Pick Up Trip: Day 2

We woke up in Sofia, my dad & Ry went to pick up the van at the airport, and then we met our FNA attendant at noon in the lobby of our hotel.  Then, we took the 3 hour trek to Yambol.  Jack had to stop twice to nurse, and the road was so bumpy that the kids only took small naps.  We found our hotel (mom&dad were on the first floor, and we were on the TENTH with no elevatorrrrrrr).  After we dropped our FNA attendant off at her hotel, we decided to drive around the city and look around.  We ended up finding the orphanage!  That saved us time the next day so we didn't have to look up directions.  The kids calmed down in the car, and we were able to see the city our boy grew up in.  After that, we parked at our hotel and decided to walk around to the city center.  Yambol is a very poor town, but the center was much nicer and had little stores of food.  We got some pizza slices (the popular one was corn with ham....) and we saw lots of puppies, which made Ana happy.  The kids were exhausted, and Ana came down with a fever during the day, which spiked again before bed.  Both kids wanted to sleep with me, so there was a lot of nursing and sitting on mama, while daddy slept in the bed across the room.  Ana ended up waking up for a few hours in the middle of the night, so Ry had to revert back to rocking her like he did when she wasn't 30lbs.  The kids eventually drifted off and Ry & I got a couple hours of sleep.  Ready for tomorrow!

Pick Up Trip: Day 1

Well, we made it!  We are officially in Sofia, Bulgaria for the night, before we head to Yambol tomorrow afternoon.  After 3 flights, we are all exhausted and confusingly hungry, but safe and so excited to finally be here.

 The kids did great - Ana really took the cake with how flexible she was during this whole adventure in the skies.  Our girl even slept for 4 hours during the flight to Paris, sprawled out on 2 seats (while Ry and I took turns lying on the floor - thank you plane attendant for getting us bulkhead seating at the last minute!).  Also, thank you melatonin.  Everyone seems to love the kids - Ana even got a free macaroon from a store in the Paris airport because she started saying all of the colors that she saw, and the lady just loved her!  It's so fun to see your kids make other people smile.  Jack did fairly well, but you could tell he was battling an internal struggle - he just wanted to nurse, but not nurse, or be walked, but not held.  He took about a hundred 1 hour naps, but we survived.  I think he was ready to be off of planes almost as much as I was.  I am a particularly "nervous flyer", and my anxiety medicine I got for these plane trips did nothing except make me sleepy for an hour or 2 (which, I was already sleepy, so was it really the meds?) so that was a bummer.  There were many times when I held my dad's hand, just as I did when I was little!  I made Ry tell me stories of our honeymoon, and I made dad tell me over and over again how he had experienced the exact same turbulence on different flights, somehow convincing me that this was unbelievably normal.  So, I lived to tell about it, but I am not looking forward to the flights home - I am a huge supporter of teleporting, so somehow please go ahead and develop that.

 Our hotel in Sofia has been great - a representative with a car for us was waiting with a sign that said "Ryan Frazier" at the airport (we felt like moviestars!).  The employees all seem to speak pretty good english here, so that has been nice too - Ry's bulgarian got a little rusty in between trips, so we're scraping by.  Yambol will be a very different experience, I'm sure :)

Ana turned 2 yesterday, so we had a mini birthday celebration when we got to our hotel.  We kept a couple gifts back from her party so that she could open some on her actual birthday.  She loved her gifts, but kept asking for a nemo cake lol (that was her cake at her party).  I think she loved getting to open some presents after such a long couple days.


The kids slept horrible until about 4am Bulgaria time (9pm Louisville time) - Jack was rocked and nursed constantly, and Ana had a sleepover with Gramm and Grandad and kept them up for the middle of the night - but Gramm gave her a bath, some more melatonin, and some Winnie the Pooh and she conked back out eventually.  They are both sleeping soundly now.  Too bad we have to get up and get packed up soon!  These poor kids - I'm just so stinkin proud of them!  Our FNA attendant picks us up at noon today, so my dad is off to go get our van (he got an international driver's license) and we will be headed to Yambol somewhere between 12-1!  It is about a 3 hour drive, so we'll stay the night in Yambol tonight, and go pick up Niko bright and early tomorrow morning :)

Sleep well friends and family.  Thank you for praying for us!

Dear Niko...

My sweet Niko,

Happy 3rd birthday!  I can't believe that you're already three, and yet i still haven't met you.  I can't believe that we've missed out on three whole years of loving you, learning from you, teaching you, and watching you grow.  For three years I haven't been able to change your diapers or buy you clothes.  For three years I haven't been able to feed you, cuddle you at night when you cry, or soothe you when you get hurt.  For three years you haven't know a mama or a daddy, and for three years we haven't known you.  You are now our oldest, but the one we know the least.  This world is full of injustice and wrongdoings, and my heart breaks.

But Jesus calls us to love the orphans.

So, your 3rd birthday marks the beginning of a new life.  Your 3rd birthday means that we are almost ONE WEEK away from hugging your neck and kissing your face.  Your 3rd birthday means that you get to meet your brother and sister and create bonds that will withstand the test of time.  Your 3rd birthday means that we get to start changing your diapers and buying you clothes.  Your 3rd birthday means that we get to feed you and cuddle you when you cry.  Your 3rd birthday means that we get to teach you how to walk and teach you how to talk (even though I think your little sister will do that for us!).  Your 3rd birthday means we get to show you what a family looks like.  Your 3rd birthday means that there will be ONE LESS orphan, and ONE MORE frazier.

Thank you Lord for this birthday.

And, even though I can't buy you cake and help you blow out candles today,  I did buy you a shoes.  Because, what else is a mama to do when her baby is half way around the globe.  I think you'll like them.

See you soon, little guy.

Our Timeline...

Our timeline:

Trip 1: April 2- April 10
Article 5: May30

Passed Court: July15
Got Travel Dates: Aug2
Travel: Aug19-Sept2

YES - WE GOT TRAVEL DATES TODAY!!!

Reminiscing: Trip 1

Now that we are officially parents of THREE, we wanted to share some photos from Trip 1.  Thank you for praying for our family, and especially our sweet Niko.

We'd like for you to meet....

Nikolay James

We are now legally a family of 5!