Deyan Day 1....post by Marie

Wow, what a whirl wind!  Yesterday after I posted we headed out to Mass for the Immaculate Conception.  Found a Catholic church after I ran inside to ask the nice bell hop, who spoke some English, to tell the cabbie where we wanted to go.  Mass was less than 45 mins, probably partly because there were 9 people in the church; including the 3 of us!  The priest knew we spoke English; he gave us communion in English.  Afterwards a bitty old woman came over to us with a box of chocolates and offered us some.  What a way to celebrate the Immaculate Conception; with chocolates.  I loved her thought hahaa We walked to the Happy Grill for a few beers for the grownups and a pop for James.  We got some appetizers in preparation of the nearly inedible free hotel dinner. I asked for a Happy Grill ornament and I scored J My Christmas tree will be extra happy this year!  Walked through the beginnings of a Christmas market.  Unfortunately they only had food and beer tents set up so I am still on the hunt for ornaments that say Bulgaria; I haven’t forgotten!  I camped in the restaurant while James and papa went for a swim.  I forgot my suit at home but enjoyed computer time and beers while they swam.  After they came back we chatted at the table and had a few more drinks, then off to the room for bed!

Breakfast and packed up in the morning then off to liberate Deyan!  I must say, I’ve never been to an orphanage in eastern Europe but every worker that I encountered smiled, seemed friendly and the building was clean and decorated nicely.  The director and social worker were very sweet and did their best to communicate with us; the social worker spoke very little English but understood quite a bit and I’m not sure  about the director; she didn’t make any attempt at English.  It took what seemed like FOREVER for them to bring him to us.  Of course, he came in and I cried haha, and he went right to papa.  Dad was armed with Deyan’s favorite toy, a light up spikey ball.  He was fairly restless, I’m sure because there were so many people doting on him, he was in his new outfit which was warm, I’m sure, because I was warm and not as layered as he was.  His baba, grandma worker, was able to come in and say good bye to him and us, which was wonderful.  She gave me a STRONG hug and kiss and was teary, which made me teary again!  Don’t worry mom, I cried for the both of us!!!  It was so wonderful to see that people truly cared for him.  I could tell she was sad to see him go but so happy that he found his forever family. J  We can’t thank you enough, Baba, for keeping Deyan alive and loved until we could rescue him!  After signing papers, mom, just fyi, your name starts with an L on those papers. ;)  We went to the Black Sea for pictures there and Deyan was so good J I think he was overwhelmed with the action and confused about where he was going and what we were doing with him.  I held him down so he could touch the water, got a few pictures and headed to the car. 

The rest of the ride back was pretty uneventful, which was nice.  We stopped at a JUMBO, which is sort of like a Walmart, from what I understood from dad and James.  Deyan needed diapers, wipes and food and of course they only have size 5 diapers and the poor kid’s butt and hips needs like a -2 size! Scratch the JUMBO trip; keep driving to find a store with more selection.  About an hour later we find a small town and Danni (the woman who’s translating for us) and her dad ask for a store.  Deyan did WONDERFULLY for his first grocery store trip.  Went into the cart nicely, held on, looked around, smiled every so often and was just a pleasure.  I love the way they do their produce..they have a computer with a digital scale; you go through the computer options for the fruit you have, put it on the scale and it prints out a sticker for the cashier.  Anyways, Mr. Dido needed to be changed so I went to the bathroom with him.  I’ve never seen people so blatantly stare at someone with a disability before.   Some of the women cooed at him while he was making his gurgling noises but most people stare and practically walked into things as they were looking. 

Changing in the car works better, the bathrooms were dirty and I wasn’t about to scar him like that for his first diaper change with me, the strange talking lady who took him from all he knows.  He fought sleeping the entire 7 HOUR car ride home.  No tantrums, no tears, just a few grunts every now and then to let us know he dind’t want to be in the car seat any more.  He tried to push his belly out against the straps and took our hands to the buckle a few times but after a “ni” he stopped.  He really is a sweet boy who just wants to be loved and be in contact with people.  He either touched or held dad or my hand the entire car ride; craving physical contact.  He LOVES my scarf that was a gift from a friend who went to India.  It is very soft with calm, warm colors and a nice pattern.  He was so great in the car; I’m hopeful that after a week together, learning each other’s personalities and such that the plane ride will be even smoother.  That and he can get up and waddle around when he needs to.  J 

Stopped at a roadside joint for a quick meal; sausage/beef/mystery meat (pretty good), boiled, cubed potatoes, a tomato soup sauce and cabbage.  Deyan loved the potatoes mashed up in the tomato sauce/soup..he ate almost all of them!

The stroller works best for feeding.  After a quick Skype with mama we went to eat at the hotel restaurant for dinner.  Mr. Dido ate a big jar of fish mashed with veggies of some sort and a big yogurt cup thingy.  Plus I was giving him some of the gravy and cheese from our food.  He drank out of the cup better than I thought.  He just chewed on the sippy cup in the car so I figured I’d try the cup at dinner.  We chatted with a lovely family who is leaving to go back home, to Atlanta I believe, tomorrow morning.  BEST OF LUCK TO YOU ALL! YOU HAVE A BEAUTIFUL FAMILY!  Diaper changes are a challenge and I need to figure out how I am going to do this from now on so he’s not thrown for a loop on the plane; I need him to know what to expect from me.  Email me if you have suggestions, keeping in mind how small airplane bathrooms are. 

James and I took a nice 20 min stroll around the block and to the store while papa put Deyan down after we Skyped again, changed him and played a bit.  He was still awake when we got back so he got almost an entire LARGE banana with a melatonin crushed in it.  I kid you not, less than 15 mins later he crashed and is still asleep. 

Here’s the rundown of his daily schedule; mom this is mostly for you so you know J I will type it exactly as Danni translated and we can discuss if you want..

7-7:45am- wake up, washing

8-8:20- breakfast which is one of these options..1. popara (which is tea cheese, bread, butter and sugar mixed up), milk and biscuits 2. Sandwich 3. Tea, milk and airam (which is yogurt and water and is drank)

8:20-8:40- potty

8:40-9- play with toys

9-9:20- cognitive development/play

9:20-9:50- free play (hahahahahaa)

9:50-10- tea, milk, airam

10-10:20- potty

10:20-11:45- walk and play outside

11:45-12:15 lunch which is one of the following 1. Soup with veggies or meat and bread, then dessert which is a sweet of some sort or yogurt or fruit

12:15-1- get ready for nap, washing, and potty

1-3:30- nap

3:30-4- wake up, washing, potty

4-4:20- afternoon breakfast- milk, rice and yogurt, or airam, fruit and tea

4:20-6:15- afternoon play, walking outside ect

6:15-6:30- washing, potty, prep for dinner

6:30-7- dinner- meal with or without meat, milk and biscuits, bread

7-7:20- potty

7:20-8- washing, prep for bed

8pm-7am-sleep

We’ll see how it goes, I think we can keep it pretty consistent for him, which is great! 

Well, it’s 11:15pm here, everyone’s been asleep for about an hour and I should turn in soon, too.  Enjoy the pictures and I’ll blog more tomorrow! 

Greetings from Burgas

Greetings from Burgas J

After 12 hours of sleep and breakfast with coffee I am feeling more like myself.  We met a family in the restaurant who just adopted their 3 year old son and was he cute! At one point his mom and dad were both getting something from the breakfast nook, which was literally 10 steps away, and the 3 year old was talking to their 6 year old, who clearly had no clue what the poor 3 year old was saying! Before we went back up to our room we went over to say good bye and papa was able to talk to their new son, who’s eyes lit up when he heard dad ask him how he is doing in Bulgarian.  The cd he bought has given him the skills to chat with a 3 year old!!! (which is about all we need.)  Back to the room to pack; James can’t remember where he packed anything or if things got packed at all.  He was reminded of his duties as “know where everything is at all times” and “poopy diaper helper”. 

The ride to Burgas was uneventful, which is the way I like car rides to be.  Made 1 stop at a gas station for a quick lunch of chicken ham in a wrap (don’t know if it was chicken, ham or both) and water while James and papa shared a salami sandwich and coke and fanta.  Random steering wheel jerks aside, it was a fairly smooth ride.  Driving about 10 miles under the speed limit got really old really fast so I took a few naps.  About 4 hours later we arrive in Burgas at Hotel Aqua and check into our room.  It has 3 single beds, which will be nice for me because I have the pull out couch for the remainder of the trip! 

Really bummed we all fell asleep last night before we could skpe with the boys but we did get to see mama and talk to her for a bit.  We have church at 5pm, which we will cab it to, then hopefully find Starbucks (I sure could use a pick me up!) and dinner.  We are holding off on going down to the Black Sea until tomorrow morning after we pick up Deyan, because we are going to take him to do some pictures.  NO sense in drudging into the cold, dreary nearing darkness to the cold water if we are doing it tomorrow!  Dinner will be at the hotel most likely, which is okay with me because they have wifi in the lobby, but not in the rooms. 

I am taking as much vitamin c as I can absorb, I have a scratchy feeling in my ears and the back of my throat.  Hopefully vitamins and rest will take care of it; I felt perfect when I woke up this morning, opposed to how I felt going to sleep, which is pretty close to how I feel now.  Suck it up and be a trooper, I hear Emily telling me that as she’s reading this, so I will do just that J

A day of mishaps ending with a beer and Milka chocolate in Sofia--by Marie

Greetings from Sofia!
Today may have been the longest day. Ever. Seriously.

8 hour flight from Atlanta to Rome, in which we all had our own rows.  ^^ see above for my sweet set up :)

After a quick pass through customs and immigration (a glance at dad's passport and mine was pushed back at me without looking at the picture) we headed to a bathroom and a cafe-mart for h20.  I opened mine right away and drank about half before the man communicated to us that his credit card machine was not working. OHHHHH CRAP.  Luckily, James had 2 euros, almost the exact cost of water bottle, and we were on our way to get train tickets into the city.  The wonderful man selling the tickets said that James was not 12, as we tried to say because we thought 12 and under ride for free, but rather 11 which is the "free" age.  We were then scolded on the train for not validating our ticket, being told "This is Italy.  You get fined 50 euros without validation next time." Okay, okay, sorry, stupid Americans over here!  My wonderful papa got us tickets to the Colosseum.  I didn't get to go into the Colosseum on either of my Rome trips in the past so I was THRILLED to be able to tour this.  Along with the Colosseum the ticket also gained us access to the open air museum that I could have spent an entire week walking through.  Unfortunately we only had 2 hours. (Pictures to come..when I'm not so tired!!) We dined in an authentic Italian bistro.  I had .  a margarita pizza (YUMMY), papa got a ground meat stuff cannelloni and James had spaghetti with fresh tomatoes and basil.

Here come the mishaps...Because we were only in Italy for a few hours papa only got out a small amount of cash, to reduce loss of funds in conversion.  We checked 2 bags in the train station so we didn't have to lug around bags (and scream TOURIST).  Baggage place only took cash, as did the ticket kiosks.  We missed the first train back to the station; papa went to get us tickets while James and I waited with the bags.  Jumped on the train and hustled to the security line.  Of course, we were in the LONGEST line ever; what seemed to be the newest and untrained workers mixed with the oldest and slowest moving people.  Crunch time--20 mins before plane departs and we hustle to G gate.  Check the board and we have been switched to H gate.  Which is all good and well except for some odd reason we had to go through a second security check to get to the H gate.  Papa tried to get us to the front of the line; he was told to go back and wait.  In Stolz family English that means "push to the front, ignore nasty stares and comments in Italian."  James and I ran ahead to the gate; luckily we weren't the only ones thrown for a loop with the gate change and we made our flight.

Ushered through customs and immigration quickly and met our helper.  She was friendly enough and we got to the van quickly.  From there we spent about 20 mins in traffic before making it to the hotel.  The stupid WIFI won't work on my Ipod, which really makes me mad (I miss my husband!) but we got a cab to the Happy Grill and we were made happy. :)  A $2 USD cab ride got us there and the 2 large beers each and delish food (not to mention working WIFI) made for a tolerable, even pleasurable walk to the hotel.  It is about 1.5 miles to the hotel and we stopped at a quick mart for Milka (the best chocolate ever), beer and coke and fanta.

A much needed shower and chat with mama and we are ready to hit the sack to prepare for another long traveling day tomorrow!  Deyan, here we come, little guy! :)

Rome or bust!!

We made it to Atlanta with no mishaps, other than my iPod Internet access is being stupid. Oh well. Sitting in the Delta Crown Room with an adult beverage and plate 'o crackers with hummus from a tube. Can't really complain :) James got stuck next to a woman with an infant and toddler on our way to ATL. Mother of said children thought the rules of staying seated while taxing applied to everyone but her. However, she quickly was scolded, over the intercom, and sat back down. Her infant was crying while we waited 10 mins for our gate to open, which made me think of the hopefully quiet and uneventful trip back home. Rumor has it, the flight to Rome is fairly empty so I am hoping for an open section of seats so I can stretch out. However, anyone who knows me knows I can sleep anywhere and in just about any conditions so bring it on! We'll see how I feel about that statement in about 5 hours, though. Still need to plan our 7 hour lay over in Rome; beach and ruins close to the airport seem the least stressful. As long as I can get coffee I am game for anything. We arrive in Rome at 7:30am local time (1:30am est) and depart at 2:20pm Rome time, arrive in Sofia at 5:05pm. Already missing everyone but I am so excited to be getting closer and closer to getting the boys!

More to come!

And They're Off....well, almost

Tomorrow Jim, James and Marie leave for Bulgaria to bring Christopher Martin and Deyan back home. I really wish I were going, but this time, I will be home with Matt, Joey, and Jacob, ably assisted by Emily, as we wait for our family to be whole.
I've asked Marie to blog here for me, for a woman's perspective on the activities surrounding the pick up trip, so be sure to check in often, and leave her feedback and thoughts.
I think they are all packed. I think we have everything covered. But even if not, it will all work out.
Bye, guys....hurry home....be safe.....I love you all!

Mary

TRAVEL DATES

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all! We awoke this morning to a wonderful email from Toni, our attorney/facilitator in Bulgaria. She has the coveted court document in hand (well, it is at the birth certificate office to allow processing of the new birth certificates, but she had to take it there, so she HAD it!) and we can book our travel to pick up our boys!

Jim, along with our daughter Marie and son James, are flying out on December 6. They will arrive in Bulgaria on Dec 7, overnight in Sofia one night, then head to Burgas (on the sea) on the Dec 8. It is a 6-8 hour car ride, so they will overnight in Burgas that night, pick up Deyan in the morning of Dec. 9, and head back to Sofia. They will have just Deyan over the weekend, but then bright and early Monday morning, Jim will go to Blagoevgrad to pick up Christopher Martin (we are still discussing what we will actually call him... I vote Christopher, but Jim likes "Martin".) and back to Sofia. They will all go to apply for passports on Monday by 1pm. No pressing business (we hope) to attend to on Tuesday. Wednesday, the passports should be ready and Thursday in the morning is  mandatory physicals for the boys, and in the afternoon, the visa interview.
Friday, the visa's should be issued and returned to them, and early Saturday morning, they will be on their way home!
In 23 days, I will be holding my boys again!

We have much to be Thankful for this year, including the addition of two new family members!

Mary

WE ARE PARENTS (again)

On Tuesday morning, November 15, we received the great news that our adoption petition was granted in the Bulgarian Courts! We are now the parents of two more boys.
Christopher Martin Stolz, age 7 years 2 months  and Deyan Emmanuel Stolz, age 5 years 10 months.
Welcome to our family, boys. We can't wait to get you home.

At this point, we wait 7 days for the court order to be in effect. It is usually released on the 8th day (Wednesday, Nov 23).  After she has that document, correctly signed and stamped, in her hands, we can make trip arrangements for the pick up trip. We are expecting 1-3 weeks after the pick up, for that to happen. Of course, we prefer it to be as soon as possible.

We are just so happy to have progressed to this point.

We are coming boys....one step at a time!

Mary

COURT DATE

We just found out we have an assigned court date!
November 15, 10 AM Bulgaria time, the judge will hear our case.
I'm so excited.
We are coming as soon as we can, boys.

Mary

Mid October update

We got wonderful news from our Attorney yesterday, that our 2nd stage dossier should have the needed signatures completed by the end of this week. That would be today. We are praying that is the case. After that, it will be forwarded to the courts for assignment to a judge, and that judge assigns a date and time for the hearing. There has been a backlog in that process from the summer holiday, but it seems to be clearing up now, so we are hoping that court will be scheduled within the next couple of weeks.

A very good "e-friend" was able to visit briefly with Christopher (Martin) a week ago, and both she and our attorney said he looks great. The sores on his face are gone, he is walking steadily, he has been moved to a "higher functioning" group and is now feeding himself. We are so excited to hear of the growth of our little boy, especially the part of him not causing harm to himself any more. We believed while we were there that this was caused by boredom, and caretakers also said he only did this when he was left alone. So, maybe now, he has more interaction and can develop.

Can't wait to get these guys home!

Mary

More Waiting

I got word today that the Article 5 letters, translated and authenticated, have made it to the MOJ, and now another waiting period begins. Current estimates are 30 days for the final signatures required on our stage 2 dossier documents before it can be transferred to the court system for a hearing. It looks like, right now, it is taking about 20 days from that point until the court hearing is conducted (assuming, of course, that all necessary paperwork has arrived, on time, to the judge, and the judge does not need any additional paperwork!) then 10 days after that, we should be able to be bringing our boys HOME. So, right now, OUR best guess is the beginning of December. That is OUR best guess. Nothing official.  We are praying that the required signatures can be expedited somehow, since Deyan's condition is fragile. We understand that the only adoptions being processed right now are for children with severe special needs, but we also know that some needs require more immediate attention, and we hope that the MOJ can see that as well.

One step at a time....