Update 17Mar14

So, another update on our visa travails. Do you know how ineffective, overofficious, and incomprehensibly bureaucratic our American government is? Let me tell you, we're amateurs compared to the Bulgarians. The positive news: we don't have to travel to Greece. The negative (and it's a lot): we will not be eligible to apply for permanent residency for three more years, even with Elise being a Bulgarian citizen. Furthermore, the entire process - and I mean the ENTIRE process - that we went through to get our initial Visa D has to be done again, including redoing the FBI background checks (which makes no sense, as we've been in Bulgaria pretty much since the last one went through) and providing Avery's birth certificate again (as if, in the last few months we unbirthed him!). And to top it all off, all of that has to be re-notarized, re-certified, and re-apostilled by the State of Tennessee. And did I mention that it'll cost around $450 each for myself, Lisa, and Avery? At least, the next time we have to do this, we'll have all our ducks in a row from experience. Please pray that we have patience to get through the horrors of meaningless paperwork, and if you have the time we'd love to talk with you about why we're so driven to overcome these hurdles for the sake of the Bulgarian people.