Homecoming

Amy, Zoya and I left our apartment in Sofia on May 17, at 5am (Friday, May 16, 8pm MST). Twenty-eight hours later, midnight in Carlsbad, we arrived at our house, Zoya's forever home!

Now let me summarize our 28 hours of travel:  All three of us did not get a full night of sleep before our early morning rise.  Zoya was over excited and Amy and I were making sure all our bags were packed and ready to go.  Our 4am wakeup came quick.  Though Zoya should have been tired, she was up and ready to go.  She repeated over and over that we were headed to America and she would see Stephen and Coen.  When I say repeated, I mean repeated hundreds of times!!  It was so cool.  Maya and Ivan picked us up right at 5am and we headed to the Sofia airport.  The airport was packed and of course the kiosks were having issue, but after several hiccups of getting in the system, we were checked in.  Now it was time to say goodbye to Maya and Ivan.  Again, we were so ready to come home, but it is always hard to say goodbye to friends.  We then proceeded through security and passport check.  The passport check was our first time to show proof that Zoya was our adopted child.  All went well and we were so glad Maya showed us step by step process of what all the passport checks will need to see and what immigration in the states would need to process Zoya.  We arrived at our gate in plenty of time.  If I have not mentioned in prior posts, Zoya is impatient.  She kept asking "what we were waiting for, the plane is right there."  We over and over repeated that we had to wait until the plane is ready.  After several impatient requests, Amy Google Translated what we thought was "We cannot go right now...." because the plane was not ready, however, Zoya understood it as "We are not going now."  She almost collapsed to her knees and started to sob and pretty much went into a panic. Amy and I were confused at first until we caught on to what she was saying, and we both quickly started punching in a new translation into Google Translate.  We finally got the correct translation out and as quick as she sobbed, she was back to saying "Going to America!"  and of course; "What are we waiting for?"  Finally, we made it on the plane.  In short, the flight to Frankfurt is about 2 hours, had a short wait in Frankfurt and then had a 10 plus hour flight to Dallas.  Zoya, could not have been any better!  She was an angel!  Amy and I were so proud of her!  Zoya was not only a great passenger, she did not sleep one minute of the flight.  As with most children, if they do not sleep, you do not sleep.  Amy and I were so tired by time we got to Dallas.  And we still have a 7 hour drive ahead of us.  But first, we have to go through passport check and then go to the immigration processing station.  Two and a half hours later, Zoya was a US citizen based on her IH3 visa.  Finally, we arrived at our car and the long drive started.  Guess who fell asleep minutes after getting on the freeway....yep, Zoya and Amy were snoring!  We stopped in Abilene for Whataburger and Zoya's first meal in America.  Then the drive continued....

At midnight, Amy called her mom to let her know we were pulling into town.  She told us that the boys were waiting up for us.  I think Amy and I perked up immediately knowing we would be able to see Stephen and Coen!  We woke Zoya up and we pulled into the driveway.  Zoya knew immediately from pictures, this was her HOME!  We all got out of the car and headed to the front door, but before we could get in the door, we could hear the boys running down the street from Mamaw's house so we waited for our warm greeting!  That is when we witnessed a heartwarming event and something I will not ever forget!  Zoya saw Stephen first and ran towards him, just like in the movies, Stephen and Zoya ran into each other's arms and hugged.  She squeezed him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  Seconds later, Coen came behind Stephen on a skooter and Zoya ran to him and the two of them hugged tight and she kissed him on the cheek!  It was so beautiful!!

We then went into the house and regardless of how tired we were, Zoya was now experiencing her first ever bedroom.  She was also so excited to have her brothers.  The three of them went on for about an hour before we all started to wind down for the night.

We have been home now for over a week and all we can say is that Zoya has continued to bless us!  We are trying not to overwhelm Zoya in any way, but based on her reaction and response to everything to this point, we are not sure if she get's overwhelmed.  She has been very friendly with all our family and friends.  We arrived back in the states at a very busy time.  It was the last week of school and our nephew, Nick graduated so we had lots of family in town.  We took Zoya to the school Amy teaches at and where Coen attends.  It is also the school Zoya will attend next year.   All the teachers and students that have supported our adoption were so excited to meet her and likewise, Zoya was so excited to meet them.  I also took her to CNB, the bank I work at as they have all been wanting to meet her.  She gave everyone hugs and it was nice to see how well she is doing around everyone.

Throughout the week, we see all the "FIRSTS" for Zoya.  From riding a skooter, to jumping on a trampolene, to playing with different toys, and to eating different foods.  She is not shy to try anything.  She is very coordinated and picks up new tasks easily.  She will try new foods (we are not shocking her with any thing crazy or spicy).  She is amazing!

Now, in a few years, Zoya will probably be mad at me for putting this in a blog, but I feel it is a huge accomplishment.  One of the issues the orphanage staff told us was that she occassionally wets the bed at night.  In Sofia, 8 of the 10 nights, Zoya did have an accident during the night.  Some were legitamate accidents, and some did not appear to be accidents, but on purpose.  That is when Amy and I had a thought that in the orphanage, they may not have been able, or allowed, to leave their rooms during the night and that at times may have just wet the bed out of necessity and not just accident.  So we asked Ivan to explain to her that it was ok to get up and go to the restroom.  So he did and she understood now that it was ok to get up at any time.  She still had an accident, but there were no more "on purpose" messes.  We are more proud to say that since she has been home, here in Carlsbad (nine nights), she has had Zero accidents!!  She is so comfortable in her home and in her own bed!

Zoya is understanding us more and more.  While she may not be able to speak English back to us, she is understanding English quickly.  She is starting to say some things in English and we praise her and encourage her when she does.  This summer Amy will work with her regularly and prepare her for the next school year.

Amy and I thank God for blessing us with two beautiful and supportive sons and now with a beautiful daughter!!  We are a very happy and loving family of FIVE!!  We are truely BLESSED!!  Also, thank you everyone that has supported us through out our journey!!  It is so cool seeing people wear our Love shirts.  We are also so overwhlemed with support from everyone!  We love you all for everything, expecially, the love and support from our family!!