United we stand

Kyle arrived on December 13. The only non-foggy day in weeks.

We ran to the American Embassy, where he made a sworn statement in front of the US Consul. An old guy spoke Bulgarian to him and got a kick out of the fact that Kyle couldn't talk back.
We took the statement to the Consular Section of the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The statement got legalized only after we had gone to a nearby post office to buy "state stamps". I had not heard of state stamps before. You can make payments to state agencies with them.
We then went to a hospital where we had blood drawn, tests done, lights pointed in our eyes.

The next day we talked to a woman who seemed to have just come back from deep communist pasts to talk to us. She asked me to translate carefully and proceeded to tell Kyle he was very beautiful. More beautiful than any American she had seen and she had seen MANY. Her words, not mine. But I totally agree.

We then had many many dinners with friends and parents. Bought champagne glasses and a pair of shorts and on December 23 got married. The service was short and sweet. The lady doing the service got mad at my sister who was in charge of translating but didn't bother to mimic the strange solemnity of her voice. We all agreed Ena doesn't have a future as an interpreter, but in her defense, have you been to a Bulgarian civil marriage ceremony?!?! See, now you know what I'm talking about.

We spent the Holidays introducing Kyle to the Family. Grandmas and grandpas (total of 4), aunts and uncles (4), cousins (6)...yeah, I know. And, because I know SOMEBODY will ask, we both HAVE seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Tonight we leave for the shortest Honeymoon ever.

All of this, just to tell you why I have been away from my blog for the past couple of weeks. But also to tell you that Mrs. Kirilova-Grady is the happiest Bulgarian kid this Christmas as she got everything she's ever wanted. And THAT much more.



Happy Holidays from the K-G's!