This blog
post is so greatly overdue! Hopefully you will forgive us because of the shear
craziness of getting settled back into “normal” life after an adoption! It took
a few weeks to settle in, but we are finally finding our new groove in the
everyday times of life. I’m finally ready to post about our pickup trip, Gotcha
Day, and our time in Bulgaria.
As many of
you may already know, our trip was delayed by one week when Micah was
hospitalized because of a respiratory flu that had been going around the
orphanage. Aubrey and Micah both had it but Aubrey recovered more quickly where
Micah ended up being hospitalized for a number of days. We needed to postpone
our trip until the next weekend, which was pure torture for this mom who was
almost fully packed days and days before our first trip was scheduled. The
thought of making it through another full week of looking at those packed
suitcases and waiting was almost more than I could stand. But…wait we did, and
the day finally came to catch our flights to Bulgaria.
Our flights
were uneventful and we arrived in Bulgaria on Feb. 16 to unseasonably warm
weather and the early promise of spring. We stayed at the Budapest, the same
hotel that we had stayed at during our first trip as well.
We spent the
day resting and gearing up for an early morning drive the next day to pick
Aubrey and Micah up from the orphanage. It was hard to imagine that the day was
finally upon us; the day we would finally hold them in our arms and welcome
them into our family.
Gotcha Day…
Monday was
another nice, warm day and we took the two hour drive from Sofia to Plovdiv.
The drive was nerve wracking and we just couldn’t wait to get there. This shows
us only minutes before getting to the orphanage, which was actually a different
one than where we had visited them on our first trip, since the old one was
under renovation.
The
orphanage staff was friendly and inviting. We spent what seemed like an eternity
going through paperwork, signing documents, and receiving instructions
concerning Micah’s medications. What we really wanted was to hold our children,
but we needed to continue to be patient! Finally they brought us through the
doors to see Micah. He was smaller than what I remembered from our first visit, but he seemed healthy, which was a huge answer to prayer considering he had
been in the hospital just a few days before.
After a few
moments we entered another room full of children and we could see our little
Aubrey hanging out at a table with an orphanage worker and several other kids.
Words can’t describe how wonderful it was to hold them and know that this time
it was for good!
The only
thing left to do was get them dressed in their clothes. Aubrey’s clothes fit
her well but Micah’s pants were falling off him. Neither one of them had shoes
that fit! I had way overestimated how big their feet were! Such tiny little
ones for age four!
It was
finally time to leave the orphanage behind and head out into their new lives as
part of the Forbes family. What crazy emotions we were experiencing as we
carried them out the door, with the orphanage workers looking on, many of them
shedding tears at their departure. It was good to know that they were loved.
They did well in the car and even
fell asleep about an hour into our trip.
The children needed to go straight to Sofia to get their pictures taken
for their passports. After that, the day was ours. There were many firsts
within that day—first meals with us, first baths, first time we could look down
into their cribs and know that they were safe and sound with us at last!
The next few
days were full of getting to know them the best that we could. We spent most of
our time in the hotel, but ventured out for meals and also for their medical
appointments. The next pictures show our time spent together. They seemed at
ease with us, ate well, and even slept well once they would finally settle down
to rest.
We had a few good days of enjoying the wonderful weather, venturing out
with the kids, and exploring a bit of Sophia. We were looking forward to
several “free” days of sightseeing and shopping for souvenirs to bring home.
Little did we know that the pictures of us pushing Aubrey and Micah in their
strollers would be our last time enjoying our leasurly strolls in the city.
On Wednesday evening Cliff came down with a stomach virus and by Thursday
I, too, was feeling badly. This stomach virus would change the course of the rest
of our trip. It was a nasty virus that took a long time to recover from. Cliff
was mostly back on his feet within a couple of days. I, on the other hand,
could not seem to move past the virus . By Sunday, I was so despirate for
relief that I decided to go to a hospital, in the hopes that they could help me.
Unfortunately, the fluids they gave did not seem to help and I was praying at
that point that I would be well enough to fly home early Wednesday morning. Miraculously,
I did feel well enough to travel and we were able to make it home through the
exhausting 24 hour trip with no incident. When we touched down in Philadelphia,
Aubrey and Micah became official US citizens and I was ever so glad to be back on US soil! The Bulgarian team had been so wonderful, especially throughout our time of sickness. However, I was never so happy to know that I would soon be sleeping in my own bed!
Such an early morning!
They did
very well on the plane although they didn’t sleep much at all. Please ignore Micah’s
pj’s…he had a major wardrobe malfunction and we needed to save his last outfit
for the final leg of the journey so...he got to wear his sister’s clothes!
These were
taken on the final plane to Erie. Micah still smiling…Aubrey, exhausted!
After an
exhausting trip we had a wonderful group of family and friends to welcome us
home. Such support from so many people! By the time we made our way through the
crowd, our luggage was already in the van and it was warmed up and waiting for
us. So wonderful to have all of our children in one place. The Forbes Six!
Home, Sweet, Home! We are forever grateful to all those who have supported us during our journey!
Blessings!
Erin
