Two years down the road. Some general updates. New adoption.

Hello, everyone,
I did not post on July 8, when it was actually the second-year anniversary of Thomas and Nicholas' homecoming, because I was having one of those awful migraines that I tend to have from time to time.

Some general updates:

According to Catherine, Gerard, and Warren, I never do enough for their younger brothers. They would like to be able to give their younger brothers the moon. Frequently they make me feel guilty--and I do recognize that time is never enough, that I am constantly on edge due to one new adoption issue or another, and that, in addition, I always have a backlog of paperwork from my law practice to deal with. Yet, I'll try to be a little more postive--at least for one time in my life. Although his spasticiy never resulted in seizures or convulsions, Thomas used to quiver all over with it in the past. Now that does not happen any longer. He had been diagnosed with having a lazy left eye. Well, I will admit that I never followed through with the patches--but instead of a lazy eye, both eyes are bright, curious, expressive, and full of life. He already spoke English from the beginning, but his grammar and vocabulary improved dramatically.

As for Nicholas, the change was tremendous. It seems impossible that he was that little boy with erroneously looking autistic traits who did not seem interested in anything else other than a bucket of toys--that little boy about whom Catherine had to remind me that "he is now your son and our brother" because, in honor to truth, at that moment I wished I could return with only one of them. Now he knows everything, he is on top of everything, he wants to check everything for himself. In total contrast to that initial absent look lost somewhere in space, now it's amazing how very expressive he is.

New Adoption News
I'm traveling to Bulgaria  the second week of August. It'll be trip No. 1, though. Catherine desperately wanted to come with me, but at the last moment, thinking that  her presence at home would make things much easier for the whole family, decided  to stay. Despite her current mobility problems, my mom's mind is still better than mine (much better, I'd say), and I intended to hire an old female client of  mine whom I know for over ten years to come and help a little. After all, Gerard and Warren do everything for Thomas and Nicholas--but, once again, Catherine decided to stay home and take care of things herself. As a little compensation for her selflessness, she's going to Europe with a Catholic tour for ten days in September.  

We're all extremely excited. It doesn't seem true that the actual travel day is already set, and drawing nearer and nearer. Yet---how much nicer it'd be if this could be Trip No. Two!!! We pray to have him with us for Christmas, and it's really hard to wait--but the good thing is that we have absolutely no doubt that Toni will do everything possible and impossible for this to be Plamen's first Christmas at home.