It's Go Time!

It is officially Go Time! We are finally leaving in two weeks to get our girls. After shedding tears of joy we began making our "to do" list. Luckily, we have been planning ever since we got back from Poland in April....so for the most part we are very prepared. We had originally planned to drive Scooter out to Denver to stay with my parents but because of time constraints he will stay with Vito's best friend (who has Scooters girlfriend Nala) in NJ. It is a great comfort to know that he will be well cared for. We are also making arrangements with Vito's sister and her family to visit from Germany. It will be wonderful for the girls to spend time with their aunt and uncle and their 4 new cousins!!! We are so grateful they are able to come and visit us! The girls will also get to spend time with my parents as they are coming over for the last part of the trip. What a blessing for the girls to meet their new family so soon! We are also praying for a play date with little Pfalzer! Come on judge get them their court date!

What a great day!!!!!!

Light at the end of the tunnel.....

We received the girls I-800's in the mail last Thursday...what a great day! Vito immediately scanned them to Lina who sent them to Magda. On Friday we were notified that our I-800's made it to the Embassy in Warsaw. Monday we were notified that our Article 5 was ready, picked up, and sent to the judge. So now we wait for the judge to invite us to come. It is so nice to finally have people calling us with updates instead of us always being the ones calling for updates. (ie the USCIS)

As I was thinking about what kind of gift we could give the foster parents, I just didn't think giving them candy and coffee was an appropriate gift to say thank you for taking care of our girls for so many years. I wanted to give them something special so I decided to make them a memory quilt. I used a few pictures from our visit to Poland but most of the pictures were taken by the foster father and represented the years the girls lived with them. I found a lady who printed them on the fabric and then I spent about 2 hours at the quilting store picking the fabric that would go around the pictures. I pieced it all together and then sent it to my mother to finish. I can't wait to see the finished product. I will post a picture of it as soon as I get it back from her.

Last Saturday night we had some friends over for our first night of pierogi making. A very nice couple gave us the pierogi maker and then came over for personal cooking lessons. I have to say they were a lot better than expected. We are going to make it a tradition to make pierogi's with the girls on special occasions.

We are still Skyping with the girls every Sunday. When their foster father told them we finally had the approvals...the girls held hands and danced around the room! Wish we could have seen that one. He also told us that both girls are now able to ride a bike without training wheels! I told Vito he better take off the train wheels on the bikes we have for them before they get here!

So for now we just wait and pray that we get the call soon. I started back teaching today and am diligently preparing all of my sub plans so that we can leave at the drop of a hat. We are so ready to be on that plane heading for Poland!

Finally......I-800's are approved!!!!!!!!

It has been a while since I have posted anything....mostly because anything I had to say would be negative. It has taken over 2 months but finally both girls have their I-800 approvals!!!!! Apparently when you have a guy named Vito call.....the job gets done:) If any of you have any specific questions about what we went through or would like some suggestions when you get to this point I would be happy to talk about it. But for now I need to let it go.

Lina had us send our DS-230's (visa applications) to Poland a couple of weeks ago. We also wired the money for their visa's to Poland at the same time. Now we are officially waiting for a court date. What an awesome feeling to have this step completed!

I just want to give a public thanks to all who have been so supportive. You have all let me vent via email, on the phone, or even in person. Yes we had dinner with Rebecca and Mike from www.ourpolishadoptionblog.blogspot.com and had a wonderful time with them. It was so fun to meet another couple that is going through this whole process. I wished you all lived closer and I would have everyone over for dinner! We will sleep well this weekend J

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!