2 down

1. Get referral from NAC.
2. Mail off for immigration/visa approval. 
3. Wait 4-6 weeks for approval.
4. *Buy a bigger vehicle.
5. Send visa approval to the National Visa Center.
6. *Set up 2 bedrooms.
7. The NVC will send visa approval to the U.S. Embassy in Poland.
8. The U.S. Embassy writes a letter called the Article 5.
9. The Article 5 gets picked up by Sasha (our in country facilitator) and taken to the NAC.
10. The NAC schedules a court date.
11.* Future Dad builds dining room table and bench to seat everyone.
12. Court is held without us.
13. We get travel date.
14. TRAVEL!

Did you see that? WE GOT OUR REFERRAL!!! 

We are in our 3rd trimester, if you want to compare it to a pregnancy.

Some people have asked what that means. It means Poland has given us a preliminary "yes" to adopt these kids. We are matched together. Now, no one can sneak in and adopt them out from under us. Short of the formal adoption, they are ours. 

What a relief. This has been the day we have been waiting for. So much of our conversation has been "yes, but not until we get our referral... they are ours, but we haven't gotten the official referral yet... we can't really buy anything until we get our referral."

Guess what? Now it is time to get everything done. We are expecting 4 kids. We are still a few months out, but it is GO TIME!


We also are now the proud owners of this baby! We still need to put the padding and net around it, but it was a generous gift from some sweet friends.