Marathon Blog....

Ok everyone.... So much has happened since the last blog.  I am going to try and recapture it for you.

5k/10k "Fund" Run- This event happened on Aug 24th and it was AMAZING.  We had over 60 runners in attendance and a significant amount of donations from people unable to attend.  We raised over our $2500 goal and on top of that a friend of mine in Texas decided to hold her own 5k Run in our honor.  Her run raised and additional $1000.  We are so amazingly blessed!! It isn't everyone that has great people and such a strong support system behind them.  We recognize how lucky and fortunate we are and believe me-  We thank God daily for how blessed we are.  The run was amazing and came in handy because....

2 weeks later we were leaving for BULGARIA to meet our son.  We got the phone call on Aug. 27th that told us we needed to arrive in Sofia Bulgaria on Saturday, Sept. 7th.  A phone call that would change our lives forever.  It was very surreal to us for the longest time.  We have been fighting for this for over four years now and we finally had a date in which we could actually say we would meet our son.  Kolby was finally going to be a big brother. I finally will get to hug my son.  Miles will finally know the love of a family.  It was incredible.  The countdown began.  I was a total wreck.  To be honest, I found almost everything to distract me from thinking about it because I could hardly control myself from just catching the next flight and flying over to knock on the orphanage doors.  I ended up canning over a dozen jars of spaghetti sauces, 2 dozen jars of Salsa, 2 dozen jars of pears, a half dozen jars of peaches, and about 10 jars of Blackberry/blueberry jam.  WHAT WAS I THINKING??  We are set for some snack food when we return home with our son though, right?

The 7th quickly approached and everyday we grew more and more anxious.  More and more excited and honestly, more and more SCARED TO DEATH!!! Every scenario ran through my head.  But regardless of emotion the day slowly crept closer.  The night of the sixth was a mad rush.  I got off work and was determined to spend every last moment with Kolby before leaving.  We went down to the motorcycle track his dad built and watch him ride his motorcycle.  We played farming, we watched Lego guys on TV and then we finally laid down for bed.  At that moment we flew into packing mood, cleaning house, organizing everything for Kolby while we were gone, I ran into town and spent 4 hours at the radio station.  2am arrived quicker than we could have imagined.  We loaded everything and everyone up.  Picked up Emmy (the angel that would love and care for our son in our absence).  We drove to Spokane, kissed our son goodbye and proceeded to check in.  We have 2 HUGE bags that were both only .5lb under the allotted weight limit stocked full of toys, blankets, clothes, snacks and other fun donations for the orphanage.  We both had a carry on and personal items with our clothes for the trip.  We left Spokane at 5:45am, flew to Denver, then to Montreal Canada, then to Frankfurt Germany and then to Sofia Bulgaria.

We started our journey at 5:45 am on Saturday.  We arrived in Sofia Bulgaria at 1:00pm Sunday afternoon.  The longest lay over we had was only 2 1/2 hours in Germany.  Needless to say we were EXHAUSTED!!! A driver pick us up in Sofia and we met with two other families that were getting to pick up there kiddos this trip.  We only got about 20 minutes to chat with them until we were taxied to our hotel.  It was so TINY.  Everything over here is much smaller than in the States.  Narrow streets, tiny cars, small hotel rooms, its all just a little more miniature.  We took a short stroll down the board walk in Sofia and than back to the hotel where we proceeded to nap for 5 hours.  Woke up and went to eat.  Everything is pasta and pizza here.  Yummy food!! Walked back to the hotel and slept until 6am.  We were picked up and went to the airport in Sofia.  It is now Monday morning and we are flying to Varna to meet our son.....

The flight only lasted 30 minutes from Sofia to Varna.  We arrived safely and went to our hotel to drop off luggage. We were fortunate to travel with another lady picking up her daughter from another orphanage not far from Miles'.   We got to the orphanage and were ushered to an office. 

Anticipation was KILLING us.  Every set of footsteps sent us into heart racing mood.  When we finally arrived he was scared to death.  Shaking and sobbing.  My heart melted.  Here he is in the flesh.  I was actually able to reach out and touch him.  I reached for him and he automatically snuggled into me!!   Our first embrace as a mother and son and let me tell you it was absolutely priceless and worth the wait, worth the struggle, worth the fight, worth every ounce of effort we put towards this adoption.  It was a moment that I will NEVER forget. 

We got to play with him for two hours.  He loved the ball that Grammy sent with us.  I was astounded with how quickly he warmed up to us.  At the end of the two hours he cried and reached for us as they carried him away.  My heart broke into a million pieces.  I had to continue to remind myself that we would get to see him tomorrow but that did little to comfort me.  After waiting all this time how could two hours go by so quickly and why do we have to leave him....

We were originally told that we would be able to spend the entire day with him on Monday-Friday.  That quickly changed when we arrived and were informed that we would get to spend only two hours a day with him Monday- Thursday.  This mama bear was not happy with the information but in hindsight- I will take every minute I am given and be grateful for it.

We were able to meet back up with our friend that was picking up her little girl.  We spend the afternoon with them and it was so precious to see another family united after such a long wait.  We walked down to the black sea and up and down the boardwalk. It was fun and relaxing but I would have traded it all for another minute with our son. 

We are awaiting day two.  So much excited that the alarm that was suppose to sound at 5am today didn't need to be set as we were both up and wide awake by 3:30am.  We got the opportunity to facetime with our son, Kolby, and hear all about his adventures at home.  I can not imagine a heart being able to withstand anymore joy than mine is at this moment.  How is it that out of all the boys in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD, we got the best ones??

More to follow as we progress through the trip.  Thank you for all the prayers, thoughts and warm wishes.  We are truly blessed and thankful for all the support.

With much love-
A Brand New Blessed Mommy!!