It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

It has been almost 4 months since Miss Abigail became a part of our family.  And we are in full Christmas swing -- decorating the house, putting up lights, baking cookies, and so forth.  Christmas music rings through the house.

Okay, maybe not Currier and Ives postcard perfect, but still...  We won't mention the batch of gingerbread cookies that didn't quite turn out, or the almost catastrophes from one too many cords strung across the floor (but mom! you should watch where you are going!).  Sigh ... good times.

Tony and Abigail had a blast putting up the outside Christmas decorations.  Abigail was disappointed that she couldn't actually go inside the Snoopy Sno-Machine to play.

We recently had an ice storm hit (I say the word "storm" very lightly as growing up in Colorado, it really wasn't much in the way of a true storm).  But nevertheless, we were pretty much confined to the house for four days because of the sheets of ice on everything outside.  Because Abigail had plenty of snow in Bulgaria, white stuff on the ground was not a novelty, but she still enjoyed throwing snow (I mean "ice") balls at Tony.  She hasn't quite got the knack of a true snow ball fight yet because she kept trying to get Tony to stand in a certain place with his back turned for perfect throwing distance.  I tried to explain that you just gotta grab the snow and throw it, but then the ice started flying my way (I was hiding out by the door of the house to run inside real quick if necessary), and I decided to stop trying to help Abigail with the art of snowball throwing.

I hadn't realized how much of an inside the house person I had become because recently Abigail has asked several times to go outside to play, and my first instinct is "it's cold" or "it will be messy".  I guess I'm going to have to get out of my comfort zone a little there because I do want Abigail to keep her desire to be active and healthy.  Something I can learn from her to be sure.

Abigail is progressing amazingly well with the English language and only seems to struggle a bit when she is tired from a long day.  We have learned to not try to communicate much of importance after 8 p.m. at night, or before 7 a.m. in the morning for that matter!  We definitely have a night owl on our hands which makes bedtime and mornings quite interesting when school is in session.  We had quite a peaceful time of it when we were stuck at home and could wake up any time we wanted.

I hope everyone is staying warm, and Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Do we take the toilets?

Okay, this was too funny not to share.  Today has been a good day with our precious girl.  I have not felt well, and Abbey has been a real trooper in understanding when mom needs to rest to get better.  She really does have a compassionate heart.

We are hoping within the next year to be able to sell our house and move closer to my work.  Right now I have a half hour drive to work, which is wearying at times.  Also, we want to get Abbey in a better school district.  So because I was feeling not motivated to do much else, and Tony needed to run to the hardware store, I sat down with Abbey and said, let's look at houses.  So we started looking online at potential houses we might want to buy (if we were able to sell ours).

This was a true novelty to Abbey and she has probably spent about 4 or 5 hours today alternating between Tony and I helping, looking at houses.  Of course she likes to see the big fancy ones too.  Tony told her when she became a star someday she could buy it and we would all live there.  So she understands we can't buy the super big houses.  (This morning I started out with ones more reasonable, but apparently, she figured out how to move the buttons to the more bedrooms and more bathrooms options).

What Abbey was having a hard time comprehending was that we would be taking our own stuff to the house, and if there was furniture in the pictures, that belonged to someone else who would take it with them when they moved.  She wanted the big flat screen TV in one (who wouldn't), and she liked the kids bedroom set in another.  So anyway, Tony finally was using the Google translate site to try to explain to Abbey that we take our stuff to the next house.

Then out of the blue Abbey asked Tony "Do we take the toilets!??"  Oh my, we couldn't help but laugh.  So now Tony is trying to explain which parts of the house stay, and which parts we take with us if we move.  Too funny.

Rollercoaster of Parenthood

It has been almost a month since we finally got to Abigail and added her to our forever family.  Many of you have been eagerly awaiting a blog post, and I apologize that it has taken so long to write.  I guess the muse finally hit me.  It is late, and it has been a hard day.  Hard on our little one who is trying to figure out how to make it in a whole new culture.  Please pray for Abigail, that she will process through her emotions in a healthy manner.

We got home from Bulgaria on August 30th.  I had to return to work on September 4th, with some days off for Abigail's doctor appointments.  Tony returns to work next Monday.  My dad (grandpa Ken) was in town for the first week in September and Abigail enjoyed getting to know him too.  Abigail also got to meet Grandma Patty (Tony's mom) over the past few weeks and hang out at Grandma's condo.  Tony said Abigail poked her head into every nook and cranny at Grandma's.  A curious child indeed!

Abigail started school yesterday.  We had hoped to enroll her in a private school near our house, but that did not turn out.  So Abigail is attending a special public school for kids learning English.  There are kids there from many nationalities.  Abigail is having a hard time dealing with this multi-cultural setting.  Yesterday, she said she wanted to go to school with the American kids instead.  We have been trying to educate her on the fact that all these kids, including herself, ARE American kids.  We are also teaching about respecting all cultures and peoples.  Today she told us she wanted to go back to Bulgaria to go to school with just Bulgarian kids.

She says she is not sleeping well, and that is why she wakes up grumpy.  We are trying to resolve this with various approaches, but it makes for rough mornings, sluggish afternoons, and exhausting evenings.  Please pray for all our strength.  Our 13 year old sweet princess is going through a roller-coaster of emotions, multiple changes, and is sleep-deprived apparently (from what she told us tonight).  And to be honest, we are exhausted too.  We love her so much, but we can't do anything to make the transition any smoother. She must go to school, she must learn to obey parents, and learn to go to sleep at bedtime so she will be alert and awake in the morning, and we aren't going to stop loving her and send her back no matter how much she wants to go back to the way things were.  She is getting time for 8 hours of sleep (same as we know the schedule was in Bulgaria for the school year), but she said she got to sleep more during summer vacation.  So part of this we know is any kid's struggle to get back into the school routine.

One hard part about adoption (whether domestic or international), is finding the right balance to respecting a child's past, while at the same time helping them move forward to a brighter future.

But all is not a struggle, there are joyous parenting moments too.  Like how funny it is that Abigail goes to check the mail every day when she gets home from school (even though Tony has picked up the mail earlier).  Tony has started leaving the junk mail in the box for her to bring in.  If anyone of our friends would like to send her mail (fun cards and the like), just e-mail me for the address if you don't have it.  I think it would be fun for her to get mail addressed to her.

Please pray for me at work that I will catch up swiftly on my workload.  I have a lot on my plate right now, but Abigail needs a mom to be home fixing dinner for her (not coming home late after Tony and Abigail have eaten).  We are trying to sort out the schedules so we have as much family time as possible (as all families struggle with I know).

Please pray for Tony's endurance as he drives the half-hour trip to take Abigail to school and pick her up every day.  He needs a supernatural measure of rest this evening.  He is an amazing husband and father.  His love for his family is so evident to me, and humbles me truly, and makes me want to be a better spouse and parent.

Well, I didn't mean to make this post too serious, but it is late, and I am completely worn out.  I guess the funnier stuff may come when I am more awake.  Thanks for all your prayers and interest in how things are going.

Thank You!

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support through our adoption process.  We will be traveling soon to pick up Abigail and we appreciate everyone who has helped us get this close to the finish line of the adoption, though parenthood has just begun!

Final Adoption Fundraising Post

Alright, folks.  We are on the homestretch for raising funds to go pick up Abigail from Bulgaria.  We don't know our exact travel dates yet, but it is likely we will be traveling as early as August 14th.  Because of some circumstances beyond our control, we may end up needing to stay in country for two weeks instead of the standard one.  Nothing is definite yet, but we need to plan for the contingency and expenses of two weeks in country.  What exactly are these expenses? you might ask.  Well, here is an estimated breakdown:

Airfare - $5,000
In-country adoption agency fees, translators/drivers, and accommodations - $2,100
In-country personal expenses (food, items needed for Abigail, unexpected emergencies fund) - $1,000
Abigail's VISA - $404
Final payment to English Tutor for Abigail - $300

Total: $8,804

We have about $4,800 of this amount already saved up, so we are asking for people to help us fundraise the final $4,000 needed.

$4,000 in 2 and a half weeks - that is essentially the airfare cost left.  Wow! sounds overwhelming and at times it is.  But I know that wherever God leads, he will get us there.  If you can help out in any way, that would be awesome.

Short of sending us a check for the airfare (for which we would be totally grateful!), there are many fundraising venues we have running for you to donate funds to our adoption that will also give you something in return (besides a warm fuzzy feeling in your heart).

Looking for a tax deduction for your donation - Check out our Adopt Together page here: https://www.adopttogether.org/thegrubaughs

Looking to buy some highly recommended coffee - Our page at Just Love Coffee is the place to go: https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/childofprayer/

Perhaps you want some discounted prices for restaurants - We have a link with CoupAide as well: http://coupaide.com/deal/grubaugh-adoption-fundraiser/

Closet looking a little empty, need a new t-shirt, or want to show your support for adoption - Check out our Adoption Bug T-shirt Fundraiser Site here: http://www.adoptionbug.com/grubaughadoption/

We are also selling some collectibles and vintage toys on Etsy here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/TreasuresbyEllie?ref=em

and at Ebay here: http://myworld.ebay.com/trghpu/

You can also link to all of the above using the images to the right on this blog.

Some friends of ours are also helping us do another garage sale next weekend, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, August 1 - 3, the address is: 740 Fox Run Trail, Saginaw, TX.  Come on by!

Thank you SO much for your time in reading this post and considering how you could help us with these final airfare expenses to bring our girl home!

We are parents!

We passed court today!  Woohoo!  We are officially the parents of Abigail Grubaugh. Adopted into her forever family on July 22, 2013.

Thanks everyone for all your prayers so far.  Now comes the wait for travel dates.  It might take two weeks to get the travel dates assigned, and another two to three weeks until actual travel (sometime end of August beginning of September).  Then we get to go pick her up and bring her home to her family!

Praise the Lord from whom all blessing flow.

Court Date!

UPDATE (7/18/13) - We have been notified that the Court Date was moved forward to July 22nd! Woohoo!  And our apostilled final home study agency confirmation letter is on its way now to North Carolina to our adoption agency, and they will send it on to Bulgaria today.  Thank you Lord, for moving that smoothly along.

Text of original post:

Our adoption court date has been scheduled for July 25th!  We have to get one more document from our home study agency that we should have in hand by tomorrow to send for apostille.  It is looking like we will be able to get that document back to Bulgaria in time.  Yay!

Typically, the travel week to pick up the adopted child is four to five weeks after court.  There are a lot of factors involved, so we won't know the exact date for a while yet, but if all goes smoothly, by mid-September, our daughter will be home.

Praising God for his watch-care over us, even when my faith felt small, compared to the mountains of paperwork and process it took to get to this point.