One Year & the 100th

On a friends blog I read, she always marks her milestone blog posts and is up to 600! I'm not quite there yet, but I was curious what my number was. This post marks my 100th post on this blog! and it is the one year anniversary since we started our adoption process!

One year ago, today, we announced to everyone that we were going to adopt a toddler! Original post is HERE. We have come such a long way this year, but not quite far enough for my liking! I have learned so much and am thankful for all the support we have received so far. Most of the reactions to our news has been very positive and I can't wait to introduce Sofie to you all!

How fabulous to imagine where we will be next year!

What's Next?

I don't have anything knew too say about the adoption but thought I would outline what we can expect in the next few months...

Even though we know who Sofie is, we don't yet have the legal proposal. Our Bulgarian and Canadian agencies have her file exclusively, so she can't be taken by any other family. We are currently waiting for the official proposal to come through all the legal channels of the Hague Convention. Once we accept it we are then waiting for a court date.

Court will take place in Bulgaria. Our Bulgarian agency will go on our behalf and there the Judge will hopefully finalize the adoption and issue an adoption order! She will then be ours! I think I can then publicly share her picture :) Anido then applies for her new Bulgarian birth certificate, passport and Canadian Citizenship. There will be a transit visa to go in her passport to get her to Canada. After this is all approved we can go get her!

The exact timeline is very dependent on how fast the Bulgarian MOJ act in getting our proposal through the Convention and how soon we get a court date. Pray that it is soon!!! The birth certificate, passport and Citizenship "shouldn't" take too long, but a little extra prayers for those would be great too :) We've been told 3-6 months altogether. I'm trying to gear myself up for the 6 month wait because nothing has been on the short side of the estimates yet. I can't help but hope that there is a first time for everything!

In other news... There is not really any news. We are just maintaining our routine. I think Livi is getting a little board with me since we haven't had many play dates or seen any non-family members. We have a few planned in the next month so that will be good for her. It is so hard when we don't have a car and live so far away from everyone!

I have been trying new dinner recipes and loving it! I'm not good at meal planning but have really been making an effort. We have definitely been saving money and are using up all the beans, rice and meat sitting in our cupboard and freezer. I'm also trying to eat a lot more vegetarian meals and loving it! It is much cheaper and we don't need to eat as much meat as our culture does regularly. I'm also loving all the spices I'm discovering. Jon is a little wary of my skills, especially when I venture from the recipe. I don't know what his problem is. I maintain that it usually works out :) If you have any fabulous recipes you'd like to share, send them over this way! Preferably easy and not too many ingredients.

More on Sofie

We got video and some new pictures of Sofie on Friday! I can not get over how incredibly cute she is. Unimaginably cute! Beautiful! ADORABLE! I want to squish her! Okay, maybe I'm a little biased but, seriously, I don't know how anyone couldn't think she is gorgeous :)

We got about five thirty second videos of her playing with toys and I keep watching my favorites over and over. My favorite of all is where they have her in a little rolling walker and keep giving her a little rubber duck. She keeps throwing it and they keep giving it back. Then they try to give her a ball and she whips that out of camera view too, then lays back in her chair triumphantly! I think we have a thrower coming!

The orphanage visit report from our Anido, our Bulgarian agency, gave us a lot of personal information too! She can't quite walk alone yet but she can when she is holding an adults hand or sturdy furniture. She will walk soon but her little legs are so skinny right now! I think she needs some fattening up and increased muscle tone yet. Selfishly, I am kind of hoping that she doesn't walk until she is with us. I would love to be there to see her take her first steps!

She apparently LOVES music. Whenever she hears her body starts "shaking"! I love this :) I think we are going to take her to Kindermusic or something of the like in September. That is something I could take both girls too without too much trouble and it is really good for development as well. She grabs and bangs toys together, puts them in her mouth or throws and can clap her hands. I think our initial guess of her development being around the 12 month mark is pretty accurate.

I laughed when they described her personality. Sofie "is quiet, gentle, likes to be pampered and to be center of the attention of the people around her." Identical to her Auntie Maggy! They are meant to be related! She can also wave hello, pronounce some syllables (like da, ba, ma I think) and likes to explore her reflection. She is curious, maintains concentration on something for a long period of time, shares really well and is not aggressive.

I'm not assuming that all this information is completely accurate but it sure is promising! You know how people always say you get your angel birth child first and then your second is extremely difficult? Does that work for adoptions too? Our first birth child was a breeze. From this description, our first adopted child sounds pretty "easy" as well. Is this a tease to keep us adopting?! Maybe we should just stop while we are ahead! I doubt it....