Poland Part 1

Poland.  What can I say.  We are here.

We arrived in Wroclaw (Vrotzlav) late at night and then drove for over an hour to Piszkowice (Piskoveetz).  Piszkowice is located in a small boot like area along the Czech border near the city of Klodzko. It is definitely not

your typical tourist destination.  But it is very beautiful here.

 

Things we learned in Piszkowice.

1. If you go for a walk on the roads, be prepared to have cars scrape by you at high speeds.

2. Polish people drive like they are in the Indy 500 all of the time.

3. Nuns do too.

4. They do not speak English here.

5. If they do, they will not let you know, because they enjoy eavesdropping (they speak English on your last day to creep you out --leaving you wondering what you said around them)

6. They are perfectly happy talking to you in Polish as long as you smile and nod.

7. Nuns are huggers.

8. If you are not a fan of ham and cheese sandwiches, DO NOT GO TO POLAND.

9. Peirogies are fantastic.

10. All drinks are warm or hot.

11. They love the Pope here.  (He stared at me from the cabinet all week long.) Particularly Pope John Paul II ....Was he Polish?

12. Everything is heated by coal (and trash).

13. They say "Dobray"-"good" and "Tak"-"yes" at least 100 times a day.

14. Beware of sheds with doors that oddly hang open.  You may find overwhelmingly stinky "swinka" inside. (ok,ok. . . pigs) 

 

Piszkowice was a beautiful place.  While we were there, we also took a day trip to Kudowa (Kudova) Zdroj.  It is very close to the Czech border. The town is known for it's mineral water.  Our adoption facilitator/translator, Grazyna, informed us that the signs said that if you bought a glass of their water, it would miraculously heal all your diseases and ailments. (Could we quite possibly heal Olivia's thyroid? Doubt it, expensive water.) Hmmm. . . we all passed.  And then in the park they had a place where you could taste the mineral water from a fancy fountain.  Both Josh and Grazyna came away gagging.  Glad I am the sensible, unadventurous one.

The park was beautiful.  There were pigeons, trees, ponds, and cobblestone walkways.  Not to mention a swan (who refused to be photogenic). 

The other places I refrained from pictures.  Partly because the first place we visted in Kudowa Zdroj was a creepy toy museum. Ok, I was the only one who thought it was creepy. Maybe it was my instituional depression (talk about that later) or my overwhelming carsickness wearing off, but endless windows of old dolls and toys was a bit creepy to me.  There was even a doll that had a face that turned.  She had 3 faces! (shudder) I am absolutely positive I have at least one friend that would agree with the overwhelming eerie nature of old toys (yes, Lori Harvell, I am talking about you). So sorry folks, no pics. 

And the next stop was even creepier. (This time I think more people would agree with me). We visted a chapel.  Not just any old chapel. This particular chapel was decorated with the bones and skulls. Creepy, right? 

Skull Chapel (Kaplica Czaszek)

The chapel was built in 1776 by the local parish priest Wacław Tomaszek. It is the mass grave of people who died during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), three Silesian Wars (1740–1763), as well as of people who died because of cholera epidemics and hunger. Together with J. Schmidt and J. Langer, Tomaszek collected the casualties’ bones and put them in the chapel. Walls of this small, baroque church are filled with three thousand skulls, and there are also bones of another 21 thousand people interred in the basement. The skulls of people who built the chapel are placed in the centre of the building and on the altar.

I was not impressed when the nun took us in and shut the doors. Neither was Orrin. We were glad to be out in the fresh air again.

  

On our way back to Piszkowice, Grazyna decided to take us the scenic road.  It is called "The Road of 100 Turns".  Did I mention before that I get carsick?  Imagine me in the back seat of a very small car on this particular road.  Lets just say the scenery was beautiful; I, on the other hand, was not.  I tried to get an occasional glimpse of the forest and mountains that flew by (I mentioned they drive like maniacs in Poland, right?). We passed a place called the Errant Rocks.  It's random rock pillars throughout the forest.  We were told that scenes from Narnia: Prince Caspian were filmed in the Errant Rocks.  I can see why.  The place did have a Narnia quality to it. (Sorry, no pics of that.  We were driving way too fast on a very skinny road . . .and of course, I was carsick.)

 

Other than that, our stay in Piszkkowice was pretty uneventful. And now we are off the the big city. I'll let you know how that went later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rainbows

Anyone that listens to the news, knows all about the rain and flooding in Colorado.  And guess what! New Mexico happens to be just under that popular state.  We have seen SO much rain this month.  In fact, I am not sure the last time we've had this much summer rain.  It's wonderful and crazy all at the same time.  I am a lover of rain; probably because I live in such a dry place.  There is nothing better than watching crunchy brown grass turn to glorious green. And the only thing better than that is thunder storms.  Love. Them. (Unless they strike by my house and burn out all of the appliances --that is not at all cool.) We live in one of those places where the thunder rumbles against the mountains in a "Man From Snowy River"-ish way. Which in case you haven't watched that movie, well, you should have...it's a good movie...with cool sounding thunder in it.

But best of all are the rainbows!!!  Oh yes, this week has been a week of huge, bright, endless rainbows. 

 

Why in the world am I talking about rainbows!?! 

Good question.

We had a metaphorical rainbow today! 

 

We are officially headed to see Olivia in less than a week!! We finally have a court date.  Thanks to a judge who was very good at dragging her feet; we have only a few days to get our bags packed and flights scheduled. I have never dealt with a travel agency before. So I have a lot to learn this week. Apparently it will be a crash course, since I pretty much need get it done by tomorrow. Speaking of crash courses, I am trying to learn a little Polish!  Yep.  Here you go!

 

Do Widzenia

"good bye"

 

Have a great week everyone! Oh and if you are into this sort of thing...I have a Olivia Search and Find for you. Beware...it is in Polish, so unless you know more than I do, you will have no idea what they are talking about. But she's in there (I could tell you where, but what is the fun in that).

God Moves In A Mysterious Way

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

 

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.

 

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

 

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

 

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

 

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

 

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

 

(by William Cowper)

Charity

Today I read something that aggravated me.  And whether my aggravation is founded or not; it was there just the same. So I decided now would be a good time to address this issue. It's called "good old-fashion giving -- aka. charity".

We are only weeks away from hearing when we will travel to go get out little girl. And if you have any idea about adoption at all, you would know that it's expensive. So how in the world did we fund an adoption without a loan?

Is it because we are rich and can afford it?

 

Is it because I am the world best business woman? (haha)

 

Is it because adoption has suddenly become inexpensive?

 

Let me shock y'all by saying "NO" to all of those. (I know, I know, y'all really thought I am a good business woman, didn't you?)

We are here because we reached out to other Christian family and friends for help. And luckily for us, we have some pretty AMAZING friends and family. This is not always the case, trust me. I have seen so many people refused help by their Christian friends and family because... "you shouldn't adopt if you don't have the money". 
(To this I want to say..."you shouldn't buy a house if you don't have the money". But I refrain. Oh, wait, did I just say that...apparently I forgot to refrain.)
Somewhere in our self-sufficient, self-absorbed Christian life we have forgotten the true meaning of giving.  We have forgotten the point of caring for others.  We have forgotten that it takes humility to even ask for help....no one wants to admit that  they can't do it on their own.  We have this idea that if we can go through life never asking anyone for anything, then we are somehow better, because we did it ourselves. We have forgotten that God asked us to care for others needs...

Philippians 2:4

"Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others."

 

2 Corinthians 9:7
"Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver."

 

(PS. He didn't say only give to those who did not ask for help. He didn't say only give when it looks like it was your idea and not theirs.)

 

Josh and I have been blessed beyond measure during this adoption.  I can't count how many times we have received a donation from someone who learned we were adopting and chose to help.  Did we ask for their help? Yes, we did.  Was it hard to ask?  Yes, it was. Were we blessed? Yes, we were.  Were they?  I sure hope so. Do they know just how much their contribution meant to us? I sure hope so....but if they are still wondering, all I can say is...

 

"We love each and every one of you from the bottom of our hearts. We are doing what we feel God asked us to do and we can do it because you cared enough to give. THANK YOU!"

 

Christians! Care! Care enough to help those who are in need!  Even if they asked.

 

 

 

 

Last Steps

Some days we feel like we are dragging our feet. . . or better yet, that "they" are dragging theirs.  And we wonder why.  Why on earth would you drag out an adoption for one whole year? Every step we take seems like such a small one. But apparently even small steps get you somewhere.  For here we are...one last step!

Hopefully sometime in the coming weeks we will be contacted by Olivia's country with our travel date.  We finished off all our immigration paperwork and received Olivia's visa approval.  I am not completely sure how many weeks it will take to get our travel date, but we can be sure it will be after the second of August.

Thanks to all of you who have listened to all our ups and downs; and to those of you who have helped us get this far.  We are almost there!

Room Done (check)

So I know you weren't holding your breath (because you would have expired long ago)but none-the-less, I did promise that once I "finished" fixing up Noel's room for the girl's that I would post pics.  And seeing as how I have very little other news, I decided that I would bore you with it today.  So here you go. . .

 

I learned while trying to get these pics that the window is a real pain. So much sun comes in that window, all the pics came out much too dark and had to be edited. They are also a bit fuzzy, since I could hardly see in there.  Anyhoo....that's it.  Exciting right? 

 

I searched and searched for an area rug, but apparently somewhere inside rugs they stash large amounts of gold.  So for now we went with the old throw rug.

 

I also had to repaint the walls from beige to...well...beige. Thanks to the local True Value paint guy telling me that he couldn't match paint from the paint on the top of the can. See that vinyl horse decal (that Noel loves and could not be removed)....yep, I painted around that. Not easy but possible.

 

Oh yes, and then there is the "wallpaper". Again I had no idea that wallpaper is also made of gold. Did you?  So we did the next most obvious thing....an atlas.  Oh, you wouldn't have made that your second choice?  Why not?  I had so much fun piecing 3 atlases and two travel maps on to these walls to make...wallpaper. Actually...all sarcasm aside, it was kind of fun.  I had no idea there was a Noel, Missouri. Or that Canada's map is actually much prettier than ours - thanks to all the blue lakes. Oh and I had to make sure there was a fully pieced Texas on the wall (not easy), since Josh is from Texas.

 

Noel is now back to the first bunk bed Josh and I ever bought.  I actually gave it to the church a few years ago....thank goodness our church is ok with stealing back a donation. Even better is that it was the same color as her twin bed so we snagged the roll under drawers.

 

And since you made it through that totally boring post, I will tell you that we did finally receive our approval papers back with Olivia's pictures.  Since then, we have filled out all the necessary I-800 (immigration) paperwork for Olivia and it is currently in Dallas waiting to be approved.  We are hoping that this last paperwork takes only a month.  This way, we will be prepared for Olivia's guardian to return from her vacation the first week of August and be on our way to Eastern Europe. 

!!!!!!!

Yeah, I really couldn't think of what to call my post today.  Just wanted y'all to know that I was excited. We recieved our first pictures of Olivia.  The other ones we have are from over a year ago.  Unfortunately I can not share them on here, but if you email me or comment on FB......     (evil grin)

Also our Poland contact said she would be mailing back our packet to apply for Olivia's Immigration paperwork.  So although this may not make us too much closer,  we are at least in a forward motion again ...instead of the never ending pause. 

In all my excitement to tell you that we had pictures, I forgot that I had no other interresting things to say.....hmmm.  Lucky you!