Countdown to Bulgaria

Our most recent pic!

We said "Ciao Ciao" today for the last time!! That sweet face even said it back to us! We will not Skype next week. I can't believe the time is finally here. I have been working on my to-do list for our countdown to Bulgaria!

I have Bozi's room ready. It's super adorable thanks to all our amazing friends, the shower and my awesome cousin sharing some of her nautical decor and glider! Do you all see the world map puzzle on the wall? Hundreds of you gave to that fundraiser to help us bring him home and your names are on the back where we can flip it over and see them. I have have his room ready to live in, although it will probably be a while before he gets into a room by himself.  We have a pack'n'play ready in our room thanks to a pilates friend until he is ready to move into his room. The girls want him to move into their room! HA! Either way, I want his room ready and him to have his space for himself, his stuff and his toys.

We are well-stocked with cute bath toys to entice this kid to take a bath. They will travel with us. I've heard stories about adoptive children and how traumatic bath time can be. They aren't used to it. So, the goal is to make it a party!

I've started researching and trying to get ideas from friends who have traveled to Bulgaria recently on their pick-up trips. This is my compiled list of brilliant travel ideas:

• Pack each change of clothes in a gallon bag with a diaper.
• Touch and Feel books
• Only travel with a few diapers and pick up diapers and wipes in country to save space.
• 360 sippy cups because kids are used to drinking from regular cups if they aren't bottle feed
• Body wash rags
• Snacks and snack container (fruit pouches)
• Toddler flatware
• Different size clothing
• Tie on shoes as well as slip on in a few sizes because you can't be sure of size
• Balloons
• Play-doh
• Stroller - something small but sturdy for streets and cobblestones. Someone else suggested this particular stroller, a Pockit Stroller, folds to size of carryon
• Extra grocery bags for full diapers
• Musical toddler toy
• Ziploc bags
• Different children's meds - Benadryl, Dramamine, Motrin, miralax, diaper cream
• Packaged oatmeal, granola bars
• Laundry pods (if you have access to a washer)
• Ergonomic baby carrier for baby wearing

For the plane:

• Extra clothes for EVERYone, bc you will get peed on or worse
• Kid size headphones
• Triangle crayons so they won't roll off the tray (that's brilliant!)
• Paper or coloring books
• Melissa and Doug WaterWow books-easy, fun and no mess!
• A little blanket
• Soft stuffed animal
• Overnight diapers
• Inflatable foot rest for children

The ideas keep coming, but this is super helpful! I wanted to gather them for other traveling families as well. Now I'm trying to decide what exactly to bring clothing wise. A local missionary in Sofia, Bulgaria takes photos of adoptive families on their pick-up trips. The weather is pretty, but cooler than here at the beach. I connected with her and I'm super excited to have family pictures made with our entire family in his home country. If you know me, you know I love my pictures. Here is her link for other traveling families.

I am waiting for a response to my email about items Bozi's orphanage needs. My goal is to take some things to be able to leave with the orphanage. If this is something you want to participate in message me, text, email, call or post below. Once I get the details I will see what we can pull together and how everyone can best help in the short amount of time that we have.

Funny story, last week our Skype date with Bozi was on Thursday. He loves cats. We showed him Violet's robot kitty she received for Christmas. I have no idea why we waited this long. That cute little boy yelled, smiled, waved, showed the other workers by pointing and yelling "meow meow" and "cat" in Bulgarian. He literally tried to crawl on the desk to get to the screen. He has such a crazy, cute personality... That combo sounds super familiar--our girls. Those three are going to be a handful and as usual they will bring the party! :)

I have to clean my house. I don't see that happening after we get back. So thankful for a friend who is coming over tomorrow and offered to help me out. I have to baby-proof our cabinets and drawers. I know, I know, I should've done that already. I have to walk around this house and look at it from a two-year-old viewpoint. A two-year-old that has had limited boundaries, nothing to get into and no one telling them "no," then figure out what I need to change. 

This entire experience is very surreal. I watch his precious little face and reality hits. He is ours, but I don't know him. I don't know his favorite food. I don't know how he reacts when he is angry. I don't know if he is sensitive or just "rolls with the punches." Two-year-olds have a lot of opinions--at least mine did--and I don't know any of them. I'm craving the opportunity to finally learn, to know the little boy we pursued for over four years and the person God chose to be our child. Next week is going to be exciting for us, but scary for him. This is just the beginning of so many new experiences and challenges for our family! We so desire your prayers!!