Not goodbye, just until we meet again

On Friday we got up feeling both a little excitement and sadness since this would be our last day seeing A.  We packed up our luggage and got everything set because once we finished our morning visit, Magda's driver Gregory would pick us up at the foster home and brings back so we could check out and head back to Warsaw.  We were officially today Magda-less, which of course meant translator-less; but we were confident we could survive fine, lol.  The only apprehension we had was whether we could communicate well with A and the foster parents since we didn't have our go-between.

After breakfast, we decided to walk to the foster family's home- as I said, it is a small enough town and everyone else walked, so we thought why not!  Their home was maybe a mile from our hotel so it was definitely doable.  The weather was cooperating and it was pleasantly cool with no rain.  Also, we really needed to stretch our legs and get some exercise because we had been going and going and had not been as active as we liked.

On our other excursions that week, we had noticed a nice flower shop (kwiaty!)and thought it would be nice gesture to bring the foster mom flowers since they have taken such good care of A and had been so gracious and welcoming to us in their home.   Case picked out some very pretty pink roses and carnations and remembered reading that its considered good luck to bring an odd number in Poland so he insisted on that.  The lady in the shop wrapped them up beautifully and we set off.

We didn't get any farther than the town square (maybe 50-100 yards from the shop) when we heard "honk honk!".  We looked around and sure enough, we recognized the foster dad in his van!   I told you it was a small town, lol!  He was on his way to take the littlest girl to school and he stopped and asked if we wanted a ride to his house.  Although we had wanted to stretch our legs a bit, we definitely accepted the offer so as not to be rude.  We started to move- probably a mile an hour- and he was turned, talking to Brian in the front seat next to him when "BANG!", he rear ended the car in front of him!  To be fair, the other driver did stop short and we were barely moving, but it was still a little jolt. The foster dad got out to talk to the other driver and look at their bumpers (you could tell the other guy was definitely thinking there was a bunch of damage) but there was none- not even a scratch.  They shook hands and he got back in.  You could tell he was a little embarrassed, but we just acted like it was no big deal and we continued on.  Case, being a boy, thought the whole incident was exciting and "cool", lol.  Yeah, ok, whatever.  Lol.

We got to the house and as every day before, A was waiting for us at the door and was very excited. We came in and to our very pleasant surprise, the foster mom had their laptop out with Google translate already fired up and ready to go!  It made talking much easier and took a load of stress off us all.  While Case and A played, we asked her about how much A knew about the adoption and how much he understood.  She said he had an idea but overall, not much.

We realized from talking also that this was the first time they had gone through the formal adoption process out of their home as well.  Because they have cared for the other kids whose parental rights aren't severed yet for so long, they had not actually gone through all the steps.  In a weird way, this is comforting too because they are just as new to it as we are and we could help each other.  Also, because A had not been with them as long as the others, it probably presents the perfect situation where they didn't have to say goodbye to the others that they have had so long.  We told her what Magda had told us, that now that we have agreed to go ahead with it, adoption officials with the regional center would begin working with A on an age-appropriate level so he could begin to come to grips with what it all means and understand.

We "talked" some more and then brought A out to show him the picture book we were leaving with him.  We showed him the pictures and through Google translate and the foster mom explaining, we asked him if he would like to come live with us.  He sat next to Brian during this and little by little, snuggled against him.  He didn't say much, but nodded a few times.  The one thing he wouldn't do was to say the dogs names back to us, but we didn't push it and attribute it more to being in shock than anything else.  Interestingly, the word for shock in Polish is szok, so there you go.  Who knew?  After we finished looking at the pictures, he wanted to go play with Case, which was totally fine and actually good and normal.

He really seemed to gravitate more to Brian than me, which is ok because I think he needs a father figure (the foster dad works alot) and there is probably  a little mistrust of a "mom" figure, which is totally understandable based on his background.  Not that he wasn't ok with me, he just seemed to like Brian a lot this trip.  I thought at first maybe this was because the foster mom was there and he felt "disloyal" or something to her, but I think now it was more that he just took to Brian.  He told them he liked me a lot too, so I'm not insecure about any of that.

One interesting thing we found out was that they told us that they never have let any of the kids call them "Mama and Tato"- mom and dad in Polish.   Instead, they have them call them "Auntie and Uncle".  I was impressed by that because they really take their roles as foster parents seriously and know that the ultimate goal was to get the kids families, so they didn't want to confuse them.  In fact, A called Brian "Uncle" the second time we visited, which Magda had said was a good sign.  He called me "pani", or lady, but that was totally fine, lol.  As I said, I would be more concerned if he was overly comfortable with us both before he knew us.  A little trepidation is healthy :)

As the time to leave grew nearer, we went to play with A before our driver came.   I could tell that the foster mom was a little sad about the prospect of A leaving some day, but that she also understood and was ok with everything. We played computers with him and the stress/shock he had seemed to have earlier waned.  He laughed and continued talking up a storm in no time.

Around noon, our driver arrived and instead of goodbyes, we said see you soons.  We had prearranged to have Skype video chats every 2 weeks (when Magda was with us, she and the foster family suggested it and we heartily agreed) so we knew we would literally see him soon.  A gave us all big hugs and we left feeling really good about everything.  As Brian said, we couldn't ask for a better situation for him and better fit for our family.

We had a great trip back to Warsaw.  We stopped for lunch at this cool log cabin-themed restaurant which was excellent (at our driver's recommendation) and Case got to pet an iguana they had in a cage/terrarium. He loved that!

This crazy thing closed its eyes and lifted its head and fell asleep when Case was petting it!  So docile! And yes, we washed hands afterwards, lol.

We made our way back into the city and Magda had given the driver instructions to take us a couple of places- 1)to a store to find dark chocolate (Case's fave!) and Levazza coffee; and 2)to the soccer stadium and store for the Warsaw soccer club Legia Warsawa.   Gregory the driver was TOTALLY into this and came in to the soccer store and explained to us all about the club, insignias, history, and even sang their song to us!  It was great!  I posted the pic of the soccer stadium they have built for Euro 2012, but what I didn't say was Legia Warsawa's stadium sits over 30,000 and is right across the Vistula from it too.  They love their futbol there!  They were in first place in their division as our our trip and there was a game the next day so the place was hopping!  Case had a blast at the store and we all got shirts and he got a scarf too.  We even brought back a shirt for his principal (he is Irish and a huge soccer fan too!).

Then we got back in the car and fought the rush hour traffic on our way to the Courtyard Marriott at the airport.  There is building going on everywhere in Warsaw and the town is booming!  New train tracks being laid, new office/business complexes under construction, new apartment buildings, you name it!  We settled up with Gregory, said "Do widezenia", and then chilled out.  Our flight back was an early 6:05am so we wanted to take it easy and digest all that had happened.

On Saturday we got up and headed to the airport (which was really pretty efficient) and we boarded a very full flight to Amsterdam with connection to Atlanta and then on to Charlotte.   I won't bore you with flight details though.  All were good flights, but the one to Atlanta was almost 10 hours- no way we are doing that again.  We'll probably look to break it up more by flying through Detroit, which we love and know well.

We arriving safe and sound back in Charlotte at about 4pm our time (which was 10pm Poland time) and headed back home.  We stopped to eat and finally got inside our house about 8:30pm EST.  We were all ready to drop and immediately went to bed- no unpacking or anything.

It was a great trip overall and definitely life-changing for us all. We cannot wait to get back to not only A, but also to a country we fell in love with. We plan to visit the town Brian's great grandparents lived in and castles and various sites, but mostly we just want to go back. :)

Oh and maybe a little soccer if we get lucky and are there during Euro 2012. That. Would. ROCK!