We're going to Poland

The next time most of you see us, we will be parents. Future Dad and I got the call this morning that our bonding period is set to being MONDAY! That is right....THIS Monday! We need to be there a few days early, so we are flying out Friday morning!

By this time next week, we will have met our children! 

We feel so blessed. 

Here is what we have learned:

• We will be in Poland on Saturday.
• The original court date happened without us. At that date they determined our bonding period.
• We will begin our bonding period on Monday and it ends October 30th.
• The first few days, we will stay in the foster home with our kids. We will get to know their routine and maybe get to go to their school.
• We will then go stay in an fabulous apartment in their town. The apartment is available for 2 of the 3 weeks. We will have the freedom to go where we want in the town. They will be in our custody, but not yet our children.
• We will go stay in a hotel the last week of our bonding time. 
• We then go to court and get the official adoption decree. 
• There is a 2 - 4 week appeal period. At the end of the appeal period, they are OUR CHILDREN! We will hopefully be back in Warsaw at this point.
• There is another 2-4 weeks of paperwork chasing, then we can come home! 

The timeline is looking at more of a 6-8 week time period instead of 4-6 weeks.

We are thrilled. We have lots to do, but nothing is impossible with our God!

Here are some sweet pictures from our shower: These are prayer blankets. Our friends prayed as they tied the layers together. Aren't they perfect?

Here is Mimi Prather praying for her sweet grandson!

These were the ladies who organized our rock star celebration!

     Look at this mountain! 

Here are some pictures from the shower with my sweet co-workers at the school!

There are 6 hearts on the cake! The first and last heart are where we will begin and end our journey! From Huntsville to Zglorgelec!

These blocks have written blessings and advice on them... 

Don't tell our little girl about the sand/water table... she is getting it for her birthday in March :-D

We feel so blessed! Thanks for all the love and support. Perhaps when we update next, we will be with our children.

Growing weary of waiting

 Update on the list...and life

Here is the latest update: also, I'll be adding pictures tomorrow. Right now I'm updating from my iPad and the pictures are on the other computer. Also, tomorrow I have to give the iPad back to school because it belongs to them.

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.   * new beds are in and made... Sheets are on the beds!

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. *new

9. The Article 5 gets picked up by Sasha (our in country facilitator) and taken to the NAC.

10. *Future Dad builds dining room table and bench to seat everyone. *the top is together, sanded and the edges are finished! Next step is oiling the top and sealing it... Then skirt and legs!

11. We get Court date/travel date.  *new Still waiting for the judge in Poland to get us on the docket!

12. TRAVEL!

Since the last time I blogged, several things of note have happened....

1. Our AMAZING church threw us the most amazing and generous shower Adoption celebration. 

2. My friends organized a house blessing and several wonderful friends joined us at our house to pray over our kids rooms.

3. My teacher friends / school colleagues threw us a shower to stock our school room and play room. Again, these people were so generous!

4. They told our kids that they are getting adopted. Their gift is on the way.

5. We bought and installed car seats in both cars. 

6. God sent a lady who graduated from Gallaudet to take my job the rest of this school year. Praise him. Tomorrow is my last day.

It worked last time...

Will you pray with us to get a court date? All our paperwork is ready, it is at the courthouse (we are pretty sure) and we are just waiting for the judge to put us on his docket.

Right now at 5:43 PM central time, it is 11:43 PM in Poland. If you wake up in the middle of the night tonight anytime after 2:00 A.M., say a prayer because it will be business hours there.

Dear Judge,

Please let us come soon.

Love,

Future mom and dad

Current prayers

On Friday of last week, Future Dad, the dog and I took a trip. It was our final hoorah before our kids come. We split the cost of a condo with Aunt B and her new husband, Uncle A! We ventured down to the Alabama gulf and spent 3 days sitting on the beach. We swam in the ocean, Future Dad skim boarded some, we ate food, but mostly, we sat. We will not have this luxury for a VERY long time.

We found a cute condo on the bay side (read: cheaper) and walked 1 block to the beach each day and set up camp. It was wonderful. This is the only picture from the entire trip.

We were very happy and relaxed. Future Dad and I have not been to the beach together since 2008. It had been too long.

Adoption Update: We are waiting for "the ministry" in Poland to give us final approval, then we wait on a court date. Once they set a date, we will buy our plane tickets and go meet our children.

We mailed our kiddos a package 2 weeks ago. It contained a book, some stuffed animals with a voice box inside, and a photo of us with their animals. We tried to say "we love you" in Polish. We could have said "we love sushi" for all we know. Hopefully, they will understand our broken Polish.

The National Adoption Center in Poland has not approved our facilitator to give them to the kids yet. They are holding our gift until we are closer to travel. They don't want the kids to think we aren't coming.

 

Prayer requests:

The ministry will approve us this week.

The NAC will approve our gift to be given to the kids so they will know they are chosen and loved.
The judge will set a date soon.

God will be preparing the heart of the judge to be fair and compassionate (not sure if those are opposites, but I believe they can coexist).

God to be preparing the hearts of our children to meet us.

God to finish preparing our hearts to be parents.

Us to get our house ready in time.