Zdrasti! This post is a “Just
checking in” post as I really don’t have much to report, except that I found
out our dossier was officially registered with the Bulgarian Ministry of
Justice (MOJ) in May 2014. So we’ve been
on The List for about a year and a half now.
Every year that passes without a
referral, we need to update our home study and renew our I-797 (an approval
from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services allowing us to adopt
internationally), because you never know when you’ll get that magical phone
call, and you better make darn certain everything is in order. That, and trying to save up money to fund the
ridiculously expensive process that is adoption. However, with car repairs, a much needed
roof, and new windows, this is becoming increasingly difficult to do. But such is life. There will always be something that pops up
that drains the account and makes you worry if you’ll ever be able to afford
this adoption that you’ve now jumped into with both feet. That’s when I have to remind myself that God
will always provide for our needs. He
has yet to fail me.
With that being said, instead of
not trusting God’s plan and worrying day and night about finances and home
repairs, we could probably start tackling a little of the Bulgarian
language. The only word I know so far is
zdrasti (z-DRAHS-tee), which is the
equivalent to “Hi”. I love saying
it. It makes me feel so cultured. (It really doesn’t take much.) Zdrasti. ZDRASTI! Zdrasti. I also can
say “good morning”…Dobro utro. That is the extent of my Bulgarian. I honestly don’t know how much Bulgarian we’re
going to have to know since we’ll have a translator both times we’re
in-country. To aide in our learning
process, I’m thinking of posting sticky notes of Bulgarian words on all the
essential items in the house. (Example:
bathroom = banya) See!
How fun is this!? This way we can at least partially know what
our child is trying to communicate in the beginning. Not that we’ll be able to understand what a
3-year-old is saying anyway…
Also, an interesting tidbit I
learned, apparently adopted children lose their Bulgarian very quickly, some
within a matter of weeks! I read that
one child, age 9, went to Skype with his Bulgarian foster mother, and had a
difficult time recalling the language after only a couple of months of being
home!
Bottom line, the important part I
need to continually remind myself is to not get discouraged when our savings
end up going to yet another repair, or when I read about other families getting
to meet their children or bring them home.
We knew this was going to be a long journey fraught with emotional highs
and lows. One day it will be our turn.
It will happen.
One day.
 |
| Me, waiting for a referral. |
