We have a court date!

Finally we have our court date.  It has been so long in coming.  Normally a court date is assigned within 2 weeks of your MOJ signature.  My paperwork was signed and approved on February 20th giving approval from Ministry of Justice in Bulgaria for the adoption to go through.  At that point it went into waiting for a court date to make everything official.  Well, I finally found out yesterday that
the court date will be April 8th.  SO, excited because this means I will soon be traveling for pick up.  Hopefully 2 or 3 weeks following the court date I will be able to go over and complete the paperwork to bring her home.  It has been  long haul, harder and more emotional than I could ever have imagined.  Once you have decided a child is yours, it is incredibly hard to wait while the paperwork is shuffled from desk to desk for final approval.

Monika will be spending her last Easter in the orphanage!  There will be so many firsts in the year coming up and I can't wait to experience them with her.  Easter is one of the biggest holidays in Bulgaria, mainly rooted in Eastern Orthodox traditions.  Good Friday begins the week of celebration.  Eggs are colored with red being the main color used but other colors are also used and traditional sweet breads are made.  Many take the red eggs and sweet bread to the church to be blessed by the priests then give gifts of the eggs and bread to family and significant friends.  Easter is called the "Great Day". Many greet others by saying "Christ is Risen!" and the other person replies "Christ has risen indeed!"

Here are a couple of pictures of traditionally decorated eggs and sweet bread.  After the eggs are blessed, over the next several days each person bumps their egg against the eggs of others, cracking them.  The person whose egg stays uncracked for the longest amount of time is thought to have good luck in the year to come.  Of course, Bulgarian being a mix of different ethnic groups and beliefs, these traditions do vary by family and region, but this is the most common.  I look forward to incorporating some of these traditions and recipes into our own family celebrations to make unique experiences that will celebrate both cultures.  I am excited that in both cultures, Easter is of great importance and in both Christ's sacrifice and resurrection is the reason for the celebration.

Please continue to pray as we go through the final stages, that there will be no more delays.  Due to the delay in getting my court date, some of my finger prints and doctors recommendation have expired so I will need to get that redone before court.  I just cannot even tell you how ready I am to walk out of those doors with a precious new daughter.  I am also thankful to my kids, family and friends for welcoming this little one into their hearts!