We had talked a while on our landline, and I heard my cell phone ringing in the kitchen. I barely said "let me call you back" to her after I saw that it was Lifeline calling. I knew what we were expecting, but when you're in the adoption process, you expect the unexpected, or you don't expect the expected. You just expect 'whatever'. Our social worker, Stephanie, said, "Hey, Paige..." I said, "Hey, Stephanie". She said, "How are you?" I said, "just tell me why you're calling." She laughed, but only because she knew what I was expecting. I had harrassed her weekly with emails threatening to chew my fingers to shreds if we didn't find out something about our travel dates soon. When she said, "Hang on and let me conference Craig in", I knew things were about to get good.
Sure enough, we had been given our official referral. The government says were good to go, so, by golly, we're goin'.
We're leaving for Bulgaria this Friday. Our flight will leave Birmingham around noon, and we'll fly to Houston. From there we fly to Frankfurt, Germany and then finally to Sofia, Bulgaria. That's where our daughter is . . . in Sofia, the capital city. We leave Birmingham at lunch time, but we won't get to Bulgaria until around 1 PM on Saturday because of the time change. They're eight hours ahead of us, so our bodies are probably going to go into shock trying to get used to new schedules for a little while.
We'll take Saturday afternoon and Sunday to rest and recover from jetlag, and at some point we'll be introduced to our full-time translator and our driver. We have no idea what to expect out of these people, but from what we've heard we may have more than we're bargaining for. A couple Craig talked to last week said that at some point, they had to pretty much ask their translator to back off just a little bit. It seems they really want to be with you ALL. THE. TIME.
Our visits with Maya will begin on Monday. As it stands, we're only allowed two hours with her per day, Monday through Friday. Keep in mind that the Bulgarian society is very rigid, but we're hoping that the orphanage director will be flexible and allow us a little more time. This is something we won't know until we arrive at the orphange, so we're going to try and make a good first impression upon the person who's mercy we're at.
This week, we're going to be preparing and packing. Things are taken care of with the kids. Daisee is going to Craig's parents for the weekend, and the boys will be with their dad. After that, my mom and dad will be staying here with all of the kids. Lots of people have asked how they can help with the kids, and my mom says, "when they start acting up with us, we'll call somebody". So, if you were saying that to be polite, then block my numbers NOW.
Our church had a beautiful time of prayer for us during our service tonight. We reminisced for a moment of a time 5 1/2 years ago when these precious people had a time of prayer for us. It was when we found out that our twins would serve a purpose that wouldn't be readily understood by us. It was a time of sorrow, but also a time of great expectation. There were so many people surrounding us that were taking our names and our babies' names to the throne of an almighty God, and we knew that the trial we were facing would turn into something that would give glory to our Lord. And boy, did it. We loved and lost, but the times we spent with friends, family, and our babies will forever be remembered in such special and sacred ways. We expect nothing different as we embark on a different type of journey. This time, we go to bring the love of Christ to a little girl who, right now, has no hope in where she is. We go to love her because HE loves US. He is calling us to love a little girl that He loves, despite the 'worthless cause' that her society has labeled her as.
Thank you, friends, family, and church for supporting us. For your financial support, for your words of encouragement, and for your prayers. As we leave this week, I'd like to ask of a few specific requests that you can pray for.
Pray that Maya will be receptive of us. We're coming into this with open arms (literally), but she won't recognize immediately what this means. I have no doubt that it will absolutely be 'love at first sight' with Craig and me, but she's a little baby girl that doesn't know any comfort other than the rails of her crib. This will be a big change for her, and we're praying that God prepares her for us.
Pray also that we'll be Jesus to the people we encounter. We want to show the love of Christ to those who may not know it.
Pray for our children here. The boys are used to being away from us from time to time, but Daisee hasn't spent more than a couple of nights away at a time. I'm not sure how well she'll do for that long, and, quite frankly, I'm not sure how well I'll do either. I don't like being separated from my kids. I suppose a night or two at a time is ok, but ask Craig and he'll tell you . . . after that its time to be a mama again.
Pray that when its time to leave, God will give us a peace that will really need to pass our understanding. I'm not sure how we're going to handle having to leave her. Not sure at all. We need to be prepared for that, and have the faith and trust we need to know that when we walk out of those doors, the hand of God is going to stay over her and protect her. We know that in our heads, but I'm afraid a piece of our hearts will be left behind until we can return back to bring her home.
And then pray for us as we travel. I try not to talk too much about it, because I don't want my excitement over actually getting to fly on an Airbus A380 to overpower what the real meaning of this trip is.
And I may have gotten off on a tangent there. We need to make it there and back safely, ok? Just pray that the wings stay glued on.
If you'd just do us the honor of remembering these things when you pray, that's all we ask. Its the absolute most important thing you can do. He's in control of this and and he hears you and knows what we need. He hears it all. Our hurts, our fears, our requests.
And he hears the silent cry of a little girl thousands of miles away, that will finally get to meet the ones who have loved her for months . . . her mama and daddy.
Just a few more days, sweet baby girl . . .
