Holy Shrine Batman!

On Thursday, we enjoyed breakfast again with Magda and then met A's foster dad outside for a totally different adventure, if you will.  As luck would have it, the foster family had decided a while ago to have A evaluated to see if he had ADD/ADHD and the appointment just happened to coincide with our visit that week (can you say 'God at work' ??).  We were very excited to accompany him and get current,relevant information about his health and well-being.

Although A is very healthy physically, we definitely know its good to understand his mental/emotional health as well. This is especially true considering his background- which I won't go into. The main concerns that prompted the appointment were mostly generated by teacher evaluations the family received over the last year. Nothing earth-shattering, but definitely a reason to have him evaluated by a doctor.

In the States, he would have been seen much sooner; but in Poland (as in most of Europe with more socialized medicine), the wait for an appointment can be very long. And this is what many people in our country just do not understand and ultimately, will not be happy with. Physicians see it but the vast majority that call for us to adopt a "European" health care model do not. There is no question we need some sort if change here, but it has to be unique to the US and our lifestyles and expectations and consistent with what we deem appropriate, timely care. Not an easy task and definitely one the medical professionals, rather than the politicians and insurance lobbies should be developing, but alas... So, I will leave that subject behind and continue with our adventure.

We met the foster dad and A outside in their van and climbed on in. I sat in the way back behind A and Case sat beside him, at A's request. Brian sat up front with the dad because there was more legroom, with Magda behind him, next to Case. Immediate observations we made were again all good. For example, A had on appropriate clothing for the day (it was chilly), he was in a car seat appropriate for his age/weight that was in good condition. A greeted us with smiles all around and we set off. During the ride to the hospital in the regional city, the one thing that stood out was the fact A sat still and enjoyed the ride. He didn't fidget or kick his feet or talk endlessly or engage in other behaviors you usually see with a child that has true ADD/ADHD. He was very, very good. We chit-chatted via Magda on the ride which lasted about 40 min.

Our appointment was for 10:00am and we arrived right on schedule. The funniest thing was the way they park there. No painted spots on the street like in the US; they just drive up and park on the sidewalks, which are wide to accommodate this. And omg, the way they fit their cars into the tightest spots is impressive! We walked to the area of the hospital that was mainly doctor's offices and sat down to wait. The boys played quietly,on the iPad taking turns and being very good- again, not something an ADD/ADHD child can do easily.

While we waited the foster dad talked to us through Magda and told us more about why they sought the appointment and showed us the teacher evaluations for A. Tis is kinda bad to say, but when we heard and read the "reasons", we almost laughed. First of all, apparently in Polish schools, they expect kids to sit for at least 45 min for their lessons. They said A could not do that and seemed bored, got up, moved around, or interrupted the teachers. Now, I don't know about anyone else, but from all my experience with the kids in Case's school over the years and his friends, I don't know over many- or any- kindergarteners or first graders who can sit still for that long. I also know that often that signifies a child that is bored and needs to be challenged or taught differently. I mean, by these standards just about every kid in Case's grade level at this age and now would be classified as ADD/ADHD and be on some sort of treatment plan! Including Case, who at age 7 couldn't sit still that long either and he definitely doesn't have ADD. We relayed these thoughts and both Magda and the foster dad agreed completely. So that was encouraging for us and for the foster dad I think, because he thought we would really balk at this diagnosis.

We waited about 1/2hour until we saw the doctors assigned that day begin the arrive. According to Magda, they can show up when they want rather than when they have appointments and all you as a patient cando is wait. Oy. Most come generally on time, but you never know. As others went in for their appointments, we saw that the rooms were fairly small with just a desk and chairs so we made the decision that Brian, Magda, and the foster dad would go in with A and Case and I would wait in the hall. Magda told us not to expect a long appointment because the doctors generally liked to hustle people in and out quickly- both she and the foster dad did not have the greatest things to say about the health care system there and repeatedly said how lucky we are in the US. Gives pause to the things we complain about here for sure.

The hallway holding hospital offices was brightly lit, but plain white and not very well decorated with haphazard pictures chosen that hung every so often. It was clean, but old. The wait areas were wooden benches along the walls of the hallway, and clearly not intended for people to want to hang out there long. Very different than here where we deem comfort an important factor in waiting rooms. Case and I hung out and played games together while we waited. They were in there for about a 1/2 hour and this did concern me a bit. Brian relayed to me later what went on inside.

Ok, these are all a little...off because I wasn't sure I should be photographing them.  Guess I got paranoid from the communist era architecture!  lol

The doors on left are all the small doctor's offices for these visits

Comfy seats...not!

Apparently after they went in, Magda told the female doctor that Brian was a US physician and why he was there etc. Magda laughed when telling me later, but she said the doctor seemed very nervous with Brian there and almost scared. lol! Granted, he is a big guy, but he never comes off imposing at all. But hey, we'll take it if it helps! Nevertheless, this was to our advantage because she went over the reports thoroughly and talked them through it all. She said that based solely in the school reports, the state would probably classify him as having ADD and would recommend therapy to help him focus before medications. This was good because it indicated even they didn't see this as a serious problem. Most importantly though, A sat on Brian's lap through the entire appointment without fussing or fidgeting, another good sign.


We left pretty happy with what we heard and journeyed back to town. We realized that it was already noon and Case and A both needed to eat. We had plans to go back to the house with A after the appointment, but since we had been with him all morning, we decided to get dropped off at the hotel. At that time, we also decided to not have an afternoon visit. Not only did we feel we needed a little break to really assess things (although we were good overall), but we thought A did too. We also did not really want to be there again when the other kids were there because they tended to usurp our time away from A. Magda agreed and relayed the plans to the foster dad. By the time we got back to hotel it was around 1:00 pm and we said out goodbyes. Magda checked out of the hotel and left to run some errands while we got lunch. She then told us she would be coming back because she wanted to take us somewhere cool in the afternoon and she really wanted Case to see it. So we agreed to meet around 3:30 for our second adventure of the day.

The place she took us is called Swięta Lipka, a shrine to St. Mary. It was left undisturbed during and after WWII and is literally in the middle of nowhere. On our ride there, we drive through peaceful forests and passed a beautiful lake and small palace/mansion. As we got closer, we began to see big roadside Stations of the Cross, each probably 200 yards from each other that lead to the shrine itself. I could totally see people making a pilgrimage along this route and wondered at the length and cause for reflection it must bring. What was really cool about Magda making a point to take us there was that a few days earlier, I had shared with her that Mary was very important to me and that I had looked to Mary as a mother, after my own mother passed away. So although it was a really great educational experience for Case, it was also a very spiritual experience for me.

When we arrived, we were blown away! Wow...all we could say was, wow. It was absolutely breathtaking to see! Although it is a popular tourist destination, there was no one else in the parking lot and the gates were open. We had the whole place to ourselves- so cool. my descriptions truly cannot do it justice so here are some pictures:

This little (big) guy was sitting on a car waiting for us when we arrived!

Swieta Lipka- front

Front gates

The artistry and intricacy was amazing!

These statues lined the side walls on either side of the gates- they are figures that represent Jesus' bloodline/family from Abraham to Joseph.  Powerful!

Frescoes just inside the gates

Main entrance to church.  A church has stood her for centuries on this very site, where miracles were attributed. It started with an image of Mary carved in a lime tree.

Oh my....The main altar

The depiction of the infamous lime tree

Elevated pulpit

Bad picture, but I was trying to capture the image cast in silver and gold behind the altar without a flash.

Frescoes overhead

The organ- no words...

Pure beauty

Exterior shot of statues and porticoes where frescoes are from steps of Shrine

History of the Shrine- English on left

Bronze statue honoring Blessed JP II to left of Shrine

Add caption

We got back to the hotel around 5:00 and said our goodbyes to Magda (and paid her the next installment for the adoption- man was that burning a hole in my purse!). We then decided to go back on our own to the little eclectic restaurant we had tried before. It was raining but we braved the elements and walked there, which felt great. We had an awesome meal and I was very proud of all of us that we were able to order and even customize what we wanted in Polish! We had come a long way, baby!

We headed back to get some rest, pack a bit, and get ourselves together since the next morning would be our final visit with A.....and when we let him know we were adopting him.

Beautiful towns and amazing sights- Wednesday

On Wednesday, after another hilarious breakfast with Magda at the hotel, we again visited A in the morning.  He was not only ready and waiting at the door to play with us, he barely let Case get his coat off before dragging him upstairs to play.  When he saw us, he yelled "Hello!".  It was super cute!  Magda was with us again the whole time and while the boys we playing, we got to talk more specifics about A.  Overall, he is very healthy.  There were concerns that he was possibly ADD/ADHD and we talked about what that meant and what we thought.  Both Brian and I being in the medical profession gave our two cents from what we had seen so far.  In my nursing, I have done clinicals with in-patient child psych where I saw true ADHD (not pretty, let tell you) and being a school volunteer for years and current PTO president, I have a good grasp of what it means for sure.  We told them that from what we had seen so far, he appeared to be a normal, active 7 yr old, with little if any diagnosable ADD.  The big thing to remember is that this is not why he qualified for adoption, so we weren't afraid to share this with the foster mom and Magda.  Still, we decided to test him out to see.

We sat down in the family room (while Magda and the foster mom chatted downstairs in the kitchen- its kinda a split level house) and got out UNO to play.  UNO is a fabulous game because its easy to learn, you use colors and numbers, and eventually you can use it for math skills in adding up rounds etc.  We love it and it definitely helped Case learn his addition and subtraction early.  So it seemed the perfect game to try. 

Case and he were in A's bedroom, which has a door off the family room.  Case came out and we asked A to come out and join us too, but at first he was being a little willful and wanted to keep playing computers.   We stayed where we were and just decided to play and see if he would eventually join us.  True to all little kids that age, he realized we were probably having more fun and his curiosity got the best of him, so he came out to play too.  I knew it, lol!  We starting playing and ended up playing 3 whole games.  It was even better than we could have hoped.  Not only was it fun and a first "family" activity, but more importantly there were 3 things we observed: 1) he was able to focus and sit still enough to play the game, 3 times in fact; 2) he is very smart and picked up the rules, even with the language difference- we got to practice and use Polish words for colors and numbers and he practice English; and 3) he interacted with us great and had fun!  From that alone, we definitely saw no big evidence of extreme ADD/ADHD, which was encouraging as well.

We visited until lunch again and then left for a break in the afternoon.  Magda said she had an errand to run in the bigger town so we were on our own until about 3:30pm.  And then true to how funny she is, she finally just admitted she really had to go to the mall there to go shopping!  Apparently, Magda loves the malls, lol.  We laughed and I said I was just so totally excited there was a mall!  lol  She obviously felt very comfortable with us because she then started telling me about what she was thinking of buying and that she would show me when he got back, etc.  We were totally gabbing like girls, lol!

We had lunch again at the same pizza place and they totally remembered us.  We started realizing that not only did we probably stick out because Brian is 6'4" and we spoke English etc, but more than likely all these people knew each other in this small town and we definitely were new.  LOL!  It was delicious again and then we set out with camera in hand to explore the town square and surrounding streets.  The sun had come out and the skies were clear and the town looked lovely!  Here are a few pics:

Beautiful town square- totally picturesque!

Case and Mom- is he really that tall??!

Small street off the square

Church built in 1505

Monument to Polish soldiers that served in WWII (at least we think that's what it said, lol)

Close up of monument

Ok, Case wanted me to take a picture of this. Obviously, no "you know what" in town square. lol!

Cool architecture

We then decided to walk to the church.  Outside, on its left was an intricate monument dedicated to Blessed John Paul II, who as you know was from Poland.  It was in a very nicely manicured courtyard and as you can see from the candles, many people visit it to pay their respects and pray for his intercession.

We then went inside the church.  It was really cool!  And I mean that two-fold: it was very interesting and very cold!  Definitely never upgraded the 16th century church with heating.  The architectural elements were so amazing.  Here are a few pics:

Front view

We wondered if these were stained glass before the war

View down the aisle

Mosaics gracing the central aisle

More mosaics

Saints depicted in stain glass- beautiful!

Side altar for prayer

Original pulpit- up high, above the people

Side altar for prayer

Central altar (love the flat screen added on, lol)

We did not stay long and in the time we were in there, many ladies came in to pray and reflect.  It was really nice feeling the comfort of the Catholic Church and the fact this is an extremely religious, catholic country and town.

Just before we left, we saw a plaque next to the inside door- it said that during WWII, the church had been used as a headquarters/gathering place for Nazi troops.  Talk about a sobering reminder of what this beautiful town and country had to endure.  Later came the Red Army, who in many ways were worse.  I just can't imagine.

In the afternoon, after Magda returned with some totally cute clothes and shoes etc (lol), we went back for our second visit of the day.  This time again, the other kids were home from school.  It was fun and we played with them as well (UNO again) and we shared iPads and played Sonic and Angry Birds.  It was very sweet.  However, we realized two things: that we weren't getting as much time with just A and that the kids were really trying to get our attention and we didn't want to confuse them that we were there for them (the older kids especially).  So after we left, we talked with Magda about maybe only coming the following morning or until the kids came home.  The other kids were great, no question, we just wanted to spend time with A before we left.  She totally agreed.

We left around 6:00pm after another great visit.  We really felt totally comfortable with everything by this time and as Brian said, he just wished we could take him with us now.  A had definitely taken to Brian the most and wanted him to hold him alot.  Brian is like a big teddy bear, so I think his size was comforting to A.  he liked Case and I as well; but Brian was the favorite this day by far.  :)

We met Magda again for dinner and we went into town to another restaurant recommended by the foster families bio son.  Totally walkable but Magda insisted she drive, lol.  The restaurant was in an old fabric manufacturing warehouse that had been renovated obviously. It had really great food and was totally eclectic with a blend of things going on, which made it even cooler !  Kinda pub-like with an aerobics studio above us and a B&B attached next door.  Our waiter (super cool guy) took Brian over to see the rooms and he said they were nice!  Then they put on the big soccer match between Chelsea and Barcelona in the other room on their gigantic tv and by the time we left, it was packed with an interesting blend of regular guys and women who had just come from step class.  But it wasn't like a pick-up place- they were all only there to watch soccer, drink pivo and eat.  Like I said, eclectic, lol!

We returned back to the hotel with the plan that we would accompany the foster dad and A to an appointment in the regional town to have him evaluated for ADD.  Good fortune smiling again because believe it or not, they had asked for the appointment a year before and it just happened to fall during the time we were there.  That's God's hand right there.  And also folks, unfortunately that's socialized medicine right there.  Still, we looked forward to Thursday and taking a little trip.

Next up- Thursday, what we found out, and the advantage of Brian being there, lol.

A Tigger-ific Tuesday!

So, now we finally come to Tuesday (have I teased you enough? lol).  Just be prepared, because there are very few pics- we didn't take many because we were so busy. 

The day started with breakfast at the hotel with Magda and then we all piled in a taxi to the regional adoption center for our meeting with the director and the case worker for A.  Of course, we were a bit nervous, but the taxi driver had a little Yorkie on his lap who was cute as a button and that helped diffuse any nerves.  Dogs rock! 

Several bumpy roads later, we arrived at the regional adoption center which was again in an older looking building.  It was attached to what was or had been a police training center (I think), but this separate building was now what served the needs of the older, eligible adopted children in foster care.  We went in and again were led to an office with a desk, chairs, and a couch.  Case was with us, but was happily oblivious to everything while playing "Angry Birds", lol.  Both the director and the case worker were wonderfully nice, lovely women and we liked them right off.  Magda greeted the director very warmly and it seemed like they were good friends (which we thought was good).  Apparently she and the director have known each other a long time but the lady had changed her name and Magda didn't know it was her until we got in the room, lol. 

Basically, they ran down A's history, asked us what we knew- which is pretty straightforward- and didn't really get into much that was new to us.  They asked us why we felt called to adopt in Poland and asked about Brian's Polish history a little, but otherwise that was it.  Magda and the ladies then started talking for a bit, during which Brian and I just kinda sat there.  The weird thing was I got the feeling they weren't talking about us anymore, just chatting.  I said quietly to Brian, "Do you have any questions for them?" and he said, "Not really".  I agreed, so we just sat there trying to look calm and cool, but probably looking confused, lol.  Magda then seemed to realize we were still there and laughed and said to us "Oh, I'm sorry!  We are just talking about parenting and the foster care system here etc.  We were also catching up because we haven't seen each other in a while.  We aren't talking about you so don't worry."  She is a hoot! The case worker slipped out for a bit while they continued catching up, and then when she returned, it was "go time"!  We got a lovely goodbye from the director and when Case spoke to her in Polish, she loved it! 

We left and went back to the hotel and we loaded up Magda's car with our luggage.   The funniest part was that Magda was absolutely sure all the bags would not fit, but she definitely underestimated Brian's ability to figure out how to fit the most crap in the smallest space (years of experience at work there, let me tell you, lol!).  Of course, he got it all to fit and we were off on the 40km drive to the smaller town A lives in. 

The little town is very quaint and picturesque- right out of a storybook.  We checked into a cute little B&B right off the main town square and then headed over to A's foster home.  Along the way, Magda kept telling us she didn't not know what to expect because the foster system is newer to Poland.  Her personal opinion is that she hates it and thinks the orphanages do a much better job in not only preparing the children for adoption, but also in general care and services such as physical and speech therapy.  She said she had never been to this foster home but she has seen others that really concerned her so she could make no promises.  All I could think was "Great.  Thanks for putting that thought in my head.  Like we aren't nervous enough?"  lol

When we pulled up, we were pleasantly surprised- as was she!  The house was nice, had 4 levels, and was in a cute little neighborhood of about 10 houses, all cute and kept well.  We walked down the driveway and rang the bell.  The foster mom answered and Magda went in first, paving the way as it were.  The case worker followed and then us.  The foster mom was very nice and extremely gratuitous.  The house was clean, bright, and there were cookies and coffee or tea laid out for all of us on the dining room table, complete with doilies and china.  Secretly, I think we all heaved a sigh of relief.  We sat down around the table and did the preliminary introductions etc.  The foster mom then asked if we wanted to meet A.  We said yes, of course, and she called to him.  And like any boy, we heard him before we saw him, lol.  Little footsteps running down the stairs.  When he appeared (after jumping the last two stairs to the bottom- typical boy), the first thought we had was that he was adorable and exactly what we hoped for! 

He has beautiful lighter blue eyes and sandy colored hair, which is almost the exact color of Case's.  He is a little on the small side, but not too bad (he probably looked worse than normal because he was next to Case-zilla who is 5'2"! lol).  Most importantly, he was clean, his clothes were clean, and he was well-fed.  He was smiling and happy and said "Dzien dobry!" when he saw all of us, smiling big.  We said it back and smiled too.  Magda introduced us to A (as what, I have no idea), but she made a special introduction of Case, and A seemed to like that.  Within minutes, he gestured to Case to come with him up to his room to play computers.  Talk about comfortable! 

We then visited more with the foster mom and Magda filled her in on us and other details and we asked questions back and forth.  I think she was a little suspect of us at first; but at the same time, that made me glad because that just meant she was being careful regarding who was coming to possibly adopt A.  I would have been the same way.  You cold tell she soon felt very comfortable with us and we were all chatting about our lives, through Magda of course.  The case worker also joined in and after a while, they again were talking about other things unrelated to us.  I guess we had passed muster, lol.

We asked if we could go up and see what the boys were doing and the foster mom smiled and said "Tak", enthusiastically.  The other areas of the house were clean as well when we passed through.  They had a big screen tv, a computer for the kids, and there was custom woodwork and tile work throughout the house.  It may sound petty, but these were all good signs to me because they obviously not only kept a nice house and the kids were well-taken care of, they were able to have some luxury items too, meaning they only doing it for the money or depriving the kids.  We went into A/s room and he and Case were playing on the computer.  Rather Case was watching him play, but that was ok to start.  He talked like crazy to both Case and us about the game etc, but since it was all in Polish, we didn't understand most of it.  Still, what we did notice was this: he manipulated that computer board like a pro and had good hand-eye coordination and fine/gross motor control while playing the various games.  He could also carry on conversations and would sit to play the game in a chair.  He eventually let Case play in a 2-player game and they did great together!  We also noticed that his room was neat, clean, and things were cared obviously cared for.  All good signs. 

We stayed to play for about 15-20min and during that time he even felt comfortable enough to sit on my lap.  It was very sweet.  He is a very friendly child and I think because the Magda and the foster mom introduced us, he was ok with us; but we will have to watch that and make sure he isn't too friendly with strangers. 

We then went back downstairs and he came with us.  We then gave him the stuffed Tigger we had brough with us.  I'm telling you, after meeting him, Tigger could not be more appropriate! lol   Magda explained to him we had brought it for him all the way from Disneyworld.  While he seemed to like Tigger (or Tygrys ["tigger-ish"]as he called him), he wasn't too sure about it and seemed unimpressed that it came from Disney.  Tough crowd (just kidding), lol!  

He did however let Brian pick him up before we left and seemed to like that alot.  Remember, Brian is 6'4" so I'm sure it was totally fun!  We stayed for about 2 hours total and then left to go back to the hotel for lunch and to change into more comfortable clothes (since we were still dressed in our clothes from the meeting in the morning).  Magda left to take the case worker back to the regional city and said she would be back later and we would go for another visit in the afternoon.  Magda was staying in the same hotel as us and was there everyday for all our visits except the last one, which was awesome. 

So, the three of us headed out in search of lunch and luckily found a pizza place about a block away (which was like 100 yds away, lol).  It was a cute little place and the owners made the pizzas totally by hand and cooked them in a real wood-burning oven.  It was great!

 

 

 

And yes, this is a picture of the whole place, lol!  Told you it was quaint!

After lunch, we met Magda back at the hotel and then went back for another visit from 3:30-5:45pm.  During this time, the other kids that the family fosters were home from school as well (they had kept A out of school that week.  He is in 1st grade so he didn't miss much).  They have a total of 5 children living there, including A- a 12 yr old boy, and 3 sisters ages 5, 8, and 10.  They are all still awaiting parental rights being severed so they can't be adopted yet.  Turns out the foster parents have 3 grown boys of their own who live in town as well and they truly are fostering these kids out of the goodness of their hearts- we couldn't ask for a better situation for A! 

I'll tell you what, if we could we would have applied to adopt all these kids by the end of Tuesday. They are all sweet, well-mannered, friendly, and get along with each other great.  They seemed happy and content; however the foster mom said they want families of their own, especially the 12 year old who they have cared for for 6 years!  His parents won't agree to give up their rights and its been a mess I guess.  I'm just so thankful he and the sisters are in such a great foster home where they are cared for so well. 

Needless to say, they were all fascinated by us as well and I think the older kids kinda understood why we were there.  They all showed off a bit and even put on a "talent" show for us, with A leading the way signing and dancing.  It was very cute.  Also, Tygrys was in attendance- a very good sign! 

The foster dad came home from work during this visit too and we got to meet him for the first time.  What a great guy!  Brian talked to him (with Magda of course) while I was up playing with the boys and he said it went well.  The foster dad is a master stone craftsman and even made the monument for one of the cabinet members that died in the Smolensk plane crash last year (he was from that town originally or something).  He is also A's legal guardian so it was really great to talk to him and let him ask us questions too. 

We finished the visit about 5:45 because Case was getting hungry and I didn't want to overstay our welcome, if you know what I mean.  We said our "Do widzenia"s (Brian even got a hug) and headed back to the hotel with Magda.  We asked her how it went and Magda said, "It went great!  They really like you! And A likes you too!".  We were thrilled!  She really didn't have much advice for us and said we were already doing everything we should be.  She filled us in on various other things the foster parents and she chatted about while we were playing with A and the kids (nothing earth-shattering), but otherwise things went well. 

Later, we met Magda for dinner in our little hotel and it was really good (we sprang for dinner because, well, she is awesome and provided us with so much entertainment during the day and meal! lol).  When Case ordered "zimno melko prozse", Magda applauded him!  It was fun!  The best part of all is we didn't just talk about adoption stuff during dinner; we talked about all sorts of things from travel, to kids, to religion, to politics, to health care, to how things are the same and different in the US and Poland.  Magda was quickly becoming a treasured friend as well as our interpreter and that was so cool. 

We parted company and made plans for breakfast and to go back for similar visiting times the next day. Brian, Case, and I then headed up to our little room with 3 twin beds all in a row, which looked like it was out of the movie Annie.  We watched a little more soccer (of course) and then some BBC news on tv, got online with the free wifi (holla!), and Case wrote in his journal for school about the day.   We all then fell asleep fairly quickly and so closed the chapter on a day where our lives changed and our family grew.  It was a good day  :)

Next time, another visit and our stroll around town!

Monday! So, cue the Black Eyed Peas: "Let's Get It Started!"

Monday we again woke up to cloudy, drizzly morning and went downstairs for another fab breakfast in the Marriott (it really is a great place to stay and we recommend it for anyone traveling on their trips).  We then met Magda and Gregory, our driver in the lobby and preceded to the office of the Central Authority for our first meeting about our adoption.  The drive through the streets was again...interesting but in a way I found it more fun than precarious.  Probably because Magda and Gregory pointed out various buildings and sites along the 10min drive, making it pretty cool. 

We arrived at one of the orphanages in Warsaw and went around back to the offices for our meeting.  It was a pretty old building and Magda said it was the first orphanage in Warsaw (or at least one of the first) and was built in the 1700s and dedicated to a saint (unfortunately I can't remember which).  Case thought this was very cool.  We went inside and were shown to a small office with a couch and a few chairs.  We chatted and laughed with Magda for a few minutes before the 2 ladies entered for the meeting.  They were very nice and basically told us that this meeting was just so they could verify we were there etc.  They have no questions except if our I-800A extension would be filed before the expiration.  Of course we said yes and even answered "Tak", which they liked alot. 

A little background on that- our I-800A is set to expire May 3 so we had to file an updated homestudy and the extension paperwork etc.  Lina and our social worker Ann were working on this while we were in Poland  :) 

Anyway, they had no other questions and we were out of there in about 5 min.  Pretty awesome!  We then went to another part of the orphanage because Magda wanted to say goodbye to Lynn and Mike, the couple we met the day before in the lobby.  They were leaving the next day and she would not have had a chance to see them otherwise.  They were visiting their new son in that very orphanage, so it was the perfect time.  They were super cute together as a family and their son is adorable- we wish them all the blessings in the world!  We then headed out back to the hotel, changed, got our suitcases together, and headed out for the north. 

**A little caveat I must insert here, because we want to protect our new son per Magda's advice, we will not be naming the town we went to, the town he lives in currently, or his name of course.  This is mainly due to his background history and we will respect that.  So I'll say "north", call the bigger town "the regional center", his residence "the smaller town", and refer to him as A.  I'll probably go back and change it later but for now, I think this will work.  :)**

Continuing on...

As we headed north, we saw some awesome things.  First, just leaving the city we saw the new soccer stadium they have built for Euro 2012, right on the Vistula River.  It is freaking amazing!!!  Red and White for Poland and sits like 85,000! 

How cool is this?!!

After that excitement, we settled in for our drive.  One observation right off- the roads outside Warsaw....stink!  We think its from all the freeze and thaw and the fact it looks like they have mostly sandy bases but oy!  I felt like I was on a rollercoaster/test track for bumps.  And Gregory wasn't even driving bad; it was just the road.  The further we got outside Warsaw though, the better both the road and the traffic got and after about an hour, all we saw were farms and farmland.  Very picturesque and peaceful.  I even fell asleep for a cat nap for about 15 min.  Case was reading his book "Two Miserable Presidents" about the Civil War (I highly recommend if you have 4th graders) and Brian was up front trying to talk with Gregory and doing a pretty good job of it actually. 

Eventually, we settled into cruising along for a bit.  Then Gregory pointed out something along the side of the road. 

Crazy!

Yep, its a pillbox.  A real, honest to goodness German pillbox still there...right in the middle of farmland.  In fact, there are two (ok, you can see it better with my iPhone when I zoom in, but trust me the other is just to the left and behind it in the distance).  Brian and I thought this was about the coolest thing we had seen so far.  Case didn't get what they were until we explained it.  His mouth dropped open and he just said "Wow!".  Seeing history that up close and personal, in the middle of nowhere, and no along a major highway, was just the most surreal thing. 

We arrived at our destination a few hours later, checked in to the hotel Magda set up, and then went to relax a bit.  Probably the funniest thing that happened was when Case discovered you have to put your hotel card into a slot to turn the lights on in the bathroom.  Definitely a cost-saving idea we should use in the US, but Case found out the hard way when he was plunged into total darkness after removing it too fast, lol!  He laughed and laughed about that. 

We went down to dinner right as Magda rolled in (she had popped home in Warsaw to get her car and pack a few things because she was staying in the area with us for a while).  We had a great dinner with her and she regaled us with loads of stories about other families (don't worry, all good you guys), Poland, her family, you name it!  She rocks!  I was, and still am, in awe that she can remember all the little details about all the families and children she has helped bring together over the years.  We talked a little bit about what to expect in the meeting the next day with the regional adoption authority and then she told us that after it was over, we would come back, check out, and go straight from there to check in the hotel in the smaller town and then on to meet A.  Needless to say, we went to bed early in anticipation of a crazy Tuesday that would change our lives forever!

**UPDATE: I-800A extension filed and we're good to go!  Lina and Ann were great in getting it back to us quickly!