From Bulgaria, to Germany to Home

Top: Cheryl and Gunther's Mom Doris in Tegensee, in southern Germany

Other Pictures: Sofia, Bulgaria,

It has been a whole week since we said "we'll be back" to our daughters which is really hard to believe. We are hoping and praying that these next three months, while all of their immigration paperwork is finalized, goes as fast as possible. We spent last weekend in Sofia...this is such an incredible city. The architecure, born from the Communist era, still stands dominant and strong throughout the entire city. We walked for hours looking at the monuments, historic sites and Orthodox churches which were beyond beautiful. At night, it was even more incredible... The people in Sofia were warm and very lovely. Dark hair, dark eyes -- we did not fit in (especially Gunther) but we managed to get by on the Bulgarian we picked up and loved our time in this city. We soaked in the culture -- we thought it was great to learn more about the country our girls were from. We talked about bringing them back when they get older to share this amazing experience we had just been through...this is really important to us...

And then it was time to try to leave. The volcanic ash cloud wreaked havok on travel all over the world...we were told it would be a week before we could leave. We met dozens of people who were desperate to get home but G and I took it in stride thinking it would pass. It was on Monday we started to get really nervous about getting back to Germany. Gunther had to be in Frankfurt for a conference (that we thought may be postponed but was still going to happen) so we decided to head to the airport early Tuesday morning to try and see if we could fly out. The only other guaranteed option to get to Germany was to catch a 20 hour bus ride to Vienna from Sofia and then train it to Frankfurt (another 7 hours). We were beyond lucky...managed to snag the last seats to a plane heading to Vienna (with minutes to spare)...and then a train to Saltzburg, Austria (with minutes to spare)...and then Gunther's mom picked us up and brought us to her lovely home in Rottach Eggen, Tegensee, in South Germany. I felt like I had spent the past 12 hours in an episode of the Amazing Race.

When our plane lifted off from Sofia, I felt my heart warm up...don't worry little girls... we would be back soon to take them home. I know they are in great hands and having Rosi to help us stay connected with them is great. We plan on sending them care packages weekly to keep them aware that we're out here!

As for the last couple of days...Gunther is working in Frankfurt, Stuttgart and then onto Munich for a series of conferences. I am experiencing the beautiful countryside of Bavaria and experiencing things I have never seen or experienced before with Gunther's mom...which is actually really cool.

I touch down in Vancouver on Monday afternoon (the earliest flight I could get back...6 days after I was scheduled to come home!), then Gunther gets home on Wednesday. What a journey...we get our house ready (and enjoy some serious boating) before the next journey back to Bulgaria happens to bring home Yuli and Fana!

Thanks for all of the well wishes from everyone!!! Especially to our dear friend Christin for everything she has done for us while we're away!!!