Our Journey to Meet Our Angel, Danny
My husband and I had been married for 5 years. We have struggled with infertility and do not know the reason why we could not conceive on our own. We were always open to the idea of adoption and actually started the process shortly after we got married. We first started investigating domestic adoption. We signed up with the local DSS, did MAPP training and became Certified Foster Parents. We had lots of leads but never any real possibilities.
We signed up with Sense Resource Center in Norfolk, VA (“SRC”). They are a non profit agency who assists you in your adoption. So, we started getting together all of the needed documents. This at first scared me to death, but trust me it is not that big of a deal.
So, our dossier was finally all together. The plan was to go to Ukraine and bring home a child. To make a long story short, they shut down the Adoption Center. We started to get nervous of how unpredictable things were in Ukraine. So we called SRC and spoke with Bernadette. Being the supportive and honest person that she is she guided us into making the decision to change to the Bulgaria program. This was all in June of 03'. She went through the positive points of going with a referral based program and we then decided it was the best choice for us. Three days later – yes, I said three days - we were sent a picture and medical information on the most beautiful brown eyed little boy you have ever seen. He had a rough start… born in the 29th week, 2 lbs and 2 oz but was now doing fine. He was 22 months old. The plan was to take the medical info to the Pediatrician at where I work (I am a nurse) and see what his advice would be. He was worried that the little boy would be fragile, susceptible to learning disabilities and to cerebral palsy. This scared us to we called Bernadette and told her that we wanted more time to think about it. I knew in my heart every time that I looked at those big brown eyes in that picture that he was the child that I had been waiting on.
Two days later we received a call from Bernadette asking how serious we were about the referral. Unfortunately the laws in Bulgaria were soon going to change and if we wanted to adopt him we had to go... NOW! We were torn at what to do. But in the end after lots of prayer we decided to go for it.
I scattered to various offices to change the dossier. I had to prepare a new one, Bernadette at SRC helped book our travel arraignments. Thank God for her help with this one. We flew out that Sunday to Bulgaria.
Here is a short journal that I wrote about our first trip:
Sunday June 15th, 2003
Our plane left early this morning to Heathrow Airport, London. We are to stay there tonight and then off to Sofia early Monday morning. The anticipation is overwhelming! We are so ready to meet our son. The flight was smooth and we landed in London at 10:30 p.m.
Monday, June 16th, 2003
Off to Sofia we go! We got off the plane, went through customs, and then through the double doors. The first thing we saw was a sign with our names on it. RELIEF! We both had an instant connection with Antonia. Her sweet smile was enough to put us right at ease. We then headed off to our apartment to freshen up and rest. Antonia and her father picked us up later that evening and we headed off to the mountains for a fabulous dinner and Bulgarian folk dancing. Even though, our minds were occupied with the events of the next day, it was an awesome night.
Tuesday, June 17th, 2003
Antonia and her father picked us up early this morning to head to the orphanage. We were amazed at how clean and well kept the orphanage was. After we arrived, the director came in, spoke to us about Daniel’s health and history. She was a very nice, polite, and well dressed woman. She made sure that we understood everything and then the workers brought in the most beautiful little boy we had ever seen. We both new immediately that this was the son we had been waiting for. God is Good!!! Daniel was a little unsure of us at first but as time passed he grew fonder of us. It was comforting to know that we had Antonia’s support and that she was right there with us if we had any questions at all.
Wednesday, June 18th thru Friday, June 20th, 2003
Each day we grew closer and closer to Daniel. He is such a loving little boy. It was obvious he needed us and that we needed him. Everyday that we were with him he showed us more and more of what he could do! We had two meetings each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. We usually stayed two to three hours each visit. We were allowed to feed him, walk him outside, and even watch him sleep. All of the workers were very kind and seemed to have a lot of compassion towards each child. Our last visit was very difficult. I was very afraid of all of the “what if’s” as would any mother would be. I kept telling myself, I am confident that the Lord has lead us to this little boy and no matter what I have to be strong for our family.
Saturday, June 21st, 2003
Today we went sight seeing with Daniella (Antonia’s assistant). We also went shopping and had a wonderful time. Tomorrow we will be leaving Bulgaria and a part of me wonders how I am going to get through it. Then I think of God and how he is watching over us. I know that this is all in His hands and that He will take care of Daniel while we are gone. We are so fortunate that he is in such a wonderful orphanage and we know that he is being well taken care of.
Sunday, June 22nd, 2003
Our plane left Today at 2:30 p.m. It was sad leaving but also exciting thinking of how we are now one step closer of becoming a family. This journey has been the best experience of our lives and we are so fortunate that God chose us to do this. Bulgaria is a beautiful country with beautiful people and I am so excited to share that with Daniel. We have dreams of taking him back there when he is older so that he can see what a beautiful place he comes from. Antonia, Daniella, and Didi have become special friends of ours now. They made our journey an enjoyable one. We always felt very comfortable and it meant the world to us how they went to great lengths to show us as much of Bulgaria as they could. Words could never express the closeness that we feel to them. We also are so thankful to have Sense Resource Center a part of our lives. They have been a true blessing and have become like family over the last few months. We know that they will continue to support us over the next few months as we wait for our angel to come home and for our family to finally be complete.
Then the waiting game began. We waited a total of 9 months until our pick up date. I know this seems like forever but remember we waited no time for a referral. The pick up went very smooth. Danny's orphanage workers had prepared him for our arrival with pictures, etc. So he did not shed a tear from day one. I guess you could say we were proud! The plane ride home went fine and his adjustment has been a dream. We never imagined that he would be doing as well as he is. His pediatrician at Duke Medical Center was astonished at how well he had been taken care of. The orphanage that Danny was in was very clean and the connection between Danny and the workers was great -showing us that he had had that one on one attention that every infant needs.
We could not have been more pleased with the decision that we made. I am so thankful that God chose us to be an adoptive family. I can not imagine a bond being any stronger than the one between my son and me.
Jan
