Taking it day by day!

I don't have a whole lot to report on right now. Getting our I-800's approved has been our greatest challenge yet. I will write more about our experience once we have our approvals....for now we are just taking it day by day-knowing that as each day passes we are one step closer to bringing our girls home. Meanwhile we are keeping busy with life. We were able to go camping last weekend which was wonderful and relaxing. We are not to fond of the North Carolina heat so going up to the mountains where we can have a fire at night is wonderful. I even wore a sweatshirt!

Vito had a birthday last week so I surprised him with drawings from the girls. The foster father was kind enough to scan the drawings so I could print them for him! He said it was his best gift-and I believe him. I also bought him a gift from the girls. Princess camping chairs.....I know he would rather have a boat....but for now the chairs will have to do. (maybe next year for the boat)

We are still able to Skype with the girls every Sunday, which we look forward to each week. This week they showed us framed pictures of us with them. They were so excited shoving them in the camera. We also watched the foster mother carry the younger one to bed as she cried for us :( It breaks our heart. We do our best to let them know that it is all going to work out....that it just takes time. We are certain of this, so we pray for the family and the girls that they may have peace right now as we wait to go to Poland.

Before beginning this process we were given some advice. We were told that is it not for the "faint at heart" boy is that true. We were also told we needed to be flexible, give up a lot of control and except the unexpected. It all makes sense to us now!

Scooter never likes to be left!

The sun peaking through on the Blue Ridge Mountains

Scooter in a field of wild flowers

We had a photo contest....Vito won

Vito with his best birthday present. Drawings from the girls!

We were showered!

We feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends who hosted a fabulous shower for us last weekend. We have only lived here for a couple of years and was so touched that so many people who we have not know us for very long spoiled us and the girls. Vito's mother, sister and her family live nearby so we even had a few family members in attendance.
Amanda and Paige (the fabulous hostess's) made the cutest invitations, wonderful food, and even had some pictures of the girls around. Every detail was so thoughtful.
The girls now some new clothes to wear, kid friendly shampoo, cute barrettes and headbands, new dishes to eat with, and new piggy banks to save their money in. I don't think we will need another book for a long time and we have all sorts of new games we can play with the girls. They each now have a bike to ride around the neighborhood, new sleeping bags to use camping, personalized beach towels to take to the beach and toys galore to play with. They will each have their own necklace with an initial charm-we will give these to them before we go to court.
We even received a pirogue maker with all of the ingredients and private pirogue making lessons from some friends. I will get the freezer stocked up before we leave!

What a wonderful evening spent with wonderful people who showered us and the girls with so much love! We can't wait for the girls to meet them all!

Oodles and oodles of gifts!

Amanda lamented cute little posters with picture of the important things we need to tell the girls. These will definitely be going to Poland with us!

Little girl stuff is so cute and fun!

We are going to have fun camping and having tea parties!

A new princess bike!

Piggy banks to help teach the girls how to save!

Us with our lovely hostesses! Paige and Amanda-you guys are the best!

A cake with the girls initials!....yummy and oh so cute

Ingredients for the pirogues

What a great night!

Our gift to the girls!

If you would of asked us if we were going to get a playset for the girls before we met them...we would have said no. But after spending 2 days with them we quickly changed our minds. They love being outside running, swinging and playing. So instead of spending money on a lot of little things we decided our gift to them would be a playset for the backyard. We want them to continue to enjoy playing outside. We took some pictures of us playing on it to email them.

We sent a little package to them a few weeks ago. It finally made it there yesterday. Their foster father told us the little one uses her new pink princess play cellphone to call us and ask when we are coming. I wish I could call her little pink phone and tell her we'll be there tomorrow. Hopefully soon! He also email us a couple of pictures of the girls navigating his computer looking at all of the pictures we have sent them. He said they insist on looking at them everyday!

As for any update....Our I-800 is safe and sound in Lees Summit, MO. Hopefully it contains everything they need and we will have an approval very soon!

I-800 out the door

Our I-800 is officially complete and out the door. Hopefully it will be on our officers desk this week. While we wait for our approval we are just doing all we can to be ready to go. I want to be prepared so if they say you need to be there tomorrow we are ready to go. I am officially on my summer break so I have a lot of time to make sure everything is ready for when they come home. I am stepping up the Polish lessons, finishing some books on international adoption and getting their room ready. I sent them a little care package today...thanks to our neighbor Caroline the girls should be wearing their first sillyband in about 2 weeks when the package arrives! We figured it isn't too early to start them on some of those crazy American fads. I also went to our neighborhood pool tonight (for the first time) to take pictures to email them. I told Vito tonight that come summer, the girls and I will be at the pool everyday :)

Almost.....I-800 and girls room!

Currently we are waiting to file our I-800. (Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative) An application is filled out for each girl and along with the application we have to include the following documents in Polish and English. Birth certificates, termination of parental rights, approval from the Polish central authority and a statement from our agency stating that everything is true and correct, and the girls social and medical history. We have everything except for the girls medical in Polish. Hopefully we will have it this week.

We also had to send it the I-864 (Affidavit of Support)...this proves that we can financially take care of the girls and that won't become wards of the state. This form was a little confusing because it is not geared towards adopting but rather for the people who are sponsoring an adult relative to come the US. I was told this was implemented for adoption because of the Hague.

In the meantime we are keeping busy getting ready for their arrival. Their room is almost complete...just needs a few more decorations. Since they have always slept in the same room and pretty much the same bed, we decided to keep them in the same room for the time being. Of course the question is who gets the top bunk? Their foster father informed us yesterday that the younger one told him she gets the top bunk. (and if you knew her, that comment is not surprising at all) We thought we would let the older one choose...what do you all think?

We were able to Skype with the girls yesterday. The week before they asked if we had toothbrushes for them (of course we didn't)...but this week when they asked if we had toothbrushes we were able to show them Dinsey Princess toothbrushes and toothpaste. I even bought them some Strawberry Shortcake Band-aids. Of course they wanted to see their clothes again and toys again.

Hopefully we will have some more news to post this week!