Greetings from Jaworzno

I know our last post didn't give a lot of details.....so here goes my rambling of what has transpired so far.

Monday:
We spent Monday morning exploring more of Warsaw. There is definitely going to be plenty to do when we get there. That afternoon we took a train from Warsaw to Katowice, it was about 2 1/2 hours. We bought first class tickets (only about 12.00 USD more) so we would have enough room for our luggage. Needless to say my big bag had to sit next to the restroom and we looked like stupid tourists with all of our bags. In the end it worked out fine and the best part was that the first person I saw when I got off of the train was Tom, our driver. We thought we should practice with the train system before we took the girls on it...and glad we did. Tom drove us to the town where the girls live, Jaworzno, to hotel Panska Gora. That night we walked to the local grocery store to get some water and snacks. We enjoyed a nice Nutella and Jam sandwich (used a waffer cookie to spread the jam and Nutella....it was almost like camping :)

Tuesday
We spent the morning walking around the town of Jaworzno. Which we love. It was so fun to watch the people while walking down cobblestone streets and looking at all of the stuff the street vendors are selling.

Now for the best part. That same afternoon Tom picked us up and took us to the girls house. We pulled up to find the whole family outside waiting for us. We were immediately greeted with hugs and kisses from everyone. The girls were so excited to show us how they can ride bikes without training wheels. They rode around the house several times and then we all took a ride around the neighborhood. I have to tell you that these girls are tough...they would fall down and not even get upset. They would just pick up themselves up and get back on the bike. The older one was riding a bike that was a little big for her so she needed Tata to help her get started. By the end of the day she could do it by herself and boy was she proud. The best part was when the older girl brought her framed picture of her and tata to him. She made him pose exactly like the picture so I could take another picture of them together. It was like she had been waiting forever for him and now he was here she wanted to relive the picture. It was so touching and helped Vito feel even closer to her. We stay through supper that night which consisted of crapes filled with strawberries and cream. It was really more like desert...very good. After lots of kisses and hugs we left around 7pm....it wasn't that hard to leave since we would be back the next day.

The second best bart of the day (sorry Julie) was that we had dinner with Julie and Jim! We had the BEST time at dinner with them. It was like we had known each other for years and it was just another night to hang out. They were troopers as they had just arrived at the hotel about a hour before we met! I know they were exhausted. We saw them again in the morning as we were leaving for court and they were leaving to visit their son! I can't tell you how happy I am for them to finally be in Poland to be with their son! What a great day!

Tuesday
Apparently a few court systems in Poland require 2 court dates and ours happened to be one of them. We meet Madga in at 9am for a 9:30 court appointment. On the 3 minute drive to the court, Magda told us the kinds of questions they would ask. We each had to testify before the judge about why we picked Poland and why we wanted to adopt. Magda told us that compared to a lot of hearings it went very well. The prosecuting attorney didn't even ask us any questions which we were thankful for. In the end we were granted temporary custody of the girls for the next 3 weeks. We will return to court on October 6th for the final hearing. Now that we have had one hearing it will be easier to return the second time.
After court the foster father drove us to downtown Jaworzno to show us his flat that he owns. He and his family lived there for many years before they moved to their present home. His oldest daughter currently lives there while she attend the university. He then drove us to his house so we could spend the day with the girls. The day consisted of more bike riding....this time on a singletrack trail down to a river. We were very impressed with their singletrack abilities. We colored a lot, looked at pictures of them growing up and played with Vito's ipad..a huge hit! We were fed several great Polish meals! I feel a little more prepared of how to feed the girls which is great. I was able to bath the girls and get them ready for bed! It was a wonderful day. I am off to get ready for another full day of playing! I will write more and promise to post pictures tonight!

PS I am tired and rushed so please forgive my typos!