finally done!

OK, so a lot has gone on since last post. But last thing on my mind was blogging.
We flew to Poland nov 19 then I had to leave beginning of Dec because I was getting so far along in pregnancy so my mom came over and stayed the rest of the trip with my husband. They finally got to come home Dec 26th. So total 2nd trip was over a month.
But everyone's finally home!

Things we learned:
-You gotta go with the flow.
-Poland is gloomy, cold, and the air quality is poor most of the winter when we were there.  Hardly any sun.
-Time creeps by when your family is spilt up.
-The orphanage does as best they can but I am glad to be letting my son eat some good wholesome foods.
-You have to have lots and lots of patience for Poland, your child, and the overall process or you'll go stark raving mad.
-Not as many people as you think speak English even though in research they supposedly do.
- We didn't learn enough polish before we went and many times needed it.
-You really can't travel much with a new child, as they are unpredictable and you can be caught far away with tantrums and can be hard to get back to apartment.
-Your child us really learning the world for the first time and you have to go with it and help them learn.
-We are thankful for our son but completely glad for the ridiculously long process to be done.

Got travel dates! tentative, but almost certain.

Ok, so we got the paperwork from Poland, filled it out and sent it in the next day.  Waited and totally stressed because I am 30 weeks pregnant and we are trying to get over there  and me be able to get back before I give birth.  LOL.  So, we think we have it worked out to get over there, me get back and my husband have to stay through the  waiting period after the court date for our son.

Definitely crying and emotional and in shock its finally here and stressed to make sure I get everything done that I can so the trip is as best as possible.


WOOOOTWOOOOT.

Started application JAN 2013
Dossier in to Poland SEPT 2013
Referral for our son APRIL 2014
Traveled to Poland MAY 2014
Paperwork from Poland SEPT 2014
Travel back 2nd trip NOV 2014
Hope to have our son home DEC 2014!!!!

Almost 2 years from start to finish.  Tons of paperwork, emotions, and craziness almost coming to an end and we almost have our family!

finally getting paperwork from poland

well, we have waited since May for paperwork and its gonna be here tomorrow. finally.  lets hope we can get it turned in and get it back asap so we can be one step closer to bringing our son home!

still waiting on paperwork in between trips.

OK, its been a while since I've posted. We saw our son in May and so it has been 4 months since we returned. We really were hoping for paperwork from Poland a while ago, but it seems to be really slow right now in between trips.
But, we got an update we might have our paperwork in next weeks and possible travel in October or November depending. So it was a good update. I just really want my baby boy! Fingers crossed it works out n we have him.home for Christmas!

in hiatus

I turned 33 yesterday. I realized it has been a while since I wrote and updated. What better time than when I'm a year wiser :). So here goes..

When we traveled back from Poland I had a rough time adjusting to the time change with no sleep, airplane food and who knows what else so I got sick, yep, airplane bathrooms are really quite lovely (jk).  Well, after calling out of work an extra day or two and thinking I had some virus or bug we took a test. We meaning I and test meaning Yup, we found out we were pregnant!  Can you believe it? After years of trying and then finding our beautiful son in Poland we find out God has blessed us with a second child.   We ate so lucky to be where we are!

OK, onto the next subject...
My inlaws moved in with us. Not sure if I've blogged about this already, but they are awesome! We built out our garage and they have been wonderful and are so excited for everything and can't wait to meet their grandson from Poland!
So we have started updating our home study for all the changes we have going on. Doing more paperwork, of course.

We are waiting on Poland to send us the paperwork after our first trip for us to start getting everything dine to go back and pick up our son. Only thing is now we are a lite worried about timelines since I am pregnant now and at a certain point won't be able to travel so fingers crossed we get to go before things get complicated.  I know God has a plan but it still is hard to not worry.

seeing our son. 1st trip

We arrived in Katowice, got picked up n driven to see our hotel. Met Magda the next morning and she finds out our son is doing respitory therapy 3 hours away! So we didn't get to see him that day. The next day when then got picked up again and dru end 3 hours to where he is. Finally we get to see him. He's so tiny n perfect n beautiful. We played for hours. Then next day (today) we came back. Yesterday there were nurses who spoke English.. Today nope. Lol. But there is a lady stating here who speaks polish and Spanish of all things so she is a godsend helping us ho from my husband seeking Spanish n translating to polish.

traveling soon and other updates

we got travel dates, we are traveling soon to see our baby.  wootwoot! we get to see him 4 days! which is awesome. we have found videos and pictures of him because a famous singer has shed light on our orphanage in the past year and he was there so we feel very very blessed to have those we can watch. our family and friends are so supportive and excited and its the most wonderful feeling now. cant wait to see whats next in this journey. cant wait to meet my son! it is absolutely amazing you can have such feelings and love and connection to someone you havent met yet but the feeling is awesome and every time i see him in pictures he lights my world!

we bought a couple Polish dictionary and phrasebook to take with us. ive also been reading on the second adoption book we bought a while back. we are also getting so much help and advice from people in the agency group. the best resource ever are those who have lived or are living it to get advice and connect. i am making good friends with some people from our agency, it is really cool.  i want our son to have connections to Poland and those he maybe knew at the orphanage thru his life.

we've been matched to our baby boy!!

We got the phone call we have been waiting for !! We are parents ! More to come when we know... Feeling blessed.

Fundraiser brainstorming

Better late than never to start fundraising. I have a few really awesome friends and family who are going to help me figure out things to do for fundraising.  I have mixed feelings because I do not want people to think we are asking or begging for money because we knew the monetary implication when starting the adoption but at the same time many people so fundraise, as it can help in small ways for those little expenses. So, I have some great people who want to help and are looking into different parties to help and then they want to do a yard/bake sale which i said I totally need help with as I am not sure how to go about the bake sale part of things. Thank goodness for those close people in my life/our life who you know are true true friends. Thank you to all those who are excited for me and wanting to help!!!!!!!!

Waiting is sooooo hard!

Every day the wait seems harder and harder. It seems everyone around me is pregnant and or having babies. Like, Everyone! It's like always on ur brain and everywhere u look there are babies n more babies and none are urs and u ask why, why the wait, why. It's hard. You want to give up but u know you won't, because one day will be THE day. But I swear it's harder than every imagined. We pray and pray. But it's not here yet, our day has yet to come and it's hard. Have I said that yet? Lol. Today's one of those days that really hard for one reason or another. In the past few months I have like umpteen friends who have become pregnant and another handful who just had or about to have babies, some their first, some their third. And it gets you down. And then there's the news where they just found a baby in a dumpster, and another dropped off here or there, and u think why can't I be the one to love that baby, some stupid person doesn't know what they have, and I could give that baby everything, and we have been at this for over a year, it's not fair! Grrrrrr. Why do things happen this way? Why, when we have so much to give is it soon hard to begin a family? And everyone who doesn't even want them are having them left and right and throwing them away, makes me so angry. This is redundant of previous vent posts, just guess one of those bad days and needed to get it out.

Been reading on adoption

Started reading adoption books we have bought (reading The Connected Child right now), and books we bought about Poland and their history, culture, and customs. Learning cool things about Poland.  Following others lives on our agency group page on Facebook and that is one of the greatest assets we have to connect with others and go through this journey with others.  It has helped a lot.  

Continuing to do the rosetta stone CD for learning Polish every now and then.  I know a few words, so I hope to know enough to get by when we finally get to that first trip. Emotional over our last few months, as we kept hoping we would get a call, for sure we thought we would get a call, but still waiting.

I know I should just keep off Facebook. Because, I keep seeing others I know posting about expecting a baby, I have had 3 in the past few months post notices of expecting and 3 others who just had a baby and are posting new pics.  Makes me upset and emotional.  Then I see others who started a domestic adoption just recently who have already been matched and will have a newborn in a few months. I just get so frustrated.  Then I watch a tv show favorite of mine and it is about adoption and people 're-homing' and giving away those children, and it sickens me. I could never give a child away that was mine. Never.

I don't know the bigger picture and I just hate that.  I don't understand yet, and can't see the whys of life right now with those types of things, and it really makes me mad or stressed or... I dunno...  just emotional all around I guess. I hate waiting. And I know this isn't the worse wait yet. But, I want to move on the the next step, let me know who will be my baby and let me start planning already, let me get things ready, let me meet my sweet baby and hold them for the first time, please lord, just let me know.