Posting from Sofia - Soon I'll be hugging Stephen again!

In the end I made it! Without all the help I got, I wouldn't have made it, though. Even though having a math final on Monday, on Friday, 12/10/10, Warren spent an inordinate amount of time doing the artwork for our Christmas letter, which I very much wanted to get ready before my departure, on the e-vite for Stephen's 9th birthday (and his birthday at home), and helping with many other last-minute things, while Gerard took care of Thomas and Nicholas. Catherine ended up buying most of the clothes for Stephen by going to WalMart in the middle of the night, after being to a parochial Young Adults meeting. Besides, although I did not intend to buy boots for me, she went ahead and did buy a pair of boots for me to wear. And she bought a travel-size tube of an almost magical hand cream, thinking that I tend to get badly chapped skin with the cold.

Despite her age, my mom spent the whole night up in her wheelchair, to help in what she could--and to worry for us, and to pray for everything to get done on time. Once again, her mind is still much better than mine!

In the early afternoon, an envelope had arrived in the mail: it was a $1,000.00 check from our priest, written not from parochial funds, but from his personal account, to help with the expenses.

I flew from San Diego to Washington - Dulles, from there to Vienna, and from Vienna to Sofia, where Toni was waiting for me at the airport. I was so tired that at the airport in Vienna I got awakened by a loudspeaker calling, "Godone-Maresca, Flight to Sofia!" All the other passengers were gone already. There was a second bus waiting for me, to take me to board my plane. Thanks God that I did wake up in the end!!!

Now it's 5:10 a.m. local time (Sofia). In two hours, Toni (the wonderful, amazing Bulgarian attorney) is picking me up to go to Lukovit to get Stephen--forever!!!!

God bless everyone!