I know we're in the honeymoon phase after being home just 3 days, but so far things are awesome. Christina is such a great kid and we're truly blessed that she is officially our daughter. I was so happy to celebrate my first Mother's Day on Sunday. We were exhausted after staying up till 2am the night before but made it to church in spite of that. Christina was happy to see many familiar faces at church, friends she made when she was here last summer and at Christmas. Our church friends also surprised us with a huge card signed by everyone to welcome Christina home.
As promised, below is a recap of our last few days. I'll go back to the day we left Riga and catch up from there. (Boy, you people don't play around. I've gotten a few emails politely but firmly requesting that I update the blog. LOL! :-)
5/9 - Today was the day we left Riga for Warsaw. Ilga L. came by in the morning on her work break to say goodbye. She gave us a beautiful ceramic bell as a memento of our time in Riga. We had a good visit with her, reminiscing about the events which led up to where we are now. It's sad to say goodbye but we all know we'll see each other again one day. The flat owners gave us a ride to the airport and we had a good flight, except for the fact that it was an hour late.
When we got to Warsaw, we felt so important to have a special driver awaiting us holding a placard with my name on it. Christina half joked that this man might be dangerous and take us off somewhere and steal our organs. It sounds funny, but many children really believe that taxi drivers and Americans especially are out to steal the children's organs and that's why they want to adopt them. I'm happy to say we made it to our hotel with our organs intact! LOL!
5/10 - Today was the day of our embassy appointment to obtain Christina's immigration visa. The embassy was just a short walk from our hotel (Sheraton Warsaw) so we got there early. There was a long line of people outside waiting to enter the building, but we were waived to the front of the line since we're U.S. citizens. Everyone we dealt with at the embassy was so nice and helpful. The first lady we dealt with had the checklist and asked for the various documents one by one so she could check them off the list. The feeling of relief was overwhelming as I watched her check off each item. WHEW!
After we submitted the documents, we waited for a few minutes before being called up to the counter to talk with a different agent. She was so nice and told us how she loved this part of the process because she got to meet so many happy families. She went over a few things with us and said Christina's visa would be approved and could be picked up after 3:00 that afternoon. There was another adoptive mom there who was adopting two boys from Poland. She had a facilitator with her to help her with the paperwork. It made me feel good to know we gathered our documents ourselves and actually did things correctly.
Christina and I walked around Warsaw after our morning meeting and looked for a place to eat. We finally found a sign for a place called Mommo Pizza and there was a Pepsi logo in their window. I just wasn't in the mood to be adventurous and look for Polish cuisine. I needed something familiar to eat! We each got a slice of pizza and a cold Pepsi. The people at the pizza place also spoke some English so that was nice.
After eating lunch, we walked around some more before heading back to the hotel. We found a small bakery where we were able to get some pastries. We stopped by the small grocery market on the way back and picked up some groceries. One of the things we thought we got was milk. The bottle had a cow on it but when we opened it later, it tasted and smelled rotten. I don't know if we got rotten milk or if it's some other Polish version of milk. Whatever! We both just wanted to go home at this point. If only they had a Publix here!!
We went back to the hotel and watched a movie before heading back to the embassy to pick up Christina's visa. I was constantly having to grab the remote because Christina's favorite channel was MTV. Luckily, there was a channel showing kids' movies so we were able to watch those instead. If she had her way, she'd watch music videos all day. I let her watch some of the few tamer videos but she knows the first time I see someone dancing in their underwear, the channel gets changed!
At 3:00 we began our walk back to the embassy and the place was pretty vacant. We walked right back to the back counter and got her visa packet. What an awesome feeling! The paperwork was done and we were free to go home!
5/11 - I had scheduled an extra day in Warsaw in case there were any problems with the visa process. The embassy computers have gone down before, so we wanted to have extra time just in case.
Today was a day to explore. We slept late and ate our pastries in the room for breakfast. Then we walked for awhile and made our way back to Mommo Pizza for lunch. It was the closest thing to home that we could get and it felt could to go back there. On the way there, we noticed a sign for the Narodowe Museum (a National Museum) so we decided to check that out after our pizza. It was a beautiful museum with huge paintings and sculptures from Polish artists, as well as other European artists. Christina really loves art so she actually appreciated the works we saw. I thought she would be bored. There were also some art students in various places in the museum painting pictures while we watched. Christina now wants to get some paints now and learn how to paint like they do.
We spent a good portion of the day at the museum and went back to the hotel afterwards. I worked on a puzzle while Christina watched a couple of kid's movies. We finished off the sandwiches and soup we got from the market and enjoyed some more of the pastries for dinner. We went to bed early because the next day we've got a big travel day ahead.
5/12 - We got to the Warsaw airport extra early because I just wanted to get checked in so we could relax. We were so early that the check-in counter wasn't even open yet. They opened soon after though and we got checked in with no glitches. Afterwards, we looked through a few of the shops and I got a couple of souvenirs.
We made our way to our gate and hung out there until it was time to board. Then out went the power and all the lights!!! Not sure if the power went out in just our area or the whole airport. The place went dark for a minute and then the generator lights came on. I was just thinking to myself...this is classic, here we are ready to board our plane to come home and the stinkin' power goes out! So it took awhile for the airline workers to get things sorted out. I was worried that they might say our flight was canceled or something, but instead it just made us late.
Overall, our flights were uneventful. They didn't have enough TV screens on our flight from Warsaw so we couldn't see the movies too well. Christina let me know that she didn't like our plane because it didn't have TV screens at every seat. Oh well. Too bad, so sad! People were up and down walking in front of the screen...very frustrating. We played lots of Uno to kill the time. I tried to sleep but my sweet daughter kept nudging me every few minutes to ask me if my ears were stopped up. It became a game to her. I had to keep telling her that "no, my ears are the same way they were a few minutes ago when you asked me the last time!" LOL!
We had to change planes and go through customs in Chicago. Christina got her visa stamped which means that she is now officially a US citizen. She gave me a big smile when I told her she was an American girl now. We finally got to the Atlanta airport and boy was that the best feeling ever! We were home! Our excitement was short lived, however. Our pilot made an announcement that we couldn't get to our gate because another plane was occupying it. There had been some bad weather in Atlanta, so some of the plane schedules were off. It was so frustrating to be home and not be able to get off the stupid plane!! It was ONE HOUR later that we finally got to our gate and were able to get off.
We walked around looking for Robert and he snuck up behind us with a beautiful bouquet of flowers for Christina. He wasn't sure what was going on because he had seen that our plane was supposed to be here but then the information for our flight was taken off the board. It was the most incredible feeling to have our new family together for the first time. Christina fell asleep in the car on the way home but woke right up when we got home. We stayed up late talking and unpacking, just basking in the moment of having our sweetheart home.
As promised, below is a recap of our last few days. I'll go back to the day we left Riga and catch up from there. (Boy, you people don't play around. I've gotten a few emails politely but firmly requesting that I update the blog. LOL! :-)
5/9 - Today was the day we left Riga for Warsaw. Ilga L. came by in the morning on her work break to say goodbye. She gave us a beautiful ceramic bell as a memento of our time in Riga. We had a good visit with her, reminiscing about the events which led up to where we are now. It's sad to say goodbye but we all know we'll see each other again one day. The flat owners gave us a ride to the airport and we had a good flight, except for the fact that it was an hour late.
When we got to Warsaw, we felt so important to have a special driver awaiting us holding a placard with my name on it. Christina half joked that this man might be dangerous and take us off somewhere and steal our organs. It sounds funny, but many children really believe that taxi drivers and Americans especially are out to steal the children's organs and that's why they want to adopt them. I'm happy to say we made it to our hotel with our organs intact! LOL!
5/10 - Today was the day of our embassy appointment to obtain Christina's immigration visa. The embassy was just a short walk from our hotel (Sheraton Warsaw) so we got there early. There was a long line of people outside waiting to enter the building, but we were waived to the front of the line since we're U.S. citizens. Everyone we dealt with at the embassy was so nice and helpful. The first lady we dealt with had the checklist and asked for the various documents one by one so she could check them off the list. The feeling of relief was overwhelming as I watched her check off each item. WHEW!
After we submitted the documents, we waited for a few minutes before being called up to the counter to talk with a different agent. She was so nice and told us how she loved this part of the process because she got to meet so many happy families. She went over a few things with us and said Christina's visa would be approved and could be picked up after 3:00 that afternoon. There was another adoptive mom there who was adopting two boys from Poland. She had a facilitator with her to help her with the paperwork. It made me feel good to know we gathered our documents ourselves and actually did things correctly.
Christina and I walked around Warsaw after our morning meeting and looked for a place to eat. We finally found a sign for a place called Mommo Pizza and there was a Pepsi logo in their window. I just wasn't in the mood to be adventurous and look for Polish cuisine. I needed something familiar to eat! We each got a slice of pizza and a cold Pepsi. The people at the pizza place also spoke some English so that was nice.
After eating lunch, we walked around some more before heading back to the hotel. We found a small bakery where we were able to get some pastries. We stopped by the small grocery market on the way back and picked up some groceries. One of the things we thought we got was milk. The bottle had a cow on it but when we opened it later, it tasted and smelled rotten. I don't know if we got rotten milk or if it's some other Polish version of milk. Whatever! We both just wanted to go home at this point. If only they had a Publix here!!
We went back to the hotel and watched a movie before heading back to the embassy to pick up Christina's visa. I was constantly having to grab the remote because Christina's favorite channel was MTV. Luckily, there was a channel showing kids' movies so we were able to watch those instead. If she had her way, she'd watch music videos all day. I let her watch some of the few tamer videos but she knows the first time I see someone dancing in their underwear, the channel gets changed!
At 3:00 we began our walk back to the embassy and the place was pretty vacant. We walked right back to the back counter and got her visa packet. What an awesome feeling! The paperwork was done and we were free to go home!
5/11 - I had scheduled an extra day in Warsaw in case there were any problems with the visa process. The embassy computers have gone down before, so we wanted to have extra time just in case.
Today was a day to explore. We slept late and ate our pastries in the room for breakfast. Then we walked for awhile and made our way back to Mommo Pizza for lunch. It was the closest thing to home that we could get and it felt could to go back there. On the way there, we noticed a sign for the Narodowe Museum (a National Museum) so we decided to check that out after our pizza. It was a beautiful museum with huge paintings and sculptures from Polish artists, as well as other European artists. Christina really loves art so she actually appreciated the works we saw. I thought she would be bored. There were also some art students in various places in the museum painting pictures while we watched. Christina now wants to get some paints now and learn how to paint like they do.
We spent a good portion of the day at the museum and went back to the hotel afterwards. I worked on a puzzle while Christina watched a couple of kid's movies. We finished off the sandwiches and soup we got from the market and enjoyed some more of the pastries for dinner. We went to bed early because the next day we've got a big travel day ahead.
5/12 - We got to the Warsaw airport extra early because I just wanted to get checked in so we could relax. We were so early that the check-in counter wasn't even open yet. They opened soon after though and we got checked in with no glitches. Afterwards, we looked through a few of the shops and I got a couple of souvenirs.
We made our way to our gate and hung out there until it was time to board. Then out went the power and all the lights!!! Not sure if the power went out in just our area or the whole airport. The place went dark for a minute and then the generator lights came on. I was just thinking to myself...this is classic, here we are ready to board our plane to come home and the stinkin' power goes out! So it took awhile for the airline workers to get things sorted out. I was worried that they might say our flight was canceled or something, but instead it just made us late.
Overall, our flights were uneventful. They didn't have enough TV screens on our flight from Warsaw so we couldn't see the movies too well. Christina let me know that she didn't like our plane because it didn't have TV screens at every seat. Oh well. Too bad, so sad! People were up and down walking in front of the screen...very frustrating. We played lots of Uno to kill the time. I tried to sleep but my sweet daughter kept nudging me every few minutes to ask me if my ears were stopped up. It became a game to her. I had to keep telling her that "no, my ears are the same way they were a few minutes ago when you asked me the last time!" LOL!
We had to change planes and go through customs in Chicago. Christina got her visa stamped which means that she is now officially a US citizen. She gave me a big smile when I told her she was an American girl now. We finally got to the Atlanta airport and boy was that the best feeling ever! We were home! Our excitement was short lived, however. Our pilot made an announcement that we couldn't get to our gate because another plane was occupying it. There had been some bad weather in Atlanta, so some of the plane schedules were off. It was so frustrating to be home and not be able to get off the stupid plane!! It was ONE HOUR later that we finally got to our gate and were able to get off.
We walked around looking for Robert and he snuck up behind us with a beautiful bouquet of flowers for Christina. He wasn't sure what was going on because he had seen that our plane was supposed to be here but then the information for our flight was taken off the board. It was the most incredible feeling to have our new family together for the first time. Christina fell asleep in the car on the way home but woke right up when we got home. We stayed up late talking and unpacking, just basking in the moment of having our sweetheart home.
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