This forum slow?

I'll see what's going on. I'll write a general message in a bit and let you know. If you don't hear from me by tomorrow, can you write me privately? Seriously, sometimes w/ 10 kids, I kind of forget things. :rolleyes: I always tell folks to remind me. There is also one called FaCab but it is much less active. Are you going to the Bulgarian Reunion this summer in Ohio??

Hi Stephanie - I'm sure with 10 kiddos, that you don't remember me emailing you asking about your deaf son but it's me! We finally have a hold on a deaf boy out of Bulgaria and we are excited!! :happydance: We are waiting for our homestudy approval which is pending our tax return which is waiting on our corrected 1099 form. It's been painstakingly slow because of my corrected 1099 form taking forever! I just want to get my homestudy approved so that I can apply for our i800a or is it 1800 I always get those two mixed up. :rolleyes: Amanda, I have been trying to join that group too and its been pending approval for a few weeks now. Hopefully Stephanie can let the owner know that there are a few interested people in joining. Lynda

We are brand new to Bulgarian adoptions. We had almost completed a Ukraine adoption when the child we were trying to adopt was taken by a priest and is not longer available to be adopted :( So we are starting over with Bulgaria. Our homestudy is just an update, but we get to do everything else over again. :eek: Fun. I had no idea about a trip! I doubt we will be done with this adoption by then. We are trying to adopt a blind boy (we found one, but was told another family was seriously considering him). I have been wanting to be added to that group. I want to know the ins and outs lol

Hi Amanda, Haha!! I, too, want to know what food is good, what not to do as it's a different culture, what is the best travel stuff to bring, etc... What stage are you in the adoption process? This is our first one and we're paperchasing right now. :) Lynda

Well as soon as we can find a child, we will submit to USCIS. We were just approved (I-600a, Bulgaria is I-800) a few months ago to adopt from Ukraine so our fingerprints are still good....that should make things a little bit quicker. We don't want to send our stuff to USCIS till we can find a child. If we can't find one we may have to stick with Ukraine...... What agency are you working with? We are hoping to work with About A Child. I have a friend who works there and they have adopted from Bulgaria before.

Wow! You're almost there! We are working with Children's House International. If you want to know more, PM me as I can't discuss the agency on the forum. We're just starting the journey - sent out all our documents to be apostilled and waiting on a corrected 1099 form before we can do our taxes and then things will really move along. :) Lynda

Try emailing the moderator of the yahoo group again. I know it took me at least 2 times of trying to get added before I finally was. The reunion last summer was wonderful. Here is the blog address [url=http://bulgarianadopteesreunion.blogspot.com/]Celebrating Bulgaria Adoptive Families Reunion 2012[/url] Yvonne and Viviane are in charge of the reunion and do a wonderful job. I went last year as a waiting parent and it was great to get to meet everyone. As for food in Bulgaria, they have the same fast food chains that we do. The food was really good, but not as spicy as I'm use to. The coffee is like espresso X 10. Loved everything we had to eat over there. Most places have their menus in English, there was only one restaurant we went to that didn't and we let them know basically what we wanted and were surprised with the best food we had over there. Over there nodding your head stands for "no" and shaking your head stands for "yes". And yes that was very confusing. We pretty much stood out and they could easily tell we were from the US. I noticed that most of the Bulgarians walked with their heads down and usually didn't make eye contact or smile easily. We felt safe the entire time and had no issues while in the country. It is such a fast first trip that there really isn't much time to catch your breath. From what I understand there will be more down time on the 2nd trip.

Hey Socialkat! The nod shaking thing to either signify yes or no - that will really confuse me! Is there anything that is taboo there? I just want to make sure we don't insult anyone? I did email the moderator twice but I'll try again. I also heard of FaCab on Facebook but I can't find it. How do I find it? Thanks again! Lynda

Yes, the nodding and shaking of the head was confusing and even though I kept thinking I'm doing it wrong....really hard to unlearn it. The Bulgarians knew what we meant and we used da and nay a lot too to say yes and no. As for things being taboo.....I don't really remember anything specifically. I would say to be as kind as possible in all situations and to try not to be offended if you get funny looks....trust me we got plenty of funny looks. Try using as much Bulgarian as you can, they do appreciate you attempting it and will try very hard to use all their English with you. Her is the link for FaCaB [url=http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FaCAB1/]FaCAB1 : FaCAB (Children Adopted from Bulgaria)[/url]

I meant the FaCAB on Facebook? :) I've been told there's people on there too. I'll try to say some Bulgarian words but hopefully they'll understand me since I'm deaf. Haha! I'll have my hubby do it since his speech is better *winks* Thanks to everyone who has replied to my question. I'm getting ideas on where to go to get more information and hopefully I'll learn as the adoption progresses further. Lynda

For some reason I'm thinking the FB page is only for kids adopted from Bulgaria and old enough to be on FB, but I could be wrong. Actually most of us are on FB and are connected though FB.

Oh ok, thanks SocialKat!

Hi! I just checked in again today and saw your post... We are also in the process of adopting from Bulgaria! We have two BEAUTIFUL children and we are still working on paper work. This time we are with Childrens House International! I originaly started visiting this sight when we began our Guatemalan adoptions and I've been around here for quiet a while.... The process is so diffrent! I just love reading about what to expect when traveling. I am trying to learn Bulgarian and I have already tried to stop shaking my head :-)..... I'm so glad to see other parents on this site! Looking forward to lots of good chats and great ideas! Ann

Can someone on the Bulgaria Yahoo Group help me? Based on the suggestions of this post I've applied (twice) the the Yahoo group, but been denied because it had been more than 2 weeks with no response.

Try it again and then send a 2nd email to the owner. The other thing is now the Yahoo group also has a FB page, but you can't see it unless you are friends with someone who is in it and they invite you. I think that might be the quickest way to get added right now.