Staying in Touch with Skype

We get to Skype with R and S every Friday morning. It's before work and school for us and early afternoon for them. It's such a blessing to see their cute faces every week and be able to communicate with them...though our Bulgarian needs some work! Fortunately, there is a social worker with them who knows enough English to help us out, and we mostly tell them that we love them, we miss them, they are pretty/handsome, and they are good children. What else do a 5- and 6-year-old really need to know?

R and S have been asking to see "batko M" (big brother M) and "kaka E" (big sister E). Last week, E showed R a Barbie doll and the translator quickly let us know that R does not have any Barbies and would like us to bring her one! And M showed S a model airplane...same story. S would like us to bring him one. So, now I know what to take on our next trip.

R and S call us mom and dad, tell us they love us, and ask us when we are coming to visit again. They are supposed to visit a child psychologist weekly who will help them understand exactly what is going to happen when we come for our next visit and the changes in store for them.

I can't imagine making this transition without the weekly Skype calls. It helps us and them to stay in touch and see each other every week, and I hope it gives the children confidence to know that we ARE coming for them. As we get closer to the travel date, we'll do a video tour of the house and the bedrooms they will share with M and E, so things at least look a little familiar when they get here.

When are they coming home?

June-ish.

We really don't know when R & S will be able to come home, but our best guess is sometime in June. (Note: to protect the children, we're not going to use their full names on the blog.) 

Here's a recap of the process to date:

• Apply to adoption agency - September 2011
• Begin homestudy -  October 2011
• Homestudy complete - March 2012
• Officially register with the Ministry of Justice in Bulgaria - June 2012
• Wait to be matched with a child or children.
• Update homestudy - July 2013
• Wait some more.
• Receive a referral - January 8, 2014
• First trip to Bulgaria to meet the children - February 23 to March 1, 2014

In between the first and second trip, there are several things that have to happen before we can bring them home. First, we have to receive an I800 approval and Article 5 approval. Those are both from the U.S. government (one from Immigration, one from the U.S. Embassy in Sofia), approving R and S to immigrate from Bulgaria to the U.S. We received both of those approvals very quickly, thanks to our agency, which seems to be very on top of all the paperwork and the process.

Next, we wait for the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice to approve the adoption. Hopefully that will happen by mid-April and before any Easter holidays. Then, we have to get court approval in Bulgaria to adopt them. Once the court decree is issued (hopefully mid-May), we can schedule the trip to bring them home!

There is much to do to get ready - fundraising, getting the house ready, and just preparing the family for this huge change. So, we're keeping busy, but we do still miss them and are very thankful for the opportunity to Skype with them every Friday.