Finally...in Bulgaria!

Here we are! In Sofia, Bulgaria. Finally! We had such a great time visiting family and friends, but it is sooooo good to be "settled" again. So good. Whew, it was exhausting. Off-topic (when do I really stay ON topic?) but here's Bran, in Dulles airport, chatting up a little kitty cat. He loved these little animals...you know, the ones sitting on a table, walking and barking/meowing. So cute. He got down there on the floor with them and was just having this high-pitched conversation with them.

But here we are! And we love it so far. We're very excited for our time in this part of the world. We have a really nice sponsor family, the Bauers, who are with the Peace Corps. They have a 2-1/2 yr. old little girl, and a baby boy. They had us over and have been great. Our house is huge! As in, it's 3000+ sq. feet, and that doesn't count the many-roomed basement (one room even fully carpeted with fake grass. Oh, the possibilities!) and big garage. Nuala christened the place our very first afternoon by stripping half naked and pooping in the front yard. Bum facing the street, of course. That's our girl!

We have an awesome backyard, with NO pool! Which, though it has been dang hot here the past few days, is a relief. We'll play in the hose. There are lots of nice shade trees, and we're right on the side of Mt. Vitosha -- which apparently is home to 15 or so of the 1000 bears that live in Bulgaria, so we'll keep our eyes peeled. Here's a shot of the backyard. And a pic of Nuala twirling in the nice, soft grass. Our grass in Uruguay wasn't quite so nice, but I think part of that had to do with us neglecting to water it regularly...we won't make the same mistake here. Anyway, our gardener comes 4 times a week, for a few hours at a time, and he's been doing the watering. He's great.

Our bottom floor is so open! I love it. The side facing the backyard is lined with floor to ceiling windows...nice. Embassy furniture is the same everywhere, so the couches, dressers, etc. are all very familiar. That, too, is nice. This picture's from the corner of our living room, and off to the right extends another living area and the dining/kitchen area, and some other smaller rooms. See those windows? So cool. The gardener, Jordan, cleans them for us, at least the outside, so that's even cooler.

We did make it to church on Sunday. Actually, we looked online, and found the 3 branches here in Sofia, but there were no meeting times posted, so we guessed at 9am and caught a cab out to where the address was. And then we walked around for 45 mins trying to find the place. Right when we were about to give up, we found it, and were in plenty of time for the 10 am start. The branch is so little! 32 people there on Sunday, usually around 25 or so. NO children. Okay, that's wrong. Three kids, now that we've moved in. There's one other little American family, the husband is going to med school, the wife is an opera singer, and they have a 4-yr old daughter. They're really nice, and so the 3 kiddos get to be in class together. Everyone was really welcoming. I love the church! Not just the restored Gospel part of it, which is, of course, the most important part, but how it's the same everywhere. No matter where in the world you go, it's the same. You totally feel at home. And the members are so nice. I think especially in the smaller, poorer areas. Anyway, I think we're really going to love our little branch. There are a few people who speak English, and hopefully our Bulgarian improves. I will say, Z was pretty impressive. Though he didn't study Bulgarian at all for our 6 weeks of home leave, using what he remembered from his classes before we left Uruguay he still was able to communicate with our non-English speaking taxi drivers and a little bit with people at church. Smart fella! Hmmm...the lack of children in the branch DOES make our little strong-willed and loud Nuala really stand out, I'll tell you. Wow. Talk about a quick exit during sacrament meeting. Next Sunday we're sitting right by the door.

And jet lag! Boy, are we suffering. Mostly second-hand jet lag. N&B are not doing well. I think I'm going to go insane. More insane, I should say. They go to sleep about 8 or so, which isn't bad, but apparently that's just a little "nap" because they're up about 2 or 3 hours later...for about 4 or 5 hours...sigh. Nuala has been getting slightly better, but Bran...oh Bran. Good thing he's a dang cute little guy, though that's hard to fully appreciate at 3 in the morning as he's saying "wake up, Noona!" and rattling blinds, etc., etc. And I still feel pukey. It stinks, but it's gotta end soon, right? Right? Though I still maintain that it's totally worth it and I'm very grateful the Lord is sending us another little one! 13 weeks along...1/3 of the way there!

So there's a little update. We still don't really have internet, but luckily one of our neighbors has a wireless signal we can use if we're in juuuust the right corner of our house. But we have to stand up, sometimes even hold the computer over our heads (good thing it's a laptop) and it's really quite uncomfortable, especially being tired and pregnant. So, I haven't really caught up on blogs, etc. much. If you hadn't noticed. Even these past six weeks in the States I didn't get online much. I'm sorry! I still love you all, or probably at least like you, if I check your blog, and hopefully we get internet this next week or so and I can indulge once again! So, until then!

Oh, also I wanted to mention, in case I don't get on for a while...that I am turning 30 on Thursday! What in the world?? When did this happen? I'm okay with it, I mean soooo many of you are way older than me (haha ;) but it still just sounds so weird!! I still don't really feel grown-up, but apparently I am...

And I had to include these next pictures because of the rarity of the event. Nuala and Bran were playing TOGETHER and NOT fighting. We were shocked. They often play together, but it usually turns into some sort of brawl after a couple of minutes. "No, Ban, NO!" is often heard, at top volume, around our house. Poor Bran. Nuala is quite bossy, but he is quite a little instigator, the rascal. Lovs to push her buttons. But here they were actually cooperating. Seriously amazing! (Yes Erin, you might indeed recognize those panties...tell Brigit thanks... ;)