Merry Christmas

Our Christmas Break started off with an Ortho appointment. Because of Maria's SB, she also has a curved spine, which gets check up on every 6 months. Well, good news she is doing great. No major change in her back and everyone continues to be happy with where she is at with walking and mobility....honestly she continues to impress them so much. That being said, snow and ice are not Maria's friend. We had an ice storm on Thursday night before the Ortho appt and then a snow storm on Saturday where we ended up with a good 6 inches of snow if not 8. She did well with the snow, but did slip going down the steps because of ice....I was spotting her as I always do with snow and ice and was able to prevent her from really hurting herself. It also helped she knew it might happen and was giggling as I helped her sit down on the step.

Christmas Eve was spent at my parent's home. It was mostly a relaxing day spent playing cards, cooking and watching my mom finish things up. We had a nice time, although I wasn't feeling the best. This was our 2nd Christmas Day together. She has grown so much....it was neat to see the way she responded to things. I had asked Maria after her birthday what she wanted for Christmas. She had told me she didn't know because she has everything she wants and more. She did end up saying she wanted initial M earrings. After much thought I decided to get Maria an iPod nano. She loves listening to music and often will request to listen to music in the evenings. Plus I figured that it was an age appropriate gift that would be easy for her to carry. She loved it....in fact she is in bed listening to it right now through a little speaker accessory kit that came with it. Yup, we had to load it up with songs tonight. I would guess almost half are Bulgarian.

We spent time with family today, grand parents, uncle, cousins, great grandparents and my mom's cousin and her husband. It was a nice day and a lot of fun. We also did a fun game referred to as candy crush.....candy wrapped through a ball of Saran Wrap. The kids loved it and had lots of fun. On the way home Maria said she didn't want the day to end. She wanted more time with family having fun. Hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas too.

 

 

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A day early

I was playing around with some of Maria's photos to show how she has changed. It is amazing to see the transformation not only physically, but also in personality and confidence. Maria was blessed that she was in a very good orphanage, where she was loved and a favorite. For all those families waiting, considering, wondering if you can manage a kiddo with special needs, I hope this gives you hope.

One day early but.....Happy 2 year Metcha Day Maria! Obechem te!

 

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Memories...

This week is full of sweet memories for me. It was two years ago today that my friend and I boarded the first plane heading towards Bulgaria to meet Maria. I drove 5 1/2 hours to Ohare that day, in snow (if you have ever drove 90 in snow, you completely understand this is not the best choice). We boarded our flight to Munich Germany. I can remember being so excited and nervous sleep was not going to come....so, it was a night full of movies. My sweet friend stayed up with me when she could have slept...watching the same movies I was so we were doing everything together. We finally landed in Munich on the 18th and later that day arrived in Sofia. It was a long flight and I just remember being so very tired....seems like so long ago at times. So thankful for an amazing friend who went on the journey with me...not sure what I would have done without you, Dora Beth!

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Racing Wheelchair

I have had trouble finding grants to help with the cost of a racing wheelchair for Maria. She really enjoyed the time she spent in huge racing wheelchair last month and really wants to race. So, I set up a fundraising page for it. Sadly, a racing chair starts at $3200 and insurance pays for none of it. Please share our link, give if you feel led to do so.

http://www.youcaring.com/other/maria-s-racing-wheelchair/114200?utm_source=first-email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=A&utm_campaign=congratulations

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Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving at my parents home. We stayed over night on Wednesday and were there to help Thursday. My brother and his kids came over for lunch and the kids stayed most of the afternoon. I ended up taking a few pictures of Maria for our Christmas card since the photo session we had tried the previous weekend was too cold. It ended up working out well...even got a few photos with my niece in them. We then had a more formal dinner with my parents and grandparents. It was a nice day and we had fun too.

She is starting to look so grown up!

 

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