They are home!!!!!!

A quick recap of our week in Bulgaria since I didn't have a chance to update much. Monday was gotcha day. Lance's orphanage apparently favored him and I think did so to the extent that they told me he wasn't on any meds *I think* because they were afraid if I knew about all of them I wouldn't have wanted him. He has obviously been worked with since I visited him in May because his tone is much looser and he seems more "filled out" if you can call it that. 

                                                        The social worker, Lance and I

                                         So happy, to finally have Lance in my arms forever.

                                                      Saying goodbye to his social worker. 

Elliott had chicken pox since I was there and it looks like a bad case, he has lots of scars from them. He also was loved in his orphanage, being one of the oldest kids there, his group worker made him a Christmas card and gave him a book to take home. 

                                                                            GOTCHA!

                                                         First steps out of the orphanage

                                                  My first moment with BOTH BOYS!

We immediately went to the doctor appointment and had blood drawn for the TB test. No other families from our agency have come back positive from this test so I wasn't concerned...UNTIL our attorney met me at the US Embassy for our appointment Wednesday to let me know that BOTH of our boys tests came back positive. That meant taking them straight from the embassy to the clinic again to have x-rays done! Lance's x-ray passed quickly upon review, but Elliott's took 2 consults with colleague's before the doctor gave him the ok. That was a very stressful day, but God brought us through it. Thursday was our day off, so we went shopping for gifts to bring home. I sent Jamie back to the hotel with the boys at 3:30 while I went quickly to the outdoor market for some Matrushka dolls. When I got back to the hotel at 4:15, I was met by a panicked Jamie and Tiffany who informed me that if I didn't get back to the US Embassy by 5:00 we wouldn't be issued the visas and wouldn't be able to leave the next morning. The embassy is about 40 minutes from the hotel and it took forever to get a taxi to show up. I literally made it to the embassy at 4:57 didn't even wait for the taxi to pull over and threw the money at him and jumped out. When I got to the entrance of the embassy I was told that they were waiting on a call from Washington so I had made it in time...later I learned that the "call from Washington" was specifically regarding us and our situation. Apparently the form they wanted signed was a new procedure starting THAT day and they had spent the whole day trying to find me...including the US Embassy in Bulgaria calling my husband! (Just what every one wants to hear when their wife is in a foreign country picking up kids). Lance struggled with feeding, but overall did SO MUCH better than I had been anticipating and I am so grateful for Jamie's help in working to get this piece figured out. Elliott definitely remembered me and even some of the little details of our first visit. HE LOVES having a mom. He leans his cheek to me often and says "kiss" he has a lot of attachment issues, but he does prefer me to everyone else and I think with some patience and consistency he is going to thrive! Let me tell you too, that kid is SMART! Living in an orphanage for 5.5 years, must have been complete torment for his quick mind. He takes everything in and is super observant.  

They both did pretty well on the flights and our layovers were *just* long enough to get to the next gate basically. Meaning that when I finally arrived in Colorado I was a total DISASTER! The cute outfits I had planned for the boys never got put on and as a result they were in their 24 hour airplane jams. This was the point that I'm thinking...I sure hope those people taking pics won't post them publicly to let the world see what a wreck I was when I deplaned. Of course, I have since let that go in the name of adoption - it may not always be pretty but it is beautiful! My kids at home, especially my oldest, are on cloud 9! Louis and Lenora both have pretty tough colds and I would LOVE LOVE LOVE your prayers that this doesn't get passed on to my medically fragile boys - I really don't have any desire to be in the hospital with pneumonia.

Ok, here are some more pics that I had to leave you with :) 

                                                 Asleep in the car on the way to the hotel

                                                            Elliott's first night HOME

                                                        Lance and my 16 month old

                                                    Lance's first night in his OWN bed

                                                              Daddy feeding Lance

 
                                                                       Elliott's new haircut