I cannot believe how God has blessed us and put so many Polish people in our path. My husband's doctor is from Poland and now wants him and the kids to call him Uncle. I have a friend who is from Poland, who has a small daughter and wants to have play dates so our kids can help each other with their Polish/English. My sister-in-law's husband's co-worker is from Poland and has offered to help us with translation once the kids come home. And today my boss met with a new customer and happened to mention I was adopting from Poland, only to find out this customer is from Poland and has offered to meet us and give us any help we might need. He's already emailed me. WOW, God is so good to us!
May you all believe and be as blessed as we are.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Another favorite photo
I couldn't put this one on earlier because we had used a disposable camera at the beach. I'm hoping Jeff can do a watercolor of this picture.
It's so good to get back home and hear English again!
The countdown begins for trip two as we wait for dates.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Houston we've got contact!
We have photos!
So here are a few photos, I'm not going to write much, maybe just label the pictures. They're not in any order either. Can't wait to get home and show ALL the pictures I have.
Bartek & Kasia on their go-karts.
One of my favorites of Bartek & Kasia.
A comfy cozy morning of Kasia watching cartoons.
Sleeping in after a night with a toothache.
Our little Diva!
Our World Champion Soccer Player!
Bartek wants to be like Jeff in every way. He even told the court psychologist he thought he looked like Jeff.
Our first day at the pool.
My happy little family! (this was taken in front of the Viking ship that we took a ride on)
For years and years I prayed and prayed for children. After the first day I got here I had a few moments of panic when it finally hit me as to what we were actually doing here in Poland and I said, Oh My God what have I gotten myself into. Then I spent time with the kids and all their energy and I thought, Oh My God what have I gotten myself into. But after the 2 1/2 weeks with Bartek & Kasia I thought, Oh My God thank you for answering my prayers and sending me these two beautiful children and making us a family!
This will be my last entry until after we get home late on 6/20th.
Thank you again to all our friends and family and fellow bloggers, who have kept us in their prayers and sent encouraging comments.
God Bless,
Debbie
So here are a few photos, I'm not going to write much, maybe just label the pictures. They're not in any order either. Can't wait to get home and show ALL the pictures I have.
Bartek & Kasia on their go-karts.
One of my favorites of Bartek & Kasia.
A comfy cozy morning of Kasia watching cartoons.
Sleeping in after a night with a toothache.
Our little Diva!
Our World Champion Soccer Player!
Bartek wants to be like Jeff in every way. He even told the court psychologist he thought he looked like Jeff.
Our first day at the pool.
My happy little family! (this was taken in front of the Viking ship that we took a ride on)
For years and years I prayed and prayed for children. After the first day I got here I had a few moments of panic when it finally hit me as to what we were actually doing here in Poland and I said, Oh My God what have I gotten myself into. Then I spent time with the kids and all their energy and I thought, Oh My God what have I gotten myself into. But after the 2 1/2 weeks with Bartek & Kasia I thought, Oh My God thank you for answering my prayers and sending me these two beautiful children and making us a family!
This will be my last entry until after we get home late on 6/20th.
Thank you again to all our friends and family and fellow bloggers, who have kept us in their prayers and sent encouraging comments.
God Bless,
Debbie
A few things I observed while in Poland
Here are a few observations I made while in Poland:
1) No one smiles;
2) The weather is very unpredictable, but frequently changes;
3) The people of Poland do not use clothes dryers like we do in the states, but use
clothe drying racks. So plan on lightweight layers if you're traveling and plan
on 1 to 1 1/2 days for drying if you will be washing clothes while here;
4) Where we were in Kolobrzeg, it was very breezy to full blown windy, so even on
the nicest days it was a bit chilly. However, even at it's coldest the most I
needed to wear was a sweatshirt and maybe a windbreaker.
5) Don't even consider driving in Poland. The roads are about 1 1/2 car widths
wide, so it's like playing chicken with on coming cars even when in your own
lane. Makes for a very exciting ride.
5) For the families who are using Mimi and will be traveling with Lech, don't be
afraid to ask for his service, like driving you somewhere. He's very agreeable
but doesn't offer up anything. You have to ask.
6) We got a lot of our ideas on things to do from Lech and from local tourist
information booklets.
7) I wasn't able to use my laptop at any of the cafes, you had to use your own. So if I had to do it all over again, I'd just take my digital pictures to a photo shop and have them put on a cd. It turned out to be just one more very heavy item to lug around with the rest of our luggage.
I hope this helps those who will be traveling soon.
I plan on updating this one more time before we leave on Saturday, hopefully with pictures.
Ciao!
1) No one smiles;
2) The weather is very unpredictable, but frequently changes;
3) The people of Poland do not use clothes dryers like we do in the states, but use
clothe drying racks. So plan on lightweight layers if you're traveling and plan
on 1 to 1 1/2 days for drying if you will be washing clothes while here;
4) Where we were in Kolobrzeg, it was very breezy to full blown windy, so even on
the nicest days it was a bit chilly. However, even at it's coldest the most I
needed to wear was a sweatshirt and maybe a windbreaker.
5) Don't even consider driving in Poland. The roads are about 1 1/2 car widths
wide, so it's like playing chicken with on coming cars even when in your own
lane. Makes for a very exciting ride.
5) For the families who are using Mimi and will be traveling with Lech, don't be
afraid to ask for his service, like driving you somewhere. He's very agreeable
but doesn't offer up anything. You have to ask.
6) We got a lot of our ideas on things to do from Lech and from local tourist
information booklets.
7) I wasn't able to use my laptop at any of the cafes, you had to use your own. So if I had to do it all over again, I'd just take my digital pictures to a photo shop and have them put on a cd. It turned out to be just one more very heavy item to lug around with the rest of our luggage.
I hope this helps those who will be traveling soon.
I plan on updating this one more time before we leave on Saturday, hopefully with pictures.
Ciao!
Friday, June 12, 2009
Surprise!
Wouldn't you know it, with just four more full days here at Kolobrzeg, we finally found a free internet cafe, about 3 blocks from our apartment!
Oh well, still no pictures, but here's a quick run down of what we've been doing:
6/1 Picked up kids from orphanage, appeared in court, was asked to come back on 6/17, arrived in Kolobrzeg and walked, walked, walked (got lost looking for grocery store);
6/2 Went to an indoor swimming pool that had a twisted slide. They don't use chlorine, but salt instead. Very interesting, easy to float. We then went to a park where they had an obstacle course in the trees that you hook your cable onto. Bartek did this, and of course we forgot the camera. I then vowed to ALWAYS carry it with me.
6/3 Walked about 20 minutes into the Old Town which had the new shopping mall. We bought soccer shoes and a ball for Bartek and little pink tennies for Kasia (turns out she does like pink afterall!)
6/4 Went to a different park, where on the way we had to get a smaller ball for Kasia, and we all played soccer, more or less. Bartek is VERY good and whipped the pants off of Mama & Tata (sorry daddy, Polish is coming so quick and naturally for us). It rained and then we went to the other family's apartment to help celebrate their son's birthday.
6/5 Rained all morning, but in the afternoon (3:00 ish) we went out and rented what the kids call go-karts. They were peddle go karts and not the powered ones we thought of.
6/6 Got a ride into town to use internet, searched for a computer game for Bartek but settled on getting a movie instead and walked home. We all sat on the couch and watched Jackie Chan (very amusing, chinese dubbed in English, dubbed in Polish) when we got home and ate popcorn.
6/7 did laundry and watched the rain come down.
6/8 More rain (seeing a pattern here?), walked to the movie/Kino and saw a movie we had no intention to (small language barrier). It was sooooo good, that Tata and Kasia fell asleep. Got some of our photos printed for the kids books (so they don't forget our pretty faces).
6/9 Went back to the park with the jungle cables so Jeff could do it too (and I could get pictures) but no one was there. Instead we went to the small carnival set up in a small parking lot. I'm talking really small 4 rides. We went on the bumper cars and some other ride that I can't describe, but was really fun.
6/10 Walked to the beach, and on the way it rained. Continued on after it stopped and was a beautiful day. Ate some delicious ice cream on the boardwalk, then walked home. Rained some more.
6/11 Took a ride out into the Baltic Sea on a Viking ship, and .... that's right it rained! Walked to main part of tourist area (where we're staying) and paid for the kdis to play in an indoor playground (similar to McDonald's) and they still had energy to spare after an hour. How do they do it!
6/12 Rained again, even though this is supposed to be the nicer week of our stay. But found this internet cafe and am able to update our blog!!!!
Yes it rains practically every day, and yes we're walking everywhere, but we wouldn't trade it for the world! I think I've actually lost a few pounds.
If I don't get back one more time before the 17th, I'll definitely be able to update with pictures when we get to Poland (I think, you never know and just go with the flow).
Thank you everyone for your concern while we were MIA, and always, thank you for your prayers.
Much love,
Debbie & Jeff
Oh well, still no pictures, but here's a quick run down of what we've been doing:
6/1 Picked up kids from orphanage, appeared in court, was asked to come back on 6/17, arrived in Kolobrzeg and walked, walked, walked (got lost looking for grocery store);
6/2 Went to an indoor swimming pool that had a twisted slide. They don't use chlorine, but salt instead. Very interesting, easy to float. We then went to a park where they had an obstacle course in the trees that you hook your cable onto. Bartek did this, and of course we forgot the camera. I then vowed to ALWAYS carry it with me.
6/3 Walked about 20 minutes into the Old Town which had the new shopping mall. We bought soccer shoes and a ball for Bartek and little pink tennies for Kasia (turns out she does like pink afterall!)
6/4 Went to a different park, where on the way we had to get a smaller ball for Kasia, and we all played soccer, more or less. Bartek is VERY good and whipped the pants off of Mama & Tata (sorry daddy, Polish is coming so quick and naturally for us). It rained and then we went to the other family's apartment to help celebrate their son's birthday.
6/5 Rained all morning, but in the afternoon (3:00 ish) we went out and rented what the kids call go-karts. They were peddle go karts and not the powered ones we thought of.
6/6 Got a ride into town to use internet, searched for a computer game for Bartek but settled on getting a movie instead and walked home. We all sat on the couch and watched Jackie Chan (very amusing, chinese dubbed in English, dubbed in Polish) when we got home and ate popcorn.
6/7 did laundry and watched the rain come down.
6/8 More rain (seeing a pattern here?), walked to the movie/Kino and saw a movie we had no intention to (small language barrier). It was sooooo good, that Tata and Kasia fell asleep. Got some of our photos printed for the kids books (so they don't forget our pretty faces).
6/9 Went back to the park with the jungle cables so Jeff could do it too (and I could get pictures) but no one was there. Instead we went to the small carnival set up in a small parking lot. I'm talking really small 4 rides. We went on the bumper cars and some other ride that I can't describe, but was really fun.
6/10 Walked to the beach, and on the way it rained. Continued on after it stopped and was a beautiful day. Ate some delicious ice cream on the boardwalk, then walked home. Rained some more.
6/11 Took a ride out into the Baltic Sea on a Viking ship, and .... that's right it rained! Walked to main part of tourist area (where we're staying) and paid for the kdis to play in an indoor playground (similar to McDonald's) and they still had energy to spare after an hour. How do they do it!
6/12 Rained again, even though this is supposed to be the nicer week of our stay. But found this internet cafe and am able to update our blog!!!!
Yes it rains practically every day, and yes we're walking everywhere, but we wouldn't trade it for the world! I think I've actually lost a few pounds.
If I don't get back one more time before the 17th, I'll definitely be able to update with pictures when we get to Poland (I think, you never know and just go with the flow).
Thank you everyone for your concern while we were MIA, and always, thank you for your prayers.
Much love,
Debbie & Jeff
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Quick update
As I mentioned previously, we've arrived. However, we have no internet access and have to walk 20 minutes to Old Town to use an internet cafe. I will probably be able to do one more update when we return to Warsaw around the 17th and we'll be staying in a hotel.
Needless to say, we are loving spending time with our children. They are beautiful, heart & soul. And very, very, VERY energetic for two such old folks :) We believe everytime we get a second wind they suck all the energy from us and off they go again! No complaints here though. We asked for it and we got it, Parenthood!
Love to the USA from Poland!
Jeff, Debbie, Bartek & Kasia
Needless to say, we are loving spending time with our children. They are beautiful, heart & soul. And very, very, VERY energetic for two such old folks :) We believe everytime we get a second wind they suck all the energy from us and off they go again! No complaints here though. We asked for it and we got it, Parenthood!
Love to the USA from Poland!
Jeff, Debbie, Bartek & Kasia
Friday, May 29, 2009
We've arrived!
Hello from Poland! We landed in Warsaw at 10:30 am and then continued on to Wroclaw and arrived there at 2:30. Not as tired as I expected to be or I'm overly tired. I can't tell yet, but I know I woke up thursday morning at 5:45 am without an alarm and I've not been to sleep yet and it's now 10:15 pm in Poland. (Granted they're 8 hours ahead of CO and it's only 2:15 pm there, but still...)
Didn't have too much time to explore or take pictures put we hope to have some tomorrow.
Didn't have too much time to explore or take pictures put we hope to have some tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
