Video about Anna's Adoption

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNX-wt5BPXA

HOME at last!!

We told the kids before we left Sofia that this would be the longest Saturday they have ever lived. Little did we know that would be true in more ways than one! Despite our travel challenges that made an already long day longer, they were fantastic. Everyone held it together and made our trip as pleasant as possible.

Anna and Gray getting some facetime on our trip!

The Rome airport has been a challenge for the Godwin family and yesterday was more of the same. We missed our connection in Rome because the Bulgaria Air flight was late, after we landed there were no stairs for exiting, then no bus to take us back to the terminal and the real killer our Delta fight left 20 minutes earlier than scheduled? Weird. Thanks to the good people of US Air we rerouted through Philadelphia and onto Atlanta and then drove to Montgomery from there. What a day!

The more we thought about it the more we liked the idea of Anna officially becoming a US Citizen in Philadelphia. Think about it - the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Betsy Ross, the Declaration of Independence and Rocky (Tony said add that) -  can you get any better than this city to become a citizen? Nope.

The travelers! Not even sure which airport this is!

All week the boys have struggled with Anna's preference for me or other women/girls. But women are really all she has known all her life. She has pushed the boys away and turned her head. We told the boys it will take time. Well today in our travels there was simply no way that Tony and I could carry and hold her everywhere we went. Today she decided that in these busy airports and on these trains and buses that these boys were just right for her. There was a lot of sweetness exchanged today between these three. It was great to see. Thank you God for small steps.

We were all talking about this while riding home last night: in the last week we have been in 5 countries, on 7 flights (4 different airlines), 5 buses 3 trains and one rental car. We asked the boys was all this craziness worth it? They responded with an absolute "YOU BET IT WAS!"

Not going to make it when we thought...

Our flight from Bulgaria into Rome was late so we missed our Rome connection. Get this - Delta left early too. We now are going to fly back from Rome to Atlanta via Philadelphia on US Airways. We will not be in Montgomery until around 10:30 pm. We are just going to rent a car and drive home. Airplanes are not working out for us on this trip.

If you were thinking about meeting us at the airport - THANKS! Unfortunately we will be driving to our house. You are welcome to meet us there around 10:30 - 11:00 pm and meet Anna. Sorry for the confusion.

One more day....

We are just a day away from bringing Anna home!

We will arrive back in Montgomery at 5:49 pm on Saturday!

Our last day in Sofia was spent cramming with Erin Pervis on key words and phrases to help us communicate with Anna. Erin is terrific. She knows from being a mom herself the most important words for us - those that remind Anna that we love her, we are here for her and how to keep her from danger.

Making our usual walk to dinner on the streets of Sofia. (Anna and her men)

Tonight was a special night. We got to take the Pervis' (minus David) out to dinner and dessert. We got a chance to say our goodbyes. This is a very sweet family. They made our stay in Sofia so entertaining and it made us less homesick.
We also met Katherine Long who just arrived a few weeks ago in Sofia with MTW. She is from Birmingham. She is going to be serving the Lord as a missionary to young girls in Bulgaria. Specifically those who have gotten involved in prostitution. Unfortunately a large number of the girls in that industry come from the orphanages. They "age out" of the orphanage system and have to find work to support themselves. Please pray for Katherine and the Lord's work in the hearts of these young women.

Josiah Pervis, Katherine Long, Clara Pervis, Erin Pervis and the Godwin 5!

Anna with Erin Pervis

Anna loves soup!

We cannot wait to be home, see family and friends and get some rest! We will post more later. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement for our family. This has been and will continue to be one of the most rewarding experiences of our lives.

Sledding, Embassy Day and Playtime

Look at that happy face! He sure enjoyed sledding today!

Josiah coming down the mountain

Cleve got a real treat this morning. He got to go sledding with Josiah Pervis. Unfortunately Gray was not feeling that good and had to stay in. It was the most snow Cleve has ever seen. He really enjoyed himself. It was a clear day and you could see Mt. Vitosha from town. The view from up on the mountain was incredible. Once again the Pervis' have helped us get around Sofia. Having their help has been great.

This afternoon we met with the US Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria to make sure that we had all the necessary paperwork for Anna. They will finalize our paperwork and return it to us sealed tomorrow. We will have to present these documents when we get to Atlanta for Anna to immigrate into the US. They also asked us a few quick questions in an exit interview. The whole process took less than 20 minutes. So thankful we live in the United States.

Anna shows off her new Barbie "laptop"

There are some tough stories out there about newly adopted children withdrawing or acting out with their adoptive families. Thankfully we have not seen any of this yet. We know that she is going to grieve losing her friends and caretakers from the orphanage. This is only natural. We may have some bumpy times when this hits her. But all-in-all we are so thankful that our experience has been so nice. 

Anna likes to play! She can play by herself or with any/all of us. Today she started singing while she rolls play-doh, colors with crayons and even while helping me hang up some clothes to dry. I need to record her sweet little voice - it will melt your heart. God has given her a happy spirit despite not having a family of her own.

Good ole Play-Doh

Psalm 100

 ¹Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
 ²Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
 ³Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
 ⁴Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
 ⁵For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Fun in the snow & haircut day

The boys enjoying the snow in front of the Bulgarian National Museum of History

Today is a free day for us. No requirements for meetings or paperwork. When we woke up it was snowing like crazy! What a treat for folks from Alabama. Our sweet friend Erin Pervis who is an MTW missionary in Bulgaria drove us around today. We dropped Tony and the boys at the National Museum of History. Notice the long walk to the building behind the boys in the picture above? Tony said they had a snowball fight the whole way up. The people in the museum must have thought they were crazy because they all were giving them strange looks when they entered. Guess they see so much snow here that it is a nuisance rather than fun.

Erin Pervis with us during the snow today

So glad to know Erin. She and her husband David along with their two children Clara and Josiah have been serving as missionaries in Bulgaria with MTW for some time. We met David 3 years ago at the missions conference at Trinity Presbyterian. We had already decided to adopt from Bulgaria when we had David stay with us. Having him stay with us during the conference was like an orientation on Bulgaria. We were able to stay with the Pervis' on our first visit to Bulgaria in September. They are awesome hosts!

Erin is amazing! She can translate, give tourism information and drive in the snow all at the same time! She has helped us understand what Anna is saying. We are learning a lot of key words and phrases from her like "bathroom" (#1 and #2), "I am hungry", etc.


Before we left Anna's orphanage in September the staff asked us if we wanted Anna's hair to grow out long or to keep the length and bangs cut. We asked them to allow her hair to grow out. How nice of them to even consider something like this. When we saw her we could tell that her hair had grown quite a bit since our first trip. Today we took her to get her trimmed a bit. We were able to get an appointment thanks to Erin who made the arrangements with a friend that is one of her English students.

After our appointment we went back to the museum to get Tony and the boys. They were still having fun in the snow! We grabbed some KFC for lunch. Anna is not a fan of fried chicken. As a soon-to-be citizen of Alabama she is going to have to work on that!

Only two more days and we are coming home. Tomorrow we go to the US Embassy to apply for Anna's Visa and do our exit interview. We return there on Friday afternoon to pick up her Visa. We fly out early Saturday morning and get back to Montgomery around 5:45 on Saturday afternoon. It will be a long day. Please pray for Anna on this trip - and for the passengers around us to be tolerant of a 5 year old taking her first flights.

Bedtime and naps are going much better! She is settling down much quicker. Thankfully they had a pack & play in the apartment. She likes this best for sleeping. She is not scared like the first night.

She loves the boys. She is already playing them - pitting one against the other for her affection. Some days she wants Gray to hold her the next day it's all Cleve.  She and Tony have renewed the bond they made in September. She likes for Tony to carry her everywhere we go - and he is glad to oblige. These men are like putty in her hand!

Look out Gray here comes a snowball!

Gotcha Day

When you adopt this day is known as "Gotcha Day" - the day that your adopted child joins your family and leaves their orphanage forever. This day - February 27th will be celebrated each year in our family to remember the day when Anna came to us.

     

It is difficult to describe a day like Monday. This day for us was full of excitement, nervousness and joy. We set out early this morning to make the 8 hour round trip from Sofia to Yambol. Petco who is the Director for Vesta (adoption agency in Bulgaria that works with All God's Children) drove us. The roads were clear and except for a little rain and some snow that was falling when we returned to Sofia. It was great traveling weather.

This little girl latched onto Gray!

When we got to the orphanage we met with the Director. After all the years of paperwork, government forms, physicals, fingerprinting, etc it was funny that it only took two quick steps to make it official - copy of our passports and our signatures in the orphanage ledger. We only had a few minutes to visit with the director because we were working towards getting back to Sofia before the police station closed so we could get Anna's passport. We did have time to tell the director how thankful we were to her for keeping Anna in the small children's facility and not letting her be transferred to the older orphanage. She said she believed in her heart that there would be a family for Anna and that is why she kept Anna past her 4th birthday. God certainly orders our lives!

Cleve entertains!

After our meeting we went to Anna's group. They had told her this morning that her family was coming - so she was ready! When she saw me she just ran straight to her and wrapped her little arms around my neck. Then she took me by the arm into the room with the rest of the group as if to say to everyone - "This is my Momma and I am going home with her today!" She remembered Tony and she knew the boys were the ones she has seen in her picture book we left on our first trip. She would hardly let go of me. It was like she was not sure if she thought we might leave again.

Getting ready for the ride home!

I got to dress her for the ride home. What fun! She was so excited to put on a new dress that she raced through getting her arms inside. She fussed at us when she felt like we were moving too slowly with the buttoning. When she looked down and saw new shoes she squealed in delight!

One of our biggest concerns was the car ride back to Sofia. Since orphans don't ride in cars they get car sick. Petco says about 90% of the time this will happen. Anna took turns sitting between the boys and in their laps the entire ride. She didn't get sick and enjoyed the ride with us. Here is a link to a quick video of her first car ride with her sweet big brothers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIFoWFy3_Yk&context=C31eb8a5ADOEgsToPDskLYndSGMSKaWMt1gj2dOBBf

Anna chows down.

After we got back into Sofia we finally got a chance to eat. We were all hungry but no one enjoyed dinner as much as Anna. She had some and most of everything we ordered! We were careful not to let her get sick. We had the friendliest and kindest waiters. Both of them had studied or worked in the US. They were great to help translate what Anna was telling us. Evidently she's never had Sprite. Before I could stop her she grabbed my glass and took a drink. She told the waiter "This is not water and I don't like it!"So nice to meet some great Bulgarians and have our first meal together.

You think she enjoyed her bath?

We were also concerned that Anna might not like to take a bath. Since all they know is showers at the orphanage we were worried that a bath may be too much for her. It was clear that she enjoyed the warm bath and all the bubbles! She wanted to stay in and fussed a little when I told her it was time to get out. Can't wait to get her home and give her a big bathtub bath!

The only trying time for us was bedtime. She was very scared to fall asleep in a strange place with her new family. It is a lot to ask of a little girl who for 5 years has never known any place else at bedtime. Eventually she settled down. I think she is learning to trust us a little more.

Thank you Lord for this day and putting Anna in our family. All the waiting and working to get to this moment has been worth it. We are so thankful for our Anna. We pray that adding her to our family will change all of our lives.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."
                                            -- James 1:17