Wednesday, January 30, 2013

The first 5 days...or so.

The first 5 days .... or so... .and I have completely lost track of what day it is.

We got into Warsaw  Friday on a foggy afternoon, both outside and internally.    Adam and Aggie slept about 8 hours of the 9 hour flight, Lee slept about 4 hours, and I slept what felt like about 2.   There was quite a bit of turbulence about 1/2 way through the flight and  the kids and Lee were sitting in a row of three and I was in front of them  in between two men who did not offer their arms to me to grip tight every time the plane bounced around!  LOL!

On Saturday, we had the wonderful pleasure of meeting Sean and Margaret and their very, very  sweet boy, from Match Made in Heaven.   Let me assure you it truly is a Match!  They have a wonderful apartment in the heart of Old Town  in Warsaw and  we have made arrangements to rent it as well.   The best part is it is only one block from COFFEE HEAVEN! Most will remember our routine last time around ALWAYS started off with a 25  minute morning  walk to Coffee Heaven.  Now it will be a 2 minute walk! 

On Sunday our favorite driver, Grzegorz  drove us the three hours to Olstzyn and we settled in at the  Warminski Hotel.   We walked to the completely packed  KFC at the mall and got dinner.  We stuck out like a sore thumb the minute we opened our mouths!!

On Monday we connected with Magda and went to the Adoption Center to meet the director and psychologist and then FINALLY we drove 40 minutes to Ostrada to meet the sweetest little gem in the whole world.  Adam and Aggie introduced themselves just as we had rehearsed.  "Hi, My name is Aggie, I am your big sister, do you want to play with me?"   and Adam likewise.  I was so proud of him when he got the "big brother" part correct, because we had been struggling getting that right!

We spent a wonderful afternoon with the Foster Family and were treated to a very yummy lunch.   We learned a lot and I took tons of notes.   What an incredibly, loving family and Lee and I feel so blessed to have them a part of this story.  

At the end of the day, we checked into our apartment, exhausted and still battling jet lag, however, we made a run to the grocery store for supplies and unpacked the rest of the evening.  

Now what day is it??   On Tuesday we had another fabulous visit and explored the town a bit.

Wednesday was Court day.  Thank you to all my friends and family for praying for calmness at 6 am in the morning.   I truly felt the power as we stepped into court at 1:00 pm.   It lasted 2 hours and I was on the stand for 40 minutes.  The Lawyer commented that I did a really good job!   Lee was on the stand for the same amount of time.

Following court we came back to the apartment, the foster mom tenderly hugged the precious gem and left. Let the Bonding begin!  We will be back in court on March 6th !

Oh, and it has snowed EVERY day we have been here :)

 


Thursday, January 24, 2013

T - 8 Hours


On February 25, 2010 I wrote:
 We are ready. Not "ready as we will ever be" or "it's as good as it's going to get". We are ready. I even had a little "Nesting" time this morning and vacuumed the whole house! We will walk out the door today prepared for the journey ahead, encouraged by family and friends and blessed by God. There has been an amazing amount of symbolism this past week which has left Lee and I taking turns giving each other a wink and a squeeze of the hand as if to say....."Wow, God was really speaking to us right then and I am with you, honey, we can do this!" Thank you. Thank you to all our family and friends for your willingness to handle last minute errands, to pray for us, and to love and support us. It takes a village. 
We are ready and We Are On Our Way to Poland!

Funny how 3 years later it still hold true…….Our bags are packed, I have vaccumed, Lee is  squeezing my hand, and God is still speaking to us. 

We are ready and We Are On Our Way to Poland…..Again!! 

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

The Latest News


FAA grounds Boeing 787s to address battery fires


Go figure that we are booked on a 787.   Does everyone remember the last time we were booked on a flight out of  Poland?.. a Volcano stopped us and all of Europe! 

(we were delayed  one week due a no flying restriction becuase of air quality and an Erupting Volcano in Iceland)

Well, …It will all be okay.  Everything will be fine.  :)

Saturday, January 12, 2013

It will all be fine. Everything will be okay.

It will all be fine. Everything will be okay.

We are down to the home stretch and somehow I find myself in the uncomfortable spot of becoming overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done.      How can that be? I’ve been through this before, I should be ready!     I try so hard to constantly think ahead and when I do I just think of more that needs to be done.       We will be in Poland for 9 weeks. We have been given the opportunity for one trip, but a long one at that. 9 weeks!

It will all be fine. Everything will be okay. 

Thursday after work I went to get groceries for the basics… milk, eggs, and couple of other dairy products, after which I ran into the house and started dinner, kindergarten homework, baths, bed time stories, prayers, oh and then laundry. The next morning I had a quick doctor appointment before work and hopped into my car at 7am.  As I turned the corner I heard something fall over in the back of my car……What was that? Oh, No………I forgot to take my GROCERIES into the house last night!!! Are you kidding me? Someone please tell me they have done this! LOL!!

It will all be fine. Everything will be okay.

We had our travel call last night and are very pleased with our accommodations for the first 4 weeks. We haven’t nailed down where we will be in Warsaw, but

It will all be fine. Everything will be okay. 

Lee & I  elected to work up until the day before we leave to save accrued time for our longer trip. My new piece of advice to couples in this process is TAKE MORE THAN ONE DAY Off before leaving. You need to have a couple of days to “take it all in, re-group, and rest” .

It will all be fine. Everything will be okay.

Have you figured out what my Mantra is yet? And What do you say when you talk to yourself?

It was Adam’s 6th birthday last week!   We had a good time!