After a virtual first trip and final two-week pickup trip to Bulgaria in June of 2021, Geno and Matthew brought Dara home. She started daycare, then preschool, absorbing English at an astonishing rate. She celebrated her first birthday within a family in November, basking in everyone’s attention. 

Then came April of 2022, with seizures possessing her petite body for close to an hour at a time ― and the unexpected breakup of her new parents’ marriage in dramatic fashion. Two months later, Geno moved with her children, just 20 months apart, to a new town, closer to her family. Thankfully, the exposure to grandparents and uncles has been a spark of positivity for Dara, and she loves her school and teachers.