We have recently worked our way through 10+ hours of a workbook that is meant to prepare us for bringing our daughter home. In the chapter on local foods, we were asked to go to a local Bulgarian restaurant and report what we had, how it smelled, tasted & looked and how it differed from our food.
I'll just let that sink in a minute.
Shopka
So obviously that wasn't an option (and obviously that book was made for people living in large cities). We decided to Google Bulgarian recipes and found we had quite a few to choose from. Rob choose Moussaka, a fairly bland meat and potato dish, and I picked Shopka, a veggie salad I had heard rave reviews about from the family blogs of people who have been to Bulgaria.
It was not bad. Not bad at all.
Moussaka
We invited our friends the Herolds and Weixels over and made a Digiornos for the kids. Everyone was a good sport and enjoyed it, but we had a fun discussion on how we could Americanize the main dish. Here is our short list:
Add BBQ
Add ketchup
Pour some Coke over the top (because what is more American than Coke? Except maybe Toby Keith)
Deep fat fry it
Add cheese...like A LOT of cheese
For the record, Rob googled Bulgarian resturantes and the closest one is in Vegas. Maybe someone could go there for us and report back.
When we said yes to this adoption, we said yes knowing that we don't have the money for it. That's a giant leap of faith for two people who are very careful with their money. We know it will work out, we know that God has an always perfect plan...but it would be a lot easier to have our daughter in our arms and talk in the past tense about the goodness of God and how he fulfilled his promise and completed our story than it is to be in the middle, looking at the deadlines and all the zeros and wondering if the money will be there.
"Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bring your children from the East and gather you from the West." ~ Isaiah 43:5
But what kind of a faith would that be? To only trust when it comes to the easy stuff. It's really easy to walk the walk when it doesn't really matter.
I get my courage up and say yes and then doubt creeps into my mind and I wonder what the heck we're doing. I read your kind words on Facebook and in the comments section of the blog and I feel reaffirmed and then I go online to pay bills and I see the balance of our savings and I wonder how.
But friends! (there I am being all dramatic again) GOD is so much bigger. He is teaching me so many things through this process and he is showing me little by little that He really does have it covered. That that statement is more than just a cliche, it's the truth.
A couple of examples just from this week:
Our agency made a couple of minor errors on their cost estimate sheet, causing the price to drop by about $1500.
The company I work for, a NONPROFIT, is for the first time in my eight years of working here granting a $500 bonus to employees.
Rob has been super busy the past several weekends with Christmas gigs which means an extra several hundred dollars.
These are not coincidences and we feel totally blessed.
So last night we were watching TV and we heard the storm door open and something hit the door. I got up and opened the door and found a remote and car key on the floor. I looked out and there, in front of our house was a blue Dodge Ram. I turned around and asked Rob why someone was dropping off a truck and he said that he didn't know...to which I jokingly laughed and replied, "Praise the LORD! Someone gave us a truck to include in our silent auction!! Thank you Jesus." OK - so it ended up being our neighbors. Someone thought our house was theirs. Oh well!
Speaking of silent auctions - someone has generously agreed to host a fundraiser for us in February. We'll share more details as we have them!
Dare I say...we've crossed a lot of our list this week! Seriously, about four times Rob has had to tell me to save my energy for the things that matter. It's the little things that drive me the most crazy. What can I say? I get a little worked up. Combine that with my dramatic nature and the fluidity of adoption and ladies and gentlemen...you have the makings of a hot mess.
Most of the time we try to just laugh it off...like yesterday, when we went in to get our FBI fingerprints. We park downtown, go in, go through security and find the office only to have her tell us we needed a large envelope to put the cards into so they can seal them and sign over the seal. So there we go...back out the door to find an envelope and repeat the whole process about 10 minutes later. It's the little things...
So this week we can check off:
Medical clearances (the photo was taken in the waiting area - what a cute little guy! I'm talking about Evan, not Bradly.)
Taylor Johnson assessment (personality profiling)
ND Background Checks
FBI fingerprints
1/2 of the workbook our agency requires to prepare us for what lies ahead
So for now we plug away at collecting our dossier documents and we wait for our references to send in their recommendations and our background checks to come back so we can finish up our home study.
If all goes smoothly, we should be able to ship our completed packet off to Bulgaria sometime next spring. What an amazing feeling that will be.
On a totally separate and way more fun note...
Please pray for:
* Michelle and Scott Zajac and family - Michelle is a high school classmate of mine. Her family recently accepted the referral of a 3 year old named Kya from Uganda.
* Christina and Terry Parkman - I connected with them through mutual friends in Bismarck. They just got word that their request for a specific child was accepted by the Chinese government. They should be traveling to pick up their one year old daughter, Avalie Jiayin, in the next six months. Follow their journey on their Facebook page.
Paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork. We're officially up to our heads in paperwork. Our social worker told us to try to enjoy this process because it's the last thing we'll have control over. Once our paperwork makes the long trip to Bulgaria, it's all in their hands. So I'm supposed to find comfort in that, huh?
We just completed a nearly 20 page document (about eight questions per page) where we told the story of our lives. In fact, question number one was,"Please write an autobiography of your life." That's not intimidating at all.
We disclosed what we think of our parents (amazing), how we parent our children (with love, rules and patience) and what we think of each other (me describing Rob: loyal and impatient - Rob's take on me: kindhearted and unorganized). We think all couples should fill out these pages. We've been married nearly seven years and this totally reaffirmed the fact that we are 100% perfect for each other. Although we had severe writers cramp that lasted for days, we were thankful for the opportunity to reexamine who we are and where we have come from.
Our Calling
So while Rob continues on with more paperwork, I'll write a little more about this calling. Actually it's more about who was calling. If you haven't already done so, you can check out the family section of our blog for a few details.
I mentioned that this all began at a Steven Curtis Chapman concert before we were even married. At the concert we heard about the Chapman's amazing adventure of bringing their daughters home from China. So there the idea rested in a sort of idea-slow-cooker. After Evan was born, the idea moved from the slow cooker into the pressure cooker. What can I say? When I get something in my head, it's hard to focus on anything else.
I really believe that there are many, many issues that are close to God's heart and he singles people out to take up those causes and be His hands and feet.
Believe me when I tell you that it wasn't as easy as recognizing that calling and replying with an enthusiastic, "YES!" We obsessed over the "what ifs."
What if our daughter comes with issues bigger than we can handle?
What if we regret our decision?
What if we are forced to trade our perfect life for misery?
We thought about our two boys, about the financial burden and...get this...how we probably would never get to take a trip to Disney World. Because, after all, who can afford to take four children on a plane to Disney World?!? ::sound of a screeching halt:::
I thought it and I was ashamed. Deeply ashamed. After all, how could a good and decent person say no, not only to God's direction, but also no to a child who has no home, no family, no bed of their own. A child who doesn't even have Disney on their radar. We dream of extravagant vacations and they dream of family. Don't get me wrong, as I mentioned before we had lots of concerns, but I'll be honest and admit that there was a lot of superficial, material reasons at the root of it too.
The truth is that He does not only call us when the outcome will be easier and more comfortable than we have it now. For a long time I have prayed with all my heart that He will use me, that He will change my heart and make me passionate about the things that matter to Him. So, why am I so surprised when He answers my prayer and gives me exactly what I've asked of Him? We simply couldn't say no. Yes, we know it will be hard. Yes, we know it comes with risk. But we know undoubtedly that it will be worth it. He has promised us.
The US Department of State has published the Fiscal Year 2011 Annual Report on Intercountry Adoption.
Bulgaria report summary:
75 adoptions from Bulgaria to the US were completed between October 1,2010 and September 30, 2011.
The good news is that this is a big increase in the number of Bulgarian adoptions to the US from 40 in 2010 and only 15 in 2009!
I have no idea what this means for our family looking down the road since we are just beginning our process. (Governments, politicians and adoption processes can change outcomes quickly, either positively or negatively.) I don't know if it will mean we will be able to bring our daughter home much quicker, but what I do know is this is a GREAT thing for the children who are waiting and the families at the end of their journey who desperately want to bring them home.
We pray for the trend to continue. God is so good.
A copy of the report can be downloaded on the DOS Adoption website: http://adoption.state.gov/ by clicking the link under "Latest News" on the left hand side of the screen.
The paperwork is crazy and this is only the beginning. This is Rob signing his life away in the hopes that it will result in a daughter or two. He put it best when he said, "This is more paperwork than when we bought our house." And he was absolutely right.
A special thank you to our notary, Roxanne, and to our friend Em for finding her for us. Roxanne probably regrets being so pleasant and professional after Rob informed her we were going to come back to her every time. After 50 minutes in her office I'm pretty sure she was ready to get back to her real job.
Now on to the home study and dossier process. Don't worry - we'll make sure to take plenty more photos of us filling out paperwork. :)
So a lot of people have been asking:
Why Bulgaria?
The honest answer is that it was purely by process of elimination. We originally were drawn to Central and South America (Rob was totally ready to use his Spanish minor), but there is a lot involved when looking at countries...a lot more than you would think. First, each country has it's own list of qualifications so we had to meet their requirements first (age, years of marriage, etc.) Then we took a look at what was important to us and narrowed it down that way (length of stay in country, approx. time to referral, age of children adopted, etc.)
We seriously considered Colombia, but would have had to spend a minimum of four weeks in country to pick up our daughter...and a lot of adoptive parents were having to stay more like eight weeks. It would have been tough with two small children at home. Next, we were almost ready to go with Peru. They have a smaller wait time in-country (two to four weeks), but right before we were ready to sign on the line, we talked to one couple and the agency who explained that due to to the politics of the country, it was unlikely we would be able to get a child under the age of five. Keeping the birth order is important to us and since Evan is only 15 months this would present a timing issue.
So somehow we were lead to Bulgaria. I don't even remember how it came about - it's a very small adoption program compared to most. They do between 40-50 adoptions to the US on a good year. But somehow we found them and fell in love with the faces looking back at us. The people of Bulgaria love grilling, pork and export a lot of wine. As Rob says, "these are our people!!"
The children are, for the most part, olive skin-toned and have dark hair and dark eyes. Don't laugh, but they look a little German. As you know, I'm very fair skinned and blue eyed...my brother is darker complected, blue eyed and I grew up listening to my mom's comments that she just KNEW if she would have had a third child they would have been dark complected, brown eyed. Well...it might not be a child...but my mom is going to get a dark hair, dark eyed grandchild. That has to be equally as good!
As we were sitting down with my parents, our conversation went something like this.
Rob: So, we have big news...(and then a rushed)...but Nicole's not pregnant.
Nicole: Yeah - so don't go telling me I look all tired. Oh, and dad...we're not getting a hunting dog either. (I think I saw his shoulders sag a little at this.)
Rob: So Nicole's not pregnant, but it looks like Ben and Evan will be a big brothers. We've decided to... ...adopt a daughter... ...from Bulgaria... ...but we are open to adopting sisters.
We've been in on this secret from the very beginning and yet somehow it sounded foreign even to me.
I really want to tell you the whole amazing story...how this is God's fault, how he wrecked two people who were very pleased with their comfortable life, how he opened our eyes to what a mess this world is and how he is using everything we have to bring two family members we didn't even know we had, home.
But you'll have to wait. We just wanted to share our excitement with you. It's not a short or an easy process, but with a little prayer, sometime in the next three years there should be one or two more Peske children.
I know that's what you were thinking when you saw a new blog entry. Well - to my four faithful followers (who have now dwindled down to just my brother) - I apologize.
So let's see...what's new in the Peske house. Well...we had another baby.
Evan is seven months old and loves his giraffe, Miss Sophie Boo-yah (pictured left), eating and his big brother.
Speaking of his big brother. He has become sort of a comedian.
For example, a couple nights ago Rob put a humidifier in Ben's room and told him it would help with his stuffy nose and cough. After praying, Rob asked Ben if he would like to ask for Jesus to heal him. Ben replied, "No. I'll just let the machine do it."
I guess it's good we have this kid in Sunday school.
We just completed a nearly 20 page document (about eight questions per page) where we told the story of our lives. In fact, question number one was,"Please write an autobiography of your life." That's not intimidating at all. 
The children are, for the most part, olive skin-toned and have dark hair and dark eyes. Don't laugh, but they look a little German. As you know, I'm very fair skinned and blue eyed...my brother is darker complected, blue eyed and I grew up listening to my mom's comments that she just KNEW if she would have had a third child they would have been dark complected, brown eyed. Well...it might not be a child...but my mom is going to get a dark hair, dark eyed grandchild. That has to be equally as good! 
Evan is seven months old and loves his giraffe, Miss Sophie Boo-yah (pictured left), eating and his big brother.
I guess it's good we have this kid in Sunday school.
