Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Book Your Tickets!

I remember the first conversation Gunther and I had about adoption. It was actually on our third date – walking through the Pacific Spirit park. We were talking about family and children – how impressive that a man didn’t run the other direction when a new woman in his life brought up the subject of family and children on their third date :-). Anyhoo, I remember distinctly agreeing that if we had the means, we would really want to help a disadvantaged child, give them a good home, a good family and a good future. So here we are years and years later…with a thousand things that we’ve been through in terms of starting a family. We stand on the precipice of making that adoption conversation a reality and BAM: yet another potential delay has arisen.

This delay is minor but a delay nonetheless. It is related to a potential slowdown within the Canadian embassy where their visas are being issued. It’s unbelievable – this is the FINAL step in the process, the end of the red tape roll...once we clear this hurdle, we’re home free – literally and figuratively. We were initially told that we could plan to travel there around Sept 6th as it would take approximately two weeks to process their visas once their passports were received in Bucharest (which was on Aug 17th). The problem is: if we book our trip and there’s a hold-up (which our lawyer said could happen as things are possibly slowing down in visa processing), we will get penalized up the yin yang for changing our flights. So our lawyer has told us to wait until we have the visas in hand and then make the travel. It pushes things out a couple of weeks, hopefully at most. ARG! We know that this is the right thing to do. It is just so hard!!!

People ask Gunther and I all the time what it’s been like to adopt and go through the process of adopting internationally. From where we stand now, despite all of the delays and red tape, it really is a rewarding experience. We have been blessed with two incredibly beautiful girls and they will be home before we know it. I have to remind myself that these words that we use to relate to this adoption process – joy, reward, frustration, unpredictability, expensive, complex, loving, patience – interestingly enough relate to what we’re going to experience as PARENTS. And so we wait a little bit longer...

Happy #5 Birthday to Stefana and Julia!

On Sunday, August 8, our two little girls turned five! Gunther and I got up at 7 a.m. to get on a conference call with Rosi, Galia and the girls. I was at a friend's cabin on Piers Island, Gunther was up in Telegraph Harbor with his colleagues on the boat, Rosi was outside of Sofia in Bulgaria and the girls and Galia were at her villa in the Bulgarian countryside. Pretty cool! We all joined into the call, and Galia could hear us clear as a bell and vice versa -- however the connection between Galia and Rosi was pretty rough. That was too bad. So we listened to Julia tell us in Bulgarian how she and Fana spent their special day...and we let Rosi just listen and translate at the end. Julia told us that she and Fana had a great day at the villa, hanging out at the pool (see in pics) and eating lots of yummy treats and birthday goodies. We heard a screetch or two in the background from Fana but Galia told us that they were both pretty wiped out from all of the celebrations. She told us that she loved her mommy and daddy...and loved her new room and house. We got tons of photos and videos and it looks like they had a blast. Fana is hilarious.

On the Monday, they returned to the orphanage and had birthday party part two with cake, balloons, birthday hats, and horns. They really enjoyed the presents that we sent, including the funky birthday glasses as well (pictured above)

This past Tuesday, Julia and Stefana were transported to Sofia to have their pictures taken for their passports, which should be ready to pick up this Monday. These passports will be translated and sent to the embassy by next Wednesday and we have been informed that it will take 15 to process. So on September6, 2010 the girls will be ready to come home!!!!!

We are looking into flights to leave here on the 7th and come back on the 13th. We are awaiting final news on whether Rosi can get her visa (please, please, please)...so it looks like we'll book our flights on Monday. And then we start the final countdown.

We have very few things left to pick up...bean bag chairs, car seats, potty stuff...and I need to pick up clothes, shoes, socks and other general garments to bring them home in. We agreed to keep the clothes that we buy for them at a minimum (I'm impressed at my own restraint) as they're going to grow pretty quickly in the first three months (and the weather is going to change too). My former colleague Sue gave me the whole library of Baby Einstein videos which I cannot express my gratitude for! These will be priceless in helping them to learn so much. Everyone has been so generous!!!

So the countdown continues...in one month life as we know it is going to change as we've never experienced before! As much as we feel prepared for this huge event in our life it's a bit scary! Our house is ready, the paperwork is almost final and Gunther and I are as excited as we've ever been about this. We are enjoying each and every day as we wind towards leaving for Sofia. This day will be here before we know it!!!

BRINGING THEM HOME!!!

So as for the red tape required to bring the girls home, it has been three months of additional paperwork, waiting, etc. After the third round of criminal background checks, medicals, references, and citizenship visa applications – we were informed that our petition to adopt was officially accepted into the Ministry on May 20 and that our court date would be set for July 5. Our case file was presented to the judge on the 5th in Sofia and was approved on the spot. On July 20th we were legally approved as the parents of Julia Sophia and Stefana Marie Roehlig!

Their new birth certificates have been issued and now we’re waiting for their passports to be processed. Once their passports are approved, they’ll have one final medical and then the Canadian Embassy in Bucharest, Romania (there is no Canadian Embassy in Bulgaria so it has to go to Romania) will issue their visas. It’s hilarious – a German, an American, married in Mexico, adopting Bulgarians with visas produced in Romania living in Canada…can we get another country involved???

Since Gunther and I are permanent residents of Canada, Julia and Stefana will also be permanent residents and will retain their citizenship in Bulgaria. We’ll see down the road about getting Canadian citizenship for us…for the time being, after all of the paperwork we’ve had to do for this adoption, I think we’ll just live as a global citizens under the Roehlig name!

Once their visas are issued by the Canadian embassy, we can go back to Bulgaria to bring them home. We expect this to be sometime in late August/early September. Needless to say, we are SO eager to get there and get back. We plan to bring Rosi back to Vancouver to help with the language transition. Thank goodness for Rosi who has been critical in helping us to communicate with the girls and Galina over these past four months! She is also our guardian angel.

I’ll keep this blog updated as things progress…in the meantime, thank you AGAIN for all of your special thoughts, prayers and wishes! The Roehlig Haus is ready for the little Roehlig Frauleins to come home!

THE HOUSE!!!

From the week that we returned home to Vancouver, Gunther and I have been SO busy getting our house ready for the girls. We moved my office and the spare room down into the first floor of our home...and have a brand new den all set up with lots of room for two little girls to run around.

Working on the girls play room has been such a fun and creative project! I wanted it to be colourful and filled with lots of toys and books and videos – and a place where they could just hang and be little girls. I am so happy how it turned out! We have been doing lots of research on how to best develop their language skills and there are tons of books and educational videos out there to assist with this. We’ve been informed that they should ramp on English very quickly, within three months. I’m sure we’ll be doing lots of sign language, and acting out words to communicate – which should be hilarious. We’ll see how Fana ramps on her language here. We honestly just want to them to transition and feel secure and safe and loved in their new home. We want their learning and experiences to be just fun, no pressure. We will definitely spend the first year with them at home – and they’ll join the first grade in 2011. We are so looking forward to teaching them to read and speak. We will get them into art and music programs too…maybe in the winter…good to get them around other kids too!

The last room to be decorated was their bedroom. They are going to share a room initially…all of the advice we’ve received expressed that we should keep them together in the room…after all they’re used to sleeping with 20 other kids in a room. To isolate them would probably just freak them out! Piece by piece we built their bedroom and we’re thrilled with how it turned out. We wanted it to be a soft and relaxing place for them to sleep…yet colourful and girly. Last night I just sat in their room and lied in their beds looking around...I thought about what they’ll be thinking as they lie there thinking “how did I get here!” I thought about the room I shared with my sisters…and how we used to sit up at night and talk about life…this is the room that I want to give to our girls where they grow together, have late night talks, etc. It really warms my heart!

While I have LOVED doing this house, if I don’t hold a paint brush or use an alley key wrench again, I’ll be a happy person! No seriously, after painting more than 50% of our house and putting together the assortment of kids furniture, bookshelves (which always takes me at least three time to get right) desks, etc., we’re nearly finished. To everyone who has helped us in this endeavour…from painting to helping put stuff together to all of the contributions that our dear friends have made (toys, dolls, clothes, furniture, etc.) we couldn’t have done this without you!

Welcome Back!!!

Welcome back to the blog!!! Thank you to everyone who has been following our posts and I apologize for the delay in getting this back up and running. I just want to say that we so much appreciate everyone’s love and support. With so much to update I’ve broken this down into three posts: The Girls, The House and Bringing them Home!

THE GIRLS!!!

When we left Bulgaria in late April, we were told that it could be three to four months to process all of the paperwork to bring the girls home. Three to four months – this felt like an eternity and we were really concerned about how this would impact the girls. After all, when we told Yuli we were going to be her mommy and daddy, she was so excited she ran to her room to grab her things – she thought she was leaving that moment. Fana just sat and smiled! Heartbreaking…but we told them that we needed to get their new room and house ready, and that we needed to process paperwork which would allow them to come to Canada.

Needless to say the girls have been very anxious for us to come back to take them home! Every time Yuli sees a plane she says to her friends in the orphanage that her mommy and daddy are on that plane to come take her and Fana home. Obviously, she has experienced some disappointment in that expectation! One stormy night, she woke up and asked one of the caregivers to call her daddy in Canada and make the loud thunder stop. 15 minutes later, the thunderstorm subsided and she proudly told everyone the next day that her daddy made it go away. She has this amazing imagination and says the most hilarious things! She keeps telling everyone that Canada must be so far away because it's taking so long for us to come back! She is requiring a lot of reassurance but she knows we’ll be there eventually.

Fana has been doing just great! Her special time with Galina -- the caregiver we hired to spend time with her – has been amazing. We received pictures last week and she looks like a different little girl. A total smiling free spirit – she knows what’s going on and she is so happy and relaxed! She loves to ride on her bike and we’ve been told that she just loves the water! She has made lots of friends over the summer and feels very special to be getting all of this attention. She loves to help in the garden and can sit and play, color and just hang out. She knows that she is coming to a beautiful home and while it will be hard for her to say goodbye to Galina, we feel so confident that she will do great here. Galina has been nothing short of a guardian angel and she will always be part of our lives…she will always be Fana’s special Nana.

We have been sending care packages frequently and the girls just love opening up their special gifts! It is their 5th birthday on Sunday, August 8th and they are spending the day at Galina’s cottage which should be so much fun for them. We have arranged to have cake and balloons and we have a birthday package that is being delivered today. While we were really hoping to be there – instead we are going to do a conference call with Rosi (our translator), Galina, Gunther and I at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY! The girls will have their orphanage birthday party on the 9th and we have also arranged to have treats for all of the kids to participate in the birthday celebration!

It is so hard at times to communicate to the girls that things are getting closer – they are only 5 after all and time is a difficult concept to explain to them. We are getting closer, with every day. I know in my heart that they feel our love, albeit from a distance…our love and desire to have them here and start our lives together is as strong as ever.