The saddest day and a day to be happy sort of

These are 3 of the precious ones on Dancho's floor... the guy playing with the one little one is Toni's brother who was our driver this leg of the trip.... and of course one last one of sweet Dancho

It was very hard to leave my sweet little guy today... we had a wonderful visit with him. He is such a love... he really has changed so much in this past few days... he will be a diff. guy very quickly when he comes home. At first we strolled him outside for an hour... we held and walked him part of that time.... I tried to take it all in before we left... the other children, a little one offering us many of her treasures that she had collected... the tiny baby in a nurse's arms on the balcony looking down at us.... we have been told that we have so encouraged the caregivers... I pray that we have. Then we went upstairs for an hour...we sang to him 45 minutes of that time...mostly praise songs... he loved when we sang halelujah in the songs... he would smile even. I just know the sweet spirit of Jesus is in there.. I can see it on his face. Then we tried a new position- I turned him around and put him between my legs in a sitting position and swayed him back and forth... I was sitting on a chair and he just loved that .. it was easy for me too. Then we prayed for him and had to say our goodbyes... I lost it... thought I would not.. you would think that a mom of soon to be 24 would not get so emotional... but I was a mess... everyone was so sweet and we watched as our son went away to his room with his nurse... not to understand why we did not come back this afternoon. or why he does not get held now or sung to...or why when he is handled it is roughly, we watched them place him in his crib once by 'dropping " him part way..... you are getting my deep aching feelings now... I know that we will see him soon and what a time to rejoice that will be... so please pray for him.

It is now very intensely hot here... like 100 degrees. Thankfully we spend most of our time in ac. We drove back to Sofia and checked into our hotel...it was a little over 5 hrs to drive including a great stop to eat and another stop... it was hot in the van but we are here now.... the roads we traveled were great... nothing like Ukraine or Russia. Many times it looked and felt like home to us... beautiful country side and as someone else shared we love the Bulgarian food... the people we meet are so friendly and again many know english.... those traveling after us... it has been great ... to us this has been the best adoption processs so far.... even as sad as it was today... it has been a far better experience than Ukraine or Russia.....We could pack way less because we would not need all the supplies like kleenex- for tolite paper, as much hand sanitizer or handiwipes, peanut butter, and snacks.. the food has been fresh and tasty.. and it is very clean. I can't wait to share about when we come back ?

We will sightsee Sat. and leave for Vidin early Sun. am ( to beat the heat of the day) .. then we start our visits with Gracie Jane on Monday...