Sheppard's Field Journal: Papa and Jeje Visit Bulgaria

We were excited to spend the last two weeks showing my parents our life here in Bulgaria. While we all know they came to see little guy (said of course just to get a rise out of mom ;) ) they were good sports in our tours of what we do here as well. 4+ Orthodox churches, dinners and lunches with our co-workers, a visit to mom’s group, a trip to the zoo, and an evening at Awanas were only brief smatterings of Sofia we were able to share.

A highlight included a day trip to the Rila Monestary. While Marc and I had been before, Fall in all of it’s glory had arrived and was beautiful to explore on a brisk, sunny autumn day. We all felt like school children on a field trip as we drove up the mountain road past Rila. Dad enjoyed the livestock which ambled across the road every now and then, and taking pictures of Bulgarian tractors.

It was a lovely time and made home, for a brief period, seam not so far away. We were grateful for good weather and good health for my parents. The two weeks flew by, and we could have easily filled another two more. My parents need another 2 weeks of vacation just to recover. While dad knew before hand Bulgaria is far from handicap accessible, with a little help from Marc, they got to experience quite a bit of Sofia. Only once was he half thrown out of his wheelchair. Mom also experienced a bit of how dangerous it is to walk with your “shoulders up, head held high” here. We saw her acrobatic side as she missed a 2 inch step in the middle of a restaurant while carrying Drew and did a textbook tuck and roll to save Drew any harm. Overall the greatest joy was to see how happy Drew was with everyone together. Numerous times he would say, “Papa, JeJe, Drew, Mommy, Daddy do it to-geth-ER.”