March 21 was a full day of work and fun. Our day began with a morning visit to Orphanage "Nezabravka"in Stara Zagora.  We met with the orphanage director and she shared some of the things that her children do and are involved in.  This is an orphanage that is more involved in the community

Tuesday morning began with a visit to a safe house for women and children affected by domestic abuse. We had been told on Monday that the children in the house were there because they were either witnesses of abuse (but not recipients) or were pulled from their homes because they were being sold in to

On Saturday morning a group of 11 of us visited the orphanage.  There were three people from Down Syndrome Education International, four from Connecting the Rainbow, Amy and I from BRIGHT, and two moms with children with Down Syndrome from Sofia.  We had been told that there were some allegations against the orphanage and that

We had the privilege to participate in a conference organized by the Association of Parents of Children with Down Syndrome.  The conference was titled "How To Develop the Hidden Potential of Children with Down Syndrome."  The motto for the conference was "One Extra Chromosome Unites Us."The conference was a great success.  Total attendees was over

After three flights for me and five flights for Bessie, we finally landed on Bulgarian soil. We collected our six fairly large, very heavy boxes of instruments to donate, and met Steve and Brigitte. Steve is an American missionary from Minnesota, and Brigitte is a mom of four, two with Downs Syndrome, from Iowa. We

10. Europe does not change their clocks at the same time as the USA, so it was only a 6 hour difference from EST and not 7... whoops... 9. Sunny Beach is not actually a sunny beach. 8. What a cockroach looks like...GROSS! 7. Yes is no and no is yes. Bulgarians bobble their

Cities look very different than anything in the states. The roads are very small and the driving is absolutely crazy. People will pass you by creating their own lane--into oncoming traffic or up on the sidewalk, if one is going the wrong way, they just make a U turn wherever, and the parking is