It has been five weeks since we returned from Bulgaria. Waiting to go back and get Abigail is very, very difficult. We miss her so much. Fortunately we have a good online community of others adopting from Bulgaria to keep us in the know for expected timing of each step of the way.
On April 12th, our I-800 application was provisionally approved. On April 20th, the Bureau of Consular Affairs sent a notification letter to us that they sent the I-800 approval to the U.S. Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria. So now we wait for the approval from Bulgaria. From what we have been able to ascertain, this is how the process should go from here:
The U.S. Embassy notifies our adoption agency (Vesta) representatives in Bulgaria that they have received the I-800 approval notification.
Vesta takes to the Embassy (by scheduled appointment) the DS-230 Application for Immigrant Visa completed form (http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/81807.pdf) and payment. Once the Embassy approves the DS-230 form, we get something called an Article 5 Letter. If you would like to know what that looks like, here is an example: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/105116.pdf
After the Article 5 Issuance, our paperwork goes to the Bulgaria Minister of Justice for signature. Then our agency is notified of that, and Vesta then gets a court date scheduled for our file.
We do not attend the court date. If all goes smoothly, on the court date we will be the official parents of Abigail. Then, there could be up to another wait (after being officially her parents!) for notification of second trip to go pick her up. This is because of paperwork necessary to get her back into the United States as a citizen (Visa, passport, adoption paperwork, etc) from what I understand.
Please be praying that all this goes very swiftly in spite of lots of holidays for Bulgarians in May and May 12th election of new government officials. May God speed our paperwork through. We miss Abigail so much!
Friday, April 26, 2013
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Learning English
Well, it has been about two weeks now (this Saturday) since we returned from Bulgaria. The wait gets harder with each passing day. Will we make it the four to six months? I suppose we shall have to do so. But it is hard. We miss Abigail so much. However, we are able to communicate by e-mail through the lady we hired to tutor Abigail in English. As any proud mom might do, I give you the word lists that Abigail has been learning over the past two weeks (as reported by her tutor):
First week:
She learned English words: life, live, visit,
wish, wait, go, favourite, food, hungry, always, sometime, house, young, old,
time, parents, family, new, big, small, swim, week, usually, often, never, sun,
sunny, weather, happy, sleep, know. We learned pronouns.
Second week:
She learned English words: grandmother,
grandfather, plate, pan, kitchen, bed, chest, living room, adore, mountain,
Good morning, Good afternoon, Good evening, Good night, doll, toys, street,
pick up, cinema, Of course, Be careful, Let me show you, dress, telephone,
book, birthday. Wе learn from The Past Simple Tense.
Note to self: call a movie theater "cinema" if we want to take her to the movies. :)
Some would tell us that it is a waste of time to be paying someone to teach her now when she will pick it up quick once she is here and in school. Nevertheless, it would be helpful to communicate with her when we pick her up and while we are here before she starts school. So we think it is worth it (beside the fact the tutor is our only direct contact with her during the wait period).
We are told that Abigail painted a picture of our house for us. Instead of drawing they call it painting there, but we never saw paint, so I presume the tutor means with crayons or colored pencils. We gave her a photo book of places and people here, so she would have an example from which to draw the house. I am curious to see her rendition. We asked Abigail what she liked to draw beside houses and trees. She said buildings and flowers. We may just have an architect, landscape designer or civil engineer on our hands.
Well, that is all the news for now. We are also in the middle of some paperwork processes to get documents to the government, but I thought the above information was probably more interesting than going into paper chase details.
Until next time...
Monday, March 25, 2013
First Trip to Bulgaria
For those who weren't on our e-mail list for last week (I'm sorry if I missed some of you ... I tried to get all those who requested to be on it, but know I missed a few) - we just came back from our first trip to Bulgaria to meet the girl we are adopting. Her new American name will be Abigail.
Abigail is bright and smart and very organized like Dori. She also is very into computers like Tony. We can't post any photos here on a public space, but trust us when we tell you she is super adorable (not that we are biased or anything). Below I am including some of the journaling I did throughout the week while we were there:
Monday - She had been waiting in the next room over for at least half an hour while we were talking with the director and psychologist. I gave up on my questions and said, "can we meet her now?" So nervous. In she came, smiling just as nicely and sweetly as she was in the photos and videos we had received. We all were a little bit formal, as we are when we meet new people with so much on the line. I can only describe it in terms of how one might feel on a first date when you really hope the other person likes you and aren't sure how it will turn out, but on a deeper level of parent to child. Gladly, our translator, the director, and the psychologist all helped get the conversation started and eventually we settled back into awkwardness of translated conversation, where either one or the other side is waiting to find out what the other one just said. Abigail has had some progress in her English language learning. In English, she can count to twenty, knows her colors, can do basic welcome greetings (hello, goodbye, thank you), and she may understand more. She did know "table" and "beautiful". We found out that she has not learned the English words for days of the week yet.
I don't think seatbelts are popular with Abigail because each time we got in or out of the car, I said "seatbelt" and showed her to put it on. Overall, Abigail was very respectful, sweet, kind and thoughtful (holding doors open for adults, etc.) however, the psychologist said she does have an independent spirit, which we may not see much of yet in this introductory phase. I could tell this though from the slight reluctance to comply with seatbelt rules. But only one small issue for the whole day.
We had a fun afternoon doing beading, and making the foam sticker crosses. We gave Abigail a gift photobook of ourselves, our home and Texas photos, and reviewed that with her too. We didn't talk so much in the afternoon as just spend time together. Finally it was time to go, and the director said after we left Abigail could give the butterscotch candies and gum that we had brought for the kids to them. Abigail walked us all the way to the car, hugged us and seemed excited for us to come tomorrow,
Tuesday - We got to see the room where Abigail sleeps, the living room area where she spends time with her "family" group, and the kitchen area where they eat and learn to cook. She lives in a two story building that used to be a standard orphanage with dormitory (rows of twin beds) setting. They remodeled into the family type format where a group of 10 kids live in a more family type area with smaller number of kids in a room, and the living room, and kitchen to spend time in what feels more like a family type environment. It is a good beginning, but not a foster home type environment like we expected. Rather imagine a college dorm hallway where some rooms are bedrooms, one is set up as a living room, and one set up as a kitchen. That was more the feel.
Wednesday - There is one way in which Abigail is similar to Tony rather than me. Abigail is not a picky eater. We asked her if there were any foods she didn't like to eat, and she couldn't think of any. Admittedly orphanage life may have given her a limited food experience, but we do not think she has been underfed. She and the other kids we have seen at a glance in the orphanage seem healthy and well fed (though not overfed). Abigail regulates her eating well. She has ordered Coca-Cola every day for lunch, but only drinks maybe 6 to 8 ounces of it. Only today did she drink all 12 ounces. She had a huge plate of spaghetti today and she stopped when she was full, and didn't order dessert. Even though she had been eager for dessert the other two days. I was incredibly impressed with her stopping eating when she was full. Our translator said that Bulgaria has a much stronger culture than what she has seen in some parts of America for eating fruits and vegetables (we found two fruit and vegetable markets while we were out this evening, but couldn't find a place to buy milk). Kids don't know to be picky. Abigail said that she was willing to try any foods. Admittedly she may develop food preferences over time, but I was so glad to discover right now she doesn't seem to have food issues that can sometimes be seen by kids coming out of orphanage life. I do believe she has been a favorite at the orphanage and gotten very good treatment.
I do believe our little girl has some exposure to the Disney channel. :) Her favorite star is Demi Lovato. She is a super, super fan of Demi Lovato. So of course I shall now have to research her music and figure out what is worth listening to and what Abigail will need to be taught are not appropriate subjects or themes. I am hoping Demi Lovato is still young enough to have decent themes and songs.
Thursday - We had a great visit with Abigail today. She loves showing her english skills on our laptop. She can type phonetically many words. We were sad to leave for the last time today. She said she will be waiting for us and believes that we will be back, so she was not sad. We have hired an English tutor. The lady works at the orphanage for a miniscule wage and the small amount we paid will greatly help her. She did not want the money, but we gave it to the director to give to her. We will email Abigail and call her as often as it will work with our schedules. She is so excited about her new name. She plans on using it tomorrow when she returns to school. We also gave her a Bible, she was very excited, her English teacher will help her as she learns to read in English. She appears to pick up English quite quickly.
Friday - We found the Bulgarian Archaeological Museum. It was 10 leva apiece, and well worth the money for the antiquities that one gets to see there. It had the added advantage of being warm. There were a bunch of guards there because a lot of the antiquities are out in the open (grave stone markers, columns, statutes, etc.) and not behind glass. There were signs saying stay back 70 cm or an alarm would sound. Next time I come I really need to know my cm to inches conversions better because it is really hard to know how far to stand back without that conversion. But we just figured to not get too close would be okay. In one room on the second floor, Tony accidentally got his camera bag a little too close when he leaned in to look at a description of a piece and the alarm sounded. Made me jump, but fortunately, the guards just walked into the room to make sure we weren't trying for a museum heist, and when they realized that all was well, went back to their post. Crisis averted. They wanted to make sure we saw the whole museum too, there were three floors, and I am worn out with walking this week, so I told Tony we could skip the third floor if he agreed. We started to head back down to the first floor when one of the docents motioned something to the effect of "no, no" and pointed up. Apparently there was a specific pattern expected to be followed. So ... we saw the WHOLE museum. Of course if we spoke in Bulgarian we probably could have said we wanted to go back down, not up, but I didn't want to cause a stir with that many guards around, so we saw the third floor items too. Which were very nice, several gold and silver pieces.
Abigail is bright and smart and very organized like Dori. She also is very into computers like Tony. We can't post any photos here on a public space, but trust us when we tell you she is super adorable (not that we are biased or anything). Below I am including some of the journaling I did throughout the week while we were there:
Monday - She had been waiting in the next room over for at least half an hour while we were talking with the director and psychologist. I gave up on my questions and said, "can we meet her now?" So nervous. In she came, smiling just as nicely and sweetly as she was in the photos and videos we had received. We all were a little bit formal, as we are when we meet new people with so much on the line. I can only describe it in terms of how one might feel on a first date when you really hope the other person likes you and aren't sure how it will turn out, but on a deeper level of parent to child. Gladly, our translator, the director, and the psychologist all helped get the conversation started and eventually we settled back into awkwardness of translated conversation, where either one or the other side is waiting to find out what the other one just said. Abigail has had some progress in her English language learning. In English, she can count to twenty, knows her colors, can do basic welcome greetings (hello, goodbye, thank you), and she may understand more. She did know "table" and "beautiful". We found out that she has not learned the English words for days of the week yet.
I don't think seatbelts are popular with Abigail because each time we got in or out of the car, I said "seatbelt" and showed her to put it on. Overall, Abigail was very respectful, sweet, kind and thoughtful (holding doors open for adults, etc.) however, the psychologist said she does have an independent spirit, which we may not see much of yet in this introductory phase. I could tell this though from the slight reluctance to comply with seatbelt rules. But only one small issue for the whole day.
We had a fun afternoon doing beading, and making the foam sticker crosses. We gave Abigail a gift photobook of ourselves, our home and Texas photos, and reviewed that with her too. We didn't talk so much in the afternoon as just spend time together. Finally it was time to go, and the director said after we left Abigail could give the butterscotch candies and gum that we had brought for the kids to them. Abigail walked us all the way to the car, hugged us and seemed excited for us to come tomorrow,
Tuesday - We got to see the room where Abigail sleeps, the living room area where she spends time with her "family" group, and the kitchen area where they eat and learn to cook. She lives in a two story building that used to be a standard orphanage with dormitory (rows of twin beds) setting. They remodeled into the family type format where a group of 10 kids live in a more family type area with smaller number of kids in a room, and the living room, and kitchen to spend time in what feels more like a family type environment. It is a good beginning, but not a foster home type environment like we expected. Rather imagine a college dorm hallway where some rooms are bedrooms, one is set up as a living room, and one set up as a kitchen. That was more the feel.
We went to tour the Tarjishki Monastery. Abigail was very interested in learning about history. She is so inquisitive and bright. Our translator said that she and the psychologist were talking about how well-balanced she is in that she is not over-excited easily or spoiled. I am not sure why but our translator said often the orphans are spoiled and expect gifts in their behavior. Perhaps from a lot of donations? Not sure. But anyway, our translator said Abigail's focus on tasks was VERY unusual for the orphans she has seen over the years in her job working as an adoption translator.
We pulled out the computer and let Abigail type some stuff. It was interesting to see her try to type words on an English language keyboard. She said computers is her favorite class in school. At her age they are not allowed on the internet so the things she is learning is matters such as creating documents in a word processing system and the like.
Wednesday - There is one way in which Abigail is similar to Tony rather than me. Abigail is not a picky eater. We asked her if there were any foods she didn't like to eat, and she couldn't think of any. Admittedly orphanage life may have given her a limited food experience, but we do not think she has been underfed. She and the other kids we have seen at a glance in the orphanage seem healthy and well fed (though not overfed). Abigail regulates her eating well. She has ordered Coca-Cola every day for lunch, but only drinks maybe 6 to 8 ounces of it. Only today did she drink all 12 ounces. She had a huge plate of spaghetti today and she stopped when she was full, and didn't order dessert. Even though she had been eager for dessert the other two days. I was incredibly impressed with her stopping eating when she was full. Our translator said that Bulgaria has a much stronger culture than what she has seen in some parts of America for eating fruits and vegetables (we found two fruit and vegetable markets while we were out this evening, but couldn't find a place to buy milk). Kids don't know to be picky. Abigail said that she was willing to try any foods. Admittedly she may develop food preferences over time, but I was so glad to discover right now she doesn't seem to have food issues that can sometimes be seen by kids coming out of orphanage life. I do believe she has been a favorite at the orphanage and gotten very good treatment.
I do believe our little girl has some exposure to the Disney channel. :) Her favorite star is Demi Lovato. She is a super, super fan of Demi Lovato. So of course I shall now have to research her music and figure out what is worth listening to and what Abigail will need to be taught are not appropriate subjects or themes. I am hoping Demi Lovato is still young enough to have decent themes and songs.
Thursday - We had a great visit with Abigail today. She loves showing her english skills on our laptop. She can type phonetically many words. We were sad to leave for the last time today. She said she will be waiting for us and believes that we will be back, so she was not sad. We have hired an English tutor. The lady works at the orphanage for a miniscule wage and the small amount we paid will greatly help her. She did not want the money, but we gave it to the director to give to her. We will email Abigail and call her as often as it will work with our schedules. She is so excited about her new name. She plans on using it tomorrow when she returns to school. We also gave her a Bible, she was very excited, her English teacher will help her as she learns to read in English. She appears to pick up English quite quickly.
Friday - We found the Bulgarian Archaeological Museum. It was 10 leva apiece, and well worth the money for the antiquities that one gets to see there. It had the added advantage of being warm. There were a bunch of guards there because a lot of the antiquities are out in the open (grave stone markers, columns, statutes, etc.) and not behind glass. There were signs saying stay back 70 cm or an alarm would sound. Next time I come I really need to know my cm to inches conversions better because it is really hard to know how far to stand back without that conversion. But we just figured to not get too close would be okay. In one room on the second floor, Tony accidentally got his camera bag a little too close when he leaned in to look at a description of a piece and the alarm sounded. Made me jump, but fortunately, the guards just walked into the room to make sure we weren't trying for a museum heist, and when they realized that all was well, went back to their post. Crisis averted. They wanted to make sure we saw the whole museum too, there were three floors, and I am worn out with walking this week, so I told Tony we could skip the third floor if he agreed. We started to head back down to the first floor when one of the docents motioned something to the effect of "no, no" and pointed up. Apparently there was a specific pattern expected to be followed. So ... we saw the WHOLE museum. Of course if we spoke in Bulgarian we probably could have said we wanted to go back down, not up, but I didn't want to cause a stir with that many guards around, so we saw the third floor items too. Which were very nice, several gold and silver pieces.
After the Museum, we went down to an area we were told about underneath one of the main roads by the Presidential Palace, where there were different shops for tourist items. We bought three items in the shops there and then determined if we were going to have the foot energy to get back to the apartment, we had better start heading back.
We eventually decided to go back to the apartment because a different driver from our agency (the same one that picked us up from the airport) was coming at 2:15 to take us to the Notary office to sign papers. So at the notary we signed the official papers that will go to the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice and the U.S. government accepting our adoption of Abigail.
Thanks for following our journey, and I hope by sometime in July we will be doing this again for the second trip to pick-up Abigail.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Getting Ready for Travel
As we prepare for our trip overseas to meet our girl, I can't help but realize how each day I become to think more and more like a mom. At first we were just thinking, what will we need to take with us? What is the process for international travel? Etc., etc. But then there was the thought of gifts to take to the orphanage directors, adoption agency workers, and so forth. All of this running through my administrative mind.
Then it comes to thinking about spending those five days with a 12 year old girl we are just meeting. What will she think? Will she be happy? Apprehensive? Aloof?
Who knows? But then a friend of mine reminded me of all the times we worked with kids in Mission Arlington Bible Studies or even with the refugee kids who didn't speak English, and that we just cared about them, taught them about Jesus, and had fun. I don't recollect a single one of those kids disliking me. Oh sure, they were kids and had attitude sometimes or didn't always want to follow instructions or join in on the activity of the moment. But it had nothing to do with whether or not they liked me. So why if I can take on a group of 20 bible study kids am I so nervous about this one visit? Probably because in this case, the eventual plan is to bring this one child home. And yet, I am reassured that as a general rule kids like me, so it is likely that we will get along over those five days.
It is so hard to wait though. Wondering what she is like. What does she like to do? What is she interested in? We are packing a suitcase full of fun stuff to do ... crayola, markers, sketch paper, jump ropes, craft kits, and so forth. In hopes there will be enough variety that something will hit her interest area.
I know this is more about getting to know each other rather than what we do in particular, but still I want her to be happy. And today, I went shopping for a little more ... just in case. Some Easter basket type stuff. I realize most of these things will need to be shared with everyone, so am buying things to take that can be shared. Because I want my daughter to know that sharing and giving is an important value. "My daughter" ... sigh, someday soon. So excited!
Then it comes to thinking about spending those five days with a 12 year old girl we are just meeting. What will she think? Will she be happy? Apprehensive? Aloof?
Who knows? But then a friend of mine reminded me of all the times we worked with kids in Mission Arlington Bible Studies or even with the refugee kids who didn't speak English, and that we just cared about them, taught them about Jesus, and had fun. I don't recollect a single one of those kids disliking me. Oh sure, they were kids and had attitude sometimes or didn't always want to follow instructions or join in on the activity of the moment. But it had nothing to do with whether or not they liked me. So why if I can take on a group of 20 bible study kids am I so nervous about this one visit? Probably because in this case, the eventual plan is to bring this one child home. And yet, I am reassured that as a general rule kids like me, so it is likely that we will get along over those five days.
It is so hard to wait though. Wondering what she is like. What does she like to do? What is she interested in? We are packing a suitcase full of fun stuff to do ... crayola, markers, sketch paper, jump ropes, craft kits, and so forth. In hopes there will be enough variety that something will hit her interest area.
I know this is more about getting to know each other rather than what we do in particular, but still I want her to be happy. And today, I went shopping for a little more ... just in case. Some Easter basket type stuff. I realize most of these things will need to be shared with everyone, so am buying things to take that can be shared. Because I want my daughter to know that sharing and giving is an important value. "My daughter" ... sigh, someday soon. So excited!
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Received Official Referral and First Trip Travel Dates
Yay! We received our official referral paperwork and have been assigned our travel dates for our first trip to meet our daughter. I'm not going to say exactly when it is here for purposes of privacy.
I would like to try to do some blogs while on the trip, so am debating on setting up the blog as password protected from here on out so that people who are interested can follow, but the entire world won't know our personal matters and location.
So please add a comment below if you would be interested in following this blog password protected from here on out. If I don't hear from anyone, I will presume that just general information here is fine for everyone and will leave it open, but without daily updates, photos, etc.
So if you would be interested in following a detailed journey, password protected version of this blog, please let me know.
Thanks!
I would like to try to do some blogs while on the trip, so am debating on setting up the blog as password protected from here on out so that people who are interested can follow, but the entire world won't know our personal matters and location.
So please add a comment below if you would be interested in following this blog password protected from here on out. If I don't hear from anyone, I will presume that just general information here is fine for everyone and will leave it open, but without daily updates, photos, etc.
So if you would be interested in following a detailed journey, password protected version of this blog, please let me know.
Thanks!
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Please pray
There is some overturn in the Bulgarian government today. Please pray that this will be a positive in Bulgaria for their economy. Please also pray that this will not hinder the process of international adoption moving forward. We are waiting to obtain the official referral of our girl and the invite to travel for the first trip to meet her. This was tentatively scheduled for mid-March and we are praying that we will stay on schedule.
A quote from Star Trek: "The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." However, this is hard to say, when I am the one waiting.
This is the official word from our adoption agency:
Dear Families,
A quote from Star Trek: "The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." However, this is hard to say, when I am the one waiting.
This is the official word from our adoption agency:
Dear Families,
We wanted to make you all aware that the adoption processes in the Bulgarian program will not be affected by the resignation of the Bulgarian government.
Our in country partners, Vesta, have checked with the MOJ and have been informed that this situation does not concern the international adoptions.
The IAC will continue to be held and will not be canceled during the election of the new government as the chair of the IAC will not be changed.
We will let you know should any of this change.
Let us pray that this stays true, and nothing related to international adoptions is affected, except for the better. It is all in God's hands (as always).
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Waiting
We are waiting to hear when it is time for our first trip to travel to Bulgaria. Waiting is difficult. I try to convince myself I am a patient person, but in truth I am not always. I don't like to wait. If I have to leave a voice-mail message for someone on the phone, I want them to call me back right away. (This is in a work context where I am needing information for a file ... as to personal calls I am much more patient and realize people have busy lives).
In an effort at cost-cutting we got rid of all but the most very basic cable television. And there is not much to watch on "regular television" so I find myself seeking something else to distract me when I don't want to be doing my chores or post-graduate studies. The other day I thought how there used to be more music in my life, but now it all seemed to be books, reading, working, etc. Where had the music gone? So over the past few days I put on my headphones and just listened to my music. Today I found that the music had come back as I was singing while getting ready for my day this morning (much to my husband's chagrin at such an early hour of the morning). I may have to move my "concerts" to a more tolerable hour of the day. Nonetheless it took me back to my childhood when I would sing, sing, and sing ... for hours on end. Just because I wanted to, not just to fill the time while I was waiting ...
We miss too much of the now looking ahead to the future. At least I know I do. Another thing I have done to fill the gap of time is to begin to read Les Miserables. Because I just don't get all the hype about the movie (haven't seen it yet), so I figured I needed to read the original story so that I could get the full picture. I often find that when we have read the book, and then watch the movie, our minds fill in the gaps in the story that the movie leaves out thus adding poignancy to the theatrical production.
I know I sound like I am a person with nothing to do but wonder what to do while waiting. Not true, I am a grand procrastinator. I have plenty of things to do to fill the hours of the day without music or leisure reading. I need to read my Bible more. I need to clean house more. I need to work on my studies more. But I am a daydreamer at times ... I need music and I need to read fiction that inspires. Somehow, I feel the urgency to incorporate as much of it as possible in this waiting period. Because when we finally bring home a little Bulgarian girl, I am sure I will find it doesn't really matter anymore what I need ... but what she needs instead, to grow in wisdom and godliness.
It is an anticipatory waiting. I rush to fill the days with all the quiet moments I cherish, in anticipation for the day when it will be the crazy, busy moments of life I cherish above all others.
Well, so much for rambling philosophy ... would love to have some comments on this as I am quite in stream-of-consciousness mode this week and would love to discuss any of the above random topics --- at your leisure.
In an effort at cost-cutting we got rid of all but the most very basic cable television. And there is not much to watch on "regular television" so I find myself seeking something else to distract me when I don't want to be doing my chores or post-graduate studies. The other day I thought how there used to be more music in my life, but now it all seemed to be books, reading, working, etc. Where had the music gone? So over the past few days I put on my headphones and just listened to my music. Today I found that the music had come back as I was singing while getting ready for my day this morning (much to my husband's chagrin at such an early hour of the morning). I may have to move my "concerts" to a more tolerable hour of the day. Nonetheless it took me back to my childhood when I would sing, sing, and sing ... for hours on end. Just because I wanted to, not just to fill the time while I was waiting ...
We miss too much of the now looking ahead to the future. At least I know I do. Another thing I have done to fill the gap of time is to begin to read Les Miserables. Because I just don't get all the hype about the movie (haven't seen it yet), so I figured I needed to read the original story so that I could get the full picture. I often find that when we have read the book, and then watch the movie, our minds fill in the gaps in the story that the movie leaves out thus adding poignancy to the theatrical production.
I know I sound like I am a person with nothing to do but wonder what to do while waiting. Not true, I am a grand procrastinator. I have plenty of things to do to fill the hours of the day without music or leisure reading. I need to read my Bible more. I need to clean house more. I need to work on my studies more. But I am a daydreamer at times ... I need music and I need to read fiction that inspires. Somehow, I feel the urgency to incorporate as much of it as possible in this waiting period. Because when we finally bring home a little Bulgarian girl, I am sure I will find it doesn't really matter anymore what I need ... but what she needs instead, to grow in wisdom and godliness.
It is an anticipatory waiting. I rush to fill the days with all the quiet moments I cherish, in anticipation for the day when it will be the crazy, busy moments of life I cherish above all others.
Well, so much for rambling philosophy ... would love to have some comments on this as I am quite in stream-of-consciousness mode this week and would love to discuss any of the above random topics --- at your leisure.
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