We have finally completed our homestudy! It is currently with our placing agency for review. There are a lot of things that will happen between now and then, but we hope to leave for our first trip around the end of March. During that trip, we will meet the kids, spend time with them, and finalize our plans. We will officially accept our referral and the kids will be on the way to being ours! Before that trip happens, however, our second agency payment is due. 
Right before Christmas we made our first payment of $7,275. Our next payment is our biggest one: $13, 365. This will be in addition to travel expenses (airfare, lodging and meals) while we spend approximately 2 weeks in Bulgaria. 
We are actively applying for grants, which we hope will cover a large portion of this (and the third payment's) expense...but getting a grant is uncertain, and we may end up with nothing. We appreciate any and all help, as well as sharing this amongst your family and friends. There are 315,000,000 people in the US...if 1% of them donated $1, we would have 30 times more than we need! It doesn't take much to change the world...at least the world for this family.