Two Years

Tonight we celebrated, at Bobbi's request, with barbeque potato chips, Coca-cola, and Brookside's dark chocolate pomegranate candy. I know some adoptive families make "Gotcha-Day" a big deal, but I guess for us those days in Sofia between Gotcha-Day and Homecoming Day for both of our adoption trips are such a surreal sort of twilight zone, that it's the actual coming home that makes it really seem real.

I'm hoping to put together some sort of update on how both of the girls are doing, but since I don't want to miss the actual day, will instead just share this: *only* two years later than I had hoped, I have completed Bobbi's quilt! I was able to have it ready and waiting on her bed when she and Daddy got back from this afternoon's physical therapy session. This is what I'd hoped to have waiting for her when she arrived home two years ago:

Though, as I look at this photo now, it's all the little bits and pieces that she has added to the room that really make the picture smile - the shelf in the upper right corner is full of Bobbi's stuffed animals, both from Bulgaria and ones she's acquired since. On the lower left is the Superman backing of the quilt that she and I made together that she showed at the Fair last year. On the walls are the picture of Aslan we gave her last Christmas, and some of the coloring pictures she's done that we've framed. On the bed is the flannel Batman pillowcase Owen sewed for her, in the windows the Superman toy she picked out for herself during her first visit to Target, and a Santa face she brought from Bulgaria that lives in the window year-round. The walls! Vivid blue! In two tones (the north and south walls are darker than the east and west walls) that she picked out on her own. It's a room that's well-lived-in, and has taken on the personality of the young woman that it belongs to. We're so glad she's here.

Mira's quilt is still pending. :) Once I finally got the backing picked out for Bobbi's, I put Mira's completely on hold. All in good time.

These last two years have been the longest-sustained period of challenging times that either Matt or I have lived through. With every other life change that we've gone through - the birth or adoption of children, the death of Matt's Dad, projects like the big addition, major medical diagnosis (Reuben's epilepsy), even things like going through graduate school together, or starting our business(es) together - things have been difficult for a period of time, and then kind of settle in to a new normal where there's regular breathing room. We're still waiting for that reprieve here: that time to stop and catch our breath, but are beginning to wonder if it's going to come. We end most of our days together (when we get the luxury of ending the day in the same bed, which has not been nearly as frequent as we would hope over the last four months in particular!) reflecting on how crazy this life is, but simultaneously, how good it is. It's not at all what either one of us pictured, but it is without a doubt the one that God has prepared for us, and knowing that, we have the strength to keep walking.