing for him over the next week, in addition to the stuffed animal and other items that I have already bought him. We also have the customary gifts to buy for the the attorney in Bulgaria and other important people involved in the adoption. I plan on getting a very special one for our little boy's surrogate grandmother. I am very excited about the prospect of finally meeting her!

Amidst all the joy and excitement of planning our first trip, Rob and I do have a couple of concerns. Our referral did not come with our travel dates meaning in adoption terms that we did not get our official match with updated photos and medicals.  After speaking with friends who went on their first trip to Bulgaria without their referral, we have decided to continue on without it. Our agency believes that we will probably receive the referral shortly after returning from our first trip.

Our other concern is of course the finances. We are still in the process of raising money through our puzzle fundraiser, and Rob has been trying to pick up a new coding class to teach on the weekends, which he hopefully will start in December. We also received a grant very early on in the adoption process that can be used for our first trip if we are able to get the money released in the next two weeks. In order to get the grant, we need travel dates and our referral. We are praying that the foundation will go ahead and release the grant money since we have the travel dates and the referral is coming soon. Please pray that we will receive our grant money in time for our travel and that we will be able to raise the rest of the money needed for our trip.

I know that everything is going to work out for this trip. It's just the fixer/planner part of me that is having a hard time dealing with all of the unknowns. I keep thinking about something one of my good friends said to me last night at our church's annual chili supper...."Money is nothing to God." In other words, this will happen. God will make it happen.

That is the way it has been all along through this process. As I have said many times, He would not lead us this far to fail!