based on a true story...

then I guess we will just embrace it

2010-12-29T15:31:00.003-06:00

Snow, snow, and more snow.

Happy New Year! We're looking forward to all kinds of fabulous-ness in 2011.

happy holidays 2010

2010-12-23T09:51:00.000-06:00

Click here for a Christmas greeting from our family to yours...

We are so grateful to you all for your support, advice and friendship. We truly value the Polish adoption community and know that you will be here when we need you. Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you all! We know that 2011 will be a year to remember.

is this thing on?

2010-11-21T15:50:00.001-06:00

What have we been doing these last few months? I'm so glad you asked.

So very much soccer.

A whole lot of homework.

Plenty of bike riding.

Some ninja-ing.

A mother-son thirteenth birthday getaway to Seattle and Vancouver.

Some art projects.

Piano lessons every week.

But still plenty of down time for for the kids to build a fort in the first big snow of the season with their uncle.

And about 525,600 other things -- busy is the name of the game. We are in a constant state of motion around here. It's just the way we like it.

pbs video series

2010-09-25T15:02:00.000-05:00

Have you watched this video yet? Wo Ai Ni (I love you) Mommy is a documentary about one family's experience adopting an 8 year old girl from China. There are so many honest moments. So many moments I could relate to. Memories came flooding back at every stage. You should check it out. It will be on their site through November 30th.

school reads

2010-09-22T11:27:00.003-05:00

We prepare and prepare for these school assignments that we know will be a bit tricky for our Chris. We wonder how we will handle some of them and hope we make the right decisions.

And then the school goes and takes it easy on us. For his reading assignment this week, his fourth grade class was reading this story, I'm New Here. Go ahead; go check it out. I'm hoping this story is available at your library. Or maybe your kids use the Houghton Mifflin Readers too.

It was a story with so many parallels for my Chris that he smiled and nodded knowingly the whole way through. And since we have been home for a while now, he was just a perfect spot to talk about it. We had to pause after almost every paragraph as there was just so much Chris wanted to say.

There are so few books out there that really are able to relate, I thought I'd share the love. Finding books that spark these conversations are priceless.

** Edited to ask: What books have you found helpful to get conversations going with your youngsters that were adopted? Adoption related or not. It seems that the good ones are few and far between... Any suggestions would be appreciated!

these are the days

2010-07-23T09:52:00.003-05:00

Not long ago, I wrote about how lucky I feel to have moved past all the "firsts" that came with our first year home as a complete family. And it is completely true. Life is good as we move into the routine of family life. But I forgot a few important details...

You see, our first summer home was pretty great. We had an amazing summer together camping, fishing, swimming, biking, and doing all those things that families do. But not quite all the things that families do. Karl and I had made a very deliberate decision to make that first summer very laid back. This wasn't too hard, as we are indeed pretty laid back in general. But it did change a few things.

One of the biggest things it changed was our summer weekends up north. Last summer, we specifically only did camping trips with the four of us. Don't get me wrong; we had some great times. And it was completely intentional: we wanted Chris to see how we camp. We wanted Chris to rely on us for direction. We wanted the kids to play together and bond. We wanted to make sure that Chris was not confused about who to ask permission for various things. We wanted him to see how we camp/vacation/etc.

He obviously got a chance to meet and spend plenty of time with our friends and family. We weren't hiding him from the world by any means. But there were certain areas we knew would be too hard for him to manage himself in if let too loose.

All this to say, this summer we got a chance to show him a new side of summer. The side where we go up north to stay at friends' cabins and go camping with big groups of people - more kids, more parents, more friends, more everything.

And woah, boy! Were we right. Last year would have been too hard. But even better? This year was just right. He knew to ask us before accepting a Sprite offered by a friends' mom. He knew to check in with us before riding bikes around the cabin property. He knew that he should put his life jacket on before walking out onto the dock to get in the boat. He knew that no matter how many times someone else offered him a s'more, he needed to check in with us to see if he had reached his limit for the night.

Last year he would have only been able to watch from the boat as kids (and grown ups) went flailing around behind the boat on tubes. His English would not have been strong enough - nor would we have trusted him to know what to do when he went flying off the tube. He would not have been able to understand that riding a four wheeler doesn't happen every day - just up north. He would not have been able to understand that each family has different rules for just about everything without feeling like it wasn't fair in some way.

Yes - this year has allowed us so much more freedom. And these are the summer days that we will remember.

All three of my boys behind the boat tubing...

Polish Fest

2010-06-30T17:54:00.001-05:00

Better late than never, I always say!

We had a chance to get to Polish Fest in Milwaukee to meet up with some of our very favorite adoption bloggers. It was a riot seeing these online friends come to life!

It was an adventure just getting to Milwaukee as we ended up with a little bit of car trouble so we got to spend some quality time at the car dealer...

Fortunately, there was still a little time to take in a random road-trip monument along our way.

And while in town, we had plenty of time to relax.

We're looking forward to being able to head back next year. Mark your calendars, Milwaukee. The Polish adoption bloggers contingency will be back!

returning books

2010-06-12T12:38:00.002-05:00

Lazy summer morning trip to the library? Check.

Sending excited boy up ahead to put books in book return? Check.

Excited boy not taking time to read the signs and putting them in the outgoing mail box? Check.

Awkward conversation with librarian? Check.

All in a mom-day's work.

target field

2010-06-11T08:29:00.000-05:00

Summertime means lots of things. In our house it has a lot to do with baseball. And a first game at the new ballpark was high on the list of to-do's this summer. Check.

reading, reading, reading

2010-05-02T08:06:00.005-05:00

Reading is something I take for granted. I have always been a reader. I have a book going at all times and the the kids see me reading frequently.

Daniel is currently devouring all things Maximum Ride. James Patterson's next series is on his radar for later, as is the new Rick Riordan book coming out this week. He tears through the books in no time, sometimes stopping to read something for school between books. It is pretty common for him to drag a book where ever we go so that he can spend a few minutes reading in the car or even in a store if there is time.

None of this is put past Chris. He sees everyone read, and wants desperately to know how to read as well. At book stores and libraries he picks out stacks of books he wants to read. He will even sit on his own with a book for 10 minutes paging through. But the books he picks up are always out of his (current) league. He wants to be able to read the same chapter books that his friends at school are reading: Magic Treehouse, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dragon Slayers Academy, etc.

I am indeed fine with him paging through books that are much past his ability, but we also dedicate time every day to do some reading that is at his reading level. This is where things get complicated. Because he is 10. And the books that are at his level are not geared for 10 year olds.

And while Chris desperately wants to know how to read, he really has no interest in the actual process of learning how to read.

We're trying something new these past few weeks to incorporate the books he wants to read into the mix. Now, I scour the library system for books I think are level appropriate. And I try to pick ones that are not super babyish. He reads those same three books to me each night for a week (or a little more). And after he reads them to me, I read him one or two chapters of one of the books his peers are reading. So far, so good. He complains less, looks forward to hearing the chapter book, and progressively gets better at the books he is reading so by the end of the week he feels pretty successful.

He does lose the ability to pick his own books each night, but overall, he is doing really well with the new strategy. It is definitely more time consuming for me as I am spend lots of time on the library website looking for books I think will be good and adding them to my queue. And occasionally we get a dud book, although I can usually tell by paging through it briefly at the library if it is going to be a total bust.

Last week our reading list included the following:

Chicken Said "Cluck"
Orange Pear Apple Bear [This one was super easy, but he kind of liked it anyway (or at least liked having one he could get through really fast).]
There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Fly Guy [He LOVES the Fly Guy series in general.]
Dragon Slayers Academy book one: New Kid at School

The nice thing about all of these books is that Chris can actually read them aloud with very little assistance. There are certainly challenging words in each book, but most of them he can sound out with help. By the end of the week, he was reading all of the books without help or prompting. And I'm a big believer in giving him as many reading successes as humanly possible.

I still have to stop at the library later today, but this coming week will look like this:

Snack Attack
Teeny Genie [I actually bought this one yesterday on a tip from another smart mom.]
There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Fly Guy [We're repeating this one for the next few weeks as Chris chose it to use for his book report at school that is due mid-month -- we'll just keep reading it every night until the report is done.]
And of course more Dragon Slayers Academy, New Kid at School

My favorite places to find book ideas are readkiddoread, amazon, barnes and noble, scholastic books, and our local library site. Sometimes I also check specific author websites. Any suggestions on other places I should be looking? Any favorite books your kids read that I could look into?

stuck in the middle again

2010-04-03T14:15:00.005-05:00

When people first meet Chris, it is easy for them to assume he has been in the States for much longer than he has. He can carry on conversations with ease. He is a socialite who likes to communicate.

On his first night at basketball practice, the coach rounded up the team and asked them to sit in a circle. He asked the kids to introduce themselves with their name and an animal that they like that starts with the same letter as the first letter of their first name.

Chris looked up to me in the bleachers. His eyes were pleading.

For the love of all things fair and equitable, he was not called on to go first. He listened as the other kids spoke, one by one. As it came closer to his turn, one of the assistant coaches (and our neighbor) came to his rescue. He ran to Chris’ side and whispered something in his ear.

When it came time for Chris, he spoke so very softly. He said, “I am Chris. My favorite animal is a cat.”

As I smiled broadly for Chris, and quietly cheered him on, I realized how often this kind of experience must happen to him. How many times he pretends to know what is going on because it is easier… At school, at home, with his friends…

+++++

A few weeks ago, we went to Polish mass at a local church. We have talked about going frequently, but Chris has always declined – not wanting to go. But one day, he asked if we could go to Polish mass. He was ready.

As we settled into our seats, Chris was excited to find that our friends were at church too! Oh, how he loves our friends, Pan and Pani. As the mass got started, we followed along in the missal which had Polish on one side and English on the other.

Chris smiled as the mass got started. But then his brow started to furrow. And then I saw his nose crinkle. Half way through the homily, he tugged at my shirt. “Mama, I don’t want to stay anymore.” I assured him that he would be fine. “But, Mama,” he said, looking like he was going to cry, “I don’t understand him. I don’t know Polish anymore.”

+++++

And so my baby is caught between two languages. His Polish is (almost) gone. His English is still being built.

+++++

We know that Chris can get his Polish back. He has already expressed an interest in hanging out with our friend Pani for a few days. We know it is still in there, it just needs to be practiced every now and then now that he is ready to explore Polish again.

We also know that Chris wants desperately to be perfectly fluent in English. He wants to fit in with all the other kids and not worry that he is missing something important. We can help with that. We just need to remind ourselves every now and then that he needs our help more than he lets on.

taking a break from it all

2010-03-01T16:45:00.006-06:00

We took a mini-vacation this past weekend with the boys and they were in seventh heaven. I am raising two lego maniacs, so a trip to Legoland in Carlsbad, CA was the thing that all their dreams were made of.

The miniature displays were something to see - there were details to uncover everywhere you turned.

Neither of my boys are huge ride fanatics, but we tried out every last ride we could while we were there.

We got some much needed sunshine and recreation. And we had time to celebrate one whole year of being a family doing something none of us will forget.

emerging themes

2010-02-14T17:30:00.002-06:00

I spent the morning reading my personal journals from when we were in Poland. I wrote the most during our first two weeks in Poland - during our bonding period up north.

The emotions came flooding back to me. Our days were roller coaster rides filled with non-stop activity. And then I started to really remember what it was like...

I had indeed forgotten some of the earlier days. The sequence of some of the events were falling out of order in my mind...

I'm so glad I wrote it down. I wrote a lot less in my personal journal after we got to Warsaw. I'm not sure why... Maybe because we had better internet access and I could use the internet more often? I did write here more often once we got to Warsaw. I was able to have e-mail conversations with people back home.

But I wish I had written even more in my personal journal. There are some days, even some of the bad ones, that I would like to see through my fresh, first hand eyes, one more time. I read about some of the days here, on my blog, and I remember the holes I intentionally left out. The stories that were less than ideal and not internet ready. I want to remember what I was really feeling.

Some of it is hard to read - the confessions of a new mom. Other bits of my journal were incredibly raw. Reminding me how tired we were. How happy we were. How much unknown we were wading through.

Most of all, I am reminded of how much Karl and I relied on each other during those first weeks up north. We were already parents before we arrived in Poland, so we had already developed and honed our parenting styles and philosophies. But we relied on each for consistency and for support. We relied on each other when it became clear that we had no idea how difficult it would be to miss our Daniel back home. We relied on each other when the language barrier got too overwhelming. We relied on each other when surprises came out of left field during the process over and over again. Our team work was a necessity, and it was empowering at the same time.

We are not really a family who tends to make a big deal about valentine's day, but today I say, happy heart day to my husband! We make a pretty awesome team, if I do say so myself.

(Photo: Karl and Sarah in Miedzyzdroje, February 2009)

opening ceremonies

2010-02-13T16:05:00.003-06:00

Even though our Chris will tell us that he does not want to speak Polish any more. That he doesn't want to wear his Polska hat anymore. That he is American now. He still was cheering along with us when the Polish athletes came walking into the Olympic Stadium last night.

He came down stairs with his little Polish flag we got in Old Town and his little American flag he collected on the Forth of July - waving them both with pride.

As we watched video clips of the snowboarders, he started talking about when he would get to go to the Olympics.

Him: Can I go to the Olympics?
Me: Why of course you can go to the Olympics. It takes a lot of practice to get to the Olympics you know.
Him: Would play I with Poland or with America?
Me: Which team would you prefer to play for?
Him: Both?
Me: Sounds good to me, kiddo.

(We'll work out the details later.)

Go Team USA! And Team Polska!

day of recovery - take 2

2010-02-06T21:37:00.000-06:00

When the kids are feeling anxious about something, we often remind them that they have a choice. They can choose to call the butterflies in their stomach nervousness, or they can choose to call those butterflies excitement. That there are some situations where we are able to manipulate our minds into believing what we tell it - regardless of the realities.

Last year on February 3rd, 2009, Karl and I were in Poland on what we often refer to as our Day of Recovery. We had arrived in Poland the day prior and we were to meet Chris the next day. This in-between day was one we used to explore Chris’ home town. We visited the mall. We shopped for items we had forgotten back in the States. We rested in our hotel room. We talked about what we thought was to come. We had butterflies in our stomachs. Lots of them. But there was little choice in the matter. It was a definite case of excitement.

This year, we were on the other side of the spectrum. On February 3rd, 2010, Karl spent another day of recovery – but this year he was recovering from a surgery he had so very early that morning. We had so many butterflies for a few weeks prior in anticipation. But these were most certainly the kind of butterflies that were attributed to nervousness. There was no doubt about it.

And we were reminded again that sometimes our very own advice is not applicable. Perhaps even completely faulty. It isn’t to say that we won’t use it again, but it may be that we are more cognizant of the fact that the boys are telling us the truth when they say, "No, this most certainly is nervous!"

--
--

Last year, on February 4th, 2009, we met our Chris for the very first time. Our lives were changed forever for the better and we knew we had so much to look forward to - whether we knew just what it was we were looking forward to or not. It was a day that was filled with emotion and one that I can relive in my mind over and over again.

This year, on February 4th, 2010, we heard the word we had been waiting so desperately to hear. Benign. I sat next to my husband as he lay in the hospital as the doctor said the word. I grabbed Karl's hand and I finally exhaled. Our life has indeed been forever changed by the anxiety of the last few weeks, but it has again been changed for the better and we know we have so much to look forward to.

February 4th is a date we will not forget for so many reasons. A day of life altering moments and a day of thanksgiving.

looking back

2010-01-25T20:57:00.000-06:00

About this time last year, I was frantically double and triple checking my lists. I was worried that we were forgetting something and trying to make sure that our to-do lists were accurate and complete.

We were making approximately a dozen trips to Target a week.
We had anxiety building in our stomachs as we put together the calendars of Daniel's care - school times, basketball games, practices, assignment due dates, etc.
We were confirming our health care coverage overseas.
We were making arrangements at the bank.
We were packing clothes, converters, toys, etc.... Then unpacking and packing again... Pack, unpack, repeat. (Wait. Maybe that was just me.)
We were securing notarized consent to give my parents temporary authority over Daniel and to allow him to fly overseas with my mother.
We were e-mailing with our hotel to find out how much to expect our taxi to cost from the airport once we arrived in Poland.
We were confirming with our agency all of the paperwork we should bring along and getting cell phone numbers from our lawyer and our guide/translator in Poland.
We were teaching my parents how to use Skype.
We were confirming FMLA arrangements.
We were exchanging information with a family who had been in Poland the year prior who were gracious enough to let us borrow their pay-as-you-go cell phone for Poland.
We were reassuring Daniel that even though big changes were coming, some things never, never change.
We were shopping non-stop for clothes for Chris and trying to obtain some information about sizes from the orphanage.
We were finding out about another couple that was going to be traveling and adopting at the same time as us - we would be in the same apartment building for our bonding period.
We were wrapping up projects at work and training colleagues how to manage our workload while we were gone.
We were fretting about caregiver gifts. (Most likely just me again on this one.)
We were arranging pet-care for our cats.
We were trying to see as many of our extremely well-wishing family and friends before we left town.

About this time last year, I was worried that we were forgetting something and was desperately trying to make sure that all of our lists were accurate and complete.

The last two weeks before take-off were overwhelming, to say the very least. We were anxious, but had little time to acknowledge our anxiety as there simply was no time. It was chaotic and things were accomplished and crossed off our to-do list in a haphazard manner, in no particular order.

Last year, we flew out of the States on February 1st. We arrived in Poland on the 2nd. We had a day of recovery on the 3rd. We met Chris on the 4th. He has been a a part of our lives from that day forward - and there has been no looking back.

My well-worn journals from Poland will be my reading material over the next few weeks. I am taking a cue from my good friend to do some revisiting to where we were one year ago. And to see how far we have come. I can't promise to be as resourceful or even as forthcoming, but I am going to try to reflect on our trip to Poland to complete our family. A trip that seems so very far away and just like yesterday at the same time. We'll see how I do...

double digits

2010-01-19T21:58:00.006-06:00

Birthdays come and birthdays go. But it is hard to contain the excitement of a little boy who is turning ten.

"It's today! It's today! I'm ten! I'm ten!"

There was so much hoopla for this first birthday home that it sent us all into a tizzy. There is no doubt we will all remember the gifts. "Mama! I got a bike! A bike! A bike! Can I ride it?"

And we will remember the cake. "Mama! It has cars on the cake! Please, I want to eat my name!"

And we will remember sledding with friends at the local hot spot of a hill. "Watch me again, Mama! Did you see how fast I went, Mama! Will you ride with me? Please! Please! Please!"

And we will remember celebrating at Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner. "There will be more presents! I love my birthday! Can I have more cake? Can I have more ice cream?"

And we will remember being exhausted at the end of the day. Perhaps we will even remember that all of this in one short day is a lot of stimulation for one little boy who is just turning ten, for goodness sake. He can't possibly be able to smoothly handle a day of over-attention, gifts, friends, family, and self reflection as well as we could hope for. There is just no way.

It was just two weeks into meeting Chris that I sent an e-mail to the principal of the boys' current school. I wanted to give her an update on how things were going and send her a few pictures of the little boy who would soon be joining the second grade. Here is an excerpt from that e-mail:

"Chris is an active child and has been keeping us busy. He is very athletic (soccer, gymnastics, tennis, swimming, anything really) and likes to be on the move. He craves structure and is always quick to ask what is next on the plan. He is very social, so I believe his English will come quickly...."

It turns out we have had him pegged since the very beginning. It is still all so very true. But there are some things we didn't know right from the very beginning...

Like how much he loves hugs of all kind. Yes, sometimes he cringes and even acts shy about it, but hugs always put him in a good mood. The kind of good mood that makes us all smile.

Like how quickly he would want to speak in English only - no Polish, thank you very much.

Like how much he would want to be just like his daddy in every single way.

We are so proud of our little guy. He has proven to us all that he is more resilient than a ten year old boy should need to be. We know that this year will bring so many more smiles, surprises and joys.

Happy birthday, dear Christopher. Double digits here we come.

holiday recap and recovery period

2010-01-13T20:49:00.007-06:00

Presents, family, snow, celebrations, more presents, more snow, more family, plenty of homemade cookies, some singing, even more snow*, much thankfulness for that random snow blower purchase last summer, and an excellent Christmas was had by all. It will be a holiday season to remember.

*Edited to note: Also the tiniest bit of sadness amidst all this snow that we sold our snow mobiles last winter... But in our defense, we used the funds for a pretty awesome trip to Poland. :)

memories of the season

2009-12-23T11:01:00.003-06:00

It is almost Christmas. Many presents are already wrapped. Many are yet to be bought. Every time a present is placed under the tree, Chris oohs and awes over the beautiful wrapping paper, looking closely to see who it might be a gift for. He is READY for Christmas.

I have meaning to post about getting ready for the season for some time now... I even have about a dozen draft posts to prove it!

Decorating the tree is something we all look forward to each year. Karl brings all the boxes out of storage, and we put the ornaments on one at a time - reminiscing about where we were when we received the ornaments. Many were made by Daniel at school when he was so very little up through last year. Many were our own little craft projects at home (Obama ornaments anyone?). Many were gifted to us by friends and family we adore. Presents from Daniel's teachers throughout the years. Others we hand select to remind us of something special that happened during the year. So many memories wrapped up in our Christmas boxes...

This year as we went through the box, Chris was as delighted as the rest of us to pull out the Batman ornament from the year Daniel fell in love with that super hero. And the oh so many sport team ornaments from all of our favorite teams. When we started telling the story about when Daniel painted the little teddy bear ornament in preschool - he was just two years old, Chris was amused that Daniel could ever have been that little.

But then his face changed a bit. "Mama, I would make you bumps [ornaments] too if I could be here when I was little." (Insert Mama trying not to cry here). Yes. Yes, you would have made us a tree full of memories if you were here for the first years of your life.

Then he pulled out the precious ornament commemorating Daniel's early years obsession with penguins. Similar to one that many families perhaps have on their tree... three penguins in a row personalized with our names painted underneath. "But what about me, Mama? Where am I?" So many reminders for Chris that we were a family of three before a family of four. "Maybe we can leave a few ornaments off this year," I tell him.

As we all sat back looking at the finished tree in the living room, I jumped up from the couch. Mentioning that there was one last ornament to put on the tree.

I came back with a little box. A little box with a brand new ornament in it... a tiny snow globe that read "Chris" underneath it. His beam was greater than the lights on the Christmas tree!

Since we put up the tree, Chris has already started adding more ornaments of his own. A present from his third grade teacher. A lollipop ornament he made in class. A candy cane ornament he made at home. Memories of a first Christmas at home.

Merry Christmas, everyone, from our family to yours.

all about santa

2009-12-14T20:40:00.002-06:00

There were more than enough smiles to ensure that a ridiculously large number of items from his (four page) list will be taken care of by Santa this year...

tell me about your day

2009-11-24T19:50:00.002-06:00

I was talking with Chris on Friday about his day at school. He told me about an art project they had been working on; he mentioned that his before-school tutor was extra nice that day; he confessed how hard it is to be good all day long; he told me in detail about a football game they played at recess.

And then it hit me. We have only been home for seven months. Just last March we were still talking to him in directives: Sit down; Be quiet; Dinner time; Clean up; Love you.

I see him every day, so the changes usually hit me in waves. It has been a fast process, but also a gradual process. We are finally having conversations.

---

Side note: I wrote over here about how Chris' mastery of the English language changes the way we are able to talk about his adoption story with him. Let me know what you think... we are still trying to work it all out.

twelve

2009-11-17T19:21:00.011-06:00

I have been meaning to post about Daniel's birthday for much too long now. There is just so much to say. There was so much celebrating to do. But today, on Prematurity Awareness Day, it seems like the time is now.

If I close my eyes for just a moment, I can go back to the day he was born in an instant. Most days, just thinking about that day makes my eyes well up with tears. He came so very quickly, and without warning. There was chaos, uncertainty, fear and, most of all, love. He was born 15 weeks too soon.

Back then we took it day by day. Just hoping we would be able to leave the hospital with Daniel in our arms. I couldn't imagine then what twelve would look like.

Daniel is the kind of kid who creates things out of legos that the rest of us would simply imagine. He has the patience to look for "just one more piece" long after the rest of us have given up on the search. He can follow the complex instructions, but his best creations are the ones he creates from scratch.

He is also the kind of kid who will give me the Wag of the Finger for doing something none to smart. He has a sense of humor well beyond his years. He is able to have me rolling with the stories he tells. But even better is his laugh. Once he gets into that laugh, look out. It is contagious.

He is a thinker. He rolls information around in his head until it feels just right. His nature walks around the neighborhood allow him to indulge that thinking. He notices the most intricate details of every situation and can always give me new perspective on something I thought was one sided.

This year, we got to see an entirely new side of Daniel. We got to see him become a big brother. It was a role he was not sure he would be comfortable in at first, but he has grown into it more seamlessly than we ever could have anticipated. I can see him becoming more confident in himself and in his decisions. He is resourceful, helpful, patient and kind to his brother when his brother needs it the most.

Happy birthday, Daniel. This is going to be the best year yet.

all the best conversations happen in the car

2009-11-13T20:07:00.003-06:00

Chris: Can I get a birthday wish?
Me: Right now? I’m pretty sure you need to wait until your birthday, Sweetie.
Him: Okay. Can I tell you my wish?
Me: You mean right now? Your birthday is not for a few months.
Him: But will it still come true if I tell you?
Me: Your wish? Well, sure… Go ahead. You could tell me now.
Him: Okay.

Silence.

Me: So?? What have you got back there, Camper?
Him: Mama, my wish is to read real good. I want to.

I wink at him through the rear view mirror.

Him: Can I get two wishes, Mama?
Me: I can probably arrange that for you.
Him: I want to talk good English too. Perfect, Mama. I want it be perfect English. Like you.

Done deal, kiddo, done deal.

first halloween

2009-11-01T06:51:00.008-06:00

"The first time you hear the concept of Halloween when you're a kid, your brain cannot even process the idea. You're like, "What is this? What did you say? Someone's giving out candy? Who's giving out candy? EVERYONE WE KNOW is just giving out candy? I gotta be a part of this!"
-- Jerry Seinfeld, from his book Halloween

Chris has been anticipating Halloween for some time now. He had been debating the merits of being either Superman or Batman for weeks. When we finally hit up the costume store, he was overwhelmed by all the choices and thought wait, maybe I should be a pirate! Or a knight! Or a werewolf! Or a skeleton! But he eventually settled on one of his original choices.

He practiced saying "Trick or Treat" over and over before heading out with Daniel into the neighborhood. They laughed, they ran into friends along the way, they jumped at the scary house displays. As they ran from house to house, Karl and I trailed behind on the sidewalk taking in their sheer delight.

This is one of those firsts that we will not forget.

support networks

2009-10-22T14:53:00.005-05:00

Did I mention Karl and I took our first trip without kids since Chris has been home?

We had an incredible time celebrating the wedding of two of our very favorite people. We hiked in the rain forest. We kayaked in a bioluminescent bay. We relaxed by the pool. We swam in the ocean. We got some much needed sun. We laughed with friends. We had an unbelievable time.

While we were gone, the boys were home having their own adventure with their grandparents.

My parents live close by and are always eager to spend time with their grandchildren - we are so lucky to have them. On school release days, the kids go stay with Grandma. On Sunday afternoons, the boys start inquiring as to when we are going to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner. Both boys know that Grandma and Grandpa's house is one where they can be themselves, one where there is bound to be someone who will play catch or basketball with them, and one where they are always loved.

The breadth and depth of our support network is something we so very thankful for and something we never take for granted. We have family and friends both near and far away who make every day so much easier for us and who model skills and traits that we both admire and respect. We are some of the fortunate ones.

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A few unrelated snapshots from the past few weeks... Yes, it is that cold in Minnesota already. And the boys are hoping for more snow every day.... :)

let's pull it together, people

2009-10-10T13:31:00.004-05:00

What to say. This has been an exhausting week for me. There have been a lot of excitements and a lot of disappointments here in Minnesota.

And some of those excitements and disappointments unfolded right in our very own living room.

Chris has been trying very hard to be a good boy. And he does a remarkable job of it when he is at home. But once he sets foot in that school... that is another story. We have been working on behavior shaping with his teacher, his principal, his coaches, his everyone.

Most of his troubles come from being a socialite. He wants to talk and he wants to be heard. And not always at appropriate times. It seems that since the day we met Chris we have been pointing to our ear and saying "Listen."

So it turns out that although sports are indeed a huge part of our life, this is one weekend where we will not have soccer. This has been most painful for our child, and we are hoping that it will be a turning point.

It is also a week that has included many early bed times. And honestly, I'm tired anyway. I need an early bed time myself.

I'm actively seeking advice, my friends. Any help would be appreciated! What helps an extrovert calm down enough to focus at school and keep his thoughts to himself when he should be listening to his teacher?!?

the snail with the mail

2009-10-02T16:18:00.004-05:00

When Daniel was learning to read, one of his favorite book series was Frog and Toad. We would read together and he would laugh and laugh.

When A Year with Frog and Toad came to our local theater back in 2004, we got tickets right away. Daniel had just turned 7 and was easing out of Frog and Toad and into some heavier duty reading. I was hoping it was still relevant.

That night, Daniel was starting to come down with a cold. He had a slight fever and I remember wondering if we should skip it and try to get tickets another night. In the end, I gave the boy some tylenol and we headed out the door. Poor Daniel was so sad looking as we waited for the show to start, I wondered if I had made the right decision. Once the curtain went up, Daniel was smitten. He smiled, laughed and clapped through the whole performance. He chatted about it on the way home - never taking the smile off his face the whole time. We still sometimes sing lyrics from that show we saw five years ago.

Chris recently found those Frog and Toad books and brought them into our side room for his reading pile. He reads one page, and I read the next. The laughter at their antics is contagious! It makes me so happy that Chris enjoys our reading time. And it makes me even happier that he is enjoying some of the same books that Daniel learned to read from as well.

Now if we could only get Frog and Toad to come back to our local Children's Theater... He's the snail with the mail and he's carrying a letter!!!!

crying it out

2009-09-26T17:19:00.001-05:00

When you spend a lot of time in an orphanage, you learn to roll with the punches. If you fall out of a tree, you first look to see if anyone was watching. Then you jump up proclaiming that you are ok – not hurt at all! You certainly do not shed a tear. That would be a weakness and weaknesses are not accepted. They are detrimental to your future – the teasing would be unbearable and no one would come to your rescue. Better to hide any and all pain so no one can see it.

Today Chris was outside playing catch with Karl. He likes to play catcher and have either Daniel or Karl pitch to him. After warming up, he knelt down into the catcher stance. He took a few pitches before telling Karl to increase the speed – it’s no fun catching those soft tosses in. So Karl did. And, sure enough, Chris took that baseball right to the forehead.

I could hear the crying from inside as Karl rushed to pick him up and bring him in the house. I brought the ice pack into the living room. Tears were streaming down his face as he curled up on the couch between Karl and myself. I held the ice in place and wiped the tears off his cheeks. Karl rubbed his back letting him know it was going to be ok.

Fast forward thirty minutes, and Chris is leaping off the couch ready to play catch again - this time with an imprint of a baseball on his forehead. Karl remarked how happy he was that Chris wanted to jump back into the game again – not fearing the game - as they went back outside to finish their game of catch.

But I am impressed by something different. The tears mean so much more to me right now than anything else.

sing a new song

2009-09-18T08:16:00.001-05:00

Ever since our days in Warsaw, Chris has spent many an evening singing songs in the shower. It was always the same tune and it always got progressively louder and louder the more time he spent in the shower. Typically, we just let him go about singing as it really didn't bother any of us. Sometimes we would need to intervene lest the neighbors come banging on the door wondering why we wouldn't make our child calm down.

Most nights while he showered, Karl and I would listen intently trying to decipher the words to figure out just what the heck he was singing. Was it a pop song that we should know? Was it a nursery rhyme? Was it a church hymn? Was the song inappropriate for a child? We would lean over our Polish dictionaries trying to find the sounds and words. We never figured it out.

This week, that song is back. With new lyrics. Now that song is in English and every night it has different words. Some nights it is simply gibberish, other times he inserts English words. It is hard not to smile, and even laugh, as the music comes flooding out of the bathroom.

So we asked him about it. And he told us, with a shy smile, "I don't know, I just think it new every time."

Mystery solved. An active imagination is hard to look up in the Polish/English phrase book.

back to school

2009-09-01T13:52:00.004-05:00

The first day of school comes so early this year. I am reluctant to let summer go, but realize I am not able to do much about it.

Today my Daniel starts Middle School. The boys attend a K-8 school, but this is still a big transition. Kids move from room to room for classes. They stop at lockers between classes. The reading list becomes more impressive. The homework load increases. And students need to be so much more organized. Yikes.

Today my Chris is starting Third Grade. This is a big deal because he is now on the second floor of the school with all the big kids. He has met his teacher, but is worried a little because he loved his second grade teacher so much and is hoping his new teacher will be just as fabulous and engaging.

They will both do fine. They will fall off the school bus and come running in to meet Karl at the end of the day. Daniel will immediately retreat to his room for some down time which he desperately needs after a long day of school. So much socializing takes a lot out of an introvert. Once he unearths himself, he will tell of meeting up with friends he has not seen since spring and of figuring out his new schedule. Chris will start telling stories the minute he walks in the door - wanting to make sure not to forget one little detail about his teacher, his friends or lunch time. Both boys will be so very hungry. Both will most likely have some homework to do - but probably not as much as me. First days tend to bring home a forest of paperwork for parents to fill out.

We will sit down for dinner where we all talk about our days and about what we are hoping for tomorrow. We will play some basketball out back until it is time for the boys to take showers, do some reading and get ready for bed. As a parent, these are the days I look forward to most of all.

Then we will get up and do it all over again tomorrow. Except we will also try to fit in soccer, swimming, trips to the grocery, Target runs, library stops, archery practice, fishing trips, house cleaning and much more into the routine.

For today, we are going to keep our focus small - the tomorrows we will deal with as they come.

language

2009-08-25T16:37:00.003-05:00

So how does language progress in six months for a 9 year old boy learning English? Pretty quickly if you ask me.

Chris has moved on from simple 2-3 word statements to stringing together sentences. He is still learning structure, but is able to get across his point much better than when we got home.

Chris: Papa, does he know where is it movie theater?
Me: Does Papa know where the movie theater is? Yes, he does.

We are trying to gently correct sentence structure by repeating his questions back to him and then answering his question. This works well for questions, but is more complicated for statements and then we really feel like we are doing more teaching than interacting.

Chris: Chris love play legos right now.
Me: You love to play legos? I like playing legos too.

We don't hear him speak in Polish anymore, and haven't for quite some time. The Polish/English phrasebook that we carried so dutifully around Warsaw with us has been in the corner collecting dust since we got home. We haven't needed it. He will either try to explain something to us in English, or not try at all. This is where the more he learns, the better off we are. His functional English is through the roof! It is the social and conversational English that we are working on now. My guess is that once school starts back up again, we will see more big changes by the week.

A few of my current favorites that I do NOT correct because I like them so much:
Can please have ice cream bread? (ice cream sandwich)
Holy macaroni, my face is very spicy! (pink from sun burn)
I am very cereal, momma. (serious)

six months ago

2009-08-20T10:20:00.011-05:00

Six months ago we were in court. The night before court, we met with our lawyer (and her interpreter) as Chris played cards with our Interpreter/Guide who had been with us for the previous two weeks at a table within our view, but out of ear shot.

Karl and I were both very nervous - unsure of what to expect. Our lawyer peppered us with questions that could possibly come up during court, preparing us for both the worst and best case scenarios. Our adoption agency had never worked in this district before - Chris was the first child to be adopted to the U.S. from his orphanage and from his district. Because of this, our lawyer had little information to go on - she had no idea how long we would be there, how harsh the questioning would be, or if she would be agreeable to a shortened waiting period after court.

I realized quickly how the easy questions were sometimes the hardest to answer.

Her: How many cars do you have?
Me: Two.
Me: Oh, wait! (Looking at Karl) Are we supposed to count that little red car? (Karl laughing at me and nodding.) I guess we have three cars. Oops.

We asked lots of questions too. What should we bring with us? Passports, no phones, pictures, as little as possible else. What should we call the judge? Your Honor.

We reviewed our Home Study over and over. I'm not sure why, but for some reason I kept thinking there was something in there that would trip me up. Mostly the whole financial section - what if the number I quote that we pay for household expenses is different than what is in the home study? Our lawyer told us not to worry about that - as long as it is in the ball park, you are fine - the judge and jury understand that these things change over time. But still - I wanted to be sure I remembered what we had in our file.

I even have a little diagram our lawyer drew for us of what the court room would (supposedly) look like.

These are the kind of details that I LOVE to have.

We were able to walk to court from our hotel room. Chris stayed behind with our Interpreter/Guide to hang out at the mall (no kids in court).
Standing outside the court room, waiting for the judge and jury to finish their previous case, I could feel my stomach flipping around. Then others starting arriving - the district director; the social worker from his orphanage; and his legal guardian. In Poland, all kids have one legal guardian. This person might be the director of the orphanage, but it might not be. In Chris' case, his legal guardian was the Physical Education teacher of his district. This was our first, and only, chance to meet him. His legal guardian did not have a lot of English under his belt, but we could tell that he was genuinely so happy for Chris. He wanted to make sure that we knew that Chris would like to play on a soccer team when we got home and that he had some training in gymnastics as well. No worries there - we had noticed! Super nice guy - my only regret is that we never got a picture of him since I left my purse back at the hotel room. No court pictures! :(

Court itself was very formal, but not as scary as I had thought. The judge asked lots of questions... everyone laughed at our funny stories (are you supposed to tell funny stories in court? We told plenty.) ... the legal guardian was SO supportive when he took the stand... I forgot how old I was when asked (how sad is that), but again everyone laughed and it was fine... we both remembered to look at the judge and not our interpreter (something else I was worried about)... it lasted about an hour before they sent us out of the room to deliberate.

As we all stood in the hallway waiting for the verdict, our whole crew was so chatty! The social worker and district director had been waiting out in the hallway, and were excited to see how things turned out. Most of the conversations were happening around us so fast and in Polish that Karl and I could not keep up. But we didn't wait long - about ten minutes. The doors opened and we went into court a second time. This time, for the judge to tell us that we have been approved! Deep sighs of relief all around and many thanks to our judge, jury, attorney and Chris' legal guardian for their support.

After court, we headed off to the mall to meet up with Chris. Except the legal guardian and the orphanage social worker - they said goodbye at the court house. They didn't want to have a teary good bye with Chris - but rather wanted him to start looking forward rather than behind. Again, I feel so sad about this. There are so many holes in this child's history, that this is one we could have bridged the gap for. We all grabbed lunch together at the food court - lots of KFC all around.

After that, it was a whirlwind. We ran to the hotel to grab our bags. We packed a second bag of things to send back to the orphanage. We would not be going back - but our Guide/Interpreter would drop it off for us. [Another bit we were not prepared for - I would have taken so many more pictures had I know we would only be making the one, brief visit to his orphanage.] And then we rushed to the train station for our ride to Warsaw - the second leg of our journey.

Six months ago we went to court and then were rushing to Warsaw. I can still remember so many of the small details of the day, but it all seems so far away right now. The little boy who lives in our house now has changed so much in these past six months. Chris is still the same outgoing, athletic and funny kid we met back in February, but he is also learning to trust, learning to believe in family and looking forward to what is to come.

camping

2009-08-04T19:03:00.004-05:00

We indeed took the boys camping. Chris had never been before, but he had been looking forward to it for weeks. It was big motivator for him when deciding to make a "good choice" or a "bad choice" behavior-wise. The whole process was intriguing to him. Where will I sleep? Where will you sleep? What will we eat? What will we do? Can I go swimming? Where is the tent? Can Daniel and I have our own tent? Are we there yet?

By the time Karl and I set up camp, the boys had already checked out our neighbors and found the restrooms many times over.

We did some fishing, looked for frogs, skipped stones in the lake, hiked everywhere we could hike, played a few card games, got eaten alive by mosquitoes, cooked s'mores over the campfire, played soccer, went on a geocaching adventure, read some books, found the playground, got rained on, and laughed a lot. It was a no-tech weekend for every last one of us - no laptops, no DS players, no DVDs, no phones. And I didn't hear one complaint about the lack of technology all weekend.

Here's hoping we can fit more of these long weekends into our increasingly shrinking summer.

summer days

2009-07-27T21:07:00.006-05:00

I am seriously delinquent in posting to this site. I know it. And from the e-mails I have been getting, you know it too. I have a lot of thoughts in my head, just precious little time to post them. Here is a fast-forward look at a few things that have been going on around here in no particular order:

Rookie Year
Chris played baseball this year for the very first time. Do you have any idea how complicated the game baseball is to a child who has never played before? It was hysterical. I laughed and cheered all season long. It was a local rec team of the variety where the coach pitches to the team. Chris was actually pretty good by season end- he is a natural athlete. He thinks on his feet and it served him well.

Ten Years and Counting
Is it possible that Karl and I have been married for ten years? Apparently it is. For our anniversary last month Karl and I spent one lazy night strolling through the neighborhood and eating at one of the local restaurants without kids reflecting on how far we have come since we first met and how much we have grown as a couple, as a family and as individuals since our wedding day. It has been a long and windy journey - and I am lucky to love my husband more now than I ever imagined then.

Summer School
Yes, Chris is enrolled in summer school. This means four weeks in a new school in a classroom full of English Language Learners (ELL). This is a big difference for Chris as during the school year he is in a mainstream classroom. I am able to drop Chris off every morning on my way into work so I get a chance to connect with his teacher.

We have had our struggles. Chris is working hard to be good at school, but he has his moments. Unfortunately, too many of them are in the Take-A-Break-Chair. We are back to a reward system, although it is different from what we were using before. We are now working on weekly behavior as a whole and celebrating success on the weekend. Behavior shaping at school has been a huge challenge for us. Anyone who has been there, please chime in and let us know what you think might help! Chris is a smart kid (coming from the lady wearing the biased parent hat!). When he wants to pay attention, he does wonderfully and works hard. When he does not want to pay attention, he doesn't. When he wants to be the center of attention, he works hard at being the center of attention.

Soccer
No matter how much Chris enjoyed baseball, soccer is his first love. Don't think we are crazy, but Chris is on two soccer teams. One is a summer rec team that we signed him up for when we first got home in March. The other is a more competitive team that we heard about through our neighbors. We have spent lots of time at the soccer field and I am learning the ins and outs of the game. Soccer is still pretty new to me, but I am learning.

getting organized

2009-06-12T11:56:00.002-05:00

I'm trying to spend the day getting organized. Somehow after school let out I ended up with piles of workbooks, papers, pencil boxes and lunch boxes all over my house.

Most of the work gets filed for the recycling man who we already missed this week, but I like to keep a few of my favorites each year tucked safely away.

For Chris, one of the keepers was this picture he drew of our house just a few weeks after being home. Note the attention to detail in the ladder leaning against the house - very perceptive! We are indeed always in the midst of some remodeling. I love that his bike is leaning against the house, and that our garden made the photo too...

This is my all time favorite assignment of Daniel's this year. Fifth grade is tough work, so there were plenty of reports to choose from, but this one makes me laugh every single time. Maybe it's only funny if you know my Daniel. Note his health goal for the year.

And, no, he really does not think he needs to lose weight. He simply knows the easy way out of an assignment when he sees one - I've apparently been on enough diets (and talked about them enough) for him to complete this assignment with his eyes closed. That's my boy.

summer vacation

2009-06-06T10:06:00.003-05:00

Summer vacation is a very good thing. So far for us it has meant terrorizing the neighborhood with super soakers, biking, soccer practices, sleepovers, one-on-one pitching clinics, a few tennis matches, a trip to the Como Zoo, extra time with Grandma, and even a few movies. And the boys only got out of school this past Wednesday! If this is any indication, it is going to be one very busy summer.

budding archeologists

2009-05-16T13:16:00.003-05:00

Dirt is good. Don't tell the boys that we are planning to cover up all of this glorious dirt with grass in the very near future. The treasures in the depths are great and the hours of entertainment are many. I wonder if sod is as fun?

flip flop flee

2009-04-27T19:38:00.008-05:00

We have been a whirlwind of activity. I am back at work. The boys baseball seasons have begun. Our backyard landscaping project is in full gear. Our evenings are a flurry of baseball practices/games, homework, swimming, biking, board games and reading. Chris LOVES to be read to. His current favorites are Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, anything Clifford, A to Z Look and See, and Brown Bear Brown Bear. Some (most) of them he already has memorized. :)

Last week was our first trip to the pediatrician. Chris was nervous, but we had an interpretor there for him (one of the perks of very good health insurance). The interpretor was super helpful as he ended up needing two shots and a good amount of blood drawn. Chris handles pain very well generally speaking, but he was none too keen on the vaccinations! Nothing like holding down a nine year old for back to back shots. It was nice to know that at least Chris knew why he was getting the shots (through the interpreter) and that he would not need more shots every time he came back!

A few of Chris' current favorite phrases...
"Oh, come on guys!"
"Dude!"
"My name is Chris,"
"What?!?"
"Good morning!"

Polglish

2009-04-08T14:46:00.008-05:00

Every day I am amazed at the vocabulary that Chris is picking up. Oh, we still use quite a bit of gesturing and pantomiming, but for the most part, we are able to communicate through what is becoming a family language.

It is not very different from communicating with a very young child that is learning to talk. We have to be very careful of what we say, as he is ALWAYS listening - and he will repeat it! Things I would not expect him to understand, he does.

Three weeks home, and his English is really coming along:
** 1-100 (and beyond), although 13,14,30 and 40 are still confusing to him (it is the "th" and "f" sounds that really get him)
** The English alphabet he has down 90% of the time (some of the letters are still hard)

He is starting to link individual words together to form short phrases even. A few of his favorite English phrases:
"Absolutely not,"
"Where is it _____?" (when looking for something or someone)
"See you later,"
"See you tomorrow,"
"How are you?"
"Chris be good,"
"I don't know,"
"Maybe yes?"

A few of the Polish words/phrases that we are all still using at home daily (phonetically):
go-gina (hour)
shtor-eye (yesterday)
you-tro (tomorrow)
gee-shy (today)
poo-szh-nay (later)
shoo shoo (potty)
vin-a-groan-a (grapes)
shad-eye (sit down)
check-eye (wait)
ro-zoom-ium (I understand)
nie ro-zoom-ia (I do not understand)
lube-ee (like) [as in, "Chris lube-ee ice cream!"]
bardzo (very/very much)
dah-leko (far)
ko-ha (love)
vee-em (I know)
nie vee-em (I don't know)

Lunch at the mall...

Getting ready for school...

At the skate park...

Helping with the backyard landscaping...

one week in

2009-03-27T11:33:00.004-05:00

We have had an adventuresome first week back home. Chris has loved getting acquainted with our home and neighborhood. Daniel has loved showing him around.

Last weekend was positively gorgeous weather, so we took advantage by biking all around town. Daniel and Chris cannot get enough of biking, so I imagine we will log plenty of miles this summer.

Chris cannot get enough of our two cats. These cats are seeing so much love that they have taken to hiding in the basement when they are feeling the need for some down time. We are fortunate to have two cats who are extremely childproof and patient, but even they have their limits.

Chris has LOVED meeting all the new friends and family in his life. Karl and I are so fortunate to have such an incredible network of friends and family who are so supportive of our growing family. It is fun for all of us to see Chris meeting everyone for the first time and how carefully he tries to catalog people right away so that he doesn't forget even one!

We also had a big milestone this week - Chris started school! Originally, we had thought we might wait a week or two before bringing him to school. All of that changed the more we got to know Chris over the past few months. This child is a social butterfly! He thrives off of being around people. We also knew that his English would come so much more quickly surrounded by kids all day long.

We visited his new teacher on Monday after school and saw his new classroom. Daniel gave him a tour of the school (including Daniel's classroom and meeting Daniel's teacher). On Tuesday, Chris asked to please, please go inside to pick up Daniel after school (rather than wait outside in the car). On Wednesday, he was off to school for his first day! He was oh so nervous, but ready to give it a try.

He was noticeably tired after that first day. All of that listening is exhausting! But he was thrilled to announce that he already had LOTS of kolegas (friends). He has a wonderful, energetic teacher and it appears to be a great group of kids in his class who were all very excited to meet him and to help him throughout the day. Learning English is our primary goal for the remainder of this academic year - anything else would be a bonus.

We're all looking forward to a weekend full of biking, baseball, and soccer.

home sweet home

2009-03-20T09:47:00.003-05:00

We made it home in one piece. 5 out of our 6 bags made it home too. I can't complain too much. The 6th bag showed up this morning by 9:00 a.m.

Chris is adjusting incredibly well already. Daniel is still figuring out this thing called "sharing" (being an only child for 11 years will do that to a kid), but he is being more patient than I could ever imagine or expect. They share a room and both slept like rocks last night - although they did wake up at 4:15.

Tired and exhausted, but loving being home.

going home

2009-03-18T14:09:00.002-05:00

We have a Polish passport in hand!

And guess where we spent our last evening in Poland? Yes, the mall. We saw Pink Panther 2. Not bad.

We will be home by tomorrow night, and we are all ready for it! And at least one of us is expecting a nice bottle of wine upon arrival...

so close

2009-03-18T02:02:00.003-05:00

There was indeed an Oceanarium on Monday. But we could tell right away why the folks at the Bristol had said there wasn't one. It was really just a few dozen fish tanks. Sure, some of the fish were cool, but even the kids were not too impressed. Oh, well. We spent another day wandering around the mall.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was rainy and wet again. We walked around town doing some more souvenir shopping anyway.

We also found out that Chris' passport is ready! We are going today to meet up with our lawyer to pick it up. Then we will be off to the U.S. Embassy to get his visa. From what we have heard from others, the visa should be ready in a matter of hours. If this is the case, we will be going home tomorrow!!! (Pending a call to the airline to ensure seats are available.)

We are all VERY ready to come home, and VERY excited about this possibility of getting home a few days earlier than expected. :)

game on

2009-03-16T03:38:00.011-05:00

Saturday we stepped outside to our 2nd day in the row of SUN!! We strolled around Old Town/Royal Royal Square for a while - all rejuvenated by how much nicer this city is in the sunshine. People seemed to be coming out of the woodwork!

View from the lookout by the Palace...

Hours of fun with the camera at coffee shops. No clue how children entertained themselves before the invention of digital cameras...

Then off to the National Museum for a while...

That afternoon, we were off to see a new movie. Chris had finally earned enough SMILIES for another kino. Koralina had openned the day before, so we had something new to see at least. Poland does a pretty good job of getting all the kids movies dubbed. Waiting for the kino to begin...

Sunday was my mom's birthday, and both boys were ready to party! We started the day off at church in New Town. It was a Family Mass (read: tons of children, babies running and screaming through entire mass). I was ready to run after 10 minutes, but we stuck it out and saw it to the end.

We spent the day strolling through Old Town, buying souvenirs to bring back home. Honestly, I cannot believe what a difference a few weeks make. Our first Sunday in Warsaw, we met up with some friends for coffee in Old Town. We were the only people there and had to bang on doors to get some coffee (and were then grossly over-charged for it). Yesterday, the sun was shining and people were everywhere. This picture is for Karl, who would not otherwise believe how busy it was. This is the same street we had coffee/hot chocolate on while waiting for J & G to arrive...

After our shopping, we came home for ice cream and cake from Blikle bakery (the bakery just below our apartment). Happy Birthday, Babcia (Grandma)!

Today we are off to find a **new** shopping mall. One which legend has includes an Oceanarium. We'll keep you posted. Bristol rumor also has it that Warsaw has no Oceanarium. We have not much else to do today than find out... If nothing else, it will be a journey to eat the clock!

friday the 13th

2009-03-13T16:05:00.008-05:00

Thursday we found ourselves at the Museum of Sports and Tourism. It seemed like a reasonable stop with two active boys. The museum itself is a bit north of us, and in an area we hadn't been to yet. The museum was sort of interesting, but, again, was TINY. We should have asked the taxi to wait for us outside. Not a museum I would look into again if I find myself in Warsaw a second time around.

We hit up the HulaKula indoor park again in the afternoon (sadly, the playground portion does not open until 4:00 p.m. on weekdays) and met up with our friends. They finished up with all their paperwork and had their flights booked for Friday! We are very excited for them and also very jealous of them at the same time. Chris is sad, as he and their new daughter have become very close over the past 6 weeks. He has known this family for as long as he has known us and has grown quite attached! On the same token, I have gotten so used to having another family here with us that it will be hard to see them go... We will be giving them a call as soon as we get home I am sure. Chris and I went to swim with them last night at their hotel so the kids could play together one last time in Poland.

Chris is now more excited than ever to get to America. He asks questions constantly about what it will be like. He has been looking at pictures from home and paying very close attention to the details this past week. It has been interesting to see him progress from not understanding even the concept of leaving Poland to now desperately wanting to speed up the process to get to America as soon as he can. If you would have told me this 5 weeks ago, I would not have believed you. If you would have told me this three weeks ago, I would not have believed you. Everyday so much changes.

We are indeed making steps toward going home. Our "waiting period" is officially over, so went in today to apply for Chris' new Polish passport. He will fly home with a Polish passport on a U.S. visa. Upon arrival in the U.S., he will become a U.S. citizen. The passport should take about 3 business days to be ready. Then we will be off to the U.S. Embassy to get his visa.

After applying for his passport, we went to a U.S. Embassy-approved physician ao he could get a check up that is required for the visa. It was about as brief of an exam as you can imagine and seemed to be more of a formality than anything else. Primarily an official translation of his immunizations if I understand correctly. I cannot say enough how glad I am that I do not need to navigate any of this part of the trip on my own. We met our lawyer's assistant in the morning who brought us where we needed to go and even had all of the forms filled out ready for signatures at the bottom.

After all our appointments in the morning, we met up with mom and Daniel for a trip to the Railway Museum. This was a good find! The boys spent at least an hour climbing all over the rail cars outside in the courtyard. As an added bonus, we were the only people at the museum for most of our stay. Well worth the visit!

Both Daniel and Chris are usually pretty good sports about walking around the city from place to place. Taxis are of course their preferred mode of transportation, but I know first hand that the taxis are usually just too fast. If we walk from point A to point B, it will burn up the clock and we have lots of clock yet to burn. Thankfully, we are in a city that is not only very pedestrian friendly, but also that is full of monuments, which may or may not be appropriate to climb on...

I know it sounds like all we do is go, go, go. And for the most part, that is my main plan for every day. But we do have down time on occasion. Much to Daniel's dismay, he spends some time doing school work each day. Chris spends some "quiet" time playing with his hot wheels. Both of the boys play with their nintendo ds systems. We all play a lot cards (mostly war - but Chris is now learning crazy eights as well). Every day, we do leave a little time for simply hanging around the apartment. Just a little...

rain, rain, rain

2009-03-11T13:17:00.009-05:00

Who knew we would actually miss the snow? The temperature is actually quite nice (low to mid 40's), but now we are getting little bits of rain scattered throughout the days.

Monday we walked through the Saxon Garden, which I am sure is lovely in the Spring and Summer, but is honestly nothing much to look at in March. This is, however, where the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier lies, and we stopped to visit it. The boys were both awestruck by the changing of the guard. It lasts only minutes, but neither could take their eyes away. We ended up grabbing a quick cup of coffee and checking it out a second time.

Tuesday we made our way to the water park again. The boys were both wore out after close to four hours of swimming and going down all the slides. As was I. We met up at the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch and Daniel enjoyed a big, American hamburger. :)

We started off the day today (Wednesday) at the Palace of Science and Culture. Daniel was very excited to see the view from the 30th floor, so we took advantage of our small window of opportunity when the clouds cleared and went up. Here is the view looking toward where our apartment is located...

On our way down, we stopped at one of the museums in the Palace, the Evolution Museum. The boys enjoyed it, and they had a few nice exhibits, but it was TINY. We were in and out in less than 30 minutes. Oh, well.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Arkadia Mall. I honestly have never spent so much time in malls in my life. Chris needed to get his new passport pictures taken and we needed some relief from the rain.

Every night we watch a DVD at 7:00. This is part of the routine we started while up north. Tonight they are watching Wall-E. After the DVD, it is showers for the boys and off to bed. Often, I am tired enough to go to bed shortly thereafter. I am just getting over my second cold of this trip, so tonight may be another early night for me...

the weekend

2009-03-08T13:17:00.004-05:00

Saturday morning got off to a late start with Karl leaving mid-morning, but we made the most of the day.

The boys both really enjoyed the Polish Military Museum . There were old tanks and airplanes in the courtyard outside, and inside there were lots of swords, guns, and old memorabilia. Their favorite museum so far.

After the museum, we headed out for a quick lunch then to the local mall for another round of ice skating. You may think that since we are from Minnesota, Daniel would have been ice skating hundreds of times before, but this was his first time out on skates. He did an excellent job and was begging to go back again just moments after getting his skates off!

This morning, we headed off to mass at St John's Cathedral and then off to another mall for a movie. Daniel and my mom had their first chance to see a movie on the big screen in Polish. Movie choice of the day? Hotel for Dogs. Another movie that is quite easy to follow along with regardless of what language it is in.

We hung around the mall for most of the day actually - doing some window shopping, buying a few groceries, and letting the boys go down the small slide in the children's clothing store (honestly, Chris could spend hours at the SMYK store). Before we leave Poland, we will have to at least buy something there for the hours we have logged standing around waiting for him to finish on the slides...

Daniel and Chris are getting along quite well. There are times that Chris irritates Daniel, and perhaps times that Daniel irritates Chris (although he has not once said it - mostly he is intrigued by absolutely everything Daniel does and says). But we expected that all along. It is indeed harder without Karl here, but we will manage just fine and continue our efforts to stay busy, busy, busy so that no one is bored enough to act up and that everyone is so tired by the end of the day that they have nothing left in them but to sleep. :) For now, it is working quite well still.

connected again!

2009-03-07T03:16:00.005-06:00

Whew! Finally we are back online! It is amazing how much we rely on the internet for all we do. (And we had all had enough our too frequent walks up to the local Coffee Heaven...) The folks we are renting our apartment from are incredibly kind and worked hard to make sure we were able to get back online. If we find ourselves in Warsaw again someday, we will certainly give them a call!

We have been trying to keep busy the past few days since Daniel and my mom arrived.

On Tuesday, we visited the Warsaw History Museum. It is a good place to start out your trip here, as it has a short movie (in English) about Warsaw's history, particularly emphasizing the devastation occurred during WWII when about 90% of the city was completely ruined.

On Wednesday, we were pretty low key. We did venture out for a stop at the local mall to wander around and did a lot of grocery shopping as well. Here we all are outside on our apartment balcony.

Thursday, Karl and I took the boys to a water park . It is a great place to spend the whole day! We will be back again before long.

Friday we went to visit the Royal Palace which is just a few short blocks from our apartment.

This morning, Karl left for home. We will all miss him A LOT. But we are now down to 2 weeks left in Warsaw, so hopefully the time will go quickly. Home sounds pretty nice right about now...

pictures

2009-03-05T03:07:00.003-06:00

Sadly, we are still without internet at the apartment. We are VERY interested in getting it back, but for now we are making a few stops at coffee shops everyday to get online. A few pictures from the last few days...

Watching their flight come in...

In Old Town, outside the History Museum...

Supper time...

International language of Nintendo DS...

Waiting around at the HulaKula...

short post

2009-03-04T02:47:00.003-06:00

Daniel and Mom arrived on Monday! I was able to meet them at the airport and was THRILLED to see them both! :) They were both exhausted, but endured the short cab ride back the apartment, and even took a short walk into Old Town for some fresh air. I think it did them both pretty good.

Sadly, that evening we realized that there was some sort of problem with our internet at the apartment... such that it was not there anymore! Boo.

So Daniel and I are up at the coffee shop again this morning quickly checking e-mails and such.

With any luck, we will have internat at the apartment again soon....

low key

2009-02-27T14:06:00.007-06:00

The past few days have been pretty low key. On Wednesday we went to see Bolt at the local movie theater. It was actually pretty good. It was one that we never got around to seeing while back at home, but it was pretty easy to follow along with in Polish even. So far, it definitely tops my list of dog movies we have seen thus far. In the afternoon, we hit the HulaKula indoor park again for a chance to let Chris run. It also gives us adults a chance to practice our bowling. As you can see, Karl has taken a liking to his bowling ball so much, that he is not willing to share with the rest of us...

On Thursday we ventured out for our first bus ride. The buses still seem very confusing to us. I have no idea where any of them go and cannot for the life of me figure out how to find a bus schedule in this town. We are doing a lot of walking here and taxis are actually quite cheap, but this place a was a bit further out, and we thought we'd give the bus system a chance. So venture out on the bus we did on Thursday. We found a mall that shows IMAX movies and saw an African Safari in 3D. It was VERY cool. Chris loved it and was reaching out to touch the elephants and they seemed to walk right past us. [As for the bus ride - it was ok, but really I am still confused. I don't even think we paid for our ride out to the mall. We may be sticking with taxis unless I work harder to understand the bus system...]

On the way home, we got the best bonus of all, Karl finally found a nice spot to buy wine. Sure, we can buy wine at the grocery store and at the various liquor stores around town, but now we know where to get the wines we are craving... Who says Polish foods do not go well with fine wines?

Today was a busy day. We visited the Palace of Science and Culture in the morning for a ride to the top. It has an impressive look-out at the top where we could see all across the city. Afterward, we stopped for another round of skating outside the center.

Polish food is very good, and we have been eating a lot of it, but we have also been waiting with great anticipation for our lunch today at the Hard Rock Cafe. Yes, tasty American cheeseburgers all around. Just what we were all in need of. YUM!

We are not sure what tomorrow will bring just yet. We know that there is a THIRD family here in Warsaw working with the same agency. We had a chance to meet up with them briefly at the skating rink today, and if they are still in town (they are hoping to leave ASAP) we will get to see them again tomorrow. It is really nice for all the kids to be able to connect and have other kids to play with (and talk to). But it is just as nice for us adults to be able to chat about the experience with other people going through the same process. It has been a life saver for us honestly. :)

embracing the snow

2009-02-24T09:49:00.010-06:00

We have officially found out that the prosecuter will not shorten the "Waiting Period" for us as he is "not familiar with our case." Seeing as he chose not to attend our hearing, this is not surprising, but it is a pretty lame excuse in my opinion. Oh, well. We will be here until March 21st. Except Karl - he will still hopefully be headed home early. I am very jealous.

We are all counting the days until Daniel and my mom arrive. Phone calls, e-mails and Skype chats are nice, but we miss Daniel VERY MUCH, and are anxious to see him soon!!! They will be here next MONDAY.

Back here in Warsaw, we are finding new things to do all the time. Yesterday after our morning meetings, we found another mall with a great little skating rink outside. When we first showed up, Chris spent a lot of time on his rear end. By the time we left, he was spinning circles on the ice. He is a quick study and very persistent with everything he does. With every fall, there was a fit of laughter as he got up. At the end of the day, he was definitely wore out.

Today we hit the sledding hill in the park outside the zoo. The hill is perfect as it was practically empty with most of the other kids in school for the day. Very handy for being able to go down again and again and again and again. He spent more time falling down than he did on his sled, but he enjoyed every last minute. He was soaked by the time we started back for the apartment. It is a hefty walk back, but he was a good sport about it - singing a song from Madagascar the whole way "You've got to move it, move it..." Our plans to wear him out might work after all.

By tomorrow he will have earned enough SMILIES to go to a kino (kee-no, movie) at the local theater. If more snow is on the way, it will be a good day for it.

more snow...

2009-02-22T22:41:00.004-06:00

Thank you for all of your tips on where to go! Please keep them coming, as we are planning to use every last one of them. We will be in Warsaw for four more weeks, so there will be plenty of time to see absolutely everything...

Yesterday morning we started the day off with Mass at St John's Cathedral in Old Town. It is a gorgeous church with an incredible history. We thought of Daniel while there as he wrote a report about St John the Baptist earlier this year for school. We'll have to visit it again while he is here (we are counting the days until his arrival on March 2nd!!!!) Mass was pretty impressive as it was presided over by Warsaw's Archbishop and there was quite a bit of pomp and circumstance to go along with that. Very interesting to be a part of.

After mass (and a quick lunch), we made our way to the University Library where we had heard of an indoor playground - HulaKula. Very good find!! They have an arcade, bowling, and this HUGE indoor play area for kids to crawl through in a seperate area with a huge maze of tubes and slides. Chris ran around for over two hours and can't wait to go back for more. We will be back!!!

Even though we get much more snow at home than we are seeing here, it is still a disappointment everytime it starts to come down again... I keep hoping it will just stop, but in all likelihood, we simply have to embrace it. So we bought a sled yeaterday to try out the hills in the park by the zoo. Stay tuned to see how that turns out...

Today (Monday) we are headed to the Polish Ministy of Interior and Administration to apply for Chris' passport. He will fly home on a Polish passport as he does not become a US citizen until he sets foot in the country. So there is some paperwork to be filled out in order to get his passport in his new name... We are meeting our lawyer's assistant there, and apparently he fills out all the right papers for us - we simply need to sign on the dotted line. I hope it is as simple as that.

settling in

2009-02-21T10:01:00.008-06:00

We have been adjusting nicely to our new apartment in Warsaw. It is actually pretty spacious for a rental apartment. I wish there was a shower (rather than a tub), but otherwise, it is ideal.

Thursday we spent the day at the local mall, Arkadia. It is pretty big and from what we understand, it is the largest in Central Europe. We were able to buy a few items for Chris, see a movie (Beverly Hills Chihuahua), and do some shopping. The mall has a big store that resembles a Super Target of sorts. It has a little bit of everything so we were able to stock up. It was a good way to spend the day as it was snowing for the majority of the day. After a long day, Chris was excited to come home and get the table ready for dinner. "All-By-Myself."

Friday was a much nicer day - lots of sun - so we headed into Old Town, which is really just two short blocks from our apartment. We did a little touristy shopping before meeting up with our new friends for another trip to Arkadia for another movie.

Today we found the zoo and spent most of the day there. Elephants, giraffes, tigers, it really is a great zoo. As the sun started to set, we realized how cold it was about to get so we headed home for a little relaxation. Our goals each day is to do lots of walking, get Chris moving as much as possible so that he is worn out at the end of the day. Today I think it worked. We are hoping to see lots more sun over the next few days, weeks to get the snow melted. He really wants to play ball, but it is all but impossible with snow all over the ground. Maybe in a few weeks.

If you have any ideas of places that will wear out a nine year old boy in Warsaw, please let us know! :)

Christopher Andrew

2009-02-19T01:49:00.005-06:00

We made it through court and to Warsaw successfully!

We introduce, Christopher Andrew...

We were very nervous before court, but were also well aware from meetings the previous day that the district supervisor had prepared a favorable report, that the social worker at his orphanage was very enthusiastic about this working, as was his Legal Guardian. Our lawyer and translater prepared us VERY well for the questions that may be asked of us. All the cards were lined in our favor, but it still makes for an anxious situation as the court hearing is very formal and official.

The court hearing lasted only about an hour, and the judge deliberated for only about 10 minutes before calling us back in to let us know that she approved! There is the technicality of a "Waiting Period" in Poland that requires us to stay in the country for 2-3 weeks during which time the parties involved have a chance to change their minds. After the Waiting Period is up, Chris will officially be our child and we can prepare to get back to the U.S. (get his visa, passport, etc.).

We are still waiting to see if we will have a 2 or 3 week Waiting Period. The prosecutor did not attend our hearing, and his presence is required in order for there to be a reduction of the standard 3 weeks. The Judge agreed to the shortened time, as did the Legal Guardian, but now our lawyer is trying to track down the prosecutor to get him to sign off on it. We'll see.

We made it to Warsaw by train shortly after the hearing, and were exhausted upon arrival. Our apartment in very nice and will be a great place to call home for the next 4 weeks. Today we are off to find a grocery store and also to do something FUN. Yesterday was such a long day, that we need to find something more exciting to do for all of us!

so happy to be in Szczecin!

2009-02-16T11:37:00.005-06:00

We made it to Szczecin! The ride in the bumpy red van was tough on me - they warned us that the kids might get car sick, but it was me that was happy the ride was over and to get a breath of fresh air!

Overall, things are getting easier and easier everyday. We just got back from the mall (less than a block away), and Chris was very excited to buy some new shoes! We had bought clothes, shoes and such for him back in the States based on the sizes they sent us, but all the sizes were way off so poor Chris has been running around in shoes much too big for him. He was VERY happy to get new shoes, but needed quite a bit of convincing from the kind shoe salesman (who has an English Professor for a father) that he should not choose soccer shoes, but rather regular tennis shoes. Thank you!

Now Karl and Chris are headed down to the swimming pool for a swim before bed - hopefully it wears him out as we are in a VERY small room, so there is little chance for much movement in here. And I just realized that we are not able to take advantage of Netflix Watch-It-Now option as it apparently only works in the U.S. (BOO!!), so there will be no movie tonight unless we can find something appropriate on TV (we'll see).

Tomorrow we are meeting with the Orphanage Director in the morning and our lawyer in the evening to prepare us for court on Wednesday. This is our first and only court date as our first date was handled without us present before we got into Poland (back in December actually). This is our agency's first time dealing with this orphanage, and this judge, so it should be interesting and we do not know what to expect. To complicate matters further, we are only the 2nd family from the U.S. to adopt under the new Hague Convention, The first family was just a few weeks ago... We are prepared for anything, and hoping for the best.

Out on the pier in Miedzyzdroje...

Walking back to the apartment...

Finishing up a puzzle...

one week down!

2009-02-12T03:58:00.001-06:00

Whew. This first week has really been a whirlwind. If I hadn’t been writing in a journal every night, it is very likely that I would forget it all. It honestly feels like we have been here for at least a month. So much happens every day that it is hard to keep the days straight.

When we left, we knew the first few days/weeks/months would be hard. We simply had no idea what hard was. Now we know. The language barriers, culture barriers, discipline barriers, they all collide into something that is frustrating for us and even more frustrating for Chris.

BUT, after just over one week, we are getting into a groove. Chris tries very, very hard to understand us through our sign language and very poor pronunciations of the Polish words and phrases we have picked up. He is also working hard to learn English.

Chris is VERY social. He likes to talk, talk, talk whenever he can. We are fortunate enough to be up north here at the same time as another *new* family. We have had a chance to get together frequently and Chris just loves his time with them as he can TALK to the other child (who is a few years older than him). It is so nice for the kids to be friends and for us adults too, as it is very nice for us to have another set of parents going through the same transition at the same time to talk to. We were all quick to realize that no matter how much you prepare and hear about the experiences of others, every single situation is different and we all are going through different adjustment periods.

Tuesday Chris earned enough SMILEY faces (yes, we are already on a point earning system) to go to the pool at the local hotel. We bought an all day pass and spent about 3 hours there in the morning and another 3 hours in the afternoon. He loves the pool and will be thrilled when we get home and spend a few nights a week at the YWCA…

He has been looking through our photo books and is very excited to see our home and pictures of Daniel. He very much wants to meet Daniel and start playing right away.

We still have very little internet access, but are looking forward to next week when we go back to Szczecin and then on to Warsaw and we will have more time to journal our experiences online. It is hard for us to not be able to talk to Daniel every day back home too - we miss him very,very much. Everywhere we turn, we see things that make us think of how much he would enjoy being with us right now. But, at the same time, we are very cognizant of the fact that these first few weeks would have been much too hard on him if he were here. This bonding time is so important for Karl, Chris and myself.

Pictures are not working for us now ... the internet access is not too good in that regard, but I will try again later...

up north with Chris

2009-02-06T07:39:00.003-06:00

We are spending our days up north along the Baltic Sea. Our apartment is gorgeous with a view of the Sea. We have a HUGE park a few blocks from us as well as a small zoo. Which is good, because Chris wants to RUN all the time. I mean, ALL the time.

Last night he watched Spirit in English on the DVD player and just LOVED it. He will most likely be thrilled to see that we have a huge movie poster upstairs at home of Spirit. But today, we found a DVD rental store, so we are going to watch Bridge to Terabithia (sp?)... I think he will like it.

He likes to play tag and kick around the soccer ball. I see a lot of that in our future. His foot moves are quite impressive and really put Karl and I to shame.

Overall, so far so good. He is a very good kid who very much wants to please us. But that does not mean he also does not try to challenge us. It is hard enough to discipline a child who does speak the same language, but it is exceptionally challenging from a child who does not speak the same language. We are making do, and learning more and more Polish every day. Chris is learning more and more English every day as well. He tries so hard! He has been taking English at school since September, so already knows his numbers up to 11, the primary colors, and many pleasantries. Today he is working on BIRD, BREAD and COLD because we went to the seaside to feed the ducks. I am sure he will have all three down by the end of the day.

Karl and I slept well for the first time last night, so we are doing very well. Rest is important.

Internet access is limited, but I will try to post when I can. Thanks for all your good wishes and notes from home. It is so nice to hear from everyone!! :)

recharging

2009-02-03T07:12:00.002-06:00

Today is a day for getting it all together. Our hotel is right next to a huge mall. We have already been twice, and will probably make another stop yet before dinner. We are amazed at how busy it is! There are so many people in all of the stores for mid-week – it is really hard to believe. We were able to buy the few things we needed (forgot) and Karl got to spend LOTS of time in the grocery store. He could honestly spend all day if I let him.

We’ll be spending tonight reorganizing our suitcases. At the last minute we spent not enough time redistributing the weight of our bags, so they are all pretty much in shambles.

Tomorrow we are off to meet Chris. From what we gather, we will spend some time at the orphanage and they we are off to our next stop, Miedzyzdroje. We have an apartment up there for a few weeks. No internet access at this first apartment, but I’m sure we will find an internet café or two to post pictures and such from.

arrived in Poland

2009-02-02T10:30:00.006-06:00

We made it to Szczecin in one piece and all of our luggage made it too.

**Picture is a view from our flight coming into Szczecin.

We checked into our hotel and were even able to have a quick Skype chat with Daniel back at home. LOVE the internet.

Still very tired - trying to stay awake for a meeting in few hours though, so we are headed out for a quick walk and bite to eat.

Why Poland?

2009-01-26T20:11:00.001-06:00

Often we get asked, "How did you pick Poland?" It is a fair question. Poland is not necessarily the most common country to adopt from...

When we first starting thinking about and investigating adoption, we knew pretty early in the process that we would choose the international route vs. domestic. But we honestly were not sure about country. It is a big decision, and it is really one of the very first decisions that needs to be made as country selection determines which agency you will use and what paperwork is required since the requirements vary so greatly from country to country.

For us, looking at the list of potential countries was overwhelming. How would we choose? Being of German, Irish, Danish, and Native American descent between us, we knew we would not be able to adopt from one of the countries our families hailed from (it really is just not possible). Then we started talking about it with our friends and family.

Me: It's too hard to pick a country. Should we just throw a dart at the map?
Her: Major life decisions by dart throwing makes perfect sense.
Me: Of course it does.
Her: Why not Poland?
Me: People still adopt from Poland?
Me: Is that really even an option?
Her: I was adopted from Poland.
Me: I know. But that was, ahem, many years ago.
Her: And quite frankly, I turned out pretty well.
Me: No comment.

And so Karl and I looked into it. And as it turns out, Poland really is an option. And here we are.

I've known Ramona since high school and she has seen me through the highs and lows that come with life in all those years since. She is the kind of friend who is fiercely loyal and supportive under every circumstance. The kind of friend who we consider part of the family. And we will be forever grateful to our friend Ramona for planting the seed that is Poland, and for allowing us to borrow her family's heritage as our own.

checking them twice

2009-01-23T08:12:00.003-06:00

Our lives this past week have consisted of making lists and trying to accomplish what is on them. We've collectively been to Target more times than I can count in the last 10 days. And I know they will see me a few more times before we leave on the 1st.

We have a number of other stores to visit, so I'll be running around MOA at some point this weekend as well. I'm hoping to accomplish a lot this weekend - and hopefully even pack Chris' suitcase (if I am able to get everything we still need!).

Daniel has the day off of school today, so we get to hang out today. I'm really looking forward to it. Nothing extraordinary planned, just being able to spend the day playing a few board games and probably spending some quality time with the wii playing rock band or mario cart. These are the days that I will miss the most while we are in Poland - so for today, I will not be checking much off our lists at all - and I'm ok with that.

Happy Birthday, Chris!

2009-01-17T07:15:00.005-06:00

Top items on your birthday wish? A remote control car and an ipod.

We wish we could be there to celebrate with you, but we will be there so very soon. There will be many, many more celebrations in our future.

Happy Birthday!

traveling so very soon

2009-01-14T19:31:00.002-06:00

So much organizing to do, so little time.

We leave for Poland on February 1st, and we can definitely hear the clock ticking.

There are a lot of things on our to do lists right now, but at least all the big stuff has been taken care of - we know how we are getting there and we know where we are staying when we arrive. Knowing that the basics of our itinerary are done really is a huge relief. Now we can focus on the small details that we have had in the back of our mind for some time now...

fed ex blues

2008-12-24T08:21:00.004-06:00

Weather delays.
You would think that perhaps the fed ex folks here in Minneapolis would have seen snow before.
Somehow, our package to Atlanta arrived on Monday (sent the exact same time as our package to Poland) - and even left the Mpls area on Saturday the 20th.
BUT, our package to Poland was not able to even leave Mpls until MONDAY evening because of "weather delays". Riddle me that.
Long story short - our package to Chris has still not arrived (even though is was guaranteed to arrive on the 23rd). And the Polish take Christmas holidays very seriously, so they do not work again until next Monday (which is when our package is now supposed to arrive).
So Chris will not get his package in time for Christmas unless the kind woman I spoke with this morning at fed ex is able to produce some sort of fed-ex-miracle.
For the moment, we have passed through our Ralphie v. Scott Farkus rage (well, some of us have) and are now onto just feeling a little sad about it. It is out of our hands, and he will indeed receive it on the 29th.
Arrrgh!

very excited!

2008-12-17T23:04:00.004-06:00

The Orphanage Director told Chris about us this past week! He was “very excited” to see pictures of us and our home. :)

They are still working out if it will be ok, but there is a slight chance that we will be able to send him a small gift for Christmas – presuming they get us details on where to send it to before Christmas! Daniel is busy trying to figure out just what that first gift should be.

We’re also still waiting for a few more travel details and trying to firm up hotel and apartment rentals for our stay. I think we found a place for our 4 week stay in Warsaw – it looks like a very nice place and is the Old Town neighborhood. From what we hear, it should be a great area to be in. There are a lot of details to pay attention to but it seems to all be coming together…

where?

2008-12-04T19:50:00.003-06:00

The plan is to be in northwestern Poland for the first leg of our trip - in a resort town along the Baltic Sea. Not sure how resort-y it will be in February. The second leg of the trip will be in Warsaw for our paperwork at the U.S. Embassy.

exhale

2008-12-01T19:00:00.004-06:00

We finally have dates! We will be heading to Poland in February 2009 to meet and pick up Chris.

We were hoping we could make it there for a Polish Christmas, but it turns out we were stung yet again by factors way out of our control. The court will not be in session this January as they will be moving from one building to another. Sigh. It really is just one thing after the other. It seems a long way out right now, but I am sure it will go faster than we think. Honestly, it is just such a wave of relief to have some sort of concrete information to hold on to... who knew we had been holding our breath for the last three and a half years?

We will update as we get more information. I would guess we will firm up our travel dates before Christmas.