We were ready. We had completed all of the paperwork and it was time bring home our daughter-to-be, Sofija! The countdown was on and we were leaving to adopt her in seven days!
Then came the news that President Trump closed the borders to travelers from Europe. Fearing the worst we immediately began communicating with our agency, Hopscotch Adoptions. Serbia was still open and the decision was ours. Travel or wait and see? We had a quick meeting with our family and the decision was unanimous – pick up Sofija now! But then on March 15, our plans came to a screeching halt when Serbia’s President Aleksander Vucic declared a state of emergency, and nearly every flight in the world was canceled due to Covid-19. We were in limbo as we watched the news and prayed.
Nearly two months later in mid-May, we opened our emails to amazing news! We had been invited to come to Serbia and begin the final stages of our adoption process in-country on June 1… if we were willing to follow certain requirements. Booking flights turned out to be more challenging than we expected, so much so that this mama emailed the White House about 15 times begging for a ride. Finally we got some help from Adoption Airfare who found us a route to Belgrade!
