Gotcha Day! Day 1

Sweet boy love.

It was 1:30 AM last night and none of us could sleep. Jet lag, excitement, nervousness, who knows, it had all of us wide awake. The 11:30 PM firework celebration a little earlier didn't help. We finally told the girls they could sleep with us and for about two hours Kev and I lay there awake with our ninja and monkey sleeper. They finally feel asleep and eventually we did too. They probably got about four hours and we maybe got two hours before our 6:15 AM alarm.

Kev woke the girls up saying, "Ok, get up, it's time to go get your brother." You would have thought they slept the entire night. They sat straight up and got out of bed. The next 45 minutes was a flurry of hair, clothes, presents, diapers, extra clothes, toys and snacks. Ani, our translator, called when she was downstairs. We all excitedly went downstairs. I was so happy she was traveling with us again and excited for her to meet the girls. We were all MOST excited we were able to go get Bozi together.

The trip there was fun catching up, talking about the upcoming week and additional appointments. Once we got to Sliven, we began pointing some things out to the girls. The man riding in a horse-drawn wagon beside the cars, the neighborhood Bozi came from and places we had visited last time we were here. I hoped some of it sunk in, but I'm pretty sure it was an excited blur.

First family photo aryan mustache and all!

We pulled up to the orphanage. The weather is gorgeous here and a group of children was outside in front of the orphanage. We scanned the crew of tiny people, they were about Bozi's age, but we didn't see him. We started to walk past them and we heard a squeal and saw a lady stand up following a tiny bouncing head through the mass of children.

We didn't see him, but he definitely saw us!

He was squealing and smiling from ear to ear. He came to me first, then quickly to the girls and then yelled out "Da-da" when he saw Kev. We greeted Donka, his caregiver, and gave her her gift. We shared that we wanted her to remember Bozi and us. Tatiana was not there today, so we left her gift for her as well.

Ani needed to visit another child while in Sliven so we were able to hang out with Bozi at the orphanage. He didn't stop smiling, laughing and giggling. There was no attempt to hide his smile as he had the last time we visited. He was wide open and today I saw pure joy. Donka stayed with us and she smiled as well the entire time. She brought us the toys and clothes we had left on our first visit. She made sure we had everything, even the little dog from the orphanage that we have seen in all our Skype calls with him.

First hug.

Violet stepped up as the big sister and loved on that little boy, playing with him and he loved playing with her. At one point he reached out, grabbed her and stood there hugging her. Chloe was quick to get in on that action and joined the hug as well. I was so proud of V, I know this adjustment isn't easy for her. She was one happy girl, all day. I told her, she will always be the one who got the first hug.

Ani came back and it was time to leave. The orphanage director came to see us even though it was once again his day off. Donka asked if we thought Bozi was different than last time. I told them I was surprised by how out-going he was. He was so much more reserved last time. She said he is repeating everything everyone says. Everyone could not get over how happy he was. We signed some paperwork, they gave us a couple pictures from when he was younger, Donka asked us to please send photos and let us know how he is doing through Skype, we took some pictures with Donka and she walked us out. She stood at the gate watching us load up and drive away. I'm pretty sure she was there until we were completely gone. It was so obvious she loved our son. She has cared for him for the past two years. I do not have appropriate words to express my gratitude for her loving our little boy until we had the opportunity to do it ourselves.

We fed him lunch at the orphanage before we left, but we had not eaten. So, we stopped at a McDonald's, which made the girls exceedingly happy. We discovered Bozi has a deep love for McDonald's french fries, but let's be honest...who doesn't? Chloe's first was holding Bozi for the first time at the McDonald's stop. She calmed him down so quickly when he was upset. Then we drove back to Sofia and the kid did not sleep the entire way. He was too busy. Busy playing with the girls, busy looking out the window, busy squealing and laughing. We stopped to have his picture taken for his passport and although he cried at first, the second time around they got his picture on the first shot. Lucky us.

Ani dropped us off. We grabbed a stroller and headed off for dinner and grocery shopping. Side note to other adoptive families, go grocery shopping before pickup. It's super stressful, you can't read the labels and sometimes you just hope you get lucky. I literally bought something, hoping it was milk, strictly because there was a cow on the side of it...it was buttermilk, ew. Also, don't forget they use reusable bags or you have to buy your bags.

We came home. Put on his PJ's and read him a few books. I laid down with him in our bed after the girls and Kev stepped out and within 15 minutes he was asleep. Please continue praying as he realizes this is permanent and adjusts. We were told today that the first two days are usually easier then it gets more challenging. In the meantime, this is my view...